Personalization of Learning

TQS: 3. Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge. A teacher applies a current and comprehensive repertoire of effective planning, instruction, and assessment practices to meet the learning needs of every student. Achievement of this competency is demonstrated by indicators such as:

- planning and designing learning activities that:
  - consider student variables, including:
    - demographics, e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, religion;
    - social and economic factors;
    - maturity;
    - relationships amongst students;
    - prior knowledge and learning;
    - cultural and linguistic background;
    - second language learning;
    - health and well-being;
    - emotional and mental health; and
    - physical, social and cognitive ability.

Essential Questions

Essential Question: What will I do to build on students' individual strengths and passions?

- "The basic difference between personalized learning and individualized learning lies in the control. In personalized learning, control lies largely with the students; in individualized learning, control lies with adults" (Goodwin, 2011, p. 36).

- Personalized learning is a combination of teaching strategies which include: differentiated instruction, backward design (beginning with the end goal in mind, designing the criteria and then building the steps, strategies, content and skills towards the learning product) and authentic instruction and assessment (DiMartino & Clarke, 2008).

- Personalized learning includes opportunities for:

Students to build on individual strengths and achievements, to pursue their passions and interests, and learn in ways that are consistent with their individual learning styles and which are developmentally appropriate.
Authentic learning experiences for students that include and extend beyond traditional education settings that enable students to apply their learning in real-life contexts (DiMartino & Clarke, 2008; Government of Alberta, 2010b).

- Personalized teaching is based on the belief that each student is unique and strives to build on this (DiMartino & Clarke, 2008).

- The teacher makes connections to students' interests, background and needs to help connect learners and important content (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006).

- Personalized teaching involves:

The teachers working to ensure the needs of every student are met. Differentiation involves "differentiating the intensity of instruction according to student needs and mastery of content" - checking for understanding during instruction, identifying those students who are experiencing difficulty, providing those students with additional instruction and support (Goodwin, 2011, p. 43).

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