ANNELIES DE GROOT
Personalized Learning Toolkit
Definition: Personalized learning is the educational practice of centering learning on the individual student instead of the whole class. It encompasses the terms differentiation and individualization, considering student's individual learning abilities, experiences, interests, and goals.
Goal: This toolkit provides resources, templates, and additional information for various elements of personalized learning to further support the educator in their classrooms. The elements of personalized learning included in the toolkit include culturally responsive teaching, academic and cognitive skills, health and wellness, social-emotional development, culture and language, and student's living situation.
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Please click on the links and sections below to find these resources.
Toolkit Sections
Personalized and Cultural Relevant Learning
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Students are feeling less and less engaged in school. According to a recent Gallup poll, over half of students in middle and high school reported that they are less interested in the material they are learning, feel less challenged, and feel less hopeful about their continuing education than ever before; only 52% of potential degree-seeking students and 38% of non-college bound students state they “get to do what they do best at school” (Hrynowski, 2024). This is sad news not only for the state of education, but for the students’ wellbeing. This supports the growing need for educators to personalize the classroom, take into account a “whole student” approach, and integrate aspects of student interest, choice, culture, and goals into lessons. ​​
A larger viewpoint to this personalization is referred to as Cultural Relevant Personalized Learning (CRPL), which includes personalized learning, culturally relevant and responsive teaching, support for student agency and choice, dynamic adaptation, connecting to lived experiences, consideration of social movements, shared power and respect, and opportunities for collaboration (Ober et al., 2023). “The CRPL approach acknowledges that teaching and learning occur in a social context and that the relationships and interactions students experience are critical aspects of the learning environment”, the goal of which is to increase the engagement students are clearly missing, strengthen their motivation, provide applicable real-world learning experiences that applies beyond higher education, and increases the challenge of classroom learning to be effective at every level (Ober et al., 2023, pg 2, paragraph 2).
Personalized learning requires adapting lessons to take into account students’ current viewpoints and life experiences, acknowledging a constructivist approach to knowledge development (Brau et al., 2022). There are many goals that educators hold that are supported by personalization beyond engagement which include increasing memory, core content knowledge, critical thinking, 21st Century skills, and fundamentally application of learning (known as transfer): “Effective teaching supports positive transfer by actively identifying the relevant knowledge and strengths that students bring to a learning situation and building on them.” (Bransford et al., 1999, pg 78, paragraph 3). The Tool Kit provided here aims to provide educators with resources - articles, videos, templates, program ideas, applications, etc. - to support their journey towards increased personalized learning. The individual sections here include Academic and Cognitive skills (including pre-assessment and differentiation), Health and Wellness, Social-Emotional Development, Culture and Language, and Living Situation. There are many overlaps among these categories, as a “whole student” approach aims to integrate all aspects of students in their learning.
Please take some time to peruse the individual sections of this Toolkit for what may be helpful for you. Below are other helpful full ToolKits from Kathleen McClaskey, EdSurge, the Dallas Independent School Distict, and Iowa's "The Center" that can provide even more resources.
Other Personalized Learning Toolkits:
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