Since I undertook this Mind Lab journey, I have become more interested in the concept of personalised learning. I have always been a fan of learner agency, offering students the opportunity to sit tests when they feel ready, giving them choices as to how learning or assessment tasks are presented, and providing revision or extension activities as required.
So the design for learning criteria in the teaching standards fits in well with that, and challenges me to look further forward into how I can make my courses truly personalised.
For too long education in New Zealand has followed a “one size fits most” approach and while there will always be commonalities in how we educate our young I feel the time is fast approaching where reforms can now be implemented in our systems for education and assessment. Understanding each learner’s individual strengths, interests, needs, identities and cultures will lead to the best educational outcomes for that learner.
I have no control over what the new government decides to implement as its education policies for the future and I can only hope that they take advice from key stakeholders with vision, bravery and wisdom.
But I do have control over what goes on in my classroom, so that is where I must start.
For a start, I should stop making assumptions about my students and ask them their thoughts on how the class is going. It is easy for a teacher to make generalisations about a class or a particular cohort such being a noisy group, a studious class, or that “they” like learning with games or songs for example. Of course a good teacher is always monitoring the behaviour and engagement levels of the class during various kinds of activities so these judgments are not without foundation, but it can be easy to overlook those well-behaved students who are not loving an activity, but will go along with it in good grace.
When I surveyed my Year 10 class at the end of last year in a course evaluation, 50% of the students surveyed said their favourite part of Japanese class was the songs we listen to and sometimes sing, and 50% said the songs were their least favourite part of the course. Similarly, some students stated they enjoyed online games such as Kahoot! But others said it was pointless playing as the same people always won.
The feedback I gained from the course evaluation was valuable in helping me to plan for this year, but I wished I had asked for this earlier in the year so that I could have acted on it with that group of students. Reflecting on my practice has now become a much more regular and normal part of what I do, and I am determined to continue to reflect and ask for feedback from my students and peers so that I can design more personalised learning experiences for my students.
During the literature review part of the Mind Lab programme I learned a lot about gamification and I put an inquiry plan in place to see how gamification affected engagement with my Year 10 students. I am now in the process of implementing some of the ideas I have gained and I look forward to seeing what effect this might have on my students.
I feel confident that even if my ideas don’t work I now have the knowledge, skills and confidence to try different approaches or do further research into what might work. I have a large network of people who I could ask for help or ideas. And best of all I have rediscovered a love of learning in myself which had become buried under the mountain of mundanity that is involved in everyday teaching.
Thanks, Mind Lab.
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeletePersonalised learning is an area that I researched as part of my MindLab journey so this was an interesting read for me, thank you. I totally agree that we have been working in a "one size fits most" framework for some time, and like you say we don't have the power to change the policies, but we do have the power to make changes in our classroom. Great idea seeking feedback from your students, and I recognise your reflection of wishing you asked earlier (I have felt the exact same thing). In years to come I imagine you will do so. Ask them before, during, and after. The voices that matter are those of our students. We need to make time to listen and make changes, especially if our aim is to personalise learning- we can't do this without truly understanding what our students need. Good luck for your educational journey!
Kia ora Jo. Gamification was my topic for the literature review and teacher inquiry plan too. Good luck with trying it with your students. I read an article from an overseas teacher who gamified her maths programme which they call MathLand. How cool is that? It is a successful approach that engages and motivates her students. I got alot of my ideas from her article. I was captured by her story because she said she doesn't like to tell other teachers what to do, but it annoys her when teachers say their students are not learning but the teacher won't change the way she/he teaches. When she was asked if gamification could work for other subjects, she replied, if she was the English teacher she would EnglishLand it. Inspiring!
ReplyDeleteGreat reflection, good luck with the new steps you are about to undertake with your students. It would be great to see how this works out for you. It is great to see that you are working collaboratively with your students and are listening to their feedback, and that you are moving away from the one size fits all. All the best for your teaching.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your personal reflection Jo. I am also a fan of personalised learning and I believe when you know the learner, know the gaps in a learners knowledge and put steps in place to close those gaps, the greatest gains are achieved. It is not easy thing to do, especially when the norm for a number of years was a generic teaching plan would have been used for the whole class. Personalised teaching allows for a closer and more productive relationship with a learner, because you are investing time, effort and energy into lifting them higher and achieving more!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your learning journey Jo. I agree that it is the teacher who can inspire and personalize the teaching. I like how you surveyed the students getting valuable student feedback. I used learning maps to gain student insight in their learning.
ReplyDeleteWow look how many of us have engaged with the concept of personalised learning! This is a way of teaching I had a natural aptitude for, before I even knew it was called 'personalised learning.' The Mindlab course has helped define and refine this way of teaching and learning for me too, and I agree with the value of student voice underpinning it. Student voice has become an essential aspect of my practice as who knows what they need best? The students of course. Why would we not include such a valuable component within student led learning? The level of engagement from my students soar when given the opportunity to direct their own learning and inquire into areas of intrigue, and the flow on effect to all students is that they too begin to think about and ask if they can learn about this or that.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of personalised learning too. I had no knowledge about personalised learning before joining mindlab. I am also trying to make students' learning personalised for them. Asking students how they feel about the courses and what they want to learn is a great place to start.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great read Jo! I'm so happy to hear that you've rediscovered a love of learning - and your students are obviously also benefiting from this too. I agree that gaining feedback from your students is such a valuable teaching tool. Being able to personalise learning must have an impact on student engagement, motivation and achievement. This will always pose challenges though, as you have mentioned, as half you class loved the songs and the other half didn't! If anything, the feedback we get from students can help us provide a balanced range of teaching strategies using a range of material. All the best for your new found focus on personalising learning!
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