The following is the transcript of my opening remarks to teachers in my school district as we began our work this year around personalized learning.
(Note, I borrowed from Tom Murray and opened with these two humorous flashback clips:
The Onion, Blockbuster Historical Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TrPwOrf4sM, and the Today Show, What's the Internet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlJku_CSyNg )
What We Talk About When We Talk About Personalized Learning
It’s likely that many of us were good at a kind of school that no longer fits the needs of our students’ today. For instance, in 9th grade Science I got ten extra points on my final average for memorizing the elements from the Periodic table. But I can assure you if we’re ever teamed up in a game of trivia, I’m useless in this area. In fact, research suggests that we only retain around 4% of the knowledge from our educational experience that we are asked to memorize. It’s not to say we didn’t have great teachers, or that there weren’t bright spots in our educations, but in that 9th grade science class in 1995 (do the math, I’m 24) unlike most 9th graders today I didn’t have the capability to take a phone out of my pocket and look up the Periodic table. Our students have almost instant access to all of the world’s information. When Tom Murray talks about Future Ready Schools, he points out that our iPhones will be the least advanced technology our students will ever know.
So, why when we are living in the biggest informational revolution in history, do we commonly in the United States still educate students in a model that was made to fit the needs of preparing workers during the Industrial Revolution? Will Richardson, author of Why School, offers that it’s sentimentality that makes it difficult for us to change. We are emotionally attached to the model of what school looked like for us. Local educator and software designer, Chris Hull, cites health care research that proved in systems it takes 17 years to shift a best practice. So, theoretically a student could go through their whole educational career in a system that is no longer modeled in best practice.
Dr. Tony Wagner author of “Creating Innovators” offers that, “The world no longer cares about what you know. The world cares about what you can do with what you know.” And because of this he says, “Content matters, skills matter more, motivation matters the most.” I’m sure we’ve all heard the provocative statement that we are tasked today with educating children for many jobs that don’t yet exist.
Education today needs to teach students the skills to interact with the bombardment of information available to them and to help them cultivate curiosity, creativity, and passion. It needs to reflect the highest form of differentiation possible, to take into account not only how the child learns, but who the child is and what matters to them - it needs to be personalized.
Let's see what the experts have to say and look at the trailer for the educational documentary entitled Most Likely to Succeed that highlights the need for a new direction in education. http://www.mltsfilm.org/
As we have discussed already today, Personalized Learning in District 25 now has a deeper and broader focus. When we talk about personalized learning, we are talking about 21st century education, we are talking about innovation, we are talking about student-centered practices. In addition to allowing students to explore areas of interest, District 25 teachers have identified essential thinking practices for students that when practiced, help to personalize student’s learning. By allowing for students to document, to reflect, to question, to get and give feedback, to self assess, to plan, and to try again in the face of failure, you’ve given them a voice and ownership of their learning.
Some of you might be asking yourselves, why am I here? Didn’t we already do personalized learning training? That’s a good question, and here’s the answer - we’re all working together on the work of art that is personalized learning. It turns out In the art world there are three types of unfinished works of art. There’s what’s known as the “simply abandoned” where the artist was working on something and lost interest in it. We cannot afford to let personalized learning be the simply abandoned. There’s also what’s known as the “non finito”. This is a Romantic Era practice where things are intentionally left incomplete. This won’t do either. The last unfinished artwork is the “perpetually unfinished” painting and I would suggest that though scary as this may sound, that is actually what we are. This painting can always be added to because the artist cares so deeply about getting it right.
The art of transforming your classroom to reflect best practice in personalized learning is and will continue to be an ongoing process and a personal journey for you. As such, we respect that some of you are still working hard to refine what the project based learning experiences look like for students, and are beginning to embed the elements of documentation and reflection, questioning, peer feedback, self assessment and monitoring into your content. Others of you may be doing these things already, but are looking for the best technology to enhance your students’ learning. Some of you may feel as if you’ve got all of those things down, and you’re ready to think about further personalizing your classroom. Perhaps then you are ready to give students the opportunity to specifically practice what the partnership for 21st century learning calls the 4cs - collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication. From the way your classroom space is organized, to how your students set goals for their learning and handle setbacks, to the experts you connect your students with while they learn, there are endless ways to continue on this journey in a meaningful way. So yes, we are saying here are the things you have to have at minimum to begin this process, but we can’t even begin to see the end that you may dream up. We are perpetually unfinished because we care so deeply about getting it right for our kids.
Let’s look at a school that’s really putting innovation into practice, Elizabeth Forward Schools https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw3uw9KDQ3s (Another big shout out to Tom Murray here, for sharing this shining example!)
There is so much for us to celebrate here at District 25 in terms of the work that has been done already, and where we are going. With the support of the ALFs, and time for you to learn and share with one another, anything is possible.
Just as we recognize what is best for our students in today’s world, we recognize that professional development must be personalized as well. The collective intelligence of this room, of our experience, and our networks far exceeds that of any one of us. I’d like to leave you with these questions to frame the start of this year’s learning:
*Presented with a corresponding slideshow not included here. Interested in seeing it? Contact me via twitter @mrssmiththinks
(Note, I borrowed from Tom Murray and opened with these two humorous flashback clips:
The Onion, Blockbuster Historical Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TrPwOrf4sM, and the Today Show, What's the Internet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlJku_CSyNg )
What We Talk About When We Talk About Personalized Learning
It’s likely that many of us were good at a kind of school that no longer fits the needs of our students’ today. For instance, in 9th grade Science I got ten extra points on my final average for memorizing the elements from the Periodic table. But I can assure you if we’re ever teamed up in a game of trivia, I’m useless in this area. In fact, research suggests that we only retain around 4% of the knowledge from our educational experience that we are asked to memorize. It’s not to say we didn’t have great teachers, or that there weren’t bright spots in our educations, but in that 9th grade science class in 1995 (do the math, I’m 24) unlike most 9th graders today I didn’t have the capability to take a phone out of my pocket and look up the Periodic table. Our students have almost instant access to all of the world’s information. When Tom Murray talks about Future Ready Schools, he points out that our iPhones will be the least advanced technology our students will ever know.
So, why when we are living in the biggest informational revolution in history, do we commonly in the United States still educate students in a model that was made to fit the needs of preparing workers during the Industrial Revolution? Will Richardson, author of Why School, offers that it’s sentimentality that makes it difficult for us to change. We are emotionally attached to the model of what school looked like for us. Local educator and software designer, Chris Hull, cites health care research that proved in systems it takes 17 years to shift a best practice. So, theoretically a student could go through their whole educational career in a system that is no longer modeled in best practice.
Dr. Tony Wagner author of “Creating Innovators” offers that, “The world no longer cares about what you know. The world cares about what you can do with what you know.” And because of this he says, “Content matters, skills matter more, motivation matters the most.” I’m sure we’ve all heard the provocative statement that we are tasked today with educating children for many jobs that don’t yet exist.
Education today needs to teach students the skills to interact with the bombardment of information available to them and to help them cultivate curiosity, creativity, and passion. It needs to reflect the highest form of differentiation possible, to take into account not only how the child learns, but who the child is and what matters to them - it needs to be personalized.
Let's see what the experts have to say and look at the trailer for the educational documentary entitled Most Likely to Succeed that highlights the need for a new direction in education. http://www.mltsfilm.org/
As we have discussed already today, Personalized Learning in District 25 now has a deeper and broader focus. When we talk about personalized learning, we are talking about 21st century education, we are talking about innovation, we are talking about student-centered practices. In addition to allowing students to explore areas of interest, District 25 teachers have identified essential thinking practices for students that when practiced, help to personalize student’s learning. By allowing for students to document, to reflect, to question, to get and give feedback, to self assess, to plan, and to try again in the face of failure, you’ve given them a voice and ownership of their learning.
Some of you might be asking yourselves, why am I here? Didn’t we already do personalized learning training? That’s a good question, and here’s the answer - we’re all working together on the work of art that is personalized learning. It turns out In the art world there are three types of unfinished works of art. There’s what’s known as the “simply abandoned” where the artist was working on something and lost interest in it. We cannot afford to let personalized learning be the simply abandoned. There’s also what’s known as the “non finito”. This is a Romantic Era practice where things are intentionally left incomplete. This won’t do either. The last unfinished artwork is the “perpetually unfinished” painting and I would suggest that though scary as this may sound, that is actually what we are. This painting can always be added to because the artist cares so deeply about getting it right.
The art of transforming your classroom to reflect best practice in personalized learning is and will continue to be an ongoing process and a personal journey for you. As such, we respect that some of you are still working hard to refine what the project based learning experiences look like for students, and are beginning to embed the elements of documentation and reflection, questioning, peer feedback, self assessment and monitoring into your content. Others of you may be doing these things already, but are looking for the best technology to enhance your students’ learning. Some of you may feel as if you’ve got all of those things down, and you’re ready to think about further personalizing your classroom. Perhaps then you are ready to give students the opportunity to specifically practice what the partnership for 21st century learning calls the 4cs - collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication. From the way your classroom space is organized, to how your students set goals for their learning and handle setbacks, to the experts you connect your students with while they learn, there are endless ways to continue on this journey in a meaningful way. So yes, we are saying here are the things you have to have at minimum to begin this process, but we can’t even begin to see the end that you may dream up. We are perpetually unfinished because we care so deeply about getting it right for our kids.
Let’s look at a school that’s really putting innovation into practice, Elizabeth Forward Schools https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw3uw9KDQ3s (Another big shout out to Tom Murray here, for sharing this shining example!)
There is so much for us to celebrate here at District 25 in terms of the work that has been done already, and where we are going. With the support of the ALFs, and time for you to learn and share with one another, anything is possible.
Just as we recognize what is best for our students in today’s world, we recognize that professional development must be personalized as well. The collective intelligence of this room, of our experience, and our networks far exceeds that of any one of us. I’d like to leave you with these questions to frame the start of this year’s learning:
- Where are you on your journey?
- How can you improve your practice?
- What do you want to learn from your colleagues this year?
*Presented with a corresponding slideshow not included here. Interested in seeing it? Contact me via twitter @mrssmiththinks