Key points:

• Giving students a voice plays a key role in developing agency
• How to support student agency
• 4 tips for using data to differentiate instruction
• For more news on student voice, visit eSN’s Innovative Teaching page

Social-emotional skills are fundamental for success in school and in life. But how can we ensure that all students learn these valuable lessons so they can have positive relationships with each other, support one another and make good decisions?

Empowering students to take charge of their own social-emotional development through self-directed learning and assessment can pave the way for better relationships, improved well-being and enhanced academic achievements. For this to be effective, students must have  a voice in their social-emotional skill development, enabling them to reflect on their skills, leverage their strengths, recognize opportunities for growth, and identify their support systems. 

Encourage self-direction, provide robust systems of support

Opportunities for self-direction are relatively easy to integrate into instruction, but we need to recognize that students will need different levels of support to develop their sense of agency.  Here’s the idea: We can teach students to identify what is meaningful to them, to set goals and then determine the individual steps they need to get there. Then, we can help students identify potential challenges they might encounter and the support systems they can draw on to navigate these challenges. Students will have more success becoming self-directed when supported within a positive and caring learning environment.

For example, consider a student who is struggling because of too many competing priorities. They might be challenged to manage responsibilities at home, school, after-school activities, and a part-time job. As a first step, educators must see each student as a valued participant in the learning process and take time to understand each student’s context. With this understanding, educators can teach students the specific skill of creating a schedule that takes into account each of their responsibilities and allow for downtime. Then, we can teach students the skills they need, such as prioritizing, problem-solving, asking for help, and communicating proactively to resolve conflicts. Giving students the opportunity to practice these skills within a supportive environment is critical for success.

Extending support beyond the classroom

While classrooms play a pivotal role in social-emotional development, a broader community effort is essential. Schools, as integral parts of communities, create positive and safe learning environments. But there are many hours of out-of-school time for students. Sports teams, community groups, and faith-based organizations also offer ways for students to develop their sense of agency. 

For example, in Boise, where I live, there is an organization called One Stone. It’s a student-driven nonprofit that empowers student voice and provides high school students with opportunities to drive their learning, practice relevant 21st century skills, and engage in purpose-driven and passion-based learning. One program they offer is Project Good, in which students work together in groups on community service projects they identify, shape and carry out. Students get to engage and work on an issue that is meaningful to them, and through the process, they learn skills like collaboration, planning, social awareness, problem-solving and the power of collective action.

Social and emotional development is a lifelong pursuit 

We know from multiple studies that when schools create positive learning environments and explicitly teach social-emotional skills, students achieve better outcomes. That’s why it’s so important to infuse social and emotional skill development throughout students’ school careers.

With a focus on social-emotional skills, we also need to be more intentional in preparing students for life outside of school by helping them become more self-directed in their own development. During the school day, so much of students’ lives are scheduled and directed for them. But when students go off to college or join the workforce, they have more freedom and responsibility without the oversight they’ve been accustomed to.  

And, as the economy changes, jobs change and we need to prepare graduates for jobs that don’t even yet exist. How do we do that? By identifying some of the core life skills they will need as they continue to navigate a rapidly evolving world. There is a need for more emphasis on teaching skills such as flexibility, collaboration, self-directed learning and communication, which, according to a recent study, are some of the most important skills for over 40 percent of all workers. 

Most importantly, agency and self-determination are highly associated with a person’s overall well-being and happiness. These social and emotional skills are critical for navigating life’s challenges and feeling empowered to bring about change. We are most in need of strong social and emotional skills during times of adversity, but that is also when we are the most challenged to draw on them. Empowering students to take charge of their social and emotional development, both in and outside of the classroom, sets the stage for a lifelong pursuit of well-being.

Giving students a voice plays a key role in developing agency. Accomplishing this requires a dual focus on self-directed learning while providing robust support systems. Through a collaborative effort involving schools, communities and families, students can be well prepared for the future and lead fulfilling lives. 

Key points:

• Differentiation helps teachers meet students where they are
• These strategies help teachers differentiate instruction easily and effectively
• See related article: 3 pillars for building a positive classroom culture
• For more news on differentiation, see eSN’s Innovative Teaching page
• Discover Technology Tools for Teaching and Learning

Differentiation is an essential part of effective teaching. As educators, we recognize that each of our students is on their own unique learning journey. Some are following their interests, others are preparing for a future career, while many more are just trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in the world.

Any teacher hoping to meet their students where they are and help them grow into active learners cannot rely on a one-size-fits-all method of instruction. Differentiation must play a key role in their teaching philosophy.

However, teachers are busy people with an ever-growing list of responsibilities. How is an educator supposed to differentiate instruction while juggling multiple demands on their time? By using the three practical, teacher-tested ideas below, educators can allow students to take ownership of their learning journey. Let’s explore Low Floor High Ceiling, Different-AI-tion, and PEWC:

A1. Low Floor, High Ceiling: Low-Floor, High-Ceiling activities allow any student to participate and find success, regardless of how much they may struggle. However, they also challenge students to improve and grow, no matter how advanced they are. One example of a Low Floor, High Ceiling activity is to task students with constructing a literal mascot for their knowledge. Have them use everyday materials to build a character that represents something they are learning about. Once complete, they’ll explain the symbolism behind their construction to deepen their understanding of the subject – and they’ll do it in their own way, expressing their understanding at a level that makes sense to them.

A2. Different-AI-tion: Artificial Intelligence tools can save teachers valuable time and allow them to differentiate in wonderful new ways. Leverage the power of AI with power differentiation activities like an AI Level Adjustment. Simply take the text of an assignment and have an AI tool like ChatGPT adjust the reading level or the challenge level up or down to meet the needs of the classroom — or create leveled challenges that students can progress through as they gain mastery. Assignments can even be adjusted so they cover the same standards, but directly integrate student interests like sports, pop culture, or videogames!  

A3. PEWC: There are four broad ways to teach that are always differentiated, just by their very nature: Project-Based Learning (PBL), Engineering, Writing, and Creation. PBL allows students to use what they’ve learned to make an impact on open-ended challenges that extend outside the walls of their classroom. Engineering requires students to optimize and challenges them to grow. Writing encourages students to approach an assignment with their own creative voice, and Creation allows them to express their understanding, perspective, and skills on whatever task is in front of them. By infusing PEWC activities into the classroom, teachers can deepen their differentiation immediately and effectively.

Differentiating instruction doesn’t need to feel overwhelming for teachers. By employing techniques such as the “Low-Floor, High-Ceiling” approach, integrating AI into lessons, and applying the PEWC principles to classroom activities, educators can create an environment where each student can learn and thrive at their own pace. Be sure to check out this free webinar from Van Andel Institute for Education to discover even more learning strategies for the busy educator.

Key points:

• When students are given choice in their learning, they are more empowered to achieve
• Student agency is a critical part of personalized learning
• See related article: Will, skill, & thrill: How learner agency accelerates innovation

In my more than 20 years of supporting students on their academic journey, I’ve realized there are no “magic” solutions in education. But there are some strategies that have proven to be more effective than others in helping all students succeed.

One of the most basic, yet effective, strategies is giving students choice and agency over their learning.

Student agency empowers learners to play a more active role in their own education by taking charge of the learning process under the guidance of skilled educators. Agency is a key element in personalizing education, and research has found that students who have agency in their learning are happier in school and more likely to achieve success.

The benefits of student agency

Students are more engaged and motivated.

When students have a voice in their learning, they can choose topics and activities that align with their strengths and interests and that are personally meaningful to them—resulting in deeper engagement and better academic achievement.

Besides allowing students to pursue topics that interest them, the sense of ownership and autonomy that student agency provides is very motivating in itself. In his best-selling book Drive, author Daniel Pink observes that autonomy is a key driver of human motivation. As Pink writes in the book: “Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.”

In surveys conducted earlier this year, one-third third of educators characterized students as unmotivated to do their best work academically—and 14 percent of students agreed they were unmotivated in school.

When asked what their teachers could do to help motivate them, students identified a number of strategies related to agency. For instance, 29 percent of students said: “Let me do assignments on topics that interest me if they are relevant to what we are learning.” Nearly a quarter of students (24 percent) said: “Offer a choice of different ways I can demonstrate I have learned something.”

Students learn independence and other skills needed for success.

By taking responsibility for their own education, students learn how to become more independent and advocate for themselves. If they have agency over their schedule, they also learn how to manage their time effectively.

These are skills that will serve students well once they graduate. Whether they go on to college or begin a career immediately after high school, they will no longer have somebody telling them what to do and when to do it. Learning independence is a key life skill that will set them up for success in whatever activities they pursue.

Students learn content that is directly relevant for their future.

When students have choices in what they learn, they can tailor their education to suit the career path they envision for themselves. This means they can get a head start on learning the content they’ll need to master in preparing for a specific job. It also gives students a chance to discover early on that maybe they don’t like their chosen career path after all, before they invest money in a degree program in college.

The earlier students begin to think about possible career paths, the better—and student agency allows for this exploration to occur.

How to give students agency

Educators can give students more agency over their education by letting them choose how, what, and/or when to learn.

How to learn: Give students a voice in their courses by letting them choose how to learn about a topic and/or demonstrate their knowledge.

A report from The Education Trust describes three ways to build choice into student assignments: Teachers can let students choose the content they’ll focus on, the process they’ll use to learn about it, and/or the product they’ll create to demonstrate their learning.

To give students a choice in content, teachers can present broad topics to everyone but allow students to focus on a particular aspect of the topic. In an English class, for instance, teachers might give students a list of books relating to a certain theme and let students choose which book to read. For a history class studying World War II, one student or group might learn about the Normandy invasion, while another might take on the rise of fascism and a third might explore the Pacific front. Students could present their findings to the entire class so that everyone has a broad understanding of the topic, but they have agency in choosing which aspect to research.

Choice in process acknowledges that students learn in different ways. “Honoring these preferences,” the report says, “means offering assignments in which students are given the freedom to design their course of action, sequence their steps as they go along, work alone or with peers, or manage timelines and deliverables”—with teachers providing support as needed.

Choice in product lets students decide how to show what they’ve learned. They might write an essay, compile a slideshow presentation, or create a video, for instance. If teachers want students to use the same method of expression—say, creating a song—they might let students choose the genre: a pop song, a rap, or a commercial jingle.

What to learn: Give students a variety of choices in the topics they can study by expanding the range of courses available to them.

Offering a wide range of courses might be hard for many schools to do alone. They might not have the budget to hire additional teachers, or they might not be able to find and recruit teachers with the necessary expertise.

 A partner like VHS Learning can help. Almost 20,000 students in more than 600 high schools around the world use our nonprofit’s courses to supplement their school’s face-to-face offerings.

For example, our courses Veterinary Medicine and Animal Behavior and Zoology have proven to be quite popular among students who are considering a career in veterinary science. Our Forensic Science course engages students in STEM learning, and our American Sign Language courses help students become better communicators.

When to learn: Another advantage of VHS Learning courses is that they give students agency to learn at a time of their choosing. As long as students meet the required deadlines, it doesn’t matter when they complete their work. If students don’t function well in the morning and like to sleep in, they can learn later in the day if they desire. This flexibility appeals to many learners, especially those whose needs aren’t served as well by a traditional fixed school schedule.

A powerful approach

In my role in supporting student success, I have seen firsthand how powerful student agency is in motivating students. When students are given choices in how, what, and/or when to learn, their engagement soars. They invest more effort in their education, and they achieve better learning outcomes as a result. Student agency might not be a “magic” solution, but it’s a simple strategy that can have a profound effect on learning and achievement.

Related: What is student agency–and why do we need it?

Key points:

• You don’t have to be an expert to be a tutor–you just need a willingness to learn as an adult
• Working with a reputable tutoring organization is essential
• See related article: 6 keys to effective tutoring

What do directing planes to land successfully on the runway and directing students to read successfully in the classroom have in common? A lot, as I found out during my transition to tutor following three decades of managing the flow of aircraft around the country. 

When I joined the Air Force in 1988, I became an Air Traffic Controller. I didn’t know it then, but this job would lead me down a path that included an eight-year military career and 22 years at the Department of Defense. During my 30 years of service, I managed both the training, and standardization and evaluation departments before becoming the tower chief controller.

As I looked toward retirement in 2019, I knew I still wanted to do meaningful work, but I wasn’t sure what I was qualified to do. My daughter, who was teaching English online, inspired my next steps, and now I’m in my fourth year of tutoring, supporting students and my fellow tutors to develop their skills. While controlling air traffic and online tutoring are worlds apart, there are a few key considerations that made all the difference in my career shift. Here are my tips for those considering a career switch to tutoring:

1. Work with a reputable tutoring organization. They can help you channel your natural skills and qualifications and focus them into being an effective tutor. I started my orientation by attending a workshop where I learned to use tutoring programs. My cohort and I had several days to practice the lessons and become familiar with the platform to gain confidence and familiarity with what our students would see. By the end of this time, I felt confident in my abilities and the resources I had available to ensure my, and my students’, success.

2. Choose a company that fits your needs. I wake up early to review my schedule, prepare for the day’s classes, and check to see if there are any substitute classes I’d like to pick up. My class times will often change with each new cohort; I might be tutoring at 9 a.m., 7 p.m., or any time between, so I do other daily tasks when I’m not in my office. Aside from the standard considerations of what a position pays and time off policy, here are some other questions you should ask before committing to a tutoring agency:

• Do they only offer tutoring in the evening? Does that work with your schedule?
  • Are you required to provide lessons or be a subject expert?
    • Will you get paid for prep time and writing feedback?
    • Will you get charged for missing or canceling a class?
    • Are you expected to work a holiday if your client doesn’t celebrate it?
    • Does the company align with your values?

Asking these questions can help you better assess if a tutoring organization is the right fit for you.

3. Be yourself. Students value authenticity and they know when you’re not being your true self. I didn’t spend years teaching in a classroom and I don’t have a degree in education; however, I trained hundreds of air traffic personnel while also being a mom and grandmother, so I’ve been a teacher in various capacities for many years. I don’t try to be someone I’m not. Instead, I use what I know to make me a better tutor.

4. Don’t fake it ’til you make it. Despite what you may hear, “faking it until you make it” almost never serves you well. Rather than burying my head in the sand on a topic or question I need support with, I use what I don’t know to make me a better tutor. I ask the question. I do the research. Tutors are oftentimes students, too! Not knowing is okay, but pretending you know the answer when you don’t is a choice that not only impacts you, but will impact your students.

The commitment is worth it

Students have the greatest chance of success when they have a consistent relationship with their tutor, so the commitment has to start with the tutor. When I show up fully for my students, they know they’re valued which increases the likelihood they’ll show up fully in return.

Seeing my small groups of students two to three times a week allows me to catch and fix foundational errors that often make or break reading skills, comprehension, and enjoyment. It also allows me to get to know them not just as learners but as people. High-impact tutoring has quickly become one of the few evidence-based approaches to combat learning loss, but we need more qualified tutors to deliver it.

When I sit back at the end of my day and wonder whether I’m making a difference, I remind myself of the wins I’ve seen with each student I’ve taught. Seeing the joy on their faces when they’ve successfully passed a lesson, or learned how to correctly pronounce letters will stay with me for a lifetime.

Related:
5 ways virtual tutoring reinforces our after-school program

Before the pandemic, the trend for more personalized, learner-centric experiences in education already existed—the resulting lockdowns merely accelerated digital transformation, which continues to gain momentum across industries.

Dubbed the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” our entire world is rapidly digitizing, which means jobs—and the knowledge and skills they require—are changing faster than ever. As a result, the half-life of the newest technology is shrinking rapidly, and the skills gap is widening with potentially detrimental effects.

Today’s workers must continuously learn and evolve throughout their careers, making the need for upskilling and reskilling more vital. While technology continues to advance, a single degree or credential will not sustain the average worker, as today’s younger generations switch jobs and industries far more than their parents and grandparents did.

Edtech companies can position themselves to successfully provide breakthrough education solutions as people of all ages and skill levels take charge of their own lifelong learning. The market is ready for a leader who can capitalize on this opportunity.

Seeking demand and becoming more adaptable and flexible

Today’s learners are overwhelmed as they navigate apps, videos, IoT devices, and real-time online lessons–many of which they have never used before. To become a market leader, edtech companies must bridge disconnected learning experiences and reimagine how to serve learners for life at every age and skill level. Edtech companies must become more adaptable and flexible, understanding needs and meeting people where they want to learn. Transforming into a more agile business also means being willing to pivot to find where demand is naturally. Two exemplar enterprises that encapsulate this mindset are Amazon and Google. They have stretched and expanded themselves into the ecosystems of services and brands that consumers want—from healthcare and cloud services to entertainment and electronics.  

An ecosystem that provides opportunities for every age level of the learner journey

To create a business model that is highly customizable and capable of finding and pursuing demand, edtech companies must build a data-driven ecosystem that can accompany learners through every stage of their lives—from preschool through high school and throughout their professional lives, leisure time and retirement.

Related:
4 tips for using data to differentiate instruction
This school year, align teaching strategies with student learning styles

This ecosystem wouldn’t be focused on schools or teachers. Instead, it would center around the learner and be highly personalized, serving as a progress tracker that provides supplemental material and insights into the learner’s skills and challenges through machine learning. At the earliest stages of the student’s development, the ecosystem, which would encompass apps, devices, and hands-on learning experiences, could help the student learn the alphabet and distinguish between numbers and colors. Through middle school and high school, it would anticipate the user’s future needs while also tracking how the student best learns so that content is engaging. Likewise, the ecosystem must ensure smooth transitions between learning at home and learning at school–offering online tutoring for difficult classes when the student is struggling, for example. Then, in preparation for graduation, the ecosystem would suggest summer internships and post-secondary education opportunities to the learner, based on the information and data it collects. Even in college, the ecosystem would deliver content and track progress as it learns and anticipates what the user needs for success.  

Reimagining how to serve learners for life

Not only should this ecosystem follow the learner through their education journey, but it should also help them successfully transition into their first job and beyond. When it comes time to match the learner with employers, the ecosystem can rely on the years of data and insights gathered for the best fit possible. But it won’t stop there – designed to be flexible and versatile, it could connect with the employee’s portal or account to assist with further professional development. From home, the user could continue to take courses in subjects they are interested in, honing their skills. Whether practicing recreational hobbies or taking management courses, the ecosystem would always supply content directly to the user’s devices. By continuously learning, the ecosystem would also become more personalized as the user ages, offering wellness content, physical education and even volunteer opportunities. Eventually, the user would view this ecosystem as a trusted partner that grows and evolves alongside them throughout their educational and career journey.

Finding a forward-thinking partner 

The market opportunity for lifelong learning is enormous, as our society is far more accustomed to and dependent on devices for learning needs. Edtech companies that create solutions capable of growing with the consumer, leveraging data for smart customization, will have unparalleled success. Crafting, building, and delivering such digital solutions is a monumental task requiring the help of a trusted partner who specializes in strategy, data analytics, experience design and learning platforms. Additionally, this partner would need to possess a range of forward-thinking expertise to facilitate the lifelong learner experience described above. Regardless of how this solution comes into being, it will require a reimagined approach to education to fit within the post-pandemic paradigm.  

Finding ways to help all students grow academically – regardless of where they are starting from – can be challenging. From my experiences teaching special education, general education, and English Learners, I can tell you there is no one-size-fits-all approach that works.

In order to meet the unique and individual learning needs of each student, teachers have to find ways to differentiate instruction, and data is critical to doing so.

Teachers often have a lot of assessment data at their fingertips, but they have to know how to use it in order to be successful. An administrator once said in a meeting, “Data by itself is useless. Data is only useful if you apply it.”

To help guide your own informed data-driven differentiated instruction, here are some things to keep in mind.

Data should be collected consistently over time. It should not just be a one-and-done approach. You must be able to collect data pre- and post-lesson, as well as after any intervention.

Data should be organized by standards. As a math teacher, I appreciate being able to get a detailed look at data that is specifically organized by standards. This helps me better understand what areas students are mastering and what areas they may need more help in.

In Florida, our standards are linked through the grade levels, so the data also allows me to see if students are below grade level and why. For instance, perhaps a student missed a benchmark in a previous year and that is preventing them from moving forward. It’s like building blocks –each grade level prepares you for the next step.

Related:
3 considerations for differentiation in the classroom
Here’s why differentiation isn’t difficult

Resources and lessons should be aligned to the data. Once you have your data, you can differentiate instruction by seeing where there may be a gap and determining which prerequisite lessons may be necessary in order for the student to catch up. If the data shows a student is having difficulty with a specific standard/benchmark/mathematical concept, then I can focus on getting extra resources to address that need.

i-Ready from Curriculum Associates has been great for tying data to instructional resources as it helps assess each student using an online diagnostic and then provides personalized lessons based on each student’s results. The accompanying Teacher Toolbox  has also been so helpful in providing resources that are perfectly aligned to the standards I am currently teaching. This all helps me seamlessly connect student data and instruction – I can increase the rigor of the lessons and classroom activities once I see students are mastering concepts or I can go back and assign prerequisite lessons if students are struggling.    

This process has yielded great results for my students. In fact, last year I had a class that was 80 percent ESOL. I worked in class with those students in small centers, and then assigned them to work on their i-Ready lessons independently at home. Some students ended the year showing 100 percent, 200 percent, and even 300 percent growth!

Students should be involved in their own growth. Try using students’ assessment data to help them set goals and to get them excited and invested in their academic growth. When I receive my students’ diagnostic reports, I usually share the complete growth report (not just the scores) with each student so they can see their improvements. This allows students who may have scored below grade-level to better understand why and where they could improve. Plus, it makes them feel even more proud when they make upward growth on the next diagnostic.

I also set monthly goals for “passed” lessons and award my students a “badge” if they reach their goal. And, I have end-of-the-year prizes, certificates, and awards for students who earned a certain number of badges. These are all listed on my class website: https://parrasclass.weebly.com/i-ready.html. This approach has helped me keep students motivated, encouraged, and excited about working to get to that next level.

While helping them celebrate growth, it’s also important to help students understand that it’s okay to not get every answer right. I have a motto posted at the front of my room that says: “I learn more from my mistakes than I do from my success.” It’s been a huge help in getting students to let go of the stigma or mindset that causes them to fear getting anything wrong.

As a math teacher, I also love that it allows me the opportunity to teach problem-solving and the fact that there are MANY ways to get an answer to a problem. Differentiated instruction during small group time allows me to practice these different strategies with the students so they are prepared with many strategies on how to get a solution when faced with a problem. The more I work with students independently to help them “catch up,” the more they want to participate in class and continue that forward growth.

For me, data has been an invaluable tool for differentiating learning and also for supporting a growth mindset. The results in my classroom have been amazing. Students no longer hide or duck down in hopes of not being called on. I’ve had students who began the year sitting shyly in the back of the classroom grow into students who raise their hand for every question.

This is my goal for all students – to help them feel proud of their accomplishments and eager to grow even more.

The COVID-19 pandemic created an educational environment that had never been seen before. Many students –– and instructors –– were abruptly forced to transition from traditional classroom learning to adopt a new remote format. It accelerated the emergence of a new dynamic learning environment, where students learn in innovative ways far different from how education systems were originally designed. With advancements in technology and the rise of remote learning, classrooms are being remodeled and redefined to fit the evolving needs of modern digital learners.

But if there’s one thing that educators have learned over the last two years, it’s that a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction doesn’t work when you want to empower everyone to succeed in the classroom. Many educators were forced to rethink how to keep students engaged, and pandemic-era learning has only further highlighted the importance of differentiated instruction.

The forced disruption was also the catalyst for students and teachers to quickly acquire digital skills that are ripe to be amplified, taking them from consuming skills to creating skills. As teachers integrate technology into their lesson plans, they’re discovering various classroom tools effective in reaching and enriching the minds of all types of students—from visual and auditory to kinesthetic learners.

Five Principles of Learning

Before exploring how technology can alleviate pressure from teachers to deliver the right teaching and learning environment that accommodates various learning styles, it’s important to home in on Merrill’s Principles of Instruction. David Merrill studied various instructional design theories and models to identify a number of principles common to each. In his research, Merrill established five instructional principles that can be applied when designing a program or practice to achieve effective and efficient instruction across the various learning styles. In short, Merrill’s principles highlight that learning is promoted when:

• Learners are engaged in solving real-world problems;
• Existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge;
• New knowledge is demonstrated to the learner;
• New knowledge is applied by the learner;
• New knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world.

These five principles outline the power of hands-on learning in each form, where each individual student makes real meaning of the process. It’s never been more important for educators to incorporate these principles into classroom practice and curriculum design, which employs STEM-thinking over siloed content understanding, to prepare students for an increasingly digital future.

Visual Learners

Visual learners are at their best when they first see what they’re expected to know. These students are partial to seeing and observing vivid displays and can be engaged through the use of images, presentations and videos. Also known as “spatial” learners, these students might draw, make lists or take notes in order to interact and process information. Thinking back to Merrill’s Principles of Instruction, visual learners will absorb information more effectively when they see a prime example, typically through demonstration. For example, a visual demonstration of the task that outlines each step, and explores associated behaviors and skills.

Teachers can use technology to produce these visual aids to help students understand lessons. For instance, interactive displays allow teachers to apply the demonstration principle by showcasing educational videos, online tutorials, or even rich infographics that showcase main ideas. Closed captioning with videos can also enhance student engagement in the classroom. Using visual and auditory learning aids in tandem can help increase student’s retention of new information, with studies suggesting that captions can help improve students’ comprehension of topics and consequently, test scores.

Additionally, teachers can further engage with visual learners by pushing images, videos, and text-based content from their own devices while students efficiently take notes in class and follow along with lesson plans through eye-catching graphic elements. Large vivid displays can also be used for virtual field trips anywhere in the world, creating immersive and memorable experiences for the students.

This technology also enables a more seamless experience for teachers when presenting classroom materials. Teachers can use interactive displays to take screenshots of their lessons, instantly saving them and sending them to the whole class when needed. This flexibility allows visual learners to reference course material at their own time and pace, ensuring visual students’ unique learning styles are met.

Auditory Learners

Students with auditory learning styles learn best by the transfer of information through listening: to the spoken word, of self or others, of sounds and noises. These students would much rather listen to a lecture than read written notes and often use their voices to reinforce new concepts and ideas. Teachers have the ability to record lessons to share with students once class is over. Creating audio content for auditory learners is incredibly beneficial to students, as it allows them to easily reference recordings of previous lessons to relisten and process information at their own rate.

Additionally, by focusing on Merrill’s “activation” principle, teachers can emphasize the importance of linking new information to past experiences, enhancing the meaning and relevancy of new ideas and concepts. This can be done through an active conversation that discusses how new subject matters relate to real-world examples, simulations, or by telling stories that meld the old with the new. Classroom technology provides many methods of audio engagement, with standard examples including sound from computers and TVs, or through interactive displays with built-in speakers. Additionally, teachers can better engage with auditory learners by allowing enough time after a lesson to discuss or set up smaller breakout groups, as these students tend to want to hear what others have to say and share their ideas to learn and process information.

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners, sometimes called tactile learners, need to perform interactive activities to understand new concepts. They thrive off of physical, hands-on experiences –– touching, feeling, holding, doing. These students learn to perform a new task by going ahead and trying it out and learning as they go. Based on Merrill’s Principles of Instruction, kinesthetic learners can be engaged through the application of skills and information they’ve learned in the form of interactive problem-solving and task performance. For example, these learners can be encouraged to carry out each step of the task or lesson plan on their own, allowing them to see the challenges and obstacles first hand. They gain the knowledge and experience they need to solve the problem in the real world.

Chalk and dry-erase markers can do the basics, but the creative tools brought on by interactive displays can garner student attention and engagement. Writing with a stylus allows for a variety of pen colors, styles and widths, allowing kinesthetic learners to feel as if they are writing on paper. But going beyond the traditional chalkboard or whiteboard, these Images can be captured, cropped and edited right on the screen. Creativity is unleashed when students can enhance visuals or create original work using a brush—just like working in watercolor or oil painting in art class, but digitally.

Online Learners

While many schools have transitioned back to entirely in-person learning, one in five schools still plan to offer remote learning as an option for students and parents. It’s good news for a new type of learner that emerged from the pandemic—the online learner who has thrived in the remote classroom. It’s just as important for educators to ensure these students feel connected and develop at the same pace as their peers. According to Merrill’s Principles of Instruction, the key with online learners is to ensure they’re playing an active role in the learning process, instead of sitting idly by while information is presented. The principle of engagement can be adopted in a myriad of ways, including working together in online groups to see things from different perspectives to participating in interactive scenarios autonomously.

A cohesive mix of displays, learning platforms and video conferencing can bridge in-person and remote learning in a seamless way where teachers feel like they’re teaching a single blended classroom. For instance, one interactive display can be placed at the front of the classroom to serve as a presentation screen and whiteboard, while a second display shows the remote learners just like another row in a classroom. Teachers have the ability to call on remote learners just like their in-person peers to answer questions as if they were physically together. A webcam can be placed on the second display to enhance the experience for remote learners, enabling them to see what’s happening in the classroom. Finally, everyone uses a single learning platform to answer questions, collaborate on assignments, take quizzes and more, emphasizing a collaborative, hybrid environment. The result is more inclusivity in a highly interactive classroom where everyone has appropriate opportunities to excel.

Looking Ahead

Understanding these different learning styles doesn’t end in the classroom. By equipping students with tools in their formative years, teachers are empowering them for their futures. Innovative edtech tools have proven instrumental in engaging students in the classroom, be it in-person or virtually. As we learn from the lessons from the past two years, it’s clear that the classroom of the future is closer than ever.

The success of online opportunities has led to new possibilities and greater reception of facilitating an enriching learning environment that accommodates students of varying learning styles. No two students learn the same way, but with the right tools, educators can address diversity in learning styles and experiences.

In a new survey of thousands of U.S. educators, teachers validate concerns over student engagement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but believe that technology and student-centered approaches to teaching can help to reinvigorate students in the fall.

Seven in 10 teachers believe that their students are more engaged when lessons involve play, and 68 percent of teachers said that their students are more likely to remember what they learn during learning activities they choose themselves. The survey of 8,000 was conducted by Kahoot!. 

“Even with most schools back to fully in-person learning, educators are reporting that their students continue to struggle. So much was out of students’ control for so long, and it’s no surprise that we’re seeing teachers pick up on the importance of student choice in their own learning,” said Louisa Rosenheck, Director of Pedagogy for the Kahoot! Group.

“And teachers are right. The learning science is clear that when students demonstrate agency and choice over their learning, they’re more engaged, and more likely to retain knowledge. As we go into the new school year, we should be listening to teachers and giving them the agency, tools, and flexibility to prioritize student engagement and joy.” 

The data is clear that the stresses of the global pandemic have had an outsized impact on students’ academic, emotional, and social wellbeing.

Kahoot! conducted the survey of K-12 and higher education educators in May 2022 to understand what practices and tools can best support students in the year ahead.

Among the key findings:

• Student engagement is still suffering: Despite many schools being back in person this past year, 59% of teachers surveyed noted that their students are less engaged and motivated in class than before the pandemic. And, 6 in 10 teachers said that their students have struggled with feeling a lack of control. 
• Teachers see student choice as critical to supporting engagement and learning: 7 in 10 educators said their students are more likely to remember what they learn during learning activities they choose themselves. Likewise, 70% also reported that their students are more engaged when they’re able to explore a variety of learning experiences and choose what they’re interested in.
• Technology can play a role in facilitating student-centered learning:  As more teachers use educational technology in their daily classrooms, 3 in 4 educators surveyed said technology has been an important tool for making learning more active and student-centered, primarily by enabling students to learn through play. 

“I think teachers are willing to try new things to bring joy and excitement back into the classroom. What we’re seeing in this survey resonates with my experience supporting educators in our district. There’s an enthusiasm to leverage edtech to give students experiences that make learning fun,” said Ashley Morrison,  an Innovative Teaching and Learning Coach at Indian Hill School District in Ohio.

“Motivating students is top of mind for all of us as we go into the new school year. The good news is, there are so many tools now at our fingertips that make it possible to find what clicks for each student.”

“Research shows that student-centered learning and pedagogies that give students choice and voice are great for learning. But what’s so encouraging about these survey results is that we see that teachers also perceive this to be true,” Rosenheck added. “The more they notice the efficacy of playful learning and student agency, the more likely they are to shift their practice and have a positive impact on students.”

This press release originally ran on Kahoot!’s website.

Personalized learning offers myriad possibilities for teachers and students. And in the wake of the pandemic, as educators try to manage learning gaps, individualized learning is more critical than ever.

New edtech developments have helped these learning techniques become more efficient, scalable, and achievable for educators over the last decade. While many strategies were forced to take a back seat to more pressing challenges during the pandemic, and now it’s time to turn our attention to a more individual form of learning once again.

Join eSchool News and a panel of experts to explore what personalized learning looks like now and what’s to come. You’ll hear these experts share best practices, and you’ll learn why assessment and accountability are more important than ever in today’s K-12 landscape.

Personalized learning is more critical than ever–it can help students recover lost learning and boost social-emotional growth. What’s more, it helps educators in dire need of learning solutions.

New edtech developments have helped these learning techniques become more efficient, scalable, and achievable for educators over the last decade. But many strategies were forced to take a back seat to more pressing challenges during the pandemic, and now it’s time to turn our attention to a more individual form of learning once again.

Join eSchool News and a panel of experts to explore what personalized learning looks like now and what’s to come. You’ll hear these experts share best practices, and you’ll learn why assessment and accountability are more important than ever in today’s K-12 landscape.

There’s a good chance you arched an eyebrow upon reading the headline of this article. After all, differentiation can be one of the most stressful and time-consuming parts of a teacher’s life. Tailoring our instruction to meet the specific needs of students can feel like a massive undertaking. Do we consider the learning environment? The content? How do we meet the multiple, diverging needs of numerous students all at once?

These can be intimidating questions, but differentiation doesn’t have to be something educators dread doing. No matter what we teach or how we teach it, students make sense of it in their own unique ways. Once we understand this truth, we can implement simple strategies that allow students to shape the content to their way of thinking.

Here are just a few teacher hacks to help you get started in your own classroom.

Three simple strategies for differentiation

Hack #1 – PEWC: PEWC is an acronym for Project-Based Learning, Engineering, Writing, and Creation.These four areas are perfect for giving students challenges that exercise their curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.

For starters, they allow students to use what they’re studying to make an impact on the larger world, particularly in the case of project-based learning. Afterwards, they create opportunities for growth and understanding by encouraging students to reflect upon their work.

Hack #2 – IDEAs: IDEAs is another acronym that stands for Innately Differentiated Educational Activities. These are what some educators call “Low Floor, High Ceiling” activities. Even students with a lower level of understanding can participate in them. One example would be a Brain Dump, where students list everything they know about a subject. Another possibility is to encourage your students to come up with alternative explanations or hypotheses to an answer. This challenges them to think more flexibly.

Hack #3 – Assessmental health: By engendering a healthy mindset around assessment, we can teach students how to be curious and approach learning as a lifelong journey. One way is by asking a simple question, “What else do you know?” This question gives students a chance to show off their knowledge in a deeply differentiated way. Another way is by challenging students to teach you something. In return for a new, interesting fact, offer your students one point of extra credit on a test.

Moving forward

If you’re interested in learning about these strategies in more detail, be sure to check out this free resource. Differentiation will always be a challenge for educators, but if we give our students the opportunity to explore these concepts and invest in their own learning, there’s no telling what they can discover.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the prospect of differentiation. The simplest strategies can go a long way in making your lessons memorable, meaningful, and fun!  

Differentiated classroom instruction has always been part of U.S. public education, but today’s focus on tailoring each lesson for each student can overwhelm teachers. There are, however, best-practice approaches to differentiating instruction that enable educators to provide customized learning experiences for students without creating an unmanageable burden for teachers. Here are the top three considerations for doing differentiation in the classroom right.

1. Redefine ‘differentiation’

Too often, educators are encouraged to implement a personalized approach for each individual student instead of recognizing the benefits that groups of students can enjoy from similar modifications to the curriculum. Teachers can adopt a manageable approach to differentiation in the classroom by identifying clusters of student needs and then classifying the most beneficial ways to differentiate instruction for these groups. The goal is to understand what will work for most students, while creating more than one entry point or path for individual student learning.

In designing these points of entry, teachers can cluster students by the types of needs they may have.

Teachers can effectively differentiate learning by assessing students’ readiness to learn in the following areas:

• Current academic performance in the content domain.
• Potential for academic performance in the domain, with consideration of learning opportunities and possible obstacles.
• Affect related to school, including anxiety.
• Academic interests or what excites the student.
• Motivation, including concepts such as grit, growth mindset, and resilience.

Teachers have a lot of flexibility in using this information for differentiation in the classroom. For example, the first three bullets may determine the pacing and amount of practice students may require, while the last two bullets can help determine product choices or extension activities. 

Carol Ann Tomlinson, a leading expert on the topic of differentiating content, suggests that differentiation can occur along several continuums, which include pace, depth of content, level of structure, and complexity. The best continuum to use will depend on students’ current and potential academic achievement as well as their effect, interests, and motivation. Resources like this can help educators identify the most effective and efficient paths for differentiation. 

It is also important to keep in mind that in addition to content, educators can create differentiation in the classroom based on students’ interests and social-emotional needs.

2. Make differentiation manageable

There are multiple approaches to making differentiation manageable. Total School Cluster Grouping (TSCG), a strategy developed by Marcia Gentry, the director of the Gifted Education Resource Institute and Professor of Educational Studies at Purdue University, and her colleagues, seeks to limit performance variability within classrooms. In a typical single age-based classroom, students can vary by up to four grade levels of performance.

The goal of TSCG is to create more homogenous classrooms, not only because students can benefit from learning with students just above or below their performance level, but also because individual teachers will need to differentiate for only two or three broad levels of academic performance instead of four or five. I recommend that more schools consider this approach.

3. Separate current performance from potential for performance

While we cannot measure a student’s true potential for learning without considering educational opportunities, ability tests can provide greater insight into a student’s academic potential than an achievement test alone. A student’s performance on achievement tests reflects mainly on the quality (and quantity) of past instruction–the learning that has already occurred. By contrast, an ability test engages students in reasoning about novel problems. It demonstrates thinking skills learned from everyday life and gauges a student’s readiness to engage with new content. This readiness to learn is informed to various degrees by biology, learning experiences, and the developmental environment (e.g., how much language they’re exposed to, how often they are asked to think with numbers, etc.). 

A student’s current performance on an achievement test helps teachers decide what content a student needs next. Ability test scores add deeper insights related to the optimal pace of instruction, complexity, and the degree of structure that will be most effective for the student. Weaker ability scores in a particular area indicate that a student will likely require more structured practice and a slower pace of instruction in that area. Stronger ability scores in an area indicate that the student will likely be able to learn content in that area faster and more independently.

When using ability scores, also consider the degree of Opportunity to Learn (OTL) each student may have. While avoiding stereotyping or overgeneralization, teachers should recognize that parental influence and access to educational resources play a significant role in ability test performance, especially for younger students. These same influences have a more direct and powerful effect on achievement test performance. This is why flexible grouping and retesting is essential for using ability scores to plan effective instruction or enrichment opportunities that can lead to remarkable growth in achievement scores.

There’s no doubt that differentiated classroom instruction is essential to providing the best educational outcomes for the greatest number of students. However, there are also more effective and less effective ways to go about it.  By taking a thoughtful, best-practices approach, schools can provide the learning environment that students need without burdening teachers with complex and time-consuming tasks. 

A new report from the Clayton Christensen Institute offers unique insights and recommendations for education as schools strive to move toward student-centered learning practices.

In the report, author Thomas Arnett highlights findings from survey data and discussed trends in instructional practices that could help redirect education and reshape its future.

Taking conventional classrooms online

This first survey reveals that many remote and hybrid instructional models are replicating the traditional classroom experience, only now, that classroom is online.

Almost half of teachers surveyed said they teach via live synchronous instruction for the equivalent of a regular school day. What’s more, the materials teachers use to teach online are typically intended for synchronous instruction–just 22 percent of teachers use commercial materials specifically designed for remote instruction.

The technologies teachers use follow this same pattern–the most-used technologies are those used to bring traditional classes to the cloud, such as LMSs and video streaming. Tools that support student-centered practices like mastery-based learning and individualized pathways are much less common.

Eighty-nine percent of teachers use tech to manage online assignments, 84 percent use it to provide live instruction over video, 72 percent use it for online polling or quizzes, and 56 percent use tech to create online lessons.

Insight: “Teachers’ tendency to replicate conventional practices online seems like a missed opportunity given the promising range of student-centered strategies that online learning can enable–such as mastery-based learning and individualized learning pathways,” according to the report.

But this move to stick with traditional instruction does make more sense considering the situation teachers face: they had mere days to move instructional practices online, which did not lend itself to implementing innovative practices.

“It’s going to take more than a massive shift to remote, online instruction for student-centered practices to become widespread. Online learning can
facilitate student-centered learning, but online learning is not inherently student-centered,” Arnett notes.

Recommendations: There are two main pathways to help teachers adopt more student-centered learning practices during COVID. One is to help them take “incremental steps” toward it, and another identifies and supports the teachers who have realized conventional practices aren’t working.

Low teacher confidence and lack of high-quality materials

Although teachers in hybrid classrooms are “back in the classroom” and teaching, at least in part, the way they’ve always taught, their confidence isn’t that much higher than teachers who are entirely online.

This lack of self-confidence is likely due to the myriad challenges accompanying a shift to online and hybrid instruction. While 83 percent of surveyed teachers say they teach in hybrid or remote situations that require “extensive use of online learning,” just 16 percent say they used online learning “a lot” before COVID.

Insight: Eighty-five percent of surveyed teachers say they spend more time preparing and planning now than they did last year–but this increased prep time means teachers have less time to connect with students, improve their own remote teaching practices, and focus on student-centered learning.

Recommendations: Teachers need materials that are designed for use in remote learning environments, and schools and districts should make it a priority to adopt new curriculum and platforms well-suited for online teaching.

Promising signs of student-centered learning

Many educators are replicating in-person classroom instruction online, but some districts are making a shift to more student-centered learning online. One-third of surveyed teachers say their schools use online learning platforms that offer adaptive practice activities, and one-fifth say their districts arrange opportunities for students to interact virtually with mentors.

One-third of teachers use technologies that support student-centered learning practices. These practices include creating individualized learning progressions, facilitating project-based learning, and enabling mastery-based learning.

Effective professional development is critical to this type of instructional approach.

Insight: It’s encouraging that some districts are using student-centered learning practices in the middle of a pandemic, no matter if those districts were already using such strategies or if the shift to online learning forced some districts to change the way they teach.

Recommendations: Educators and policymakers should look for ways to encourage student-centered practices now that schools are operating during the pandemic. Professional development will help ensure that educators can put this access to resources supporting these practices to good use.

New tools and virtual schools

Student-centered learning practices appear in only a few school systems, but the survey shows that’s about to change. Teachers say they’ve discovered new resources or practices they’d like to continue after the pandemic, and many of those resources and practices are well-suited for student-centered learning. More districts have increased their virtual learning options, too.

Insight: Most resources and practices teachers adopt right now for remote instruction are not inherently student-centered. But increased use of these resources and practices opens a pathway to more student-centered practices in the future.

Recommendations: Districts should consider setting up full-time virtual options for students–this can help meet the needs of families who want more flexibility or who aren’t quite comfortable returning in person. And in the long run, these schools can spur innovation within the district.

When we facilitate professional development events, there’s often a common theme: teachers understand the importance of active STEM teaching and learning, but don’t always know how to implement it in a way that supports the diverse needs of their students. In our work with TGR EDU: Explore, a partnership between TGR Foundation and Discovery Education, we provide guidance to educators on how to prepare students for success through active, engaging instruction.

Differentiated instruction is a critical part of providing an equitable, effective STEM education. When instruction is differentiated, students are able to actively explore careers in STEM, hone their individual skillsets and build confidence.

Related content: 10 trends and predictions for STEM education

Here’s how to employ a differentiated mindset when teaching STEM.

Mindset shift required

A shift in mindset is key to implementing differentiation in a STEM classroom. One of the best ways to help students achieve higher level learning is to employ active learning strategies during instruction. Active learning involves students creating and discovering during class, and connecting findings to their personal knowledge and experiences.

We must provide students with an environment where they can contribute to the conversation and learn from one another. A one-way lecture simply isn’t as beneficial as collaboration.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some different active learning methods:

• Inquiry based instruction: Making observations, asking questions, analyzing data, engaging in argument, sharing findings.
• Cooperative learning: Discovering how to learn from each other by working in groups.
• Experiential learning: Learning by doing; authentic learning experiences.
• Project-based learning: Empowering students to think critically, creatively solve problems, collaborate as members of a team and communicate with peers to explain how they solved a problem.

When it comes to teaching STEM, project-based learning is one of the most effective learning strategies you can use. Educators who implement project-based activities into STEM are not only engaging their students in the learning process, but are also emphasizing The 4 C’s of 21st Century Skills – critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Teaching these skills is critical to STEM instruction.

Equity isn’t equality

Before we dive in to the benefits of differentiation, it’s important to understand that equity does not mean equality. Equity isn’t about giving every student the same amount of support – it’s making sure every student has access to the amount of support they need as individuals. Differentiated instruction helps us achieve this level of individualized support.

When we fail to meet the challenge of providing quality and equity in school, we are contributing to the achievement gap. The implementation of effective differentiated instruction enhances the learning process, and can lead to improved student outcomes and achievements.

Defining differentiation

Differentiation isn’t a recipe for instruction, and it’s not a specific instruction strategy. It’s a mindset for teaching and learning. Differentiation is grounded in the belief that students who are the same age widely differ, and these differences have a huge impact on how they learn.

Students learn best when they are pushed by supportive adults, can make a connection between curriculum and their interests and life experiences, feel like learning opportunities are authentic, and, most importantly, feel they are significant and respected in the classroom.

Educators who have embraced a differentiated mindset are planning what students learn, how they learn it and how they will show what they have learned – allowing students to focus on the actual learning process in a way that makes sense to them. They are facilitators of the learning process.

We also suggest educators work to build a culture of reflection and goal-setting. Goal-setting is key to making project-based learning work. Teachers must build an environment where students feel comfortable reflecting on their individual progress, and setting their own goals. No matter the subject, we must celebrate student achievements of every size.

Strategies for creating an engaging STEM classroom

To employ active learning and differentiation in STEM instruction, we’ve compiled the following strategies.

#1 Ask driving questions

Begin lessons with thoughtful questions. These benefit students by sparking interest, inciting a sense of challenge and helping to guide learning. In turn, driving questions also benefits educators by providing structure to project-based lessons.

#2 Create teachable moments with activity stations

Teachers are not bystanders during project-based learning. Instead, educators can set up teachable moments by incorporating activity stations or centers during lessons.

Imagine that students are learning about droughts, and have been tasked with finding a solution to the issues caused by them. You could start by setting up stations with different resources for students to explore to build upon the knowledge they already have. One station may have print articles, another may offer video sources on a computer.

Next, you could have a collaborative station where students share what they’ve learned with each other. And finally, you can set up a modeling station, where students can visualize their solution to the problem by sketching it out.

When students move from station to station, they are building knowledge as they go. All learners are able to grow through this process.

#3 Differentiate student teams

Teams are important because they allow students to bring their own strengths to a group, while building communication and collaboration skills. Many parts of STEM learning are challenging – when students work together, they are able to bring their own knowledge to the table while also learning from their peers.

There are three strategies to differentiate student teams. Rather than sticking with one method, we suggest using each, since they all have benefits.

• Homogeneous: Grouping students by level. This is helpful for providing additional support to the student groups who need it most.
• Heterogenous: Grouping learners of varying levels. This is beneficial because students are able to learn from one another.
• Voice & Choice: Students self-select their groups. This is valuable because students are able to own their groups and use their voice to make a decision.

Let’s recap

Differentiation is a way to facilitate learning for the diversity of learners in your classroom. Project-based learning is an active strategy that facilitates differentiated instruction. It’s important to remember that differentiated instruction is a skill that can be learned and improved upon – it’s not a set strategy, it’s a mindset. Practice will make it permanent.

Working towards a differentiated mindset will benefit you and your students. By creating engaging, active STEM classrooms, we are helping students achieve success in college, career and life.

When personalized learning came on the scene, some found it challenging to get a grip on what it meant for instruction. A beloved retired master teacher colleague mused, “Personalized learning – isn’t that a little redundant? Isn’t all learning personal?”

Shouldn’t personalization be the first thing we think about when designing instruction? C.S. Lewis advises, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first & we lose both first and second things.”

I’ve struggled with personalization in other contexts as well, having been repeatedly admonished by, well, almost everyone: “Don’t take things so personally!” It seems like an impossible charge.

Related content: 3 ways to find time for personalized learning

In the movie “You’ve Got Mail,” protagonist Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) articulates this paradox after Tom Hanks’ Joe Fox informs her that putting her independent bookstore out of business wasn’t personal: “All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal to me. It’s personal to a lot of people. And what’s so wrong with being personal anyway? Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”

Yes, exactly. Everything ought to begin by being personal, especially teaching and learning. Learning is personal. Our students bring vastly different experiences to the table. Research by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that from 2000 to 2015, our nation’s population became increasingly diverse, with the share of Caucasian students decreasing from 61 to 49 percent.

If you’ve ever read the same book at different stages in your life, you know how drastically different the takeaways can be. This gives a miniscule glimpse into how varied the takeaways from the same lesson are for each learner.

As Sean Snyder illustrates in his research, formulae for academic success have limited application. Teaching isn’t rocket science, but more complex than rocket science.

(Table: Snyder, 2013, p.7)

How do we meet a challenge so complex? We cater the recipe to each learner. The school library has the tools to do just that and up our personalized learning game; the mission being to serve all learners bridging the gap between information poor and information rich (Kagan, 2000). For strong and stable learning support, libraries adopt a tripod approach to resources: 1.) print, 2.) e-books, and 3.) audiobooks. For stability, clarity and consistency, access to all three legs is required. So too it is with personalizing and individualizing instruction.

To provide consistent support and differentiated instruction for the wide range of ways our learners wish to engage with resources, digital materials are required. For example, e-book and audiobook access through OverDrive’s Sora K-12 student reading app makes the following possible:
• Learners have access to books the day they are released
• Text can be rendered into many sizes and fonts, including Open Dyslexic
• Audiobooks provide accessibility (since listening comprehension capabilities are generally higher than reading comprehension, this is a game changer for a reader struggling to read the same book as peers)
• Reading needs are met in a timely manner, within two hours of placing an order

Adding digital book content has netted a 20 percent increase in reading in our district, indicating that we are better meeting personalized learning needs through a thriving reading culture – the single strongest indicator of academic achievement.

To borrow phraseology that Green Bay Packer country helped make famous – reading isn’t everything; it’s the only thing. We mustn’t leave learners without stable support. They need strong print and digital reading resources. Let’s resolve to remove obstacles between learners and materials they need in all forms – print, e-book, and audio. We will exceed expectations on all fronts, our personalized learning game thriving for everyone’s benefit.

Kagan, A. (2000). The Growing Gap between the Information Rich and the Information Poor Both within Countries and between Countries: A Composite Policy Paper. IFLA Journal, 26(1), 28–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/034003520002600105

Snyder, S. (2013). The Simple, the Complicated, and the Complex: Educational Reform Through the Lens of Complexity Theory. OECD Education Working Papers, (96), 2-35.

Any teacher who has spent more than a few years in the profession will be exposed to a variety of educational trends. Innovative interventions, burgeoning buzzwords, and ambiguous acronyms are often touted as the next best thing, only to be replaced a short time later with a new trend.

For this reason, it’s easy to become disillusioned about implementing a change in pedagogy; why work to make room for something new when it’s likely to disappear in a short time?

Related content: 3 ways to find time for personalized learning

At first glance, personalized learning is one of these trends. It’s become a focus of professional development in districts across the country, and keynote speakers at conferences are touting its worth. But did you know that personalized learning has actually been around since the 1960s, when Fred Keller developed the Personalized System of Instruction?

In his plan, Keller asserted that effective instruction should incorporate five principles. These principles, including self-paced instruction and working toward mastery, have been echoed in the years since by educational literature and foundations, including the Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL) and ISTE.

Despite being a pedagogical practice for more than 50 years, personalized learning is only now becoming mainstream as teachers work to more carefully meet the needs of individual students rather than attempt one-size-fits-all lesson planning.

Making the shift from more traditional modes of teaching to a system that encourages personalized learning for all students can be daunting, but fear not! Personalizing learning for students does not mean creating 150 different lesson plans for 150 different students. There are some easy ways to personalize learning in ways that can benefit all students while still allowing for streamlined planning and the use of existing materials, and many of them are already at your fingertips.

Consider the ways in which following the Aurora Institute essential components of personalization can be adapted to suit your classroom needs:

• Flexible pacing: In today’s technology-rich world, students have the freedom to work at their own pace both in and out of class. Compile for students your materials, either electronic or otherwise, and set a clear end date. Incorporate checkpoints for understanding on a regular basis (Gimkit and Mentimeter are two favorites), and you’re on your way to helping students work at a pace that best suits them. If you’re lucky, you have a learning management system that allows you to set student completion rules, requiring orderly task completion that can be monitored and allow for teacher intervention as needed.

• Individual learning paths: You may remember the Choose Your Own Adventure book series from childhood. Learning can take on this same form! Create a HyperDoc or a choice board that allows students to plan their own learning path while working toward mastery and meeting learning objectives. With careful planning, a variety of products can meet the same standard, and your students can take control of their own learning and educational choices in the process.

• Frequent feedback from both instructors and peers: Flipgrid, Padlet, and asynchronous discussion boards offer students and instructors the opportunity to learn from and interact with one another. Beyond that, nearly every learning management system allows for rubric-based grading and annotated feedback. Give these a shot as your students work to completion on various tasks – perhaps those that have been individually assigned with completion rules.

• Differentiated instruction: Did you know that many learning management systems allow you to assign specific materials to students or groups of students? Schoology, for instance, features individual assignment of all course materials as well as folders, thereby making it easy to electronically personalize learning for students and/or groups, either by offering remediation or enrichment materials. Imagine how your classroom could transform through the use of a feature like this!

With a few tricks and tools, you can easily modify what you already do to suit the needs of your students through personalized learning. Start small, make a few simple changes, sit back and watch the personalized learning magic happen!

As a former kindergarten and first grade teacher, who later taught struggling readers in grades three to five, I was acutely aware of the reading instruction gaps that we weren’t filling. I saw those gaps firsthand when my first-grade students became third graders and were clearly missing some very important reading skills.

Adopting the Simple View of Reading model, and understanding all of the components of it and teaching reading according to science, was one critical piece that I had missed with my early readers.

I entered the educational workforce during the time when adults all over the country were still focused on battling the whole language vs. phonics war. It became about the adults winning and the only thing that happened was that our kids lost. They lost in a big way too. An educator’s job is to provide whatever a child needs whenever they need it.

Related content: How we turned around our district’s literacy scores

My teacher training was not rooted in using effective diagnostic tools to identify specific weaknesses. If it had been, I don’t think I would have had as many struggling readers. This resonated with me in a real way because I could literally see the students who were impacted by those gaps. I could see that I wasn’t explicit enough, I wasn’t systematic enough, and I didn’t hone in specifically on those students’ weaknesses and deficits.

To address these gaps, school districts in Ohio are partnering with Educational Service Centers (ESCs) like ours to implement personalized learning that supports third grade reading mandates. As part of my role at the Trumbull County ESC, my first step was to design a consortium literacy plan involving six districts and apply for the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant through the state.

As part of the grant, we purchased Lexia RAPID Assessment for all participating districts and Lexia Core5 Reading for our elementary students in need of intervention. The assessment program serves as our universal screener that assesses the literacy skills most predictive of end-of-year reading success. It identifies not only which students are struggling but WHY they are struggling. Combined, the reading program and the screener give districts in Trumbull County a solution to assess and improve student literacy in grades K-5.

Strong literacy program with PD at its core

Our ESC, which has 12 supervisors who work across 20 different districts, includes a curriculum instruction department that supports every one of those districts’ curriculum and instruction departments. Through this joint effort, we knew that any technology we implemented had to include a strong professional development component. After all, we were asking teachers to change the way they looked at and orchestrated personalized literacy instruction—something that needed strong support from both the district and ESC levels. Only with that support could the literacy program be implemented with fidelity.

The ESC provides districts with professional development at every level, from training small groups of teachers to hosting county-wide PD days on specific topics. At these trainings, we model lessons and help teachers gain a better understanding of what the data is telling them. For the PD days as well as throughout the year, our literacy program vendor-partner provides key implementation support such as sharing information on classroom instruction, showing teachers how to use the solution and how to interpret the data to drive tailored learning for every student—all focused on the goal of giving teachers the knowledge and real-time data they need to be able to drive personalized reading instruction in their classrooms.

The information provided by the literacy assessment we adopted helps build teacher capacity. It delivers a detailed reading profile of each student, as well as class-, school-, and district-level reports with actionable data to help teachers prioritize and plan instruction. The program then connects teachers with scripted, offline instructional materials that target the specific skill gaps of each child.

Reading improvement and monitoring plans

Of course, it’s not enough to simply put technology in the classroom and provide professional development at the outset.

You also have to support the initiative on an ongoing basis. Our assessment tool helps us identify students most at risk for missing end-of-year benchmarks, and these students are put on a Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plan (RIMP)—a requirement in Ohio for any student who is reading below grade level.

Our vendor partner helped us revamp our RIMPs, which are now much more detailed and tailored to the specific needs of the student than ever before and include a custom set of interventions, including the reading program. The RIMPs are working documents that are monitored and updated as students’ personal progress is noted. This is important to us from a leadership standpoint. Thanks to our literacy solution, we know we are addressing individual student needs with fidelity.

Making informed decisions

Combined, all of these initiatives have taken a lot of stress off of our teachers and saved them time. Both programs—the universal screener that screens students for reading and language difficulties, and helps educators identify students who would benefit from explicit, systematic instruction; and the literacy program that delivers personalized learning paths in the five major components of reading—serve as a one-stop-shop that has completely taken the guesswork out of early literacy assessment and instruction and supported teachers in providing an enriching, nurturing learning experience in their classrooms.

Most importantly, struggling students now have a lower chance of getting caught in the reading “gaps” or becoming repeat offenders – which is key to better supporting our students’ ability to read by third grade.

When schools think about incorporating personalized learning, it may seem intuitive to consider resources like specific technologies or professional development plans. But there’s another critical resource that too often gets discounted but is hiding in plain sight: time.

Although schools may manage to add more time on the margins with a “just do more” mindset, personalizing learning at scale will require a massive rethinking of how schools use time, alongside pursuing new strategies that can save time.

Related: Taking personalized learning to scale

Put simply, traditional systems aiming to adopt new approaches to teaching and learning but not willing to do away with legacy structures (e.g. traditional staffing arrangements, instructional delivery, and scheduling) could have all the best intentions in the world, but will inevitably run up against real time crunches.

3 ways to find time for personalized learning

1. Rethink scheduling

In traditional systems, scheduling can become the tail that wags the dog. Strict course schedules in turn risk hamstringing instructional innovations in the name of logistical coherence. To overcome this trap, schools should seek out new processes for building schedules and tools that can help sort out where students and teachers should spend their time. For example, the startup abl launched a tool to help schools make thorny scheduling tradeoffs in a far more streamlined manner than the ‘spreadsheets and elbow grease’ models that many schools still use to coordinate schedules.

2. Streamline administrative tasks

Besides just delivering content, technology can also serve to streamline administrative tasks that often fall to teachers. For example, everything from taking attendance to rostering students can take up precious educator time. Tools like Clever have helped alleviate some of these burdens. Ultimately, however, the ability to meaningfully automate tasks will also depend on tools working in concert with one another. This requires that school systems double down on adopting technology tools that can streamline educator administrative tasks and also demand interoperability among various tools.

Related: The importance of jaggedness in personalized learning

3. Consider blended learning as a tool to rethink teacher time

Blended learning can help schools to reorganize how they use time in meaningful ways. By shifting some content delivery online, some blended-learning models can allow teachers to reconsider how best to spend face-to-face time in the classroom—perhaps allowing teachers to deliver more small-group or one-on-one instruction, perhaps allowing them to lead students in projects, or even allowing them to grade individual performance assessments to provide students with meaningful feedback. It’s worth noting that in some circumstances the opposite is proving true: blended approaches can cost teachers more time if the technology isn’t living up to expectations or if classrooms haven’t been redesigned to absorb the efficiencies that technology could offer. In particular, some teachers opt to create blended materials themselves, which can increase costs up front. But if a school system is short on time or staff, it should design blended approaches in ways that leverage software to free up–rather than burden–teacher time, so that teachers can support students in more targeted ways.

Without rethinking time, well-intentioned efforts to personalize learning could mean piling new tools and strategies onto classrooms, with the efforts collapsing under their own weight. Schools aiming to personalize learning will have to start negotiating tradeoffs not just regarding how students spend their time, but how the system as a whole spends its time. Put differently, to make personalized approaches feasible in the long run schools will have to pursue bold structural shifts that facilitate and make space for promising instructional shifts. How schools use—or abuse—time may sit at the fulcrum of those shifts.