How to Implement Personalized Learning Plans in the Classroom

How to Get Started

The first step in launching personalized learning plans in your classroom is to have a solid plan of implementation and a strong team. Ideally, your district should be on board with implementing personalized learning plans. With their help, you would be levels of support, and each level would have some kind of responsibility. Additionally, it could give you as the teacher greater access to technology. Whether or not you have district support, take the time to lay out step by step how you are going to establish personalized learning plans in your classroom. While your plan may change, it's good to have an outline to reference.

Second, you need a strong web-based guidance system. While some argue that technology is a bane to education, KnowledgeWorks and The National Commission on Teaching & America's Future claims that technology, if used correctly, could be a boon. Implemented technology in the classroom gives greater access to materials, helps teachers personalize classes, and provides a medium for students to learn outside of the classroom.

Due to the positive possibilities, technology is integral to implementing personalized learning. One important aspect of this is adaptive learning, where the material adapts to the level the individual student is at. A web-based guidance system could not only use adaptive learning, but with unrestricted access, a student could avoid falling behind in class by being able to finish assignments at home.

Technology also allows teachers to be able to immediately track students' progress. In their article 'Flipping the Classroom,' The Economist outlined how a teacher in Los Altos, CA, was able to use the dashboard of a web-based system to see in real-time how her students were performing on math problems. She stated that she no longer needed to guess where the knowledge gaps were - she could see them in that moment!

With that information, she could walk immediately over to the struggling student and give them individualized attention. There are many web-based guidance systems that provide educational materials for the classroom. For example, Study.com offers a large library of math and science problems for students to work on. Our teacher product allows you to send assignments to students directly and track their progress.

Finally, you need to decide which structure of approach you are going to take. According to the New Jersey Department of Education who performed research on personalized learning plans, there are three approaches you can take.

1. Full-Size Class Approach: In this approach, the teacher instructs a full class, and gives students assignments to complete on their own. A benefit of this approach is that it involves very few changes from the traditional approach. However, it does make it more difficult for teachers to develop a personal relationship with students.
2. Small Group Approach: In this approach, the teacher only teaches a small group of students (ideally less than ten). Here, students complete assignments and lessons as a small group. This approach is ideal for personalization - however, many schools do not have the staff or space to accommodate such small classes.
3. Hybrid Approach: The hybrid approach is a combination of the full-size and small group approaches. Here, the teacher instructs a full-size class, but the class breaks down into smaller groups for activities. The teacher can either use peer mentors or other teachers to help mediate the groups. This approach allows larger classes to gain benefits from the small group approach without the school needing to radically alter schedules or class sizes.

Getting Students Involved

Getting students involved with their personalized learning plans is key to the success of the program. While teacher observation is important for guidance, it is critical that students are given options for what and how they learn. The only way they will learn to make good decisions for themselves is to give them the responsibility of determining their own future.

The first step in getting students involved with their personalized learning plans is letting them think about their goals. While this may seem obvious, traditional core standards do not give adequate time to reflect on their aspirations and goals. Start your school year with students reflecting on what their personal, academic, and career goals are. Additionally, they should consider their strengths, and determine how they can help achieve those goals.

Once a student has determined their goals, they should set them with an adult mentor. This mentor can help the student stay on track through regular check-ins. Additionally, they can provide guidance. For example, if a student wants to become a nurse, the adult mentor can help the student choose appropriate high school classes or extra-curricular activities in order to achieve that career goal.

Finally, the adult mentor needs to monitor the student to ensure they achieve their goals. If a student starts to fall behind, the adult mentor can create suggestions and create a plan to help the student get back on track. However, it is important that the student feels like they are in control of their plan instead of being forced by the mentor.

A great way to get students involved in this process is to have a peer mentor program. This is especially helpful in a hybrid classroom. Students who demonstrate leadership skills and interest in helping others can help lead other students in group discussions and assignments. They will also be able to tell you if other students are struggling. If you decide to have a peer mentorship that spans between grades, you can expose students to different kinds of role models. Peer mentorship not only fosters individual growth, but it also allows the teacher to observe and provide more real-time feedback.

Tips & Tricks for Implementation

It took New Jersey over two years to implement its personalized learning program. So don't get frustrated if your implementation is not perfect at first! Here are some tips and tricks that you can use to get personalized learning plans underway:

• Embrace differentiated instruction. Have multiple ways to achieve the same result. Since every student learns differently, there should be different ways to approaching projects. Concordia University suggests dividing classroom activities based on the learning style of the student. For example, you can have written instructions for visual learners and recorded instructions for aural learners. This is a great tactic to use if your district is unable to provide tablets or computers to students, or is deciding on which web-based guidance system to use.
• Use Backwards Design for curriculum and lesson planning. This technique was pioneered by education activist Grant Wiggins. He argued that curriculums and lessons were too focused on aligning to core standards and not focused enough on practical application. Wiggins proposed that instead of starting with the lesson and then setting a goal, a lesson or curriculum should focus on the goals it wants to achieve first, and then build the lessons to reach those goals.

In the age of standardized tests, personalized learning plans are a welcome break that embrace personal growth and individualization. Implement personalized learning plans in your classroom and see what they can do for you and your students!