Auburn Session (3) Personal Learning Plans

Session (3)

Personal Learning Plans

What is a Personal Learning Plan?

It is not an Individual Education Plan.  IEPs are generally for "exceptional students" who don't fit the "standard" program.  At least 80% of kids are in the standard program.  

The personal learning plan is more work initially for a teacher but saves time in the long run because students often end up doing work that interests them.   People who do interesting work are generally not behavior problems....

The reading from Big Picture:

when a teacher reads a student’s paper, she is not reading it to mark the student’s progress in relation to a predetermined set of activities and goals, but to actually figure out what those activities and goals should be for that student. When you say you want to get rid of grades, some people think you want to get rid of standards altogether. It’s the exact opposite. Using narratives really forces schools to look more closely at each student’s accomplishments and gaps. The standards are determined in a really personalized way by developing an individualized learning plan, with goals and indicators of achievement for each student. Then it’s a matter of evaluating that student in a real-world way: assessing the stu- dent’s progress as it compares to what he or she will need in order to succeed in college and in life. When you think about it, you can’t hold students to any standard higher than that.

For Discussion

1. Are there any situations in life where “one size fits all”?

2. Tell about a time where something you learned motivated you to learn more. What implications does this have for education?

3.  Tell about a time when you were in school and your learning matched your interests. How was that experience different from times when your learning didn’t match what you were interested in?

4. What do we have to unlearn about traditional schooling so that we can educate one student at a time?

5. What changes would have to happen to make a truly personalized school possible? Where would you begin?