The Learner's Voice

At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, we had our learners reflect on the course overall.  We asked them to respond to five questions. This blog is meant to speak their truth, not ours. Narrowing down the type of responses to include was difficult. What made us feel better in this process was knowing what we chose to include was echoed by several other learner responses.  

1. What do you understand personalized learning to be?

Personalized learning is having a standard to meet and choosing how you meet it based on what suits you and helps you grow best.

To me, personalized learning is adapting how you learn the material to be able to express your knowledge in a unique manner.

Allowing choice in how a subject is taught and assessed to let individuals create the most effective plan for themselves.

The ability to decide and make choices for yourself in what you want to learn and grow while learning.

Personalized learning is adapting the way information is given and taken in order to fit a specific person's need.

YOU get to choose how YOU want to learn a concept/standard.

I understand this by growing as a learner, knowing my weaknesses and strong suit and deciding for myself how I want to meet the standard.

A style of teaching that is customized to be the most effective for every student.

More choices so you can optimize your learning.

2. What has been your experience with personalized learning this year in Pre-AP English 9? How have you grown as a learner?

I have had a very good experience with personalized learning. I have become a much better writer and discovered a love for screenwriting after our outside writing project.

I have done a lot more of my own thing and tried to blend my interests outside of school with school assignments. I think I’ve learned some new writing styles in the process and sort of developed ways to discuss topics I’m truly interested in (in an academic sense).

I have become more self-motivated and I push myself farther than I did before.

Personalized learning has been positive for me because it has given me choice over how I want to learn and has pushed me out of my comfort zone steadily. Also, with writing it made me more passionate because I write more when I care about the topic I’m writing about.

I have grown and it has taught me how to articulate my needs as a learner.

I had an amazing experience this year. I was able to discover new ways to learn and to express myself through my schoolwork.

I have enjoyed personalized learning because overall it got me out of my comfort zone and made me think a lot about what I was learning.

I liked it a lot because there was minimal graded assessments so I could solely focus on the learning. This allowed me to write deeper and better papers than I ever have.

I learned how to ask questions and I have tools to help me continue to grow.

My ability to make independent choices has grown significantly.

I have been able to choose freely on how I want to learn. It has been fun to try different things to see which one I like best. I grew as a learner by trying new ways of learning.

I really liked it! I felt as if I didn’t understand something, I could participate in a lecture, or if I knew it pretty well, I could practice it on my own. I have grown as a learner because now I know how I learn best.

3. What benefits do you see with personalized learning?

It allows ALL learners the ability to demonstrate their knowledge in ways other than a test.

Be more self-directed and it prepares you for life.

Personalized learning allows students to focus more on topics they really care about. It connects structure to free-lance thinking.

I believe personalized learning helps EVERYONE!

I think for the learner, personalized learning allows for creative freedom, and the ability to adapt the ways you learn.

I see more kids discovering their abilities and being more creative.

There is CHOICE! The schedule is flexible and I can move as fast as I want with enough content for me to burn through. Also, it’s easy to learn more about what my classmates think and get new perspectives with options for discussion.

I think it’s important to be able to learn in a different way when you did not get it the first way.

Freedom. I feel proud and confident in my work. Less stressful atmosphere.

I think it reaches out to those kids who feel hopeless because they are smart, but can’t show their true potential.

The benefits I see are students being able to learn and work how they like to and what works best and still meet the standard. I think students don’t work as hard when they are told to do something in a certain way.

4. What drawbacks are there with personalized learning?

There aren’t many drawbacks but one could be students doing the same thing over and over because that’s what works best for them but then they aren’t trying new things.

I think that because I am used to memorizing facts, it can be hard at first to adjust.

Learners who aren’t focused can easily fall back because they don’t have the initiative to do work for themselves.

The people with a fixed mindset just see it as more work.

To be honest, no. Personalized learning I think is something more teachers should use.

If a student isn’t self-motivated then getting them in the groove of learning for yourself, not a grade is harder.

People may abuse the system and use their time poorly.

Some people don’t know how to work well when given more freedom. They’re used to constant directions.

5. Any other thoughts on the course?

The answers to this question were minimal.  However, a couple responses brought us to tears. We are including them because they show how personalized learning goes beyond academics. It gives those who feel isolated a place to feel included, those who feel lonely a place to feel connected and those who see themselves as failures a place to find success. For the few responses we share here we will provide a bit of context as to the voice the words belong to.

Consider a young Somali, Muslim youth who was failing across the board and only had a small group of learners he could identify with in order to make social connections.  Even in this course, where things are personalized, he had to work very hard to earn credit.  He often didn't use his time well and had to reflect on better choices. He also, took advantage of the choices he had. There were behavior issues with him at school in all classes but this one.  Often he found himself in the office and “in trouble”. He was able to pass this course and answered, “It was a very good year. One of the best most enjoyable/learning class that I have ever taken.”

Shift perspective to a new to Edina Public Schools learner who had a complicated home life with a lot of sadness and conflict. She also found herself in the office often because she would leave class and “get lost”. She chose “flight” daily and she didn’t see a way in to find any successes at school. With peers she struggled to find acceptance. She said, “Everyone here hated me and bullied me and made me cry at night. But when I came to this class I knew it would be okay.”

Finally take a highly skilled learner with a supportive and encouraging home life. This young individual has plenty of friends and continuous success in all areas of life responded, “Thank you for teaching me that HOW you learn constantly effects WHAT you learn.”