First, What is Personalized Learning?

Personalized Learning is an approach to education that tailors learning according to the individual needs of each student. The Personalized Learning approach to education has evolved over the past decade through the growing public charter school movement in California and incorporates many of the latest educational research results as to how children learn successfully.

Why do It?

Personalized Learning blocks were added to the master school schedule at the start of the year. Mind you--it was not meant to be one more thing but for many grades, I think that's what it became--with all the extra data work they had to put in. And mind you each grade made it its own. Oh, it has also moved several times from where it started on the master schedule to where grades wanted it--schedule changes as a resource teacher are always tons of fun. Not to mention the IEP guidelines changes mid-year to where the time may not count towards IEP times if it's not out of the classroom--which is not the point of personalized learning time. We all use the time to count towards IEP services.




The Personalized Learning system is a unique, blended classroom and non-classroom-based public educational model that is tailored to the needs and interests of each individual student. It's an approach that honors and recognizes the unique gifts, skills, passions, and attributes of each child.

We use the time to provide targeted intervention for ALL students not just the low ones.

The key attributes: 

• data-driven,
• flexibility groupings,
• small groups,
• more one-on-one teacher and student interaction, 
• attention to differences in learning styles, 
• student-driven participation in developing the learning process,
• technology access, and
• varied learning environments, 

The easiest way to start--formative assessments. Formative assessment may look different in different classrooms, but the purpose remains the same. Formative assessment help create groups of students--those who have got it, those who need more practice, and those who just don't get it. It's an easy way to ensure students get what they need to be successful. Formative assessment should:

• Inform knowledge
• Inform and redirect practice
• Provide immediate feedback for teachers and students
• Occur frequently
• Provide useful data
• Be ongoing and embedded
• Include formal and informal assessments of knowledge

Quick Ways to Check Student Understanding

• Thumbs up/Thumbs Down (or 1, 2, 3): Wondering if your class is ready to move on? Just ask. It doesn’t have to be complicated, show a thumbs up for understanding and a thumbs down for more help.
• Colored Cups: A variety of tools can be used here, but Solo cups post-it notes work great. Each student should have a red, yellow, and green cup. Throughout the lesson, students can use the cups to let you know where they are in their understanding. Green, ready to move on or needs a challenge, yellow indicates a level of confusion, and red tells you the student is struggling.
• Mid Lesson “exit slips” with Mini Whiteboards: Traditional exit slips wait until the end of the class to ask a couple questions that will tell teachers what material sunk in and what needed to be reviewed. Why wait until the end of the class? Pick a question that will be easy for you to review quickly and assess understanding on the spot. Determine and prepare these questions ahead of time.
• Auto-graded Assessments: Use a tool like OpenEd to assign students independent assessments. The platform will auto-grade and provide results as well as recommendations support.   

Every parent and teacher wants their children to be avid readers. Because we know the benefits of reading we want our children to embrace it as we have. While a good many students do become excited and engaged in reading, some are reluctant and disinterested. While a student may not show a natural interest in reading, this does not mean they cannot become a skilled and even enthusiastic reader. There are a number of things you can do to help engage reluctant readers.

For many students, reading just doesn't come easily. Some have difficulty connecting letters and their corresponding sounds. Others have yet to discover a special story that sparks their imagination and shows just how fun reading can be.

For all readers, though, being at ease with letters, their sounds, and words is an important foundation for learning throughout life.

What is a reluctant reader?

A reluctant reader is anyone who does not show interest in reading. There is a wide range within the category of reluctant readers. A reluctant reader may simply be a student who needs to be coaxed into reading texts. It may also be the student who vehemently refuses to read. Reluctant readers sometimes hide their ambivalence towards reading using other behaviors. A teacher may notice that a certain student always becomes the class clown when it is time to begin independent reading. When students mask their negative attitudes towards reading by using other behaviors parents and teachers need to do a little “detective work” to identify the root cause of the problem.

While any student, young or old, male or female can be a reluctant reader the largest number of unenthusiastic readers are adolescent boys. Research shows that a good number of boys who were avid readers in the elementary grades become disinterested in reading during their middle school years.

Try these other simple ways to help them become eager readers:

Start with a student pick. Comics or joke books may not be your first choice to boost literacy, but the reality is they can be very motivating. You will be amazed at a students ability to read something that they really want to read.

Don't worry that these texts may not be substantial enough. They can help students understand some fundamentals. They also help build vocabulary.

Sometimes electronic books (e-books) can help get reluctant readers reading. When a student's become interested in a book, regardless of the format, help make connections between the story and your child's own life.

Read and Reread. Many student's reach for the same books over and over again. That's not only OK, it's a good thing! Through repetition, students learn the text and eventually read it with ease and confidence. Each new reading of the book also may help them notice something new and understand the story a little better.

Read Aloud. Reading aloud to your kids helps them build their vocabularies and introduces new concepts, facts, and ideas. You also show that you enjoy reading for fun, and help them connect sounds with letters on the page. Reading aloud provides together time that you'll all enjoy.

Create opportunities to read and write beyond the pages. Provide kids with many chances to read every day. Write notes and leave them in a lunchbox or in a pocket.

On road trips or errands, play word games that strengthen language skills. You might try "I Spy" or games where you pick a category (like "food") and everyone has to name foods that begin with a certain letter.

Until Next Time,

My groups are paperless. How in the world do I pull that one off? Well, I have 4 iPads and students who have pushed me to think outside of the box. As the only K-3 Resource Room special education teacher aka Cross Catagories K-3 Special Education teacher, these guys may receive support from me for multiple years--that can be boring.

I was lucky last year when my building gave me 4 iPads. I could use them any which way I wanted from data collection or give them to students to use in class. Well, most of my grade levels work at some level 1 on 1 with technology; most grades its Chromebooks.

I have talked before about using SeeSaw as our main platform for students to turn in work or to get assignments but I have not shared their favorite apps. With their help, here are my students' top 5 iPad apps. They are not in any order nor are all of them free but they are used on a regular basis by my students which means more than anything they are user-friendly and once students are taught how the app works are off to the races.

One other note: I give students time to play with any app I introduce. After which they are expected to use it as taught. I help with troubleshooting but I don't manage the tech as it takes away from the lesson, my teaching, and what I want my students to get from the lesson. It has to be student user-friendly, no passwords and no weird operating problems.

Why paperless? Well, I do tons with SAMR. This idea focuses on why they are using technology to do the task and is more than plug'n play. (Which has its place.)

There are rules to AppSmashing. Wait-what?? Rules? Yes!! They make sense.

1. Limit to 3 Apps
2. Limit Time to 10 Minutes/App (I push for them to turn in something they are proud of and shows off their learning.)
3. Allow Student Choice
4. Allow Creativity to Shine
5. Require Audio and Images

Pinterest

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For math, fact practice my student's LOVE is Mathtopia+. Yes, it's plug 'n play (substitution) but I can track their progress, have them go back to a specific number in a specific operation to restate practice. I start my math groups with 5 minutes or so of fact practice as a warmup. It's fun and fast-paced. Plus, they don't think twice about practicing or going back to work on a different number.











Make a Scene from Innivo can be used for just about anything from speech/language support, writing, and math. Pair it with Educreation and you are working Modification.  Currently, my student's are creating multiplication story problems with Make a Scene: Farmyard, taking a screenshot, and then adding their work to Educreation to do the math work.






Educreation is freeish and can be found online and in the app world. I love this interactive whiteboard. Students can import a photo, do their work on it, add audio or a video, save it, and turn it in as either a video/audio clip or a photo. We also use Explain Everything and Chomp but not as often. Interactive whiteboards are important for students sharing their thinking and walk you step by step what they did to solve the problem.








 Adobe Spark Post was a life saver in helping a student create his book Movie Trailer. After much trial and error, this was the last app we tried to get writing on his pictures. The workflow to make it happen after so many problems was a challenge and took more time than I would have liked by the time was all said and done but the end product was beyond his wildest dreams. He never thought he could make a trailer like those he saw at the movies. But this app was dream saver. He had already had his pictures, so 1 by one imported them into Spark Post, added the text and resaved the picture.
Yes, there is a free version of Animoto videos. The free version is amazing. My students created Book Movie Trailers and loved the backgrounds and music options. You can also find it on the web. The downside, no adding text to pictures unless you already had it on there. Hint: Adobe Spark Post. Once you have your pictures, upload, follow the steps to create short videos that you'd think took some major work to pull together.






These are just a few of my student's favorite. What are your favorite apps for Smashing? To learn about more AppSmashing apps and how I use them with students be on the lookout
for a free course coming soon.

Happy App Smashing!
Until Next Time,

• think about what they already know before they start reading and during reading;
• be aware of whether they understand what they are reading;
• employ strategies to identify difficult words, concepts, and ideas;
• ask themselves: "Does this make sense?"; and
• be aware of how a particular text is organized.

I’m not a Speech/Language Teacher. BUT I have many students how NEED way more language support than just a one-shot deal. Finding ways to embed extra language support without it taking up tons of extra that I just don’t have in groups is hard. This week I have collected a few ideas that I have helped me build more vocabulary and language support in my small groups.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK?

The key weakness in all of these practices is the limited or rote interaction students have with the new word/concept. Here is a short list of these less effective approaches.

1) Look them up. Certainly, dictionaries have their place, especially during writing, but the act of looking up a word and copying a definition is not likely to result in vocabulary learning (especially if there are long lists of unrelated words to look up and for which to copy the definitions).
2) Use them in a sentence. Writing sentences with new vocabulary AFTER some understanding of the word is helpful; however to assign this task before the study of word meaning is of little value.
3) Use context. There is little research to suggest that context is a very reliable source of learning word meanings.
4) Memorize definitions. Rote learning of word meanings is likely to results, at best, in the ability to parrot back what is not clearly understood.

All of these less effective approaches is the lack of active student involvement in connecting the new concept/meaning to their existing knowledge base. Vocabulary learning must include active engagement in constructing understanding and not simply on passive learning of information from a text.

WHAT DOES WORK?

Reviewing the research literature on vocabulary instruction leads to the conclusion that there is no single best strategy to teach word meanings but that all effective strategies require students to go beyond the definitional and make connections between the new and the known. The research on effective vocabulary teaching as coming down to three critical notions:

Integration—connecting new vocabulary to prior knowledge
Repetition—encountering/using the word/concept many times
Meaningful use—multiple opportunities to use new words in reading, writing and soon discussion.

Increase the Amount of Independent Reading

The largest influence on students' vocabulary is the sheer volume of reading they do, especially wide reading that includes a rich variety of texts. The following strategies can help motivate reluctant readers:

• Matching text difficulty to student reading level and personal interests (e.g. using the Lexile system)
• Reading incentive programs that include taking quizzes on books read (e.g., Accelerated Reader, Reading Counts)
• Regular discussion, such as literature circles, book clubs, quick reviews, of what students are reading
• Setting weekly/individual goals for reading volume
• Adding more structure to Sustained Silent Reading by including a 5-minute quick-write at the end of the reading period, then randomly selecting three or four papers to read/grade to increase student accountability.
• Select the Most Important Words to Teach
• Students with weak reading skills are likely to view all new words as equally challenging and important, so it is imperative for the teacher to point out those words that are truly important to a student's academic vocabulary base. (THINK--picture walk) 
• Teaching vocabulary is teaching new labels or finer descriptions for familiar concepts. In contrast, teaching concepts involves introducing students to new ideas/notions/theories and so on that require significantly more instruction to build real understanding. 

Teachers can get more out of direct vocabulary work by selecting words carefully. More time-consuming and complex strategies are best saved for conceptually challenging words, while relatively expedient strategies can assist students in learning new labels or drawing finer-grained distinctions around known concepts. Making wise choices about which words to teach directly, how much time to take, and when enough is enough is essential to vocabulary building.

• Distinguish between words that simply label concepts students know and new words that represent new concepts.
• Ask yourself, "Is this concept/word generative? Will knowing it lead to important learning in other lessons/texts/units?"
• Be cautious to not "accessorize" vocabulary (e.g., spend too much time going over many clever adjectives that are very story specific and not likely to occur frequently). Rather, focus attention on critical academic vocabulary that is essential to understanding the big ideas in a text (e.g., prejudicial: As students learn the meanings of pre- and judge, they can connect to other concepts they know, such as "unfair.")
• Using State and Common Core Standards to see what is taught
• Use Tiered Vocabulary
• Tier 1 Academic Vocabulary: Basic words that commonly appear in the spoken language. Because they are heard frequently in numerous contexts and with nonverbal communication, Tier 1 words rarely require explicit instruction.Examples of Tier 1 words are clock, baby, happy and walk.