![\"reflections](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/millriver.jpg\")
<\/a>It’s Day 3 of the 2015 Middle Grades Institute, a gathering of more than 200 Vermont educators all passionately invested in technology-rich, student-centered educational change. And with the Act 77 deadline requiring a Personal Learning Plan for every student in Vermont grades 7-12 coming up in November, talk around personalizing learning and capturing evidence of personalized learning are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.<\/p>\n
Let’s hear from four schools attending MGI about their engagement with the personalized learning process, as they spend their first week of summer planning for the coming year.<\/p>\n
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1. Creating physical space for personalized learning<\/h2>\n
One of the workshops offered at the Institute centered around how the physical classroom space can be transformed<\/a> into student-centered areas that directly\u00a0support personalized learning. Amy Jamieson, at Fayston Elementary School<\/a>, writes of it<\/a>:<\/p>\n Today I attended a choice session on creating space for personalized learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n A strong component of personalizing learning is a 1:1 device program. One attendee from the Waitsfield School reflected<\/a>:<\/p>\n In stark contrast to Ricky Bobby\u2019s need for speed, when it comes to implementing a 1:1 initiative it is ok to go slow. That was one of the the opening sentiments in a workshop at this morning about rolling out a 1:1 program. But there were bigger takeaways than this.<\/p>\n Transparency in curriculum and professional development were touted as a way to ensure stakeholders understand there is intention in the initiative. Providing support for parents was recommended to ensure that the communication channels are open in both directions.<\/p>\n But perhaps the best advice was that rolling out a 1:1 initiative is an opportunity to re-up on the fundamentals that we value most. While there were parts of the conversation that felt vague, or generalized, they had to be, and I am glad. My team was not with me during the workshop and explicit direction on how to roll out 1:1 would have been tempting to simply adopt. However the need to have deep conversation as a team about what we value most or how we will best leverage student learning has to be home grown for our unique learning community.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sarah Baker<\/a>\u00a0at the Moretown School<\/a> is setting goals around personalizing learning for students with disabilities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Setting goals for summer learning and beyond It’s Day 3 of the 2015 Middle Grades Institute, a gathering of more than 200 Vermont educators all passionately invested in technology-rich, student-centered educational change. And with the Act 77 deadline requiring a Personal Learning Plan for every student in Vermont grades 7-12 coming up in November, talk … <\/p>\n\n
2. Rolling out a 1:1 program<\/h2>\n
3. Personalized learning vs “personal learning”<\/h2>\n
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4. Why do we do professional development during summer?<\/h2>\n
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\nI’m so impressed with what’s already been done thanks to the hard work of our Tarrant Leadership Team, and with the enthusiasm of our entire Middle School Team. Everyone’s willingness to step out of their comfort zones and put themselves out there for the benefit of our students is inspiring, and fills me with gratitude for the privilege of working with you all. With God’s grace, and copious amounts of coffee, this is going to be incredible! Go, CKS!<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nWhat are your plans for summer learning?<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"