Personalized Learning in a 1:1 Classroom: A Tour Through My Inbox

I know there is a lot of buzz about personalized learning these days. Lots of it comes at a cost where some service will assess your students and provide just-in-time learning. It is tempting to purchase one of those and feel comfortable that the curriculum is being covered at a pace that is right for each student. Although I do use many tools and apps,  that's really not what personalized learning looks like in my 1:1 language arts classroom.

So, what does it look like?

I don't think I can answer that question in a short post. However, I believe that a little tour through my email inbox may provide a glimpse. It hit me last night when I opened my school email.

Literacy= communication, and I do use email as one tool for communicating with my students. 

We read. We write. We edit.  We discuss. We think. We reflect. We create. Why would this look identical in a group of unique individuals?

What follows represents a sample from my current inbox. These are waiting for my reply, feedback or next steps. I have not chosen anything on purpose. I'm just sharing the process. This represents the ongoing learning conversation between my students and me. 

A 5th grader emails to tell me what salary he would like for the documentarian job. He also suggests two new jobs.

A 5th grader shares his updated narrative writing with me. Below is a short snippet of  an 8 page story

Another  5th grade narrative

a 4th grader shares a link to the book quiz he wrote on Goodreads

A 4th grader wrote an epilogue to Wonderstruck using Book Creator

5th grade character trading card

4th grade "visual vocab"

This conversation and creation, this journey, is why I love my 1:1 iPad classroom. 

Authentic Literacy: What is it, Why Does it Matter & What Does it Have to Do With Soup?

From "Ed Tech" to Literacy…
Although I continue present my work under the brand of "edtechworkshop," my professional interests are moving away from "ed tech." Job-wise I have transitioned from (all titles in quotes because that is how I think of them) "technology coordinator" to "21st century learning specialist" to "Director of Teaching & Learning (as titles go, I like that one best) to my current job title of "4th/5th grade language arts teacher" (as the actual work goes, I like this one best).

When I was working with Silvia Tolisano to transform school culture, we recognized the importance of parent education and responded with monthly "Parent Connect" sessions.  We had a small but dedicated group who joined with us to discuss a variety of topics related to changes in learning and how our school was responding to those changes. It was of huge importance to the success of many initiatives, as that small group of parents acted as "ambassadors" spreading vital positivity and understanding throughout the parent community.

So, it was natural for me to turn back to the Parent Connect model as a way to build support and understanding for my non-traditional LA classroom. 
There is a great deal of fear that goes along with letting go and allowing learning communities to flourish without many of the trappings of the box known as school.

I am lucky to have a great partner in librarian Karin Hallett, and I have really enjoyed preparing for and presenting the sessions.
Our most recent session was, "Authentic Literacy: What is it and why does it matter?"
Here are the slides from that session:

Authentic literacy from Andrea Hernandez

If you're interested in some slide details or related articles, you can find that here.
But what I wanted to share here was the "soup analogy" that I described on slide #4. So many people commented afterwards how this idea really spoke to them.

I realize that at one time, processed, canned food was all the rage and seemed like the answer to all the problems of feeding the people. However, it didn't take long to figure out that an authentic, hand-crafted soup was not only more delicious but was healthier and generally the better all-around option. 

I imagine that many kids who grew up eating salty, tinny, canned soup decided that they didn't really like soup. Just like many kids who are growing up on a canned, uniform, pre-packaged reading curriculum believe that they don't really like reading. How sad that they have never tasted the real thing.