Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Enjoying the PL Journey!


On April 5, 2017 several staff members visited the Eastern Carver County Public School District to see their personalized learning in action. As we continue our own journey for creating a system where personalized learning is created, we felt it would be best to see it in action. The day was filled with rich learning that has informed our journey.

Before we get too far, let's define personalized learning with a Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton twist. We believe that personalized learning in our district is defined in the following way: Providing students with what they need, when they need it and how they need it. Although that may seem like a logical practice, systemically it has not been possible.

In the the mid eighteen hundreds, Horace Mann brought our current system of education to the United States from Prussia. During the Industrial Revolution, this system made a lot of sense. The educational system has not evolved with the times because we were all simply used to "doing school" and were comfortable.

Enter the sense of urgency! Our world is changing at a much faster pace than what we are used to or comfortable with. If we are going to prepare our students for their futures, we need to begin changing the way we do business in education. Historically speaking, personalized learning was not possible due to the inability to scale it. With the access to the technology we have today, we can make this happen for our students.

A transition to personalized learning is not for the fainthearted. On the 13th of April our staff will engage in a district wide conversation about implementation. They will also split into elementary and high school teams to discuss relevance and action steps for implementation in their areas. Our hope is that each area comes away with an initial plan of action.

In closing, it is important to note that this will be a journey for our district and that there are sure to be tweaks and adjustments along the way. In education we cannot expect a final product as we are ever evolving as are our students. Let's enjoy the journey!

For one example of what is already taking place at the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District, please check out the video below (https://goo.gl/ZImfZs).