While it may seem paradoxical for students to work at their own pace and meet content standards, students can learn so much more effectively when work is targeted at their level. Leveled groups are most successful when students are grouped accurately and teachers facilitate effectively.
When we deliver information to our classes via lecture, we often wonder how much they are ‘picking up what we’re putting down.’ When the assessment comes days or weeks later, it can be hard to tell whether a student’s difficulties come from attention, comprehension, or retention.
In this third and final section, we’ll consider ways to use data and data-driven platforms to personalize instruction for individual students.
In this week’s post, we will look at some ways that data can help us plan for whole group or small group lessons. I tend to interpret my class data by starting with a broad overview and “zooming in” to understand more specifics.
The gap between what we “teach” students and what they “learn” should be familiar to any classroom teacher. Good assessment shows us what students understand and retain; the importance of data can not be discounted.
Too often, professional development comes in the form of “a lecture about why you shouldn’t lecture.” Instead we can use technology to help teachers teach themselves how to teach their students.
I believe that the best way we can enrich students’ learning experience is to give teachers the time to think deeply about their practice – when we create efficiencies in how teachers use their planning time, they can use the added time to make lessons more interactive and creative.
I like to think about two divergent strands in education technology, which I’ll call the ‘Classical’ and the ‘Progressive.’ The former allows us to use technology to better traditional goals, while the latter allows us to redefine and expand the expectations we have for our instruction and our students.
I had an interesting exchange with a teacher, while delivering a presentation on personalized learning with Khan Academy. At the time, I believed the best
