Series EdVisions Deeper Learning: Student Profile: A Personalized Experience

Deeper Learning Through Personalized Learning Plans

The Evolution of a Project

Building Student-Advisor Relationships

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Student Profile: A Personalized Experience

Carol Dweck on Personalized Learning

Student Profile: A Personalized Experience

Lesson Objective: Follow a student focused on goals: setting, planning, and persisting

Grades 6-12 / All Subjects / Self-Directed

4 MIN

Discussion
Supporting Materials

Thought starters

Where do you see Savannah setting goals, planning to meet goals, or persisting to achieve goals?
Beyond academics, what do you see that will help prepare Savannah for future success?
What do you think is going on in Savannah's head?

7 Comments

Erik Haughn Nov 28, 2017 5:35pm

I truly enjoyed this video for two reasons specifically. The first reason being that the student had someone to go to who she not only saw as a mentor but friend as well. She referred to her advisor as a friend, which was evident by their interaction and how much emphasis the advisor put on helping Savannah be her individual goals by making sure her needs were met. This lead to the second part I like where Savannah had a say in what her personal learning plan was. She chose her goals and then the advisor helped her relate this goal and assignment to the school and state standards. By allowing students to create their own plan, they have more invested in what they are learning. They also gain a better understanding of the standards they need to meet within their school district. I definitely implement this in my classroom everyday, by allowing the students to choose which subject they'd like to work on for the day (within reason as it relates to their IEP goals). This makes them more excited about an assignment they would not have otherwise been interested in if I just gave it to them without another choice.

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Jaclyn Sadiker Nov 28, 2017 4:03pm

I loved that students and mentors had a friend like relationship. I think relationships are so important with students because it is the way to inspire students and connect students. Student connections with teachers can help students gain a support system. I, also, liked how students got to pick topics they are interested in. Student interest can help motivate students to produce work that is deeper. Students can learn what is important to them, so they can continue to learn and develop careers. I think I would like to have students describe something they want to do or have interest in. It was cool to watch students learn how to manage their time.

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kristine chimienti Nov 9, 2016 5:44pm

The students are empowered to come up with the plan and it is something they are interested in. The advisors help them to come up with their own needs. The focus is on the students, where they are, and where they want to be. It is important to be challenged but to come up with their own ideas gives them the perseverance to get to their end result. Since it was their project it was important to the student to mange their time and they enjoyed seeing the end result.

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Antonella Zimmermann Nov 9, 2016 5:42pm

In this video I enjoyed seeing the relationship the advisor had with the student. She cared about what the student wanted and needed to do to in order to succeed. The use of individualized learning plans helped Savannah find her interests. This individualized learning plan reminded me of the specially designed instruction I provide to my students with IEPs. As a special educator we are constantly looking at the individualized needs of our students and how we can help them achieve their goals. It would be great to be able to use this type of project based learning to incorporate all academic areas. I like how the project based learning helps students face challenges and problem solve. The projects Savannah focused on were all multi-disciplinary and connected to standards. I found it interesting how the counselor guided the student and helped her make these connections. It was interesting to hear the student feel as though she had flexibility and freedom yet understood the importance of time management. In my classroom, I would utilize the project based learning to incorporate important mathematical skills. I feel it is important for students to be able to connect math to their life.

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fran bartolotta Nov 9, 2016 5:13pm

Real world learning help student realize what they truly enjoy and how much time and effort goes into doing these different things . It allows them to realize that many different subjects connect together to create one thing.At first it may seem simple but then they begins to realize that it takes a lot of time and effort to create. As they go through this process it also allows the students to reach all the standards that are expected.

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Materials

Transcripts

Student Profile: A Personalized Experience

+++ 00:00:00 +++
Card:
Tch
Teaching Channel
In Partnership with
The William and Flora
Hewlett
Foundation

Card:

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Student Profile: A Personalized Experience

+++ 00:00:00 +++
Card:
Tch
Teaching Channel
In Partnership with
The William and Flora
Hewlett
Foundation

Card:
Savannah
A deeper learner from:
EdVisions

+++ 00:00:11 +++
Nicole: If you're feeling more drawn to this one, then you are drawn to "Sense and Sensibility" right now.
Savannah: It's just boring. All they talk about is like the gossip and everything, and marriages.
Nicole: So important.
Savannah: Boring.

Lower Third:
Savannah
11th Grade Student
Minnesota New Country School, Henderson, MN

+++ 00:00:20 +++
Savannah: I'm Savannah. I'm go to the Minnesota New Country School. This is my sixth year at the school and I'm a junior this year.
Savannah: I think what I'm going to do is I'm going hold off on it for a little while, because I only have about a week and a half to get science fair ready.
Savannah: My relationship with my advisor is one like a friend. They're there for me to help lead me with my teaching, but they also care about what I'm learning and what I want to accomplish in my life, and they help me make individualized learning plans from what I want to do, what I want to do to succeed.

+++ 00:00:49 +++
Savannah: Is there any way that I could do my presentation and then do my paper, or do I have to do--?
Nicole: Yes. Yep, so that's an ask that you have for the junior team?
Savannah: Yeah.

Lower Third:
Nicole Kotasek
Advisor/Teacher
Minnesota New Country School, Henderson, MN

+++ 00:00:55 +++
Nicole: The philosophy of the school is that we're here to meet the needs of the student. What a student needs is what a student is going to get. Every single student has their own plan and we work on that with the students, so they're also empowered to help build that plan.

Lower Third:
Keven Kroehler
Executive Director,
EdVisions Schools
Keven: It's really focusing on the student, who the student is, where they're at, where they want to be. How am I going to get there?
Savannah: When you are choosing a project, sometimes you really don't know what you're going to be doing with that project, and so that’s in the end when the teachers come together and they decide, "Oh, well you took this unexpected route, but that was really cool, because you learned math it in," and that's something I did with this.

Card:
Completed Project: Quilting

+++ 00:01:29 +++
Savannah: So this actually started out as an activity that my advisor led. She explained to us a little bit about the process of quilting and choosing colors. I thought I was going to make a quilt that day and just be done, but it turns out it was a lot more than that. The thing that surprised me the most was how much math was involved, and how much perseverance I had to do to get through it. I learned a lot about geometry, for how to measure how much fabric I'm going to need, how many yards of fabric I'm going to need. A lot of home
+++ 00:01:57 +++
ec. I worked about 60 hours on the quilt. I got the blocks done at first, and then we put the sashing in, and then we put the border on. And then the binding was probably the hardest part, because you have to hand sew all around there. There was times that I was frustrated. There was times that I just wanted to give up, but I kept going, and in the end, I got beautiful products. So I think it's really important, because you're not always going to have that easy road in life.

Card:
Student Advisory: Project Proposal
Savannah: So I'm wondering if it's the soil type.
Nicole: Okay.

+++ 00:02:26 +++
Savannah: That's making a difference, and then I was wondering if I could do something where I looked at the different soils in the US, and compared it to my results and see if those made a difference.
Nicole: Excellent.
Savannah: I've wanted to be a geologist since I've been about nine, which is a very interesting career. A lot of people ask me, "Well, it's rocks." Well, it's a lot more than rocks and so a lot of my projects about-- in the school have been focused about earth science and geology, but I've also gotten different areas in the standards done with them. I've gotten math, I've gotten history, I've gotten social studies. So I'm focusing on what I want, but also meeting the other criteria.

+++ 00:03:01 +++
Nicole: There might be some desert geology pieces, and I'll give you a copy of this note.
Savannah: Doing more geography with this than I imagined too.
Nicole: Yep.
Nicole: The deeper learning comes from them experiencing a variety of things and realizing what is important to them and what isn't important to them. And the personal learning plans help guide us in that conversation we have with the student.
Keven: The other part of that personal plan is connecting it with standards. So you did this, you did this great project, you built this wonderful thing. Does that actually connect to any of the state standards?

Card:
Student Advisory: Project Review

+++ 00:03:29 +++
Nicole: What is your thesis right now? Did you change it, or is it still--?
Savannah: Well, it's about beauty and what it is scientifically and mathematically, culturally, historically.
Nicole: Okay, so you've got beauty scientifically?
Savannah: Mathematically.
Nicole: Mathematically, which is related to that. It's that whole--
Savannah: Yup, the symmetry and then the perfect golden ratio.
Nicole: I know that this method of teaching and learning works, because I see students grow into adults who know what they want in this world and are ready to go get it.
Savannah: I'm just like, I don't know.

+++ 00:03:56 +++
Savannah: We have a lot of flexibility and freedom, but it's also something that you have to manage your time, you have to make sure you are getting your credit. In the end, I'm going to look back on it and it's going to be something I'm proud of.

Card:
Tch
Teaching Channel
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