My school experimented with PLPs last year but I think we all felt that they were very unsuccessful. We attempted to base them around the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, hoping that it would serve as a springboard for discussions about values and goals. I never really liked the book and found that students didn't either. They saw reading and discussing the book, as well as the "PLP" we set up to go along with it, as a chore. And, frankly, that's how I had seen PLPs until this session. I gained a better understanding of the rationale behind PLPs. Where once I, along with the majority of my colleagues, saw PLPs as yet another poorly-thought-out mandate from Montpelier, I now realize that PLPs are really about helping students become more successful in their learning. I really like that Act 77 emphasizes that PLPs are intended to be forward thinking rather than as a mere portfolio of work designed to meet prescribed goals. The module we looked at contained several great examples of what PLPs can be as well as the process by which teachers helped students create them. I really wish my team was here to work on PLPs. Perhaps next year we'll be able to attend the institute together and work on PLP design.
In addition to developing as a teacher this week I find myself learning about myself as a learner. Part of the reason that I so enjoyed this module was that I had an opportunity to talk with my fellow "students." I'd always pictured myself as a guy who liked to be working alone. Turns out, that's not the case. I find myself really craving more structure and more opportunities to talk to others. Which might be why personalized learning so baffles me. I feel like one of my missions as a teacher is helping students gain collaboration skills. But how do you do this if everyone is working on something different? How do you balance classroom community with personalization?
I'm glad to hear that this session gave you some reflective insights into why your PLP process did not work for you or the students this year. Getting at what the underlying causes of what didn't work is critical in figuring out what will.
ReplyDeleteYour questions around personalization are common ones. I think we often create a false dichotomy between personalization and collaboration. They are not exclusive. In fact, I don't believe that you can personalize without collaboration. It then becomes our job as educators to develop learning pathways that require students to connect and collaborate in order to be successful. That's also where the transferable skills come into play. If you look at them, they emphasize collaborative work and communication. Therefore, it is our responsibility to facilitate both the learning of content, but also the learning of skills-- many of those being around collaboration. When we created the modules we attempted to do that through the tasks that asked you to discuss...however, what we have failed to do is be explicit about framing them as collaborate and helping people connect with others to collaborate with around them. That's why the facilitated sessions have been so successful,I think. They are filling that need.