Technology Essentials in Education Episode 8:
Personalizing Learning Resources for All Students

Hello there. My name is Monica Burns and welcome to Technology Essentials and Education. Today we dive into the power of personalizing learning resources with Krista Leh, an ASCD emerging leader and experienced Pennsylvania educator. She draws from her background as an instructional technology coach and discusses how to effectively personalize learning resources for all students. This episode is packed with strategies designed to help you differentiate and create learning experiences that really resonate with and engage all of the students in your classroom. Let's get into the conversation.

This episode is brought to you by Jotform. Jform provides an all-in-one solution to streamline administrative tasks, enhance community engagement, and foster innovation. Using their no code drag and drop forms and workflows, your teams can securely collect and store data, automate tasks, and collaborate on team resources. Educational institutions are also eligible for a 30% discount on Jform Enterprise. Head to their website to learn more at jotform.com/enterprise/education.

Welcome to the podcast today. I am so excited to talk about personalizing learning resources for all students. But before we get into all of that, can you share with listeners a bit about what your role in education is and what your day-to-day looks like?

Of course. First, thank you so much for having me on. I'm very excited to share. I was a former high school educator, social studies teacher, and instructional coach for secondary schools. What I noticed is that our students really needed support in social emotional learning. So right now I am the owner of Residents Education and I help educators integrate social emotional learning into academic lessons so that it feels authentic and meaningful.

Right now my day-to-day is either working from home doing research and designing best practices for teachers to help integrate SEL in ways that feel practical, doable, and meaningful. When I'm out in schools, I'm working with administrators to help them see what this looks like in day-to-day practice in the classrooms. I'm also working with teachers to help meet students' needs around developing these essential skills.

Amazing. You bring so many different perspectives to today's conversation which is why I'm so glad you can join us. The term personalizing learning is one that may be used in different ways by different people, like many terms in education. When you think of this term, what does personalizing learning mean in your work with schools and districts?

That's a great question because when I think about social emotional learning, I think about tier one, what generally the entire class needs. But we all know there are individual students who need additional support or something a little more focused on a specific skill or academic content. They might need scaffolding or extension. For me, personalized learning is when the teacher is working with an individual student to make the learning experience and content more meaningful, relevant, and something the student can see growth in.

Just that idea of anchoring it in something unique to that student, what they find meaningful and important, what they see as worth their time is important. We're building motivation for them. We might use data or observations to inform that. It can take place in many environments and content areas.

How have you seen the conversation around personalized learning evolve in the past few years?

I used to work for a company focused on differentiated instruction, and sometimes people confuse these two. Differentiated instruction often works with groups based on what they've already done, while personalized learning thinks about what students need upfront and connects content, skills, atmosphere, and culture to those needs proactively instead of waiting to see where they're at.

That's an interesting shift because from a data perspective, often we're reviewing data after the fact and might feel we've run out of time to take action. As a classroom teacher, that was a big frustration. I wished I knew this ahead of time or was thinking more proactively. That's an important note about personalizing learning versus differentiated instruction.

We might start a unit or lesson really thinking about individual student needs, whether through casual conversations at the beginning of the year or deeper connections mid or end of year. There are opportunities to be proactive rather than just responsive.

Could you share some examples of what personalized learning looks like in a classroom you've supported?

Everything I do is grounded in social emotional learning. There are five competencies: two intrapersonal, self-awareness and self-management, and two interpersonal, social awareness and relationship skills. At the beginning of the year, teachers get to know their students and continually revisit that information, drawing upon relationship skills and social awareness to know students' interests, strengths, and goals and leverage that in the classroom.

Another big piece is cultural competency, understanding the assets families have at home and bringing them into lessons, connecting curriculum to prior knowledge and skills the family and students already have.

A couple years ago, the focus was on self-management and stress management skills. More recently, educators say students are lacking self-discipline and self-motivation, which I believe is connected to self-awareness. Students may not recognize the strengths and cultural, linguistic, and social assets they bring to the classroom aside from content.

One of my favorite stories is about a high school ELA teacher teaching Romeo and Juliet, a universal story about love, angst, and warring families. A student who wanted to be an auto mechanic felt disconnected and didn't see how it related to him. I recommended using ChatGPT with careful prompts to find ways to connect the content to the student's interests.

I asked ChatGPT for ways a high school student who wants to be an auto mechanic could connect differently or deeper with Romeo and Juliet. It gave a list of 10 ideas, including comparing warring families to Ford versus Ferrari, tapping into the student's passion for cars.

We could go deeper and talk about skills. At the end of the book, both characters die after rash decisions. How does that relate to an auto mechanic? An auto mechanic diagnoses, asks questions, is curious and open-minded, which are SEL skills. We don't make rash decisions but look holistically and explore different avenues.

Maybe the student doesn't connect to specific characters but can contribute a unique perspective connected to their passion. Personalized learning helps teachers see different avenues students can take to make content meaningful and bring their skill sets into the classroom.

I love that example because AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini help make connections between ideas, such as what a student knows or is interested in and the content they're learning. For teachers, it's a powerful way to gather ideas and personalize experiences for students.

What are some small changes teachers can make that create a big impact on meeting individual student needs?

It goes back to the beginning of the school year when we collect information about students. Are we revisiting that information throughout the year to see where connections might be? Another favorite part is empowering students to make those connections on their own.

If I were teaching social studies, I'd show how I traditionally assess content but acknowledge students have varied interests. Teachers need to let go of some traditional power and invite students to come up with personalized ways to show what they've learned, giving power back to students.

One hesitation is how to assess all these personalized approaches. I've turned assessment over to students and asked how they think we should assess and what criteria would show understanding. Students were often stricter than I would have been.

The first step is leveraging information you already have throughout the year. The second is working with students to open up what connections they're making, using technology to find unique connections, and collaborating in groups to create assessment processes.

Starting the year by gathering info and then involving students in choices takes some lift off teachers and creates transparency. Having students involved in assessment builds ownership unique to each student while working toward similar goals.

A quick note from today's episode presenter, Jotform. Jform lets you build forms in minutes, including student surveys, homework submissions, online quizzes, and more. You can start from scratch or use free templates designed for teachers, schools, and districts. Learn more and get a 30% discount on Jform Enterprise at jotform.com/enterprise/education.

What types of digital tools or platforms have you found most helpful for delivering personalized resources?

Regardless of platform, anything collaborative for students and teachers where we can give real-time feedback and collect information in forms to analyze data and see commonalities helps rearrange classroom groupings.

I like having students work in collaborative online sites so I can check their work without stacks of papers. While students work in groups, I can pop into their collaborative documents and give immediate feedback. Real-time feedback and seeing patterns across students helps with groupings and benefits teachers.

Managing students working on different timelines and getting views into their work to offer personalized feedback is crucial in classroom management. It also allows students anytime access to their ideas, so they can add notes when inspiration strikes.

When coaching teachers curious about personalized experiences, I suggest leveraging information about students' interests and commonalities. Start by grouping students to avoid personalizing for every single student at once. Think big but start small.

Have students work in groups to bounce ideas and narrow their focus, then bring ideas to the teacher. This builds learning among the student community, not just between teacher and student, which is important for learning and buy-in.

Families often come into school with their own positive and negative experiences and unknowns about their children. What strategies help families understand personalized learning and what it looks like in their child's classroom?

Help families realize personalized learning is not something done to them or their student but honors their expertise and assets. Maintain two-way communication about goals, honoring their knowledge, culture, and intent, acknowledging there may be bumps but inviting them on board.

At the secondary level, families can feel disconnected because students seem independent, but families remain important. Staying connected and supporting children together is key.

Personalized learning is a big topic with many layers we've unpacked today. If a motivated teacher wants to start soon, what is one actionable first step?

If you see a student needing extra support or disconnected, go back to information collected at the beginning about their passions, interests, and unique skills they bring to the classroom that others might not have, like the student with auto mechanic skills who can diagnose and solve problems.

Build relationships and bring that knowledge back into the classroom. Even for disengaged or unmotivated students, connect with them to bring them back into the learning atmosphere.

I love that perspective and emphasis on something doable, like an interest survey once a quarter to collect updated information and show students their voices are valued and listened to.

We know interests change and new skills or hobbies emerge that can be leveraged. There are many points in the year for fresh starts, like beginning of units, semesters, or calendar years, making this approach useful.

As we wrap up, where can people connect with you and learn more about your work?

The easiest is the website resonanced.com with two E's. I'm also on LinkedIn under Krista Leh, and you can email me at [email protected].

Thank you so much for your time today and sharing these great tips with listeners.

It was my pleasure. It was such a fun conversation with Krista. Let's make this ADTE easy with a few key points from today's episode.

Personalized learning starts with knowing each student's strengths, interests, and goals. It's not the same as differentiation and begins proactively, not after data is collected. SEL competencies play a big role in helping students engage and see relevance. Revisiting student interest data throughout the year supports ongoing personalization.

Remember, you can find the show notes where you're listening to this episode. They're full of resources to continue the conversation and connect with guests like today's guest, Krista Leh.

A big thank you to Jform, the presenter of today's episode. To learn more about Jform and how educational institutions can get a 30% discount on Jform Enterprise, head to jotform.com/enterprise/education.