Personalized Instruction

The teacher personalizes instruction based on students' performance of learning targets. 

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Student Ownership

Teachers support each student’s ownership of learning by providing clear end of course learning targets allowing students to develop their ability to reflect on their learning, develop their own learning path, understand their learning progression and set goals.

• Track progress visible to both the teacher and student to celebrate growth
• Meet with individual students regularly to discuss student progress, strengths, areas of improvement. Students are clear about what they need to learn or the skill they need to develop in order to get to the next performance level
• Give students opportunities to determine and monitor their own learning goals and learning path throughout the year that is clearly connected to end of course outcomes
• Allow students to reflect on their learning and explain what they understand and concepts and/or skills with which they are still struggling

Use Multiple Tools for Construction & Composition

There is a tendency in schooling to focus on traditional tools rather than contemporary ones. This tendency has several liabilities: 1) it does not prepare learners for their future; 2) it limits the range of content and teaching methods that can be implemented; 3) it restricts learners ability to express knowledge about content (assessment); and, most importantly, 4) it constricts the kinds of learners who can be successful. Current media tools provide a more flexible and accessible toolkit with which learners can more successfully take part in their learning and articulate what they know. Unless a lesson is focused on learning to use a specific tool (e.g., learning to draw with a compass), curricula should allow many alternatives. Like any craftsman, learners should learn to use tools that are an optimal match between their abilities and the demands of the task.

• Provide spellcheckers, grammar checkers, word prediction software
• Provide text-to-speech software (voice recognition), human dictation, recording
• Provide calculators, graphing calculators, geometric sketchpads, or pre-formatted graph paper
• Provide sentence starters or sentence strips
• Use story webs, outlining tools, or concept mapping tool
• Provide Computer-Aided-Design (CAD), music notation (writing) software, or mathematical notation software
• Provide virtual or concrete mathematics manipulatives (e.g., base-10 blocks, algebra blocks)
• Use web applications (e.g., wikis, animation, presentation)