Key Points:
- School system in Indiana wanted to develop individual plans for their students with unique education situations
- The district had no tools in place for this so they used Google Docs to collaborate
- Students were to take part in creating their individual learning plans (ILPs), and they were live documents that changed as their needs in education changed
- After one year, the ILPs failed, as they were too much work to keep up with
- The moral of the story is to try, and understand that failing is learning
Relevance:
This article is highly relevant in education because it supports trying new things and understanding that "failure" isn't really failure. It is a chance to revisit something and try again. The ILPs described are also very similar to Oregon's Individual Education Plans (IEPs).
This article brings up important points about student engagement, access to education, and student learning and growth. Providing students with individualized learning plans should be a topic of discussion in being inclusive of all types of learners, and teaching students about “advocating for their own learning.” It is valuable that the teachers were given the opportunity to create personal learning profiles, further their learning, and build on professional development. Overall, teachers can encourage and positively model to students that failure happens, it is part of learning, and like you point out, “a chance to try something again.” It is meaningful to create discussions were students have opportunities to debrief, take in new ideas, and move forward with different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! Differentiating our classrooms is such a main focus right now where I could see so much value in creating learner profiles for each student to personalize and individualize instruction for our student. It does not need to be to the extent of an IEP but along those lines where modifications and accommodations can be noted. I think having a document like this with every student would allow us to create more meaningful differentiated materials for our students and allow us to provide them with optimal support.
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