Every school district is at a different location on their journey of personalized learning and a journey it most assuredly is. Change does not happen overnight. For some educators personalized learning means blended and digital learning (using online and other resources to supplement student learning). For some educators personalized learning means competency-based learning in which grading is completed only when a student has demonstrated mastery of a skill. For some educators personalized learning means that two educators collaborate to combine content areas to provide project-based learning within a specific theme. For some educators personalized learning means that learning takes place anytime, anywhere so when students give a presentation at a Girl Scouts function, then we would count that as work completed for high school. For some educators personalized learning means that students have agency and ownership over their learning so students have a say over what they want to learn (i.e. interested in Greek mythology which is used to earn some English, world history). For some educators personalized learning means that students have an opportunity to learn in an interdisciplinary environment. And for some educators personalized learning means all of these things.

Personalized learning is NOT differentiating instruction. Differentiating instruction has come to mean that teachers provide several options for students to choose how they would like to present material that has been taught by the teacher. While differentiating instruction is a good opportunity for students, it is not "personalized learning" as the term has been used on this website and throughout the GKB school corporation.

A seminar is similar to a mini-course. It can vary from 3 to 9 weeks and sometimes can be extended to run a whole semester. Seminars are more structured learning times when a coach and/or student will be leading a group of interested students in a particular topic. An example is The Poisoner’s Handbook. In this seminar, students read the nonfiction book by Deborah Blum. This book examines the development of forensic science in Jazz Age New York. Each chapter explores a particular poison (i.e. cyanide, carbon monoxide, radium), discusses several cases in which those poisons were used, and how the medical examiner, Charles Norris, and his toxicologist, Alexander Gettler, developed tools to find traces of the poison’s use, established the protocols that forensic scientists still use, all while facing the ravages of Prohibition. While taking this seminar, students will have an opportunity to earn some English, US History, world history, chemistry, and biology targets.

A target is the word that is used to refer to a state standard. A different word is used because the state standard is reworded and reconfigured for students to be able to understand.

If you would like to wait until you have all of your ideas and issues ironed out, you will be waiting for quite some time. For example, who could have foreseen that Honor Roll lists in the local newspaper would be such an issue? You cannot anticipate all of the issues that will, inevitably, arise. Especially because you need to have kids with you on the journey so that they can give you feedback (what works, what doesn't). Our suggestion, in the words of Leslie Knope, "[n]ow, go find your team, and get to work."