Competency-Based Education & Personalized Learning
How do I incorporate competency-based learning into my teaching practice? Every time a new list of buzzwords (like competency-based education and personalized learning) start shooting around Academia like roman candles at my Aunt Tullulah's 102nd birthday party, I immediately start to sweat. "How do I do this with a room full of very different kids at very different levels and WHEN do I do this when I don't have any time to do this!? UGH! Not another buzzword!" Much to my surprise and pleasure, even though I had never heard the term "competency-based learning" before reading Ms. Varatta's article Teaching in a Competency-Based Education Environment ( Varatta, 2017), I HAVE created a competency-based education environment in my classroom for years! First of all, I set the tone by addressing my fourth graders and myself as professional writers. We constantly ask ourselves "What do professional writers do?" (Back in the Neolithic Age, when I was an itty-bitty undergraduate, I had a professor who admonished me for daring to hold myself up to the lofty heights of a "professional writer." I had blatantly underlined the title of my short story). Thirty years later, I'm encouraging other even itty-bittier people to rise up and declare themselves not only writers, but...professional writers! I feel it's a cute, harmless way to empower kids to work up to a higher standard. Well, almost harmless. My students all know that I'm going after my master's degree and that my focus topic is writing and technology. They asked if writing the essays for my research study meant they were working for Touro University. Not really catching on, I said, "In a way." Well, three of them are now waiting for a paycheck from Touro. Thank goodness for permission slips. Our latest writing project is an example of how I incorporate competency-based education in my classroom. My students have been writing long 5 paragraph essays all year. It's been a definite challenge, but they are learning how to help each other through the writing process. Quoting Ms. Varatta, my kids own it. I give them the main idea, and together we collaborate on the details. They create several different poster sized graphic organizers with topic specific information. These graphic organizers are posted all over the room for easy reference. Before we begin writing, I create a four point rubric for each writing project. This time, after going over the new rubric, we agreed that if a paper had a clear introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion, it would automatically start at a 2 on the 4 point rubric. I thought that was a good idea. Students peer review and peer edit each other's essays. They problem solve through technological glitches they may encounter in Google Docs. For the most part, they can work independently while I pull those who are struggling. Now, the ones who are struggling don't have the same issues they did at the beginning of the year. At that time, they refused to write one sentence on paper or computer. However, since they now see each other as peers working together (picture the energy of the old time-y newspaper rooms of the 1940s), they don't feel alone. And they're not overwhelmed by a simple 5 paragraph essay. I won't sugar coat it. It was very hard getting the kids to this point and we are still no where near our destination. They continue to struggle with sentence structure, word usage, keyboarding skills and there are still a few boys who spend days on one sentence, but they have me and they have their buddies who are more than willing to help. Personalized Learning could easily be a synonym for competency-based education learning because they fit so well together. Personalized learning could also be a synonym to countless other teaching strategies and programs around the US. And that is where Benjamin Herold warns us that a tighter definition is needed before personalized learning "leads to incoherence and ineffectiveness" (Herold, 2018). Remember when I was screaming like a crazy person at the beginning of this blog? This is the reason to my insanity. Mr. Herold quotes Stanford University education researcher Larry Cuban as saying that "the history of school reform is dotted with the debris of earlier instructional reforms that varied greatly in definition and practice" (Herold, 2018). Before I had even graduated from college, the buzzwords that had flown around my education courses for four years were dead silent by the time I started teaching two months later. In the world of education, buzzwords come and go. Personalized learning can mean so many different things to so many different groups of people involved in a child's education that it is in danger of becoming one of those dead buzzwords. Which is a shame because in it's most pristine form it does this: * gives students more choices over the content they want to learn and when they learn. * those who are ready, move forward. * those who fall behind, get help. * students can show what they know in a variety of ways: presentations, videos, essays, skits, art (Video, 2018) I would love to develop a personalized learning experience for my students. I think I do a little bit of it, but not at it's full potential. Researchers admit that it is not an easy thing to do, but it is worth striving for. I need to take time to reflect and plan on how this could be accomplished. Researchers suggest being very patient. You don't rush blossoms. Herold, Benjamin. (2018). What does personalized learning mean? Whatever people want it to. Education Week. 6 November 2018. Personalized learning: what is it? (2018) Education Week. 6 November 2018. Video. Varatta, Katie. (2017). Teaching in a competency-based learning environment. KnowledgeWorks.org. 30 May 2017.
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The most obvious thing I learned from my research is that I LOVE RESEARCH!
I did not know what a full-blooded nerd I was. Suddenly, I started Googling "technology and writing" everywhere I went...on purpose! I kid you not. I used to waste minutes, if not hours, browsing through Pinterest Fails or playing Block Puzzle while sitting in the bathroom. A few months ago, I noticed that my reading material had significantly grown in sophistication. I no longer obsessed about when the Downton Abbey movie would hit theaters. I took my 3 inch binder of printed articles with me everywhere I went. My favorite spot to read was under the dryer in my friend's beauty salon. The rushing, warm air around my ears was soothing and comforting as I read a newly found article on the effect of laptops on "the fourth grade slump." Good times, good times. I put my my entire heart and soul into preparing for this research study. I carefully chose the materials that we would use throughout the project. I taught my A-game! I gave it my all. My students were not only gently guided through the common steps of the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, rewriting and publishing, they were also introduced to more mature steps, like peer review of each other's work and reflecting on their own writing. I also used a lot of instructional minutes to teach them how to use the keyboard and the tools in Google Docs to create a well-organized and structured essay. Everything was going according to my well-crafted and well-delivered plan. Except for one thing. I failed to consider how student motivation played a crucial role in all of this. A new question emerged as I was conducting my study: How do you get the little colts to drink the water? After they had been prepared for the task of writing the essay, they dug in their heels. They didn't want to write. They complained for days...and days about being bored, and I quote, "not having any fun!" The computer was not enough to motivate them to write. Working with their friends was not enough motivation to get them writing. In my classroom, with this specific group of kids, my next step is to figure out how to instill a love for writing into their thick, stubborn little heads. I realized it was not enough to build the perfect writing lesson if your kids don't love writing. My next step is to figure out how to show them that writing can be a joyful, creative expression of one self. I'm re-doing my study. However, this time, I will teach my kids how wonder and powerful narrative writing can be. And that fails...well, I'll just have to come up with something else even more thrilling and exciting...Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Fortnight? |
Tess Giner
This is my 25th year as a public school teacher. I've taught every grade between Kindergarten and 12th grade. I hope to encourage my students to love writing and reading as much as I do. Archives
July 2019
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