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Be prepared for Back to School with our Showbie Webinars! Register here 🚀

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The times they are a'changing-and the folks at Alpha Public Schools refuse to be left behind. That's why last year, in an attempt to accelerate personalized learning, we mandated every middle school teacher implement a station rotation model for the first time. In the stations, students work on adaptive online programs, collaborate in small groups, and receive differentiated instruction from the teacher. The goal is to better serve all learners.

When rolling out the model, however, we underestimated one major factor: that teachers are learners, too.

Alpha's eagerness to innovate is not unique. New models like station rotation offer an idealized vision of what a truly personalized classroom can look like. Maybe a principal visited a model classroom and aspired to create something similar in his or her own school. After all, the principal might think, if one teacher can do it, surely the rest can adapt as well.

While this long-term vision is critical, too often I have seen schools try to go from 0 to 100 in implementing their new models. Worse, leaders often forget that teachers are as unique as the students they serve. We would never push students who have yet to master their multiplication tables to jump into calculus and expect success. Yet we see schools imposing the end-goal model without providing scaffolds. Change is never easy, but at Alpha we've learned a few tricks to helping the process go at least a little more smoothly. Take a look.

Why is change so tricky?

One of the biggest challenges of implementing a new personalized learning model is that so many teachers are new to teaching. Education Week reports that 12 percent of U.S. teachers are within their first or second year of teaching, with that number reaching as high as 15 percent in some states.

New teachers are often unprepared for a student-centered model since teacher certification programs do not focus on preparing their graduates to teach this way. Furthermore, most teachers themselves were schooled in a largely traditional setting, heavy on teacher-led, direct instruction. Throw in challenges around management, lesson planning, and organization, and implementing a personalized learning model becomes a steep challenge.

At Alpha, while there were some teachers who thrived in the station rotation model, several of the new teachers struggled to plan differentiated lessons while also keeping students focused during independent stations, and managing the logistics of rotations.

It's hard to blame them. I remember my own first year of teaching and the long nights of lesson planning, and that was back in the days of single, non-differentiated teaching. In trying to meet students where they were, we neglected to meet some teachers where they were, ultimately preventing personalized learning for students. We did see strong gains in our performance on standardized tests last year, but we knew we could do better.

Scaffolds for teachers

As we thought about adjusting our model for this school year, we knew we had to consider teachers' needs. We kept the end goal of personalization the same, but created a gradual continuum that takes a teacher's current ability level into account. For example, a new teacher's focus may be entirely on classroom management. As he or she progresses along the continuum of levels, stations and pull-out groups are gradually introduced.

1

Teacher ensures classroom is stable and students are working

50 minutes teacher-led instruction; 30 minutes independent online work

2

Teacher develops classroom management as s/he introduces stations; monitors room during stations

50 minutes teacher-led instruction; 15 minutes review/preview activities; 15 minutes online work

3

Teacher transitions from monitoring to providing students with 1-on-1 support as needed

40 minutes teacher-led instruction; 20 minutes review/preview activities; 20 minutes online work

4

Teacher starts to pull out small groups for targeted instruction based on assessment data

40 minutes teacher-led instruction; 20 minutes review/preview activities; 20 minutes online work

5

Teacher routinely pulls out small groups for targeted instruction based on data

40 minutes teacher-led instruction; 20 minutes review/preview activities; 20 minutes online work

This continuum, designed by Alpha teacher Bianca Wright, is coupled with a suggested timeline for when teachers should move on and introduce the next step in their move towards personalization. This way, scaffolds are built in to gradually develop a teacher's capacity, rather than expecting him or her to go full-speed immediately.

Level of Teaching Experience Suggested Timeline for Station Rotation Implementation

New/Struggling

Level 1 through Thanksgiving; Level 2 through April

Intermediate

Level 1 through end of September; Level 2 through Thanksgiving; Level 3 through April

Advanced

Level 1 through September; Level 3 through Thanksgiving; approaching 4 by April

Note there is no expectation that every teacher reaches the top level by the end of the year. Instead, the continuum recognizes we're playing a long game, and that developing the skills to successfully personalize learning takes time.

Personalized for all

As a result of Alpha's new framework, teachers are given the support and time they need to develop their skills to personalize their classrooms effectively. New teachers are no longer thrown into the deep end but given manageable steps to follow, with reachable goals. More advanced teachers also continue to get pushed rather than getting de-prioritized. The continuum and timeline also provides coaches with more targeted support during professional development. Most importantly, students have a stronger instructional experience that becomes more and more personalized as the teacher's skills develop.

When implementing next generation models that incorporate personalized learning, the key is to meet teachers where they are in order to support their development. After all, we know the importance of personalizing learning for students. Now we just need to remember teachers are learners, too.

Jin-Soo Huh (@JinSooDHuh) is an EdSurge columnist and currently the Executive Director of Personalized Learning at Distinctive Schools. Formerly, he served as the Personalized Learning Manager at Alpha Public Schools.

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When It Comes to School-Wide Changes, Teachers Need Scaffolds Too - EdSurge News

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The times they are a'changing-and the folks at Alpha Public Schools refuse to be left behind. That's why last year, in an attempt to accelerate personalized learning, we mandated every middle school teacher implement a station rotation model for the first time.

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There are many elements critical to the success of change management initiatives, including those involving blended and personalized learning. Having worked with almost 200 districts across two organizations, we have learned that communications is one of the areas districts have the least experience with, but which can have the biggest impact. That's why we've designed a communications guide for school leaders and districts, with tips, examples and resources. Here's where to start:

Plan first, then worry about tactics. It is really easy to come up with a list of great tweets. Harder is developing clear goals for communications, determining key messages and audiences and developing a comprehensive approach to communications. Take the time to come up with a strategy before you dive into tactics - you will be much more effective.

Listen, don't just talk. Too many communications strategies focus on what a district is going to tell its stakeholders. Just as important is listening to what your stakeholders have to say. Whether its teachers, leaders or community members, it is important to make sure you have two-way communications. Think about how to use Twitter, surveys, and town-hall style meetings for your communications. Don't forget the power of small groups and 1:1s when possible. Build a culture of engagement, transparency, and trust.

Determine your messengers and your messages. Just as we know we can't treat all learners the same, we have to think about each audience as having different needs too. For each audience consider both the right messages and also the right people or channels to use to deliver those messages. At a minimum you want to consider school leaders, teachers, students and parents but there may be more audiences to think about or more ways to split them up (for example you might want different messages for your secondary vs elementary teachers). And just because Facebook works for the district down the road doesn't mean it will work for you; take the time to figure out what channels work for your district.

Show, don't tell. For many, seeing is believing and your strategy needs to include ways to bring this work to life. Find videos and visuals from other district to share when you are starting out. But don't stop there. There are likely examples from within your district you can use even at the beginning, and you can grow that list of resources as blended learning spreads. Capture testimonials, go into classrooms and videotape what you see. It makes it tangible and highlights for everyone what is possible.

Invite in the Media. As you start to succeed, invite in local and regional media to help you tell your story. Ask the media to join meetings with your community, capture what is happening in the classroom or interview key stakeholders involved in the work. This will help you reach a larger audience and also help you build out a set of resources to refer to throughout the year.

Anthony Kim is the founder & CEO of Education Elements, a education consultancy.

Kira Keane is a partner at the Learning Accelerator, an organization that provides blended and personalized learning resources to teachers.

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Communications Tips for School Leaders - EdSurge News

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There are many elements critical to the success of change management initiatives, including those involving blended and personalized learning. Having worked with almost 200 districts across two organizations, we have learned that communications is one of the areas districts have the least experience with, but which can have the biggest impact.

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Tech Tool: Choice Boards for Student Agency

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Tech Tool: Choice Boards for Student Agency

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Tech(is) Tool : Digital Citizenship Curriculum 

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Tech(is) Tool : Digital Citizenship Curriculum 

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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Practical strategies for scaffolding complex texts so students can carry the cognitive load.

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This site provides a curated collection of text complexity resources, tools, and research aimed at supporting educators as they guide students learning to read and understand complex text. Please click here for a short video overview of the site.
This site was constructed by educators from the ELA SCASS represented by the following states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Department of Defense Education Activity, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming

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This site provides a curated collection of text complexity resources, tools, and research aimed at supporting educators as they guide students learning to read and understand complex text. Please click here for a short video overview of the site.

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Tech Tool: Edpuzzle Tutorials (6-12 grade) 

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Tech Tool: Edpuzzle Tutorials (6-12 grade) 

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Want to create amazing video lessons in minutes? Edpuzzle is your missing piece! Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can…

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A 4 Part System for Getting to Know Your Students

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A 4 Part System for Getting to Know Your Students

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A 4-Part System for Getting to Know Your Students | Cult of Pedagogy

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Relationship building is key to good teaching. This system will help you quickly get to know students and benefit from those connections all year long.

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Resources & Guidance from The Learning Accelerator

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Context

Independent learning time, a core part of Pleasant View Elementary's instructional approach, is not without its challenges. As each student is working at their own pace, predicting when a student will need to be assessed is difficult. In order to meet individual needs while not disrupting instructional time, Pleasant View created a simple solution: students who are ready for an assessment will write their name and the title of the assessment on the board. The student can continue on to a new learning objective and, at the next break in instruction, the teacher checks the board and provides assessments to students who need them.

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Independent learning time, a core part of Pleasant View Elementary's instructional approach, is not without its challenges. As each student is working at their own pace, predicting when a student will need to be assessed is difficult.

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Learner Led instruction empowers learners with meaningful ways to make choices about their learning experiences, transforming the traditional learning environment to one driven by the student.

Created for educators. By educators.

"The personalized learning block lets them move at their own pace and reach their goals when they should... As they move through the autonomy levels we start bringing in new activities... It's a constant conversation with the kids, them telling us what their needs are, us telling them what we'd like to see and what the expectations are... I think the answer is yes to a lot of the things they ask."

How Student Agency Works in Ms. Meloscia's Class

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Developing Student Agency | LEAP Innovations

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Learner Led instruction empowers learners with meaningful ways to make choices about their learning experiences, transforming the traditional learning environment to one driven by the student. Created for educators. By educators. "The personalized learning block lets them move at their own pace and reach their goals when they should...

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Using Playlists to Differentiate Instruction

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Using Playlists to Differentiate Instruction

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Listen to my interview with Tracy Enos or read the transcript here.

In our never-ending quest to find better ways to differentiate and personalize instruction for students, we have plenty of options. I covered a lot of the basics in my Differentiation Starter Kit. Then last year we learned how math teacher Natalie McCutchen manages a self-paced classroom. And for ESL students, there are the Can-Do Descriptors.

Now, Rhode Island teacher Tracy Enos shares her system for customizing instruction to meet the needs of every student. She calls it a playlist, an individualized digital assignment chart that students work through at their own pace.

First, consider what we usually do: When planning a typical unit of instruction, teachers map out a series of lessons to deliver, assignments for students to complete, and some kind of final assessment at the end. They might share this plan with students, but then the execution is done by the teacher: The teacher delivers the lessons, tells students when to do the assignments, and guides students toward the final assessment.

With playlists, the responsibility for executing the learning plan shifts: Students are given the unit plan, including access to all the lessons (in text or video form), ahead of time. With the learning plan in hand, students work through the lessons and assignments at their own pace. And because each student has her own digital copy of the playlist (delivered through a system like Google Classroom), the teacher can customize the list to meet each student's needs.

"A playlist is basically like a road map," Enos explains. "I started using them in my classroom when I looked at my room full of 26 students and I saw the variety in their abilities. I knew I needed something different so that I could meet the needs of each one of those kids. Instead of just saying, 'OK, everybody, we're going to work on this lesson today,' I needed to individualize it so that different kids are working on things that they needed."

The term playlist, by the way, was coined by one of Enos' colleagues, math teacher Jason Appel.

Here are screenshots of three sample playlists from Enos's class. If you click on each one, you'll be taken to the full version to view in Google Docs. Although these examples come from a language arts class, Enos feels strongly that the playlist concept could be used in any content area.

Argument Writing Playlist

The first playlist is for a unit on argument writing. What you see here is just the first few tasks; there are 19 on the full playlist.

In the first column, Enos simply names the task. The second column provides specific instructions for the task. The third column is set up for students to record any notes they have about the task, and the fourth is where students record the date they completed the task.

Although much of the playlist will be exactly the same for each student, especially for the first few tasks, individual tasks can be customized to meet individual needs. Because the playlist is stored in digital form, the teacher can go into each student's playlist at any time and make adjustments as needed.

In addition to adjusting certain tasks, Enos also builds space in each playlist for purely individualized tasks. If we look further down her playlist, we see that tasks #14 and #15 have been left open for individualized focus revision activities, to be determined after the student has written her draft:

Enos does place occasional hard deadlines into her playlists; item 13 above has a date assigned to it. Although students are allowed to complete the work before the deadline, having this task pinned to a specific date helps prevent students from getting too far off track from each other.

Parts of Speech Playlist

This next one is from a unit designed to review the parts of speech. Notice that some of the tasks are quite simple and quick: Students just need to log on to a certain platform, create an account, or join an online group. This makes the playlist a practical tool as well as a good instructional vehicle: One place to keep learning tasks AND the kinds of housekeeping items that accompany most units. And breaking units into smaller tasks gives students a feeling of accomplishment as they move through each item.

To see the full version of this playlist, click the image below:

Again, the "Directions" column allows for maximum flexibility. The teacher can add tech tips, reminders, or any other information that might help student complete the task more smoothly. And if this is done in digital form, the teacher can easily add tips, links, or other comments at any time, making the playlist a living document.

Book Club Playlist

The final example is a playlist created for a unit on dystopian fiction, in which students participated in book clubs.

Notice that the playlist also includes checkpoints, where students must touch base with their teacher before moving on. These can be built in at any point for any reason, such as making sure students have completed key housekeeping tasks (like in the example above) or having the teacher review a draft for quality.

Many of the tasks in the playlist will ultimately result in the student submitting work through Google Classroom, or they might require a paper submission in a class that hasn't gone quite so digital. In fact, the whole system could be done on paper-one look at how student learning is managed in a Montessori classroom and you'll see how that can work. What's key is that students work through the list on their own, which frees the teacher up to spend more time working one-on-one with students.

If students are truly working at their own pace, wouldn't that mean some are way ahead, even finished with a unit, while others drag way behind? Setting a few hard deadlines (as shown in the argument writing playlist) can help keep the pacing from spiraling too far out of whack, but if our goal is true individualization, then we shouldn't want everyone to be too closely aligned.

This can be managed on a day-to-day basis. Students who are taking longer to master key tasks will likely get more one-on-one assistance from the teacher or be placed in groups to help them. Those who finish the required material quickly can be given enrichment tasks that take the learning to more advanced levels.

Homework also takes on a different role in a class that uses playlists: Because students work through the playlists on their own, they decide whether they get homework or not. If a student is moving through a playlist quickly, they may not have a need to spend extra time on the work at home. Conversely, if a student finds he needs extra help in class, he may decide to catch up on a few videos at home.

For a more in-depth exploration of playlists, listen to my podcast interview with Tracy Enos using the player above or by listening on iTunes or Stitcher (for Android). If you have questions, ask them in the comments below and I'll have Tracy come over and answer them. And if you have used a system that's similar to playlists, please share your experiences in the comments so we can all learn together.♦

There's a lot more where this came from.
Join the Cult of Pedagogy mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading. If you are already a subscriber and want this resource, just check your most recent email for a link to the Members-Only Library-it's in there!

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Using Playlists to Differentiate Instruction

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Want better differentiation? Learn how to use this simple method for providing students with customized plans for working through a unit of study.

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Routines and Procedures for Blended Classrooms

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Routines and Procedures for Blended Classrooms

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Routines and Procedures | Blended Topic | BetterLesson

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BetterLesson reimagines professional learning by personalizing support for educators to support student-centered learning.

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This protocol is for students to reflect on their ability to apply previous knowledge to set a goal, take initiative and be reliable, care about the quality of their work, be flexible and include new ideas when revising work.

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Student Self Direction Rubric | LEAP Innovations

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This protocol is for students to reflect on their ability to apply previous knowledge to set a goal, take initiative and be reliable, care about the quality of their work, be flexible and include new ideas when revising work.

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5 Ways to Give your Students More  Voice & Choice	7 Ways to Hack Your Classroom to Include More Student Choice

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5 Ways to Give your Students More  Voice & Choice	7 Ways to Hack Your Classroom to Include More Student Choice

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5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice.

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5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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A teachers journey to personalization through differentiation. 

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A teachers journey to personalization through differentiation. 

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Throughout eighteen years of teaching, Steve McWade has always seen trust and human connection as the foundation of powerful learning experiences. In this way, personalized learning didn't introduce Steve to something new but instead just made him better, as Steve puts it, at what he was already doing. Working with LEAP, he developed structured ways for staying in touch with his students, and honed tangible tools and practices for meeting each and every one of his students where they are.

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34 Kids, 34 Ways: How Steve McWade Delivers on His Calling with Personalized Learning | LEAP Innovations

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Throughout eighteen years of teaching, Steve McWade has always seen trust and human connection as the foundation of powerful learning experiences. In this way, personalized learning didn't introduce Steve to something new but instead just made him better, as Steve puts it, at what he was already doing.

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Teach students to talk about themselves and their work using a growth mindset

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Supporting Access to Grade Level Content

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Supporting Access to Grade Level Content

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Strategies to Support Learners Who Are Below Grade Level - Peers and Pedagogy

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While we know that the goal is for all students to be working on grade-level-appropriate content, sometimes students haven't been positioned to be successful with that complex text or even that rich math problem. In my own experience, there hasn't been a single class that I have taught where I have had all my students [...]

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Heterogenous grouping to differentiate learning. 

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Heterogenous grouping to differentiate learning. 

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Resources & Guidance from The Learning Accelerator

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Virtual Teacher Office Hours

Teachers provide virtual office hours to support students with challenges, problems, or questions they may have outside of normally...

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Heterogeneous Student Groupings at ReNew DTA

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When teaching 8th grade-level content, the teacher pairs students heterogeneously to support lower-level students and offer higher-level students the opportunity to deepen knowledge by teaching others.

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This was a great article linked to the Grown Mindset article

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When my oldest son was diagnosed with autism, one of the first things his occupational therapist said was, "His level of rigid thinking is severe. He does not have the ability to change his own perspective or see things from the perspectives of others. He will need a lot of social skills therapy and even then, we'll see."

"We'll see?" I thought.

I knew he struggled with inflexible thinking.

I knew it was an area in need of development.

I knew it was not easy for him, any more than it was for the rest of us, to understand how to help him.

However, it seemed to me his therapist was limiting his potential. She seemed dubious he would ever really make progress in helping his brain be more global and flexible. She seemed to have already given up.

For many children with learning and behavioral differences, this type of "fixed mindset" is their baseline. Even within my own family, I have found this to be true.

Two years after my oldest was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, my youngest was diagnosed with ADHD and several mood disorders. The diagnoses were completely different; the concerns around rigid thinking were the same. Moreover, the idea there is only so much that can be done to help them was also pervasive. Although I have learned to politely, but strongly, disagree with the notion my children are not able to develop flexible, growth mindsets, I do understand where this concern originates. Below are 5 steps on how to teach a growth mindset to children with special needs.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our FREE Your Words Matter Volume 2 Kit. With these 10 one-page parenting guides, you will know exactly how to speak to your child to help them stand up for themselves, be more confident, and develop a growth mindset.

What a Child Experiences

Consider this - for children with ADHD, anxiety, learning differences, autism spectrum diagnoses, and other behavioral disorders, already innate negative thinking patterns have been reinforced by years and years of negative messages.

Well-meaning parents, teachers, and even other children have fortified negative thinking patterns far beyond what any child with neurotypical function would experience.

Add to this a diagnosis that already predisposes a child to rigid and fixed thinking patterns and what you get is a child suffering to make sense of his place in the world. This can lead to increased depression, internal and social conflict, and most often, explosive behavior.

How a Growth Mindset Can Help

Undoing these negative thinking patterns is necessary for all children, but it can be exceptionally difficult for a child with special needs. This is exactly why it is so important.

Teaching a growth mindset to children with special needs can

1. empower them as they understand they have a measure of control over their thinking patterns. This is critical in helping them become more positive, flexible thinkers. Building new connections in the brain is exactly what our children need - it may be more difficult and take more time, but it works. As such, a special needs child is better able to cope and interact in the world.

2. provide concrete, specific examples to help them understand the power of their mind.

3. decrease explosive behavior. Children with special needs often feel stuck in their own bodies and minds. Communicating this often comes in the form of destructive behaviors, explosive emotions, and even aggression. This can be mitigated when our children discover how best to communicate their most basic, intrinsic needs.

How to Teach a Growth Mindset

There are several things to consider when teaching growth vs. fixed mindset to children with special needs.

1. Start Slow and Stay Steady

Our children need a slow, methodical, and steady approach to learning. Skills like resilience, self-belief, confidence, and positive thinking may not come naturally.

Additionally, these abilities may take more time than anticipated to comprehend and, ultimately, assimilate. It is preferable to take as much time as the child needs. Developing a growth mindset is not a race but rather a lifelong journey.

2. Reinforce Modeled Behavior

Some children are able to and respond well to, witnessing modeled behavior. For children with special needs, however, this can be very difficult. As such, it is necessary to reinforce modeled behavior with overt language.

Overt language requires a parent/teacher to describe why they reacted to a situation the way they did. It also includes detailing feelings in concrete language. For example:

"I was so nervous when I was asked to speak at the mom's group last week. I was worried, as I had never done it before. But then I thought to myself, 'There are so many things I couldn't do in the past and now I can! This is the same.' It made me feel much more confident and willing to say yes."

3. Anticipate Explosive Behavior

When a child is mid-meltdown, it feels like there is almost nothing that can be done to help. The truth is, learning about a growth mindset helps a child both in the midst of explosive behavior and, in the long run, helps to decrease it.

For example, when my son begins to escalate, he often loses the ability to think clearly. I have found it helpful to remind him, in a calm and reassuring voice, of what we have been learning about growth mindset. For example:

"You feel overwhelmed, but remember last time. Taking deep breaths and thinking about your pet lizard helped. Let's try it."

Once my child has calmed down completely, we review what worked and talk about how to implement this type of thinking again in the future.

The longer we discuss strategies for adjusting our mindsets, the less explosive behavior we see. These strategies become a kind-of toolbox for my son to use when he feels deregulated.

One of these strategies can be a simple breathing activity shown below.

4. Share Stories Of Other People's Success

The best way to help a child understand and incorporate growth mindset strategies is to illustrate them through stories. Sharing real-life examples of people who have been able to overcome negative mindsets and find success through growth is not only encouraging, but illustrative to a child struggling to understand how to adjust negative thinking patterns.

The Big Life Journal includes stories throughout that do just this. My son is encouraged and responsive when he is able to see evidence of how much a growth mindset helps others and he is much more likely to try it for himself!

If you need some tips on how to encourage a growth mindset in your child, don't forget to download our FREE Your Words Matter Kit Vol. 2.

5. Review Often

The best time to practice and establish a growth mindset is all the time. It is important to discuss and establish the benefits of a growth mindset when our children are calm and receptive.

For my son, this is usually when he is playing with his dog or jumping on the trampoline. I take these opportunities to remind him how well he did when he calmed down the night before and how he is building better, more positive connections in his brain every single time he does it.

The more our children practice and establish a growth mindset, the easier it will become over time. Once the brain begins to make these connections, the growth mindset naturally becomes more fluid and ultimately helpful in difficult situations.

Creating a lifestyle centered on implementing these practices helps children with special needs truly understand and ultimately develop positive responses.

Since they need overt and frequent opportunities to practice, incorporating it into a child's everyday activities ensures he/she has ample opportunities to learn and grow.

Our children present us with frequent opportunities to help them practice and grow. For example, earlier this year, my son was nervous about attending a local art class for kids, knowing I would not be there with him. Even though he was worried, I am proud to say he did it anyway. After his first class, we celebrated together and I made sure to point out this was something he had not been able to do a year ago and now he could!

I am grateful that I did not listen to that first therapist and her low odds for my son's success. Although it has taken more time and effort than it might have for a child without special needs, my son is developing a positive approach to dealing with his differences and with the world.

The confidence and resiliency I see in him go far beyond what anyone really thought possible in those first few months, post-diagnosis.

The truth is, for children with special needs, a growth mindset makes an even greater impact and creates even more opportunities for success.

Self-awareness, coping skills, and the ability to feel a sense of control over one's own responses are gifts we all deserve, especially those of us with differences and special needs.
About the Author
Looking for additional resources to support building grit and resilience in your child? The Build Your Frustration Tolerance Masterclass is a self-paced growth mindset parenting masterclass where you'll learn how to help your child push ahead and persevere instead of quitting or giving up at the slightest setback. You'll get lifetime access so you can go through all the materials at your own pace. The masterclass includes 4 video units with renowned guest parenting educators PLUS 2 bonus tracks with pre & early teen and neurodiverse parenting perspectives.

Shawna Wingert writes about motherhood, special needs and the beauty of everyday messes at DifferentbyDesignLearning.com. She is a special needs advocate, speaker, and writer and has participated in parenting discussions on Today.com, Simple Homeschool, Autism Speaks, The Mighty, For Every Mom, and The Huffington Post.

She is the author of three books, including Parenting Chaos: Practical Support and Encouragement for Parents of Explosive Children. Shawna lives in Southern California with her voice actor husband and two awesome sons.

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5 Powerful Ways To Teach Growth Mindset To Children With Special Needs

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When my oldest son was diagnosed with autism, one of the first things his occupational therapist said was, "His level of rigid thinking is severe. He does not have the ability to change his own perspective or see things from the perspectives of others.

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Using data to provide flexible grouping. 

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Using data to provide flexible grouping. 

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Resources & Guidance from The Learning Accelerator

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Context

Educators at West Belden group students based on need - small groups are created when there is a common need among multiple students. These groups are rarely static for a long period of time as needs are constantly changing.

Teacher Does

Uses NWEA, formative, and/or program data to identify student skills and abilities and adjusts groups to match those skills and needs.

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West Belden uses flexible grouping to group students based on need.

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About This Strategy

Plan It

Practice It

Reflect and Refine

Coach Tip

Marzano's Self-Assessment Rubric For Distance Learning

Special Education Modification

EL Modification

Suggested Tech Tools

Related Strategies

Provide students with clear criteria to self-assess effectively

1999 teachers like this strategy

Marzano's Practice Overview

4:18

About This Strategy

Marzano's Self-Assessment Rubric is a rubric with specific criteria that supports your students to self-assess on a 1 to 4 scale. The easy to understand criteria can help your students to more effectively self-assess and can help you see how students feel about the content. Engaging in self-reflection and assessment enables your students to better understand their own level of understanding.

Plan It

Prior to implementing Marzano's Practice, it is important that you strategically plan for implementation by completing the following:

1. Determine how you will introduce Marzano's practice to students.

2. Determine when students will engage with Marzano's and ways that you can support them to accurately self-assess.

Think about ways that you can remind yourself, and your students, to engage with this self-assessment.

3. Determine if students will complete a paper copy, respond via a digital tool, or a technology tool.

If using a tech tool, set up an account and think about the processes needed for students to engage with it.

Practice It

Now that you have planned to implement Marzano's Practice, it is time to implement it with students.

1. Introduce the Marzano's Practice rubric to your students.

See the example rubric in the resource section below.

2. Explain the criteria for each level to students. It is important to make the criteria concrete.

Level 1: Even with help, I do not get this

Level 2: Help me a little, and I got this

Level 3: I just need some more practice

Level 4: I need a challenge or I could teach someone

3. Have students practice using the rubric to self-assess their level of understanding using your preferred method (e.g. a paper copy, a visual cue (fingers), or a tech tool).

4. Assess for accuracy:

Review student's self-assessment rates for accuracy.

Allow students to review data and compare to the level they chose.

5. Meet with students, as needed, to support them to grow confident and accurate in using Marzano's Practice.

Reflect and Refine

After you begin implementing Marzano's Practice, consider the following:

What went well? What was challenging?

Are students self-assessing accurately?

What additional supports are needed?

What iterations should be made when you use this strategy again?

What was the feedback from your students? How can you incorporate their feedback into the next iteration?

After engaging in reflection, determine any changes and go through the planning and implementation steps again.

Coach Tip

You can use Marzano's Rubric to recommend learning activities. Consider differentiating the work and empowering students to determine the most appropriate learning activity. To do so, have students engage with Marzano's rubric and engage with a learning activity aligned with that self-assessment level. After engaging in the learning activity, ask students if the activity was too easy and too hard and connect this to self-assessing.

Marzano's Self-Assessment Rubric For Distance Learning

Tori Todd

BetterLesson Instructional Coach

Self-assessment is a helpful reflective tool when engaging in distance learning. Use Marzano's self-assessment rubric to support students to reflect on their learning and make choices about distance learning tasks.

Implementation steps:

1. During synchronous class periods, ask students to use the Marzano's Self-Assessment Rubric to reflect on their understanding. Students can hold up fingers on screen, or type their self-assessment level into a chat feature (such as on Zoom).

Consider using a tool like Google Forms or Socrative to survey students. These tools pull together data into a spreadsheet for easy analysis and grouping.

2. Based on students' self-assessments, consider using breakout rooms to differentiate student learning during your synchronous class period. Students who self-assess at a 3 or 4 could work in breakout rooms to complete a collaborative task suited to this level of understanding, while students who self-assess at a 1 or 2 could stay in the main room to work with their teacher.

Consider offering students options for asynchronous work based on their self-assessments. Students can engage with tasks tailored to their self-assessment level.

Special Education Modification

Self-Assessment Rubrics support students with disabilities by providing a safe, structured opportunity to develop reflection and assessment skills to help them identify growth needed in a lesson.

Using a tool like  Marzano’s Self-Assessment to help students reflect and self-assess their mastery of skills, requires significant executive functioning (task initiation, prioritization, working memory, etc.) and written expression skills.  In order to support students with disabilities who have difficulty with independent, multi-step reflection activities, and/or written expression consider the following modifications:

Modifications:

1. Consider using written, verbal and movement-based methods for self-reflection rubric to give students multiple methods to show their self-reflection to check for understanding. See the "Self-Reflection Tool Examples" in the resource section below.

EL Modification

Shannon Coyle

English Learner Specialist

Marzano’s self-assessment rubric guides English learners with a simple to understand and execute means of conveying their level of understanding of a topic. Teachers are afforded the opportunity to get an inside look at learner’s perceptions and remediate and extend as needed.

English learners are required to listen and follow directions as well as read, write, and respond during activities. In order to support English Learners consider the following modifications:

Modifications:

1. Ensure English learners understand the levels. Consider simplified, numeric or color-coded charts or posters on the wall and reference them often. Consider partnering with learners’ language specialist to preview and practice applying the levels for learners at lower levels of English proficiency. See the "Example Leveled Posters" in the resource section below for more information.

2. Ensure English learners understand all directions for activities in their level before beginning to work e.g., ask for learners to restate directions. If the activities are new to learners, consider previewing or partnering with learners’ language specialist to preview for learners at lower levels of proficiency.

3. Perform 1:1 check-ins with English learners. Use independent work time to give English learners an opportunity to use their academic language, and learning facilitators a chance to formatively assess content language use, to guide self-assessment and redirect to more appropriate levels as needed.

4. Provide English learners with familiar reference sheets such as graphic organizers, word banks, sentence stems, formula sheets, etc., to use as needed during activities.

5. Provide comprehensible content in activities that require learners to read-to-learn. Consider providing home language content as available during independent or technology-based activities. When available, home language content can be a powerful tool in developing and progressing skills. See the "Research and Bilingual Content Resources for English Learners" resource in the resource section below for more information.

Suggested Tech Tools

Plickers

Plickers is a tech tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data using multiple choice cards. Students do not need devices.

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Provide students with clear criteria to self-assess effectively

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Overview of a classroom that incorporates reflection and choice. 

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Overview of a classroom that incorporates reflection and choice. 

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At any given time at my class, student grouping is fluid and ever-changing.  A brief whole group lesson focuses on collaborative lessons and reviewing concepts.  Students self-assess to determine how they will practice new skills, and what level of support they need.  I also employ a model of individualized learning paths that I named Workshop, where students choose the way in which they will learn.  Students who need help are grouped for that day in Tutoring, while others have their pick over a variety of websites such as IXL, FrontRow, and TenMarks, online re-assessments, collaborative activities, projects, and more.  Student reflection is essential to making that much choice, work.

Number of Students: 26 students

Number of Adults: one teacher

Length of Class Period/Learning Time: 90minutes (Math Block)

Digital Content/ Ed Tech Tools Used on a Regular Basis: i-Ready; IXL; MangaHigh; Website; FrontRow; Kahoot!; BrainGenie; Poll Everywhere; TenMarks; Google Apps for Education

Hardware Used on a Regular Basis: five iPads; five desktop computers; five laptop computers; two Galaxy Tabs; SMARTBoard

Key Features: competency-based; student agency; individualized learning paths; online homework; gamification

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Daniel's Model Overview | Blended Video | BetterLesson

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Blended Learning Model Overviews At any given time at my class, student grouping is fluid and ever-changing. A brief whole group lesson focuses on collaborative lessons and reviewing concepts. Students self-assess to determine how they will practice new skills, and what level of support they need.

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A few weeks into each semester, Gayle Golden asks her University of Minnesota journalism students to answer a few brief, anonymous questions about the course she teaches. After examining responses, she discusses the results with her students during the next class.

"She tells them which suggestions she plans to put into practice, which recommendations she can't act on, and why," writes Rebecca Koenig for EdSurge. Says Golden: "If they told me something like, 'I want no deadlines,' I will say: 'I heard a call for no deadlines, I understand deadlines are hard, but I can't do that in this class, and the reason is this-sorry.' By saying that, I have told them I have heard them."

Known as early-term feedback, the practice is a quick temperature check that can "unearth a trove of useful information," including a teacher's blind spots or classroom logistics and protocols that students find confusing or inefficient. Adapted to middle and high school classrooms, it's a powerful-and even continuous-way to gather student input to quickly refine and improve teaching and learning at either the class or lesson level. Feedback can be done very simply online or via pencil and paper, for example, and should always focus on giving students an opportunity to voice their concerns, needs, and thinking about their learning, the class, and how it's being taught.

Because the feedback protocol generally includes time dedicated to closing the loop with students-with the teacher addressing feedback in class and then strategically implementing some changes-it's also a valuable tool for building a positive, respectful learning environment. "Not only does the process of gathering and incorporating student feedback offer an opportunity to improve a course before too much time has passed," notes Koenig, "it can also change the tone and culture of a classroom, enabling a [teacher] to demonstrate to students that she values their perspectives."

The Purpose of Student Surveys

When the authors of a 2019 study conducted in-depth interviews with award-winning instructors of online courses, they found that a significant part of what set these educators apart from less successful instructors was their emphasis on the use of "data for continuous improvement." The instructors, the researchers found, routinely collected feedback from students to gain insight into what was working or not and where obstacles might exist for students. The data they collected would then be used for "immediate and remedial action," the study authors note. And while these instructors worked in a remote environment, the data they were looking for is applicable to in-person learning as well.

Christopher Pagan, a physics teacher at Trinidad Garza Early College High School in Dallas, Texas, began surveying his students because they were having a hard time learning the materials, weren't turning in assignments, and often skipped the opportunity to take make-up tests. He wanted them to reflect on what would improve their learning experience so that he could understand what he might change.

Pagan developed a 5-minute survey for students to fill out in class-the results were illuminating. "He got the information back, changed how he taught, and changed how he tutored," says Dr. Janice Lombardi, the school's principal. "As a result, last year, his students' physics scores phenomenally increased," and the school made student surveys a "best practice" that all teachers implement twice a year.

Asking Good Questions

To get the most out of the process, questions should stay focused on instruction, Pagan advises, because "the purpose of this survey is to give my students a voice to tell me what changes I can make and what practices I can implement to help them perform better in class. It has nothing to do with content." So if there's a specific problem area in your class, like homework and quizzes, for example, questions might include: "Do you turn your homework in on time? If so, or if not, why?" Or, "How do you perform on tests and quizzes? If you don't do well, why is that? If you do well, why is that?" Consider including a few open-ended questions to "surface problem areas that you didn't think about," Pagan suggests.

When Golden surveys her University of Minnesota class, she asks them three simple questions:

What should keep happening in this class?

What should we start doing in this class?

What should we stop doing in this class?

For a middle- or high school survey, here are examples of typical student survey questions published by organizations such as Harvard University's Making Caring Common Project, EduCause, and the Hawaii Department of Education:

Are assignments clear? Are you able to access them?

Do you feel like your voice is heard?

Do you feel like you belong in the classroom?

What can I do to improve our classroom?

Modeling Useful Feedback

At first, students might feel nervous about delivering honest feedback to teachers, so it's important to briefly explain the process and its value to them as students-and to you as the teacher-emphasizing that it's an opportunity to use their voices in a respectful way to impact their experience and success as learners. You might model how to deliver productive feedback, perhaps suggesting a few sentence starters in the survey to help them get started. For example, "It would be helpful for me if my teacher spent more/less time doing..." or "I struggle to complete homework on time because..." Remind students that the survey is anonymous so that they feel comfortable being honest.

To encourage students to offer relevant, constructive feedback, rather than personal or off-topic comments, formulate questions so that they're emphasizing the central idea of "What helps you learn?" And then be sure to "frame it upfront that [you] care about what the students are experiencing and want to make changes," says Kris Gorman, an education program specialist at the University of Minnesota's Center for Education Innovation.

Making Sure You're Ready to Implement It

It's frustrating to give thoughtful feedback and then never hear back. Before you get started, be honest with yourself about whether you have the bandwidth to engage in the whole survey process, including closing the loop with students and proposing and taking action on next steps. "I've always encouraged people to only collect feedback if you are ready to take action on it," Gorman tells Koenig. "If you don't have capacity, the worst thing you can do is collect feedback and not be willing to do anything to change."

Regardless of how carefully you position the survey and explain its purpose to students, be prepared, as well, to hear negative feedback. If student feedback feels especially difficult or negative, try to "take what's actionable, leave what's emotional," Gorman suggests. "It's like any relationship; you have to ask 'What's up?' and talk about it truthfully. You'll find if you start to do that, the likelihood is you're going to improve the situation."

Finally, keep in mind that not all survey results that have merit require immediate action. In fact, acting on all feedback not only is impossible but also can destabilize your classroom routines and disrupt learning. Be judicious and consider selecting only the top one or two high-impact changes that you can reasonably implement in the classroom. Keep the rest for later; there will be plenty of time to make tweaks as the school year progresses.

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Continuously Refine Your Practice With Student Feedback

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A few weeks into each semester, Gayle Golden asks her University of Minnesota journalism students to answer a few brief, anonymous questions about the course she teaches. After examining responses, she discusses the results with her students during the next class.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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The Personalized Learning Journey of Dallas ISD

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Tech Tool : Using Padlet in the Classroom

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Tech Tool : Using Padlet in the Classroom

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30+ creative ways to use Padlet for teachers and students

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I’m always excited when I’m using Padlet. Is it the interface, the way everything is designed, its purpose or the fact that I’m organizing things smoothly? I don’t know. It just makes me happy.