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My name's Filomena Bianco.
I am from Naples,  south of Italy.
I live in a town in the north of Naples, Giugliano in Campania.

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I am a teacher of English at the Junior Secondary School "G.B. Basile" in Giugliano (age 11-14).
I have taught English for 19 years! I have also published textbooks of English culture and summer review

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I love reading, listening to music, meeting my freinds and travelling.
I also love speaking foreign languages and to learn more about different cultures and life styles.

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I love my job and I like to improve my teaching skills. The world has changed so much and students learn in very different ways. I am interested in knowing new methodologies and ICT tools to improve my teaching practice and be able to motivate and involve my students as much as possible in the learning process.

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reflect on my own learning and that of my students;

learn about the concepts of formal, non-formal and informal learning;

discuss how to create links between these learning settings in order to empower your students’ learning.

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The aim of this course is to learn how I can empower our students to learn in different settings in and out of school.

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How can students’ learning experiences in non-formal and informal settings  be important for their learning at school?

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How can students’ learning experiences in non-formal and informal settings  be important for their learning at school?

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1. The learning taking place there can be powerful as these settings stress the practical value of learning.

2. Non-formal education focuses on the process, the emotion that it brings out in you and how you are learning.

3. Non-formal and informal learning settings can unlock students’ creative potential.

4. Fostering such learning can support more flexibility, both at the level of personal relationships between teachers and students, and the actual teaching and learning process.

5. Enabling students to create links between the learning in different settings can empower them to become the drivers of their own learning (foster students’ autonomy and active participation) and make their learning more enjoyable and fruitful.

6. Students that can integrate informal learning experiences (own interests) into their formal learning in the classroom will be more motivated to learn in class.

7. Non-formal and informal learning approaches help to focus on the benefit of new learning spaces outside of the classroom, both inside and outside the school.

8. Likewise, students learning 21st-century skills such as learning to learn and collaborating with others can also use these new skills in informal learning settings outside of school.

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In this video students from Portugal, Romania and Poland share how they like to learn. That's a pity I can't understand all that they say because they don't speak English!

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What are your own students’ interests and learning preferences? Do you think that you already know them for all or some of your students? How do you think you could find out more?

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What are your own students’ interests and learning preferences? Do you think that you already know them for all or some of your students? How do you think you could find out more?

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I teach English to students who learn how to play a musical instrument as a curricular subject. They are interested in music and technology. They love using devices and tools to listen to music, download it and even write it! When we study English i always refer to a song which contains the language I want to introduce to them.
I usually ask my new students at the beginning of the school year about their interests and what they do in their free time. It's very useful to choose topics and arrange materials and lessons. My students also love eTwinning projects: they like working in small groups and getting to know their peers from other European countries.

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1.3 What is formal/non-formal/informal learning?

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1.3 What is formal/non-formal/informal learning?

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Most students do not actually make the link between their learning experiences inside and outside of school.

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Formal, informal and non - formal education

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Formal, informal and non - formal education

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Formal education: at school, through national curriculum, it is assessed through tests and exams, the focus is on what you learn.

Informal education: at home. with family and friends, everyday situations, it may change your values.

Non-formal education: it takes place in different situations and environments, it is student-centered, voluntary and purposeful, it is flexible,e.g. extracurricular activities, youth clubs, sport-drama-music activites. The focus is on the process, how you learn. It is a combination of formal and informal education/learning.

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Sort these 10 statements into the category formal, non-formal, or informal learning.

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"Yes I Can" - 1.3 What is formal/non-formal/informal learning? Survey

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Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.

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Think of three instances when you learned something in a formal, non-formal or informal way

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Think of three instances when you learned something in a formal, non-formal or informal way

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Formal: I studied a syllabus at a University of Cambridge course to get a Language Certificate in English.
Non-formal: I have attended several MOOCs on School Education Gateway and European Schoolnet Academy
Informal: I have learned how to make an apple pie watching a tutorial on YouTube.

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Formal vs informal learning, non-formal learning

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Strategies to empower students in their formal & informal learning

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Strategies to empower students in their formal & informal learning

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In the first video, Diana Rhoten, Social Science Research Council based in New York, explains her vision on how to spark children’s interest with informal learning.

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Diana Rhoten on Sparking Student Interests with Informal Learning (Big Thinkers Series)

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The second video gives some ideas on how to move towards students’ ownership of their learning.

The Shift from Engaging Students to Empowering Learners

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The Shift from Engaging Students to Empowering Learners

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Both videos mention some concrete ideas such as the slogan “consumption, production, participation”, the importance of (online) communities, and moving from the teacher asking all the questions to the students asking their own questions. Starting from those ideas, what would you like to do to empower your students to learn? Try to describe 1 or 2 concrete ideas that you could implement in your own classroom. 

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Both videos mention some concrete ideas such as the slogan “consumption, production, participation”, the importance of (online) communities, and moving from the teacher asking all the questions to the students asking their own questions. Starting from those ideas, what would you like to do to empower your students to learn? Try to describe 1 or 2 concrete ideas that you could implement in your own classroom. 

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I would like my students to think about how we can change the world starting from our communities. I think the aim of education should be to change students' attitudes towards hot current issues, like refugees and climate change. Our students need to be aware and active citizens of the world. It could start with a brainstorming activity about the most urgent problems in the world and then they could ask about each problem what they can realistically do in their communities (family, school, clubs) to start the change and how to do that.

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Try to think of your own students: Can you share the story of one student who struggled to get good grades, but succeeded in another field? How did you / could you help the student?

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Try to think of your own students: Can you share the story of one student who struggled to get good grades, but succeeded in another field? How did you / could you help the student?

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One of my students had some difficulties in getting good results in some school subjects but he was very talented with playing the flute. He won several local and regional competitions during the school year. He managed to get admission to a secondary school specializing in music. I tried to encourage him to study English by showing him that he could use English all over the world and that it was useful for his career, when having concerts and contests abroad.

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In this module, we will explore how implementing personalised learning approaches can help your students to become drivers of their own learning.
I will:
·         learn about the concept of personalised learning

·         learn how to empower your students to learn according to their own abilities & learning preferences

·         learn how to adapt your teaching based on your students’ learning preferences

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Do you already want to put yourself in the shoes of students who learn in a personalised way? Then write down 3 more learning goals for this module – for example, in your Learning Diary – and, at the end of the module, check which of those you have actually reached.
1. I expect to know what personalised learning is.
2. I expect to understand how to empower my students to learn according to their needs, interests, abilities
3. I expect new suggestions for how to adapt my teaching practice to my students' learning styles

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My favourite answer:
The term personalised learning does not really make sense, because really all learning is personal. Personalised instruction is trying to imagine the greatest amount of ways that you can customise a curriculum to the abilities and the interests of the individual student. – Randy Bass, GeorgeTown University

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How Do You Define Personalized Learning?

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Video 1: Types of Learners
Video 2: Personalized Learning: Teaching to the Students in the Back Row
Video 3: Different Intelligences
Activity:
I imagine we have to create a powerpoint presentation of an English-speaking country. Some kids are low at spelling, grammar and writing skills but they are excellent in technology (download, upload photos, etc.). Others are very good at writing and love searching for information. The second group will get the task of searching for infomation on the web, write texts and check spelling and grammar. The first group will have to read the texts of the previous group and according to it, they will have to find proper pictures and audio files to integrate the texts. I imagine also a sort of peer tutoring.

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Formative assessment – identifying what your students know and need

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Formative assessment – identifying what your students know and need

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Howard Winneshiek School District discusses personalized learning and its connection to Common Core. Devices are essential to their methodology as is formative assessment to show growth over time.

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Future Ready: Personalized Learning Tied to Student Passion

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Formative assessment to initiate personalised learning

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Formative assessment to initiate personalised learning

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A very interesting video

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"Meeting all of the different needs is tricky." This quote from 2nd grade teacher Brooke Johnston could be the understatement of the year! When Ms. Johnston returned to her Alpine Elementary Classroom in Grand Rapids, Michigan after taking leave to start a family, she was faced with a challenge that rings true for most educators across the country: How do I meet the unique needs of each individual student? How do I provide the exact lesson at just the right time for a class full of students whose knowledge varies greatly? How do I both support and challenge simultaneously?

In order to truly personalize the learning environment for students, teachers need to have a genuine and comprehensive understanding of their students. This means knowing their academic strengths and weakness as part of a complete learner profile that gives a holistic view of each student. However, the academic strengths and weaknesses is not something that can be monitored a couple times of year. The assessment process should be embedded within each lesson and used as tool for immediate and consistent feedback.

The Difference Between Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment

When it comes to assessing student knowledge, we have traditionally followed a model in which we teach and then assess. In this situation, teachers, students, and parents identify what has been learned only after the assessment has been completed ( and graded). An example this type of summative assessment would be an end of unit exam. As we move towards more student centered and personalized learning environments, it is essential that we go beyond assessing to determine knowledge and move into assessing as part of the learning process. This formative assessment is embedded within the lesson and gives teachers and students an immediate feedback loop that enhances learning.

Formative Assessment in the Classroom

Formative assessment may look different in different classrooms, but the purpose remains the same. Formative assessment should:

Inform knowledge

Inform and redirect practice

Provide immediate feedback for teachers and students

Occur frequently

Provide useful data

Be ongoing and embedded

Include formal and informal assessments of knowledge

Whether a class has high or limited access to technology, frequently checking for understanding allows students to practice in low risk environments and gives teachers the information needed to adjust lessons to ensure that each student is given the support needed to succeed.

5 Ways to Quickly Check for Student Understanding

Thumbs up/Thumbs Down (or 1, 2, 3)

Wondering if your class is ready to move on? Just ask. It doesn't have to be complicated, show a thumbs up for solid understanding and a thumbs down for additional support.

Colored Cups

A variety of tools can be used here, but Solo cups or post it notes work great. Each student should have a red, yellow, and green cup. Throughout the lesson, students can use the cups to let you know where they are in their understanding. Green, ready to move on or needs a challenge, yellow indicates a level of confusion, and red tells you the student is struggling.

Mid Lesson "exit slips" with Mini Whiteboards

Traditional exit slips wait until the end of the class to ask a couple questions that will tell teachers what material sunk in and what needed to be reviewed. Why wait until the end of the class? Pick a question that will be easy for you to review quickly and assess understanding on the spot. Determine and prepare these questions ahead of time.
If you don't have mini white boards you can even just use a blank piece of paper. Ask a question, and have students show your answer. Adjust your game plan based on what you see.

Polling

If you are in a 1:1 classroom, use polling software, such as polleverywhere or todaysmeet to ask classwide information.

Auto-graded Assessments

Use a tool like OpenEd to assign students independent assessments. The platform will autograde and provide results as well as recommendations support. The advantage to an auto-graded assessment is the personalized recommended next steps for students based on formative assessment results.

In order for these informal assessments to be valuable, the learning environment is essential. Students and teachers should embrace a growth mindset, and the classroom should be a place where mistakes are valued as part of the learning experience.

Technology as a Tool for Efficient Formative Assessment

General checks for understanding are extremely helpful, however in a personalized environment, these students will most likely be working on a variety of material in a variety of ways. Technology offers the opportunity to utilize formative assessment in a more personalized manner, while increasing teacher efficiency.

Tools like OpenEd help teachers to link assessment directly to instruction. As the world's largest online library of standards-aligned resources for K-12 teachers, they house more than a million assessments, videos, games, and lesson plans for every Common Core Math and English/Language Arts Standards as well as Next Generation Science Standards. With OpenEd, teachers can assign unique assessments to each student. These assessments are automatically graded, and then provide the student with instant feedback and accompanying recommendations (individualized videos and additional resources for support); making the process of quiz to instruction practical, powerful AND supportive of an environment that tailors the experience for each student and their unique learning gaps.

In Ms. Johnston's classroom, the typical 2nd grader has an NWEA MAP assessment score of 190, with students ranging from 150 - 223. She has 15 iPads, but the students do not have internet access at home. Johnston uses OpenEd to help differentiate formative assessment. "Having quick, automatically graded formative assessments on our iPads has been tremendously helpful. I can easily tell who is ready to move on to the next standard and who needs additional instruction."

We are at an interesting time in history, in which the way students learn is drastically shifting. The combination of powerful technology with passionate teachers is creating a new path for personalization. Formative assessment is one of the first steps to personalizing the learning experience for students. In order to provide a personalized path, we have to first understand students' strengths and weakness. Whether in a traditional classrooms or a next gen environment, understanding where your students are at academically, allows you to navigate the tricky path of meeting each students where they are at and excelling their learning path forward.
This is the first in a three part blog series on how personalization powers competency-based learning and is sponsored by OpenEd, the world's largest resource library.
For more on formative assessment, check out:

Megan Mead is an education advocate and blog contributor at Getting Smart. Follow her on Twitter @MegMarMe.

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Formative Assessment To Initiate Personalized Learning

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"Meeting all of the different needs is tricky." This quote from 2nd grade teacher Brooke Johnston could be the understatement of the year! When Ms. Johnston returned to her Alpine Elementary Classroom in Grand Rapids, Michigan after taking leave to start a family, she was faced with a challenge that rings true for most educators across the country: How do I meet the unique needs of each individual student?

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How could you collect this information more systematically and make better use of it to support your students’ learning? And how do you assess your students’ learning throughout the whole process? After you've answered, browse through your colleagues’ contributions and "like" at least 2 others that you find particularly inspiring.
I collect information in 3 ways. First I use a personal diary where I take notes even during the lesson. Then, I use some useful grids of observation. Finally, I encourage students to self-assessment through questionnaires.

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griglia osservazioni sistematiche  rettificata

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Six Examples of What Personalized Learning Looks Like

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Six Examples of What Personalized Learning Looks Like

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Personalized learning is:
1. Incorporating Self-Reflection and Goal-Setting
2. Flexible & Intentional Master Schedules
3. Using Digital Content and Tools in a Purposeful Way
4. Incorporating Personalized Playlists
5. Planning for Flexible Seating
6. Involving Students in Grading Conversations

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How much autonomy do students need in their learning? 

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How much autonomy do students need in their learning? 

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I think students need a lot of autonomy in learning, indeed one of the key competences to develop is learning to learn. I think they have to be autonomous when they plan (the teacher should be a facilitator), they find reources, they arrange materials and choose tools and finally evaluate the process. The teacher has to be just a guide and a supervisor of the learning process, more interested in how students learn, rather than in what and how much they learn.

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Flexible Classrooms: Making Space for Personalized Learning

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Flexible Classrooms: Making Space for Personalized Learning

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How you arrange your seating can be an asset for differentiating instruction. Summit Prep, in Redwood City, California, uses different seating configurations for independent work, collaborative work, mini lessons, and large-group discussions.

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Flexible Classrooms: Making Space for Personalized Learning

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In the webinar, José Alberto Lencastre will discuss the following questions: Every teacher has the right to teach classes in his or her own way. Really? In addition, what about the student's own unique interests and endeavours?