Personalization and Diversity

You know… I should just “go with the flow” and make the deadline. I make rules up to just break them… ALWAYS. It’s after Easter weekend and we are in the midst of Week 5 of #socialisolation. I said to self… “it’s time to stop eating meat and carbs.” OH MAN… I was eating meat like it was going out of style and eating more bread products than I normally would or like to. That night I had 2-sausages for dinner and made 5-dozen cookies. Enough said. I don’t like limiting rules, even when I make them for self. I think that’s just how my brain works. As soon as someone says I can’t do something, I’m compelled to do so. Reverse psychology works on me. The joy of living alone in my apartment during a pandemic. It’s an “opportunity” to understand self better and regular sleep habits is no longer a thing.

Apologies on photos of self in my blogs. It’s either that or food pics. I’m limited to where I am and what photos I take lately. I also made another rule, which I am now currently breaking. I mentioned in my last 2-blogs that I would commit to a weekly blog. Meh. Here I am two days later blogging because I have something on my mind and when that happens, nothing gets done. So here I am… brain dumping into my blog. I also need to spend time working on my other e-Portfolio that I started for EDUC 431 (EdTech) but I get bogged down with “clumps” of things to do. That’s how I operate. I AM NOT A MULTITASKER. I am a unitasker… and I’m OK with that. One thing at a time is my modality. As a result, everything that needs to get done for ONE THING gets done while everything else is on hold. Last night I started marking for EDUC 370 (Numeracy Across the Curriculum) and finished yesterday morning. Yes, I did an all nighter. That’s another thing about me as well. When I’m in… I’m all in. I used to do all nighters at university and things have not changed since. Anyway, I was so wowed by what my students submitted.

I continue to play around with the ideals of BC’s Curriculum in my university courses. I did that when I was a sessional instructor and continue to do as an Assistant Professor / Teacher Educator. To finish off my courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to teach asynchronous online. I wanted to honour my students’ time to adjust to the pandemic, honour my time to adjust, but also provide to to complete the learning intentions on their own time and pace… with a given deadline. I put EDUC 370 and EDUC 491 (practicum and seminar) online. Do you know what wowed me? Everyone completed the tasks on-time and online. What also impressed me was the level of personalization and diversity in the assignments, reflections, and e-Portfolios they sent in. I set the criteria and expectations and in return, students submitted what was true to them. Not one assignment was the same, yet they all handed in something for that assignment.

I really understood the idea of personalizing learning for students. I remember early in BC’s Curriculum’s implementation that personalizing was interpreted as individualizing. YEESH. That would be a tonne of work. But when we can set the criteria, name the specific competencies to be achieved, and provide an entry point for content… LOOK OUT… You will get a hugely DIVERSE collection of outcomes. That was my aha. It’s almost like they did individualized their learning but really, they personalized it. In the end, this honours the student’s learning experience but also provides them with enormous agency and autonomy. Furthermore, they are more creative and innovative. Students have CHOICE and VOICE. In my EDUC 370 course, some could choose to collaborate in pairs or work individually. They were required to work within a framework but choose anything they want within the framework. This was true throughout their course. What I got back in return exceeded my expectations. What was submitted was absolutely amazing!!!

Now it’s 5am and I think I’ve recovered from my all nighter last night such that I think it’s time to plow through my EDUC 491 marking of e-Portfolios, #oneword2020 reflections, and Triad Presentations. I am so sad that we were unable to celebrate their learning and the end of practicum on April 9th before Easter weekend. That said, I am so happy that all were successful in their long practicum and I am super stoked to read their journals and presentations and look through their e-portfolios to see how they perceived their practicum experience and learning experience in Teacher Education. I’m super stoked.