personalized learning summit 2019

atlanta, ga, may 14-16, 2019 

the premier event for district leaders who are transforming teaching and learning

throughout all of our projects, we help make design thinking accessible to educators, students, and school and district leaders. this past month we were excited to extend our student-centered design approach to school board leaders across florida during their fall retreat and leadership training in suwannee county. we led a session, “opening the mind to possibilities” to build knowledge on the purpose and process of design thinking along with creating student personas to guide an interactive design challenge.

during the morning, we encouraged board members to create student personas to help them empathize with the needs of their constituents. while each board member represents a different county across the diverse geography of florida, we found many more similarities than differences when we analyzed their student personas. many highlighted struggles with staying engaged at school, hunger and insecurities at home, and varying levels of career awareness and job readiness. participants left the meeting energized to apply design thinking to engage community members, generate solutions to persistent challenges, and to increase empathy with students and communities.

allison townsend, third grade teacher at barnwell elementary in fulton county schools, is the 2019 georgia teacher of the year. every day, she strives to amplify and celebrate every student’s voice and help them connect with an authentic audience beyond the four walls of her classroom.

to empower students to take ownership of their learning, and to nurture curiosity and questioning to drive their learning experience, allison has created a simple co-planning learning process that students cycle through, in which they take on more and more responsibility with every unit.

this helps students own the transferable skills necessary to internalize the learning process. by the end of the school year, students are ready to use this process to continue learning even after they leave her classroom. allison and her students are excited to be at school every day because they understand that in the end, learning is all about the journey they take together, not just the destination.

designing and implementing personalized learning is hard work. knowing where to focus your energy and resources takes time and deep reflection. district and school teams use onpoint to give them direction as they create and improve student-centered, learning models.

with onpoint, you can determine your district’s readiness for personalized learning or assess the current state. this happens through getting feedback from teachers, school leaders and district staff on essential elements like the vision and rollout plan, opportunities for student choice and teacher support around student-centered instructional strategies.  

the onpoint score and report is a low lift, high impact way to gather input and use data to inform strategic decision making. it is available, at no cost, to district and school teams for a limited time. request your score now.

take our leadership quiz
are you a school or district leader, and want to know your organizational leadership style? take our quiz to determine which of 4 leadership styles you tend towards, and get related resources to help make you an even better leader!

by scott johns - guest author

as i meet with education leaders across the country, i am often asked questions about the best way to roll-out personalized learning within a district. i always struggle to answer this question since it entirely depends upon the unique needs and circumstances within each community. in some ways, it feels as if someone is asking me, “what’s the very best car i can buy?”

by megan campion

teachers love their jobs. that statement may strike you as untrue, simplistic, or ill-informed, given the current state of the teaching profession, in which many teachers will leave the classroom in the first five years, and teacher retention is a crisis on the horizon for schools, districts, and state boards of education. i stand by it, though. 

october 3-4
allegheny intermediate unit/new school rules workshop
homestead, pa

october 10-12
league of innovative schools
park city, ut

oct 11-13
nrea 
denver, co

oct 18-19
nyscoss thought leadership summit
buffalo, ny

oct 21-23
rtm education congress
orlando, fl

oct 21-24
inacol
nashville, tn

oct 24-26
dali
bonita springs, fl

oct 24-28
cgcs
baltimore, md

nov 8
tnrea 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 ' personalized learning workshop
cleveland, tn

want to meet up at an event? email ben@edelements.com