How can teachers make the implementation of personalised learning best practiced in school?

Abstract：Nowadays personalised learning is quite a common concept within the educational field. From the teacher’s perspective， personalised learning basically means understanding each student’s individual learning need and delivering practical high quality lessons. However， teachers alone may find it difficult to make the personalised learning practice the best， because teachers’ own effort is quite limited. If they could also receive support from the government， the school leadership， cooperate well with other teachers， parents and at the same time assisted by the technology， there will be a better chance that each student can benefit the maximum from personalised learning.

Key Words：personalised；efficiency；differentiation

What can teachers do to best implement personalised learning? The works that the teachers do can never be easy. Besides some people take for granted that teaching is a quite easy job to do especially when teaching young children just as the adage goes “Those who can， do; those who can’t，teach”. As early as in 1971 Hilsum and Cane have pointed out in their research study that except the time spend on direct contact with students in classroom， teachers also have to do many other works outside the classroom such as preparing the teaching plan， working on the assignments given by the headteacher， attending staff meetings and so on.

1 Set appropriate target for students

Targetsetting is a quite common approach taken by the teachers， and the purpose of it is to offer a clear goal for the student in learning progress. However， in personalised learning it might be unrealistic for the teacher to set each student a target because of various reasons. In addition， it is very normal that the students in a same class are at different levels and have different abilities. If only one specific target is set for the whole class， it would probably lead to the situation that some students have the ability to successfully fulfill the target but some students do not. The students who failed to fulfill the target would feel frustrated and lose the confidence to proceed.

2 Track the progress

With every student in the class has a clear idea of hisor her target， teacher should make regular tracking towards the target to ensure that each student is on the right way of making progress and teacher should also give feedback on the student’s achievements. Teacher could give each student a record book in which both the target and achievement are recorded with specific date. The regular discussion between teacher and student towards the target would also be very helpful. When the teacher sets a target for student， it is better that the teacher could spare some times to have a small conversation with each student and give some advice on what and how the student should do to reach that target.

3 Create positive classroom climate

A positive classroom climate created by the teacher could make each student inthe class feel cared， safe and comfortable both mentally and physically. When the students get into the classroom， they could feel that their teacher is always there caring about them and making sure that they could make the most from what they are learning. The positive classroom climate could give each student a sense of belonging to the whole class. It can be felt in many detailed aspects， such as： the class rules are commonly shared by everyone. Each student knows what he or she should do and what should not do. All the students care about each other and help each other. No one would feel embarrassing in front of the class when they answered teacher’s question wrong. Under the positive classroom climate each student could learn and develop happily and effectively.

4 Differentiate work according to different ability

It is defined by Hastings that “Differentiation is the matching of tasks to each child’s current level of competence or understanding， and possibly to their preferred way of working”. And the definition given by Petty is that “Differentiation is adopting strategies that ensure success in learning for all， by accommodating individual differences of any kinds”. Personalised learning， with the aim of offering each student the equal opportunity to acquire knowledge and achieve full potential， is not a brand new concept， because many excellent teachers have already taken some actions to do so (Smith， 2007). To make the personalised learning best practiced in school， teachers， as the key role in school education， have the necessity to learn more about personalised leaning to obtain an allaround conception of it.

References：

［1］ Brown， K. L.From TeacherCentered to LearnerCentered Curriculum：Improving Learning in Diverse Classrooms. Education， 2003，124 (1)：4954.

［2］ Campbell， J.Primary teaching： roles and relationships.In： C. Richards P.Taylor (Eds.)， How shall we school our children?.London： Falmer Press.1998：7585.

［3］ David， W. J.， Roger， T. J.Social Skills for Successful Group Work. Educational Leadership， 1990，47(4)：2933.

［4］ Dean， J.Meeting the learning needs of all children. Abingdon： Routledge. 2006.

［5］ DCSF.Personalised learningA Practical Guide. Nottingham： DCSF Publications.2008.

［6］ Jones， T. S.， Sanford， R.Building the container： Curriculum infusion and classroom climate. Conflict Resolution Quarterly， 2003，21(1)：115130.

［7］ Galloway， J..Harnessing technology for every child matters and personalised learning. Abingdon： Routledge. 2009.

［8］ Kyriacou， C.Effective teaching in schools. Cheltenham： Stanley Thornes. 2009.

［9］ Petty， G.Teaching today. Cheltenham： Stanley Thornes. 2004.

［10］ Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group.2020 Vision： Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group. Nottingham： DfES Publications. 2006.

［11］ Williams， J.Promoting independent learning in the primary classroom. Buckingham： Open University Press. 2003.

作者簡介：蘇敏(1987—)，女，陜西人，研究生，陜西科技大學鎬京學院，助教，研究方向：英語教育。