Guest Blog Post from English Teacher @MsHVandy about Personalized Learning Conference

The Personalized Learning Conference was both an overwhelming and inspiring two days of information, ideas, models, and discussion. It can often be difficult to walk away from two packed days like that with something concrete...something you can begin work on immediately. But, I'm happy to say that this conference inspired me to begin making adjustments on several aspects of my classroom in order to make them more personalized, student-centered, and efficient. 

The first connects well to the "Proficiency Based Progress" element of the InstituteCESA1 Honeycomb. Any English teacher knows that grammar instruction is a beast that is much more easily ignored than tackled. This stems from the fact that students come into our rooms with an incredibly wide range of prior knowledge regarding the subject, which makes the traditional "lecture & practice" method of teaching grammar rather ineffectual. After the conference, it seems that proficiency based grammar practice is a no-brainer. In addition to this, the conference served to reiterate the importance of student-led, inquiry-based processes that play to students' interests and needs. Overall, it was an engaging and interesting two days that I am happy to have had the opportunity to experience!