Westside Personalized: A Personalized Learning Podcast

This was my first solo podcast as I wanted to share our iCreate Google Site with friends of the pod. The iCreate site gives learners a resource to support them in their creative endeavors, specifically when it comes to open opportunities for them to demonstrate their understanding of a concept... Read More

This episode welcomes Julie Schmitz and Becca Kratky to the podcast to talk about their efforts to personalize learning in their 6th-grade classroom. Julie and Becca lead their combined class as co-teachers, and within that structure, they have implemented personalization by pre-testing students on a subject-to-subject and unit-to-unit basis, focusing... Read More

In this episode, the personalized learning collaborator team answers questions sent to us via email from a podcast listener. The pod delves into our individual backgrounds with personalization, the backstory of our district's work with personalized learning, and also the details of our jobs as we support educators in a myriad... Read More

In this episode, Angela Mosier and I discuss her doctoral studies around personalized learning. The pod shares Angela's three key findings from her research, and we discuss how those findings have played out in the personalized learning work we have seen and/or heard about within District 66. This is an... Read More

This week on the Westside Personalized podcast, join Angela Bergman and I as we discuss Angela's personalized learning lesson for teaching nuclear fusion in her Earth and Space course. The pod breaks down Angela's thought process prior to developing this personalized experience for her learners, and she shares a myriad of... Read More

In this episode, Beau and I discuss the personalized chemistry unit he designed as the first unit in his biology course at Westside High School. This unit design empowered learners through the incorporation of all five personalized elements, and his vision also enabled learners to progress through the course content... Read More

In this episode, Holly and I discuss her desire to bring her love for basketball into the classroom as a way to create a gamification experience for her ELA learners in order to increase student engagement, to motivate learners to go above and beyond normal expectations, and to further the... Read More

This episode, Kaela delves into the nuances of the process and system she and her sister have implemented and promote within Edina Public Schools to enhance each learner's reflection process to increase learner agency. Kaela's background as both a classroom practitioner and coach with this work offer listeners a rich... Read More

In this episode, Westside High School's English 1 Honors team breaks down how they created and implemented a semester-long grammar initiative that tailored lessons and checks for understanding to each individual learner's needs. This pod is a terrific resource for anyone looking to develop an objective, self-paced assessment piece that... Read More

In this episode, Kevin and I chat about how he turned one unit from his probability and stats class into a Winter Olympics gamified unit where students competed on teams to complete both mental and physical challenges in hopes of helping their country to win the Olympic games. Within the... Read More

In this episode, Dee Harrell will inspire listeners as she reflects on her role with Westside Community Schools CAPS program (Center for Advanced Professional Studies) and shares her unique perspective as someone from the business-world stepping into the role of an educator in a classroom setting. This conversation looks not only... Read More

This episode delves into several units taught as a part of the Global Geography course at Westside High School. In the pod, Amy shares about how she and her teammates approach the design of these units that focus on skill development as much as they do content. With that value... Read More

Holly and I discuss her implementation of a practice known as Number Talks as a way to teach learners how to develop their own individual strategies for solving math problems in a personalized way. This approach to teaching math personalizes the learning process for students and fosters within them a... Read More

In this episode, Hannah and I discuss her implementation of personalized learning along with some of the scaffolding steps she utilized to support her learners as they acclimated to her personalized model. Hannah's passion for education and insightful reflections on personalization make this pod a fun and useful resource for any... Read More

In this episode, Amber and I share the details from our collaboration on the flexible-seating, learning space redesign that we employed in her 1st-grade classroom in the Spring. The pod delves into the specific choices we made with the seating options, the positioning of that furniture, the implementation of that design (and... Read More

Join Dustin and I for an episode on differentiated instruction that focuses on the use (and creation) of instructional video content to offer learners a choice in how they access new information. Some students learn best from direct instruction, others from video content, others from reading or discussing or listening... Read More

In this episode, Carrie shares her expertise on sketchnoting and advocates for educators to consider making sketchnoting an option for their learners as a way to engage new ideas and content shared through direct instruction. Together, Carrie and I discuss the value of first teaching students a variety of ways in... Read More

Tara M. Martin joins the pod this week to explore a fun and creative, alternative way to annotate, #Booksnaps. In this episode, Tara shares her story that led to the creation of #Booksnaps, she delves into the brain research that supports #Booksnaps as a viable educational strategy, and she and... Read More

Camille Akers, with the help of personalized learning collaborator Katie Sindt, created a personalized novel unit for the book "Esperanza Rising" for Camille's 6th-grade learners. This episode shares details about the design and implementation of the unit, and educators at any level can learn from Camille's unique approach to choice... Read More

In this episode, Craig shares his implementation of personalized practices into his strength and conditioning three course through students setting long-term fitness goals and then designing a personalized workout plan in an effort to achieve those goals. Join us as Craig elaborates on the process he uses to scaffold for... Read More