Personalization vs. Differentiation vs. Individualization (PDI)

The PDI chart (see below) was incredibly insightful. In my classroom, I utilize differentiation way more than I would like to. Ultimately, the goal at our school is to create passionate, life long learners who can collaborate and self-regulate their own learning.

More often than not, my co-teacher and I are providing instruction to small groups, designing our lessons based on the learning needs of small groups or individuals, and using Lexia and Dreambox data to drive our instruction.

Occasionally this year we have held a "Genius Hour" (or morning in our case) where we let the students learn about whatever they wanted to learn about (the sky's the limit!). By lunch, they needed to have some sort of presentation, demonstration, or whatever they decided, ready to show.

We also have a small group of students 5-10 (out of 41 total), who have proven to be driven and self-regulated learners. These students have more freedom in the classroom and can be trusted to work on personal projects without needing much guidance.

Although we are a more differentiated classroom, we have goals of becoming a personalized classroom in the future. I understand this will take time and flexibility on our part. It's extremely difficult to allow our students so much freedom with their learning!