How will personalized learning impact student motivation in my 9th grade language arts classroom?

Amber Starkson


Seminar Title


How will personalized learning impact student motivation in my 9th grade language arts classroom?


Concept/Strategy

Focus of the Research


Personalized Learning


Grade Level

Research Was Applied


9th Grade


Relevant Grade Level

Connections


High School


Discipline

Where Research Was Applied


Language Arts


Additional Discipline Areas

I see Application to


All Disciplines


Invitation/Commercial


Define personalized learning. Tricky, right? After hearing this buzzword from school administrators, district initiatives, and companies profiting off of trends, I was struggling to close the gap between what I was being told personalized learning was and how it actually looks in a classroom. On the surface, personalized learning might just seem like the newest trend to push technology. With more research and discussion, I found that teachers are using personalized learning every day to engage students through community, differentiation, and various instructional strategies. If you are looking to motivate your students to put their phones away and be present in class, personalized learning will help you engage your students in exploration.


Abstract


In guiding my research, I asked myself how personalized learning would impact student motivation in my ninth grade language arts class. In reviewing the literature around student motivation, I found that personalized learning lends itself to intrinsic motivation. By giving students the opportunity to take ownership of their education, they are motivated to engage in the learning. Personalized learning is a combination of engagement, differentiation, community, and instruction. Students are engaged through problem-based learning, relevancy, and realization. Differentiating the lessons to student needs gives students a sense of relevancy and individuality. Students feel safe to explore and express their individuality when they feel they are in a safe environment, physically and emotionally. Teachers use a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students in their autonomy. With this new-found knowledge, I looked to implementing personalized learning in my classroom through teaching community by creating classroom guidelines together; using indirect instructional strategies, such as station rotation, playlists, and blended learning; giving students ownership in their learning by having choice seating and personal writing topics; and letting students determine which materials to explore or how they want to explore a topic. Through creating lessons that were engaging to students through relevancy and choice, I found that students were motivated to participate and interact with their class community and the content. While there are some outside factors when it comes to student motivation, the environment that I had created for my students adapted to their learning needs. I often found myself surprised at how students were working together to complete a task or explore a concept. In the surveys I administered to my classes, students reported that they were motivated to be present in class when some of these strategies were implemented. Students were most motivated by choice seating, flipped and group playlists, community building, and one-on-one writing feedback conferences with the teacher. As I continue to implement personalized learning strategies, I will be more consistent in my execution of instructional models, such as station rotation, or choice seating. The more students practice participating in these new implementations, the more it will flow and become a part of our classroom procedures and culture. After observing my students and receiving their feedback on how personalized learning has affected their motivation, I plan to use these strategies on a more consistent basis. I also want to seek more opportunities for problem-based learning within a language arts classroom, as well as providing more choice in exploration. Students are motivated to learn when they find the topic relevant to themselves and beneficial for their future.