Praise for How to Personalize Learning
“Many teachers are familiar with UDL, and they may want to try it in their classrooms, but they just don’t know how to get started. With this book, educators don’t just learn about UDL, they do UDL as they complete a number of activities designed to get them thinking about their most deeply held beliefs about learning and ease them into a new role as the “lead learner” in their classrooms.”
Luis Pérez, Inclusive Learning Consultant, Independent Consultant, St. Petersburg, Florida
This book provides teachers with a tool to refocus and keep their best practices while helping them to identify those areas of instruction where shifts need to occur, and the “how to” to make it happen! So inspiring, engaging and motivational, and the companion website for technology and sharing is awesome! HOW TO PERSONALIZE LEARNING is a user’s guide designed by experts who personally & professionally relate; Kathleen and Barbara simply “Get it.”
Diana Petschauer, Assistive Technology Professional, CEO of AT for Education & Access4Employment, Wolfeboro Falls, New Hampshire
“Bray and McClaskey are arguably the foremost champions for personalizing learning. “How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper” will be the compendium to personalize learning and a guiding light for educators as they navigate their journey with their learners to personalize learning. The tools, rich examples and insights included in the book will be instrumental in the transformation of students into learners.”
Pam Lowe, Author: Missouri Then & Now: Activity Book; University of Missouri Press; Educator and Education Consultant/Coach
“As the title suggests, Kathleen and Barbara have prepared some really solid, practical “how to” guidelines for educators looking to understand and achieve the promise of personalizing learning.”
Steve Nordmark, Chief Academic Officer – Knovation, Inc. Cincinnati, Ohio
“This book will provide you and your team the steps towards personalising learning for your students. It involves your input throughout with activities that are built around personalised learning principles.”
Kevin McLaughlin, Deputy Head Teacher – Farndon Fields Primary School, Leicester, United Kingdom
“Your learning journey about creating personalized learning environments just became so much easier! Kathleen and Barbara’s field guide provides a clear and well signposted path forward to transforming any learners’ journey. I found Barbara’s and Kathleen’s book highly readable, incredibly practical and full of useful strategies to move educators from just discussing ideas about personalized learning to actively implementing and growing a personalized learning culture. It really is THE Rosetta Stone of personalized learning. No other resource so deftly distills the WHAT and the WHY with the HOW TO of personalised learning.”
Greg Alchin, Inclusive Design Consultant at Alchin Consulting, Orange, New South Wales, Australia
“This guide provides actionable steps for all educators, from the busy main office to the crowded classroom, to develop the culture, expertise, and strategies needed for truly personalized learning. Once implementation is rolling out, Bray and McClaskey provide guidance for professional reflection and growth along the way. Personalization provides benefits to all stakeholders and this book helps all stakeholders understand their roles and how they will grow through the experience.”
Kerry Gallagher, Digital Learning Specialist and Director of K–12 Education – St John’s Prep, ConnectSafely.org, Haverhill, Massachusetts
“This book is a transformative treatise for all levels on catalyzing enhanced efficacy—from community culture to the classroom learner—so that personalized learning becomes a reality in even the most traditional classrooms. Whether you are the community member that dares to think differently or the classroom teacher that knows deep down that something just isn’t working, How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper is the seminal book to get you started on your personalized learning journey.”
Patrick Riley, Cognitive Coach, Green River Regional Educational Cooperative:
kid-FRIENDLy, Race to the Top-District Grant, Kentucky
“How to Personalize Learning is the book every school needs their teachers to read. The authors take teachers on an enlightening journey where they reflect on how they uniquely learn. This book also is a guide with practical ideas and many resources to help teachers make learning accessible and engaging to all students. This book is for the teacher with the big heart who wants to ensure every student leaves wanting to continue their learning journeys.”
Shelly Sanchez Terrell, teacher, international speaker, and author of The 30 Goals Challenge for Teachers, http://www.shellyterrell.com/
“Barbara and Kathleen have done it again! This book provides such essential explanations and tools that any person reading it should be able to immediately construct their personalized instruction and learning environment. The multiple options for activities help teachers apply their personal preferences to more deeply connect with this work. This book even further demonstrates how important it is to make learning personal.”
Kecia Ray, Ed. D., Executive Director – Center for Digital Education, Tennessee
“Bray and McClaskey designed this book with teachers in mind. As with “Make Learning Personal ” the book is a treasure trove of resources, studies, and sound practices. Don’t go it alone, buy copies for your personal learning community and enjoy the conversations. This is a must have if your school is moving to competency based education and blended learning.”
Andy Littlefield, Co/Director of Technology & Online Educator – Exeter Region Cooperative School District, Exeter, New Hampshire
“How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper is a rich resource for any in-service or pre-service teacher, school or district administrator, special educator or parent. In my 25+ years of working with teachers and with school administrators, what I most appreciate about this guide are the numerous case studies and tangible examples of how the practices work in the real world.”
Dr. Cynthia Sistek-Chandler, Associate Professor, Teacher Education,
National University, Sanford College of Education, California
“In this compact and powerful book, Kathleen McClaskey and Barbara Bray offer teaching teams, school leadership groups and whole faculties a way to engage learners in managing their own learning. How to Personalize Learning creates a comprehensive process for managing a long and complex process, preparing all learners to assess themselves, build skills, work toward personal and academic goals — and build the skills and knowledge that help them move toward their goals. This is a highly practical book that forms a reliable foundation for empowering a school community striving to make our schools work for all learners.”
John H. Clarke, Professor Emeritus, University of Vermont; Author: Personalized Learning: Student-designed Pathways to High School Graduation, Corwin, 2013
“Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey are leaders in how to personalize learning for all learners. How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper breaks down personalizing learning in a way that not only makes good sense, but it makes it easy for educators to do what they know is right for their learners. This guide will help classrooms come alive with engaged, excited learners whose learning will not only meet, but go beyond standards. The many examples of successful personalized learning cultures will inspire and shape the future of teaching and learning.”
Linda K Taber Ullah, M.A., M. Ed. –Coach, Personalize Learning, LLC;
Instructor, Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill College, Washington
“How to Personalize Learning is a valuable guide for educators at all levels of knowledge around personalizing learning, PBL, and UDL. A new teacher can use it like a ‘how to’ manual to go step-by-step through the book, promoting learner voice and choice while developing engaging lessons and projects. Seasoned, ‘master’ teachers will benefit from the usable Tables and ‘Conversation Starters’ which can act as cues to remind every teacher that they are learners first, that best practice is still practice, and that our practice can always be improved.”
David Truss, Lead Administrator at Inquiry Hub Secondary School – Vice Principal at Coquitlam Open Learning, SD43 – Coquitlam, Canada
“Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey continue to demonstrate how they are two of the leading ladies of personalized learning with their practical and positive portrayal of a learner-centered approach to education. They have captured the essence of next practices over best practices by providing a timely “how-to” manual for preparing community, college, and career ready learners who understand they are in charge of their own learning. How to Personalize Learning is the perfect read for an individual educator or team of educators whose goal is to prepare learners who will take control of their own learning as preparation for taking control of their own life as an adult.
Bryan Bronn, Principal, Branson Junior High, Branson, Missouri
“In How to Personalize Learning, Bray and McClaskey provide sound, practical approaches to meet the needs and interests of each learner at a time in education where personalization and customization of instruction is a critical, core tenet of learning. Their solid pedagogical foundation and sound teaching strategies can help every educator help prepare learners for the living, learning, working and growing challenges they will experience in their lifetimes. I strongly recommend this book to educators everywhere making the shift in their professional practice.”
Walter McKenzie, The One and Only Surfaquarium, Washington D.C.
“For educators and learning communities that are ready to dive deep into transforming their learning expectations and environments, this book is an essential resource. The combination of field experiences and models, vetted resources to make learning active, rather than passive and the structures provided to support personalizing learning in any learning experience, makes the resource so important. Educators can rely on the information from these rock-stars of personalized learning, knowing that it is as current as it can be, provides contacts and resources to follow-up with and moves the theory of personalizing learning into practice.”
Caroline Patrie, Addison North East SU, Innovation Coach, Bristol, Vermont
“Educators must change their perspectives of both teaching and learning to be in a position to grow citizens prepared to thrive and excel in our changing world. This practical guide lays out the foundation for both leadership and classroom practitioners to begin this journey by understanding the changing landscape and providing practical applications of personalized learning pedagogy.”
Cynthia Dunlap, M.Ed., Educational Technology Consultant, New Hampshire
“Kathleen and Barbara have already inspired us to Make Learning Personal, but now they have given us some points of entry that we can start with tomorrow in How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper. Now we have an important next step for teachers wanting to put learning back into the hands of the learner.”
John Parker, Chief Technology Innovation Officer – Cherokee County Schools, North Carolina
“Grounded in a shared vision and beliefs, Bray and McClaskey provide practical steps to guide teachers through the process of discovering the unique learner in every child. Furthermore, the reader is coached on how to personalize for an entire class, with practical advice, activities, and hands-on tools. This is more than just the typical “education needs to change” book. This is a practical guide for teachers to actually make changes to positively transform education as learners become owners of their own learning.”
Jon Tanner, Director of Technology and Personalized Learning – Oregon School District, Wisconsin
“Bray and McClaskey’s first book, “Make Learning Personal,” does an outstanding job of defining personalized learning, developing common language and making a strong case for WHY this is good for our learners. This book is the perfect companion as it serves as a practical guide that moves educators from the abstract to the concrete, delving into the HOW to personalize learning.”
Betty Wottreng, Director of Technology Services – Verona Area School District, Wisconsin