I remember an assignment that I had as an undergraduate to describe my philosophy of education.  Of course there are many analogies that people use to describe learning.  One analogy is children as empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge.  However, from this very early time in my career I had already formed my philosophy around the idea that as a teacher I am more like a gardener.  My intuition was that learning is not dependent on me as the teacher, but I can help create an environment where learning could flourish.  I can remove obstacles, I can fertilize, I can water, I can provide support, shade, or protection.  I recognized that there are different plants in a garden that will need different levels of attention, types of assistance, or even stress to bear the best fruit.  This philosophy of education has stuck with me all of these years, and has grown with me as my skills and abilities in education have grown.  I still very much think this way.

Personalized learning and differentiation are often used interchangeably, but there are some differences.  Personalized learning puts the student in the driver’s seat.  The student owns the learning and is responsible for their learning.  Personalized learning tends to be standards based.

Differentiation is lead by the teacher and allows the teacher to address the needs of groups within a class.  Students are given learning options to chose from.  Differentiation works in a traditional Carnegie unit based system, but can also thrive in a standards based model. 

The differences between these two philosophies is highlighted through the use of the phrase "every student" versus "each student."  If I'm planning programs for "every student" then I'm looking at groups and planning on differentiating to accommodate for the needs of the groups.  If I'm developing programs for "each student" then things will look very different.  I will need to know each student, communicate with each student, and allow opportunities for each student. 

I'm no longer teaching everyday in a classroom, but I still work to foster a garden for learning.  I try to buy the tools and support the programs needed for garden style teaching.  Most recently I helped to create a Family Learning Center in my school district.  In addition to parenting classes, translation services, and parent homework helper assistance, we are building in a learning library.  This is not a library of books, but rather a repository with a whole host of resources for teachers, students, and families to access when they want.  We have piano keyboards with internet based Hoffman Academy lessons, KIBO Robotics Kits, Turing Tumbles, SnapCircuits, and Rubik's Cube Mosaic kits.  This is just the start of what I hope will be a jungle of personalized learning resources for all the students in my district to discover.