Personal Learning Plans (PLP)
Posted on November 21, 2005
During todays Podcast I also mentioned Personal Learning Plans. The above link is to a .pdf file of the PLP map that I described in the podcast.
The student's Personal Learning Plan is her vehicle for identifying additional content that she would like to address during the school year based upon her individual interests. The main benefits of Personal Learning Plans are to give students a stake in their education, give teachers a way of getting to know their students on a more personal level, give the student's family increased opportunities to be involved in their children's education and to provide a valuable learning experience which teaches students to set goals, evaluate their work and take greater responsibility for their own learning. The priorities identified by the student with input from her family and teacher may be met through some of the same activities and projects already planned for the class, or additional activities or projects might have to be identified for the student. The plan can easily go beyond the classroom and extend into the home and community. For example, if a student wants to train her new puppy and sets this as a priority, she may be able to learn about dog training methods through reading in school or at home, do research in the school library, the community library or on the internet from a computer at school or at home, and attend dog obedience classes after school. The culminating activity for this priority might include bringing the dog to school to show her classmate how well she trained him and to share techniques for training dogs. It might also include a written report or a video production.
