From the Publisher
Bellanca states: 'The aim of personalized learning plans is to advance each student's know-how as an empowered, self-directed learner, knowing how to design, problem-solve, and make decisions as an ever more effective high-agency learner seeking deeper learning outcomes.' This should be the ultimate goal of all of education. In this book, Bellanca has produced an incredibly detailed guide to developing students' abilities to become self-directed learners through the use of personalized learning plans. His audience is educators, both pre-service and in-service, and he provides in-depth explanations and multiple detailed examples of ways to foster deeper personalized learning and student agency. His book is a much-needed and timely resource in any context, but it is especially important in the face of the COVID-19 challenges to education. This valuable resource presents many ways for educators to assist learners to assume more responsibility for their own learning, which is now a critical survival skill. Every educator can benefit from this book!
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Lucy Madsen Guglielmino, International Society for Self-Directed Learning board chair, professor emerita, Florida Atlantic University
James Bellanca—educator, professional developer, and a leader of the 21st century skills and learning movement—shares his and his colleagues' experience and learnings in developing and implementing these learning practices over the past twenty-five years. Here, in this new book, he updates those skills, includes more digital skills, and provides teachers with practical how-to tools, including personal learning plans to guide how and what students learn to be 21st century deeper learners.
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Bob Pearlman, 21st century school district consultant
James Bellanca has put together an interesting, creative, and informative book on how to combine cognitive, social-emotional, and digital learning into an integrated approach to instruction and learning. He provides practical procedures for teachers and students to follow in applying personalized learning. This book is a valuable addition to his illustrious career of enhancing the effectiveness of instruction.
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David W. Johnson, co-director of The Cooperative Learning Center, University of Minnesota and emeritus professor of educational psychology
