{"id":890,"date":"2019-12-13T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-21T12:47:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:47:15","slug":"how-to-foster-self-management-skills-and-personalized-learning-in-an-elementary-setting-with-microsoft-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2019\/12\/how-to-foster-self-management-skills-and-personalized-learning-in-an-elementary-setting-with-microsoft-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"How to foster self-management skills and personalized learning in an elementary setting with Microsoft Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From time to time, we feature guest blogs from educators who are making a difference in the lives of young people and who are eager to share their success with the Microsoft Education community. These Changemakers<\/a><\/strong>, as we call them, offer insights into the effective use of classroom resources, how to prepare today\u2019s youth for the jobs of tomorrow, and ways that technology can personalize instruction and empower students to lead in their learning. Today\u2019s Changemaker blog was written by <\/em>Alberto Herraez and Mario Herraez, brothers from Salamanca, Spain. Mario and Alberto came to Utah several years ago on <\/em>the Amity scholarship<\/em><\/a><\/strong> to teach.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, they teach at <\/em>Canyon Creek Elementary School<\/em><\/a><\/strong> in Farmington, Utah. Mario teaches sixth grade and Alberto teaches fifth. Their students are part of the school\u2019s Spanish\/English Immersion program. Both teachers are experts at using technology in the classroom, and they enjoy sharing their passion with their students. Get inspired and follow them on Twitter (<\/em>@aalbertoherraez<\/em><\/a><\/strong> and <\/em>@mmarioherraez<\/em><\/a><\/strong>).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-management in the 21st Century<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When we looked closely at the daily routine of our students, we noticed their life is pretty much guided by someone else 24\/7. Too often, they are directed by teachers, parents, coaches and even friends. They are so used to following directions and being told what to do that they struggle making decisions and practicing self-management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Class of 2030 report<\/strong><\/a> from Microsoft Education shows that self-management, the ability to set and work toward one\u2019s personal and academic goals, manage stress, and stay motivated, is a top priority for students globally. Students want and need to be independent and make their own decisions. We wanted to provide our students with a program that helps them develop self-management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designing a program for an elementary setting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We were fortunate enough to visit the Colegio San Gregorio<\/a><\/strong> in Aguilar de Campoo during our summer vacations in Spain. There, we learned how two teachers, Julian Sanz Mamolar<\/strong><\/a> and Javier Ramos Sancha<\/a><\/strong>, spark self-management in their classes. This was the inspiration we needed to put together the program we recently started. It calls for a blended-learning environment in our 5th- and 6th-grade classes based on personalized playlists for our students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every week, we create individual planners in OneNote<\/a><\/strong> for all our students, which they complete during what we call \u201cself-management\u201d time. This planner (see picture below) is personalized with activities to meet each student\u2019s needs. For example, we might include multiplication facts for students that struggle in math, more reading for those with low fluency or advanced science for students who need to be challenged. But students decide for themselves what day they want to do each activity based on a personalized playlist list and how much time they will need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the beginning of every week, students have their planner distributed in their OneNote Class Notebook. On Monday mornings, they need to customize their planner and fill it out with the activities from their personalized playlist (there are several activities for the same topic). All these activities can be found at the Assignment tab of Microsoft Teams<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We use the assignments feature of Microsoft Teams to distribute the assignment pages from our OneNote content library to our students\u2019 OneNote Class Notebook. Learn how to do it in this video<\/a><\/strong> from the \u201cYou Can in :90\u201d series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Microsoft Tools to create a blended-learning environment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We use different Microsoft tools to help provide students with a blended learning model since all these apps generate activities that can be done individually and at their own pace, again helping to develop independence in students. Some examples of these activities are below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n