Checking in on Blended Learning...

It has been exciting to see many of our ESU 8 educators beginning to incorporate blended learning in their classroom environments.  We encourage you to take a moment to reflect and share with others any progress that you have made.

Please add a comment answering any or all of the following questions in regards to blended learning:

• What things have you tried with students? 

• What tools have you incorporated in your lessons? 

• What tips do you have that would be beneficial to the group?

We also thought we’d try to share a few new tidbits with all of you.

TIP: ABCs of Station-Rotation Model

We recently heard educators using an ABC acronym to plan and organize their station-rotations in blended learning.  This could help you design your blended lessons as well!

A: Acquire Knowledge (allow students opportunity for direct instruction - might work well as instructor-led or by independent online video viewing)

B: Brainstorm (students can build on their knowledge and begin to brainstorm possibilities - may be well-suited as instructor-led or a partner-collaborative station)

C: Choice (give students choice in showing or applying what they have learned - could be an independent work station or partner-collaborative)

TRICK: 

So ‘trick’ may be a little misleading, because this advice isn’t tricky at all. But read this MindShift article from KQED entitled “How to Grow a Classroom Culture That Supports Blended Learning” and think about how the author defines the ‘trick’ acronym.

TOOL:

Alright, enough acronyms. Let’s see a new(ish) tool to try in our classrooms! NEWSELA (http://newsela.com) is a completely free site for educators to expose students to nonfiction reading, complete with short quizzes and/or writing responses. The most powerful feature of newsela, however, is the ability to differentiate the articles at numerous reading levels (lexiles) with just a simple click. This site works well for blended learning in reading, science, or social studies because students can potentially have control over the topic of the article, the reading level, and the place & pace at which they complete it. If you have never before used newsela, consider watching this Getting Started video or this Student Introduction video. 

We hope everyone is experiencing some success with the blended learning model and, as always, we encourage you to contact us if we can be of any help to you at all. We would be more than willing to come to your classrooms and assist you with planning and/or implementation of a lesson. Likewise, we can also offer virtual support through a Zoom connection to do anything similar.

Molly, Tina, and Katie
ESU 8 Instructional Technology