All In

A year ago, I was feverishly planning for Blended Pilot 1.0. I had four sub days to figure out attendance schedules, workloads, safeguards, rationales, tech tools, and communications strategies. I'd never logged onto Moodle. I was totally overwhelmed. Excited, but overwhelmed.

Now (and I can't believe I'm going to type this out loud - surely I'm tempting some kind of nasty classroom fate), things are totally under control. I feel like I know what I'm doing.

Here are some recent highlights:

I have a new way of grading papers that's both saved me a lot of time, and I think provided better feedback to kids. Because they hand their papers in online, I read them online. I keep a notepad by me while I read and jot comments in shorthand. When I'm finished with the paper, I write five-six complete sentences about their work. I type this text directly into the space for comments on our online gradebook. My compliments and criticisms are clear, and the kids and I have access to them forever. My son's first-grade teacher told me that she learned in a professional development seminar that the first thing a teacher says in the writing conference is the one the kid remembers most. So, I always begin with a compliment or a statement of confidence in the student's potential.

My colleague Elizabeth Barniskis and I gave a well-received presentation to the teaching staff about blended learning.

Copy of Copy of Copy of Parent night! on Prezi

Here's what I thought was cool: we know WHY we're doing what we're doing. Besides the logistical and scheduling benefits, and of course the novelty of "not having to come to class," we can explain why and how blended learning addresses 21st century skills. I also like that Elizabeth put "Teaching in a Participatory Culture" in the center of our skills circle, because developing and nurturing an environment of respect, sincerity, and scholarship is so vital to what we're doing. Henry Jenkins says that a participatory culture (in this case, English Class), has low barriers to expression, utilizes informal mentorship, and makes people feel like their contributions matter to the group. I think the projects we engage in and the work we do really does foster that, especially because kids are making and sharing media with each other and the world.

Mass Media is better and smoother than last semester. In the fall, I was (mostly) keeping my head afloat teaching a senior elective. I'd never taught seniors AND never taught an elective. I LOVED starting over at the semester with a new group of kids. And this is where Moodle has saved my life - I really like being able to reuse the modules that worked well and easily hide or edit those that didn't. I've heard a few complaints that my project-based class is "harder" than the traditional version of Mass Media; however, I think the attendance schedule (F2F Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; online Tuesday and Friday), still makes the course appealing. Next year, all of the sections of Mass Media will be taught in this format - no more comparing the formats in terms of perceived difficulty.

So, all in all, I'm happy and the kids are happy. Bring on 4th Quarter!

An Overdue Update

I just tweeted my link, and it's inspired me to put in some latest reflections on my first full year of blended.

Here are the highlights as we move into the last part of the semester:

1. Leaders from the National Urban Alliance Came to Visit

I was thrilled to have a chance to talk with Yvette Jackson, Luverne Flowers, and Mary Oberg about blended learning and the implications for black and brown students. I have noticed that my work as an anti-racist teacher has progressed along with my work as a blended teacher. My hypothesis about why this has happened has to do with the fact that blended teaching means working with individuals, rather than planning for the whole group.

The NUA visitors thought that blended learning was a great model for fostering high intellectual performance (HIP) for students of color because teachers show they trust kids, kids make meaningful decisions, instruction is tailored to individuals, and kids can mediate. I'm not sure what they meant by mediate, now that I'm trying to explain it here. I'll have to ask my NUA coach, Jackie Roehl, to explain that to me next week.

2. Most parents at conferences were happy and curious about blended pedagogy

It was hard to explain the what and why of blended learning for each set of parents in 90 seconds or less. I ended up wishing that I had thought in advance to ask an administrator to come and hang out by my line from time to time to handle some of those basic questions while people were waiting to talk to me.

Only two parents had serious concerns about blended, and most parents were very happy with how things are going.

3. Mass Media kids continue to make media

Mass Media class is an interesting situation and probably deserves its own post. It's a new population for me (seniors in an elective), a totally new curriculum, and all new projects.

The one thing I'm happy about in Mass Media is that the kids make media. I learned at this year's NCTE conference that scholars believe that the heart of any critical media class has to be production. This makes a lot of sense, and playing with a new tool to produce something meaningful... that's what I think it's all about.

So far, Mass Media kids have made Prezis, Xtranormals, Vokis, Aviary podcasts, and VuVoxes. Next week, they'll work on Weebly sites with some of the above tools embedded.

Still, the class needs a lot of work, and I'm very pleased that I'll be repeating it come Feburary.

A month later...

...and things are finally calming down. In the last couple of weeks, I've realized I don't feel as frantic. Last weekend, I didn't even come into work! Students seem happy and productive, and I'm getting happier because my daily life isn't as frenetic. Grades are pretty good overall, despite some problems with project completion, mostly with my seniors.

A few interesting things have happened this month. First, I got sick. I had to leave school on a moment's notice. The next day, I was still down for the count and had to miss a planned visit from the School Board.

And what happened? Nothing, really!

The kids, as it turns out, don't need me on a daily basis to continue their learning. I'm so happy they've adjusted to this reality within the first six weeks of school. During the Board visit, a couple other staff came in to support my substitute and students, but the teachers said they didn't need to say anything. The kids did an amazing job of explaining the benefits of blended learning all on their own.

More on the benefits to come in this entry and later ones.

A second happening this month was that new course proposals were due at school. My department chair and I proposed Blended American Literature - we'd like to move out of the pilot phase. We also changed the description of Mass Media to indicate that the class will always be taught in a blended format.

Another department in our school also considered petitioning to offer a blended course. Their discussion process, as well as our English proposals, gave me many opportunities to talk about the benefits of blended learning. A question that always raises my hackles is one that's often not posed as a question: Teachers say to me, "Well, kids say they love your class because they don't have to come to it."

I've been trying not to react defensively to this comment, and rather ask people to consider what kids are really saying when they report this benefit of being a blended learner. Sure, kids like the freedom not to come to class. That's okay with me because I don't want to be a child's last choice of how to spend their time. I want to offer activities and content that draw learners in! I want them to WANT it!

What I choose to believe kids are saying when they report that they like the attendance schedule is this: "I like the fact that my teacher trusts me take charge of my own learning."

Choice and freedom are good for relationships and good for learning.

A New Year, Week 2

It's been an exciting and exhausting back-to-school, perhaps more than any of my other ten Septembers in this great profession. A lot of the extra energy and stress is due to my new assignment: I'm teaching in a blended format full-time.

Isn't that exciting?! I was so energized by the blended experience in our Pilot 1.0 last spring that I couldn't really imagine going back to "the old way"; however, the reality of managing what amounts to not only two new preps, but an entirely different way of managing content, assessment, and community... It's A LOT! A whole big pile of exciting LOT.

As an English department and a district, we found enough GOOD in our pilot last spring to expand from 79 participant students to about 250 this fall. We're adding a teacher, too, so I'm not alone in this blended boat. I'm also about a hundred times more prepared to tackle this challenge because of some work and learning I did over the summer with an Ed Tech/ARRA grant project. I feel like I'm finally making the cognitive switch to truly teaching online, rather than just adapting my existing assignments and activities to be accessible online.

Here are some of my observations from our first two weeks:

1. It's really hard to explain a blended course, especially on day one when at least half of my population didn't realize they'd opted IN to our Pilot 2.0. It takes a few days of thinking and talking, and then a few days of actually practicing the flexible attendance schedule, to understand what it means to be in this type of course. Right now, we're still in the stage where some think that they'll have less work, or that they can afford to wait until the last minute to do their English assignments because they're only "due" once per week. The students that I have for a second year - the ones that were in Pilot 1.0 - have a better sense of things. And I'm really relying on their leadership.

2. I can already see the benefits of having the time and flexibility to meet with kids in small groups and one-on-one. In last year's pilot, I had kids write weekly reflections about how things were going. This year, I replaced the weekly reflections with one-on-one meetings that kids will have with me once every three weeks. I had my first set of meetings today, and it was SO NICE to be able to sit with those 30 kids to talk about initial impressions, questions, goals, and dispositions. I love the way a blended class offers me the luxury of building more meaningful working relationships with my students. It fits directly into one of the most exciting parts about blended learning for me: teaching is finally collaborative. I'm finally allowed to share power with my students. Their experiences and suggestions and questions shape my content design more directly than they did when I had the added pressure of managing a room full of 30+ kids.

So, I guess that's where I'll start! I'm happy and excited! I'm busy and stressed! And I'm also looking forward to using this blog as a space to reflect on and share my practice!

Finishing Up!

Thank you everyone - parents, guardians, and students - for your participation in our blended pilot! Overall,the experience has been extrememly positive. It's also been professionally challenging and exciting for me. Our school will be expanding the pilot next year with junior and senior students.

Today, I sent an email to parents and guardians via Edline asking for feedback about the pilot. If you didn't get the email, you can access the survey by clicking here: survey

While this survey is for parents and guardians, I did collect feedback from students during class. Those who wanted to contributed to this video, which I shared with a large committee of interesed teachers and administrators at a pilot-evaluation meeting in May:



Thanks again for a fantastic year! This has truly been one of the best years of my career, mostly because of YOU, the wonderful students and families.

Rounding the Bend!

This is our last full week of blended learning! In fact, the last optional day will be next Tuesday. For our last unit, Persepolis, we'll be using a class set of books, so you'll need to come every day in order to do your work. You will be working independently, however, so it'll still feel a little bit "blended."

In your reflections this week, most people sounded happy and adjusted to this style of learning. I feel happy and adjusted, too. I am a blended believer at this point, and I'm glad I'll get to continue this type of instruction next school year.

Something I want to get your feedback on, and I might pose this question on this week's End-of-Week Reflection is how you think blended learning could best be introduced at the beginning of the year. What would your ideal blended course look like in terms of schedule, workload, relationships, etc.? Think about this and add your thoughts to this week's end-of-week reflection forums.

Something else that's been happening lately is an erosion of the typical divide between students and teacher. On the one hand, I'm elated about this development! I've spent most of my career trying to find ways to authentically learn WITH students, instead of being just an authority figure and the dominant force in the classroom. On the other hand, some aspects of the walls coming down are making me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I'll probably talk more about this in class; although the idea of talking about it in class makes me feel uncomfortable, too. Oh, teaching. Such a complex and wonderful profession.

Have a great week!

Moodle!

Thanks for your emails about Moodle being down. I also can't sign in. I'm sure the school is working on it, and we'll just have to see what happens.

I'll update you in class today.

We'll adjust the due date of the letters.