Checkthis First Step

Yesterday, teachers from Bulkeley High School and Journalism & Media Academy Magnet School came together for a Blended Learning Institute. The morning began with the group reflecting on the ed tech they currently use in the classroom. Many of the teachers shared that they already use web tools like Google Apps for Ed for student production of work and Edmodo as a learning management system. Other teachers use hardware technologies for video production and audio recording. Tim Ketterer, music teacher, uses audio recording to allow students to listen to and reflect on their own performances. At a systems level, Shayna Chomko, theme coach at JMA, reported using Google drive to organize and share information for staff.

After reflecting on current practices, teachers had the opportunity to explore new ed tech tools. Maria Blake, art teacher, discovered Khan Academy art history lessons that she hopes will supplement her art history course. Susan Johnston, English teacher, found NoRedInk as a practice tool to help students improve their writing skills. Several teachers showed interest in the web tool Checkthis.com after creating their reflections on that site. Their Checkthis reflections are shared below:

http://checkthis.com/nmvv, http://checkthis.com/2l2x, http://checkthis.com/orb4, http://checkthis.com/rkc6,
http://checkthis.com/ieye, http://checkthis.com/70t, http://checkthis.com/fqd6, http://checkthis.com/y6da,
http://checkthis.com/hiu6, http://checkthis.com/f171, http://checkthis.com/midgetteblended,
http://checkthis.com/hx5w, http://checkthis.com/edtechtaylor, https://checkthis.com/7z9n,
http://checkthis.com/6ivt, http://checkthis.com/paratech, http://checkthis.com/8306,
https://checkthis.com/f2s2, http://checkthis.com/xiiw, http://checkthis.com/hodgysan

During the middle of the day, Anthony Kim, the founder and CEO of Education Elements, presented to the team about the mindsets of blended learning. Anthony set the tone for our work by discussing that traditional school models are no longer effective for many reasons. He pointed out many factors of our changing world including hyper-personalization (think Netflix), the democratization of information (think Wikipedia), and technology leading to efficiency (think self-driving cars). Anthony demonstrated how blended learning more accurately fits the needs of the modern workplace.

Anthony then led the group through a station rotation simulation. While one group took a deeper diver into blended learning with Anthony, the other group read an article on personalization and feedback. Anthony discussed how important it is to consider the "core four" of personalized learning and blended learning.

The team ended the day by looking at planning for blended learning. After experienced teachers shared their planning processes and considerations, content-area groups worked collaboratively to start lesson and unit planning. English teacher Chandler Paradis is excited about enhancing his unit on Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried by using recorded interviews with the author in a station rotation. English teacher Danielle Knobloch feels confident because her summer curriculum already features a multi-modality and content area station rotation.

Teachers left the Institute feeling excited and ready to explore the world of blended learning. I am excited to work with the team on implementation plans and to read about their summer research and planning!