Skip to main content

Results Are In

At the end of the first marking period, I asked my students their thoughts on their first blended learning experience. I had my own, but I wanted to hear from them. If I am having a student-centered classroom, how could I ignore their thoughts?

My goal of getting their feedback was to find out if they thought they were getting an effective class experience compared to previous years, to see if I am on the right track from their perspective, to give them a chance to voice any thoughts on the matter, to see if there is a need to incorporate flipped lessons, and to share the results with my colleagues to start a conversation about blended learning and flipped classrooms.

Looking at the data, I feel very confident going into the second marking period continuing to use the blended classroom model. Not only do I feel as if I am finally able to dig into it more, but the students are telling me they really like the approach. There also appears to be a need to incorporate flipped lessons, too. Having two young children of my own that are only at the beginning of their schooling, I can only imagine how hectic my students' lives are once they leave school after seeing the student feedback results. Blended learning and flipped classrooms really seem to make sense to meet the needs of today's students.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Force Awakens

Just when I thought I had my blended learning classroom in a good place, everything changed. Half way through the school year, my district decided to pilot a new math series. This meant change. A change I was having trouble dealing with. For about two weeks I struggled and became quite frustrated trying to figure out how this new math series fit into the way I had been running my blended learning classroom. I kept trying to force the math series in but kept getting disastrous results. My struggles and frustration spilled over into my classes. I did not like what I was seeing from the math series, I did not like what I was seeing from my teaching, and I did not like the results I was seeing from my students. Every night I left school feeling disheartened, but determined to make things better the next day. The only problem was I kept trying to force the fix every new day, instead of sitting back, reflecting, and seeing what other solutions came about. I was suffering from a little ca...

Did You Send Out the Invites

Do you send out invites to your parties, or do you just hope people hear about them through word of mouth and just show up? Unless you still live at a college frat house, chances are you send out invites. The invitations are an important part to any successful party. Without them, people don't know when, where, or even if there is a party. And it could be the best party ever, but no one would know without the invitations.  Earlier this year,  few of my colleagues and I went to a Breakout EDU workshop. It was something we all had a strong interest in, and something that we were excited to try when we got back to school. But then, something terrible happened. We all went back to work the next day, closed our doors, and started teaching in our own self-induced, solitary confinement classrooms. What we were so excited and energized about doing (and something that required communication and collaboration), faded away as quickly as the next day came. A few weeks went by, and I...

The Great Wall

Having 13 devices in my room has been a dream come true. No longer can I complain about not having the tools to move my students' learning into the 21st century. No longer can I complain about not having time in the computer lab (an outdated use of a room anyway). No longer can I sit and wait until change happens. No longer can I make excuses. The responsibility is on me to use the tools, all the tools, in my classroom to make learning happen, meaningful, and wait for it, enjoyable. The 4C's (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity), that are so widely talked about, are also my responsibility to incorporate into my classroom. What I am starting to realize more than ever, is that the devices I have are just additional tools in my classroom. They are not the be all end all. These tools definitely bring a lot more potential into the classroom, but it is still the pedagogical skills and relationships that are built that make a successful classroom. Th...