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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 case of functional fixedness. Once I identified my diagnosis, I knew what had to be done. I decided to shut the blended learning down until I took a step back and figured out a solution.

So after doing a lot of reflecting, I realized that the problem was the solution. The new math series, which was giving me so much headache, had turned out to be the solution. Instead of forcing it into a system designed for something else, I had to let it develop and become a natural fit into its own system with the blended learning. This new system, I believe, will actually be a better fit for my blended learning classroom.
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