Читать книгу The Perfect Blend - Michele Eaton - Страница 7

At the time of this publication, we are in the midst of a pandemic, prompting educators to find innovative ways to teach their students from home. While staying at home during this time is difficult for all of us, consider what it means to be a teacher working at home with children who have their own needs. Teachers want to make a difference—that’s the reason most of us went into the profession in the first place. It’s important to remember as we deal with this changing world what’s most important: to foster relationships.

Building a culture of learning is based on trust and respect that starts with the relationships between the teacher and students. An effective teacher:

• empowers students to be a designer of their own learning

• helps students gain confidence in their abilities to acquire new skills

• shows students what it means to be invested in their success

This personalized learning approach is about focusing on students as learners and empowering agency so they have choice and a voice in their learning. Many teachers believe that providing a set of pre-planned choices may be enough to give students opportunities for choice. Actually, providing choice in this way means teachers are doing most of the preparation and planning. In designing with student agency in mind, Michele Eaton shares how to provide choice in assessment by providing options with the tools students use to demonstrate what they learn. The idea of developing opportunities for choice is to start turning over these decisions to students so they can drive their own learning.

To achieve true student agency, providing opportunities for choice is not enough. Students need a real voice in their education. Students have more flexibility at home to work online with individualized content at their own pace while having more control over time and place.

Michele defines blended learning as any combination of traditional instruction and online learning. Because of the newfound need to stay at home, teachers are becoming more creative in using collaborative tools. There are more instances of blended learning via video conferencing using tools like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Meeting, and Google Meet. You will also see students self-advocating for their learning at home and as a partner in learning with teachers. They will self-reflect on their learning journey and who they are as a learner by creating and monitoring their learner profile. The teacher uses a Flex Model with checklists, playlists, choice boards, and formative assessment strategies to encourage voice and choice. Videoconferencing creates an environment where you can listen and see each student more than when you are in a traditional classroom. You may find yourself spending more time building those relationships online using humor, games, and creative student-to-student interactivity.

Because students are in the comfort of their homes with parents more involved in the learning process, the relationships between the teacher and the families become stronger. You can even have one-to-one conversations using videoconferencing, email, or phone. When you first start reaching out to your students, you may make mistakes, and that’s OK. If you build a culture of learning where everyone cares about each other, you will see that your online environment encourages vulnerability and supports social-emotional learning.

The Perfect Blend provides the blueprint as you grow as a blended learning educator. It lays out ideas on how technology allows teachers to restructure their classroom in a way that puts an emphasis on student-centered learning, data-driven decision-making, and individualized instruction. It offers the perfect blend of theory around agency, voice, choice, flexible approaches, accessibility, and using digital tools. When your students take more control of the path, pace, time, and place for their learning at home, you will find yourself developing more agency designing new content in new ways. I know you will enjoy the activities, stories, and resources found in each chapter to be invaluable as you rethink your role as a partner in learning with your students and their families. I invite you to read through this book rethinking your WHY as a blended learning educator.

Barbara Bray, Creative Learning Strategist, Podcast Host, Author of Define Your Why Oakland, California