Thousands of Miles Away

For the past few weeks, we have had a student who is visiting family in India and will continue to be there a few more weeks.  How can a teacher have that many lessons prepared for a student who will be gone?  Or, how can a teacher catch up a student after weeks of being away from the actual classroom?  The beauty of a Blended Learning Classroom that has a prominent digital component, is that student can continue right along with a majority of the lessons. 

So…greetings from India!   

Here is one of our 5^th graders, Trishul.  He has been able to take assessments, participate in kidblogs, work on writing pieces, and complete reading lessons.  Now, not everything we do in our classroom is digitally based, but a large majority is accessible through his Chromebook.  Therefore, Trishul is still a participant in our classroom and will be able to fall right in step when he returns in a few weeks. 

We see this happen daily in our classroom with students who are absent or sick at home.  They can see what we are doing.  They email one of the three teachers and ask what they can do at home, or they send us a message through Edmodo.  I’m not sure when I have ever had a sick student email me in the middle of the day to see what school work they can do at home?!  They want to do it!  They truly want to learn and participate even when they could be watching the Disney Channel while snuggling up with their favorite pillow.  Amazing!  It is so encouraging to see this motivation and high level of engagement in our students.  

Stay tuned for more postings from Behind the Scenes @ AD!

Laying the Foundation

We are now eight days into our pilot Blended Learning 5th grade classroom, using 1:1 Chromebooks, and multiple digital tools.  The excitement within our walls, that came on day one with 77 fabulous fifth graders, is still resonating in our room.  The eight days that we've had with our young scholars, have been full of inquisitive questions focused on their eagerness to want to learn more about their devices and digital tools. 

The one question that we've had the most of in the past few weeks, is how can you focus in a room with 77 fifth graders.  Yes, there are 77 fifth graders in our room with 3 teachers and additional special education assistance.  We teach all subject areas from ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  How can this possibly work?

So, picture this, 77 students spread out at tables in three of the four quadrants in the large classroom.  We introduce a new digital tool to the students called Kidblog, that will be utilized for all subject areas with a major emphasis in our ELA block.  For this particular lesson, one teacher took the lead in the instruction while the other two co-teachers supported students one-on-one or in small groups to assist with individual blog development.  The lesson itself was layered with mutliple steps just to get all 77 blogs set up.  There were also two whole group minilessons on blogging "Netiquite" and "Responsible and Respectful Commenting" in the midst of the main lesson.   

You are probably saying, "Wow!  That sure is a lot going on at one time."  You are correct, it is.  But, the level of engagement, and the ability the students have to focus is literally amazing.  In all my years of teaching, I have never seen such a drive in fifth grade students, all at the same time, to want to learn more.  They were listening, inquiring, assisting one another, developing a tool of their own, writing comments, collaborating with others, learning a new skill and applying it instantly to their work.  The other teachers and myself have stared at this beautiful learning environment this week in absolute awe.

Aside from the wonderment that lingers at the end of each day for us, we have come up with a few major revelations that have been key to the first eight days in our classroom.

1. Take it slow  -  Every tool we introduce to our students is the first time most of them have ever seen it.  Step-by-step basic instructions are vital.  Add the shortcuts later when they are more comfortable with the tool.
2. Break it up -  The lesson mentioned earlier in this post was a series of minilessons.  There were stretch breaks, movement to different areas of the room for larger lessons, work time creating the blog, recess and lunch.  It wasn't completed in all one setting or the same type of setting.  By breaking it up, it allowed the students to focus when needed, take brain breaks, and gear back up for the next round.
3. Be Flexible  - We have back up plans for our back up plans.  :)  As teachers, you learn to be flexible from day one in the classroom.  But, throw in a lot of technology, and being flexible steps it up to a whole other level.  Sometimes things don't quite work the way you wanted it to or the way it was supposed to.  Or, there are times where the WiFi is down.  You flip-flop a few things in your schedule and you work on through it.  

It was a first-class first eight days of school.  We are so excited on where this journey is going to take us.  Stay tuned for more Behind the Scenes @ AD postings as the weeks unfold.