This year I have the privilege of being part of a pilot team to bring Blended Learning to our district. Yesterday, we gave our first presentation to our colleagues.

What I loved was seeing the different techniques each of use were using; all of us were blending, but all in different ways.

 

  1. Flex Learning: This is my go-to form of Blended Learning, especially since I’ve been 1:1 for several years now. With Flex, students can choose their pace and order of assignments. We still have class activities and direct instruction, but as the year goes on and students become familiar with digital learning, we have more and more flex days.

 

 

2. Survive and Thrive: One of our elementary teachers uses this concept in her science classroom. Using Google Classroom, she sets up a “Survive” curriculum with the lessons and activities that students need to know. However, students may also choose the “Thrive” path, where they can learn the same concepts and beyond with more challenging activities.

 

3. Hyperdocs: A middle school ELA teacher has been using more Hyperdocs this year. In this Digital Citizenship hyperdoc, she has not only the activities linked but also has divided them into days. This provides deadlines for students–which some of them still need, she pointed out–but gives others the options of working ahead.

 

 

4. Station Rotation: Our middle school science teacher shared how she’s utilized station rotation. For her, 13 minutes seems to be a great time for each station. Her stations comprise of an IXL station, a lab station, another computer-learning station, and a small group station with her. She’s now on her third rotation and says it gets smoother every time.

 

Blended Learning has so many different methods, and that’s why I love it. You can use the method that works best for your style, students, and content. I’ve tried station rotation only a couple times this year, but now I’m inspired to keep using it. I also love the idea of survive and thrive–I’ll definitely be wanting to steal this idea, too! (And I’m so glad that these teachers are the ones working with my own sons!!)