Timeline to Day 1

In the winter of 2014, we were able to tour Washington DC Public Schools and observe how they were embracing blended learning and implementing blended learning into their schools and classrooms. On the two day visit, the one thing that was most impressive to me was the student engagement and on task behaviors. We were able to tour an elementary and middle school during our visit. The snowy weather prevented us from seeing the high school. As a principal of an elementary school, I was most interested in how the elementary schools were implementing the station rotation model. Later in the blog we will give you an overview, definition, and examples of what High Quality Blended Learning is and what models are included in Blended Learning based off the Clayton Christenson Institute's definition. Many references will be made to the book 'Blended' by Michael Horn and Heather Staker. We also have been greatly helped by the Coursera Mook by Brian Greenberg and Horn.

After visiting Washington DC Public Schools, in the spring of 2015 we were able to visit Horry County Schools in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. During this visit we were able to take our Literacy Coach. We were so impressed with the Blended Learning implementation at Burgess Elementary School. A school that has exploded in student population over the last five years. They went from 300 students to over 800 students. They have a very transient population, but one would never know, because of the clockwork type precision the students and teachers operate. They also use specifically the station rotation model. Students would rotate on a fixed schedule through a guided station with the teacher, an online digital content program, and other modalities which included small groups, projects, paper and pencil assignments, etc.
During the spring and summer of 2015, we fully embraced the idea and concept of implementing Blended Learning. The first thing we did was create a Blended Learning Committee that looked at what was working, what wasn't working, and what can we do to make our school a better place for the students, staff, and community. We also formed various other committee's to take a specific look at the entire school and how we operated. The committee's we formed were the iPad, Discipline, Bus Driver, Professional Development, Staff Meeting, School Culture/Climate, Uniform, Parental/Community Involvement, and Grading Policy Committees.
As we progress through our Journey on BL implementation we will go into greater detail on what came out of these committees when they met with their teams...Stay Tuned!