Day 151: Up to date or Outdated? Few questions to ask yourself and ponder.

Day 151: When I was meeting with some very ambitious and inspiring teachers today about what we can do to meet the needs of our students a thought came to me that I feel can be applied to the current state of your school: The thought was this; 20 years ago Stephen Curry, arguably one of the greatest basketball players on the planet, would be benched if he took the 3 point shots that he takes in games today. Steve Kerr his coach has enough confidence and trust in Curry to let him take 3 point shots that are close to half court! These shots are now considered 'good' shots. These shots would have definitely got Curry benched by coaches who like to control everything a decade or so ago because they are afraid to take risks. This applies to principals and administrators today. Let your best teachers take risks! Curry hit 400+ threes this year and they won a record 73 games. What would happen in education today if we let our teachers teach like this? Ask yourself this question: Would you bench Curry and confine him to fit the status quo if he took shots out of your so called 'offense' or 'system'. If you say no to that, then my question to you is: Are you confining the Steph Curry's on your staff or are you letting them teach freely?  Be honest in your reflection: Some highlights from today!

Day 150: Cultural fair/MS field trip

Day 150: Today we had our cultural fair and our 5th grade students went on middle school visit. Great to see all the students hard work as they broaden their horizons!

Day 149: Prepping for success!

Day 149: Great to see the students preparing for the cultural fair tomorrow, starting the day with morning running club, and discussing data! Some pics from today.

Day 148: 1, 2, 3, Team! What is the byproduct of a team?

Day 148: My thoughts for the day: Nothing is more exciting to me than to see our teachers and students working together as a team! Teachers who collaborate with one another have students who collaborate together. Teachers who respect one another have students who respect one another. Teachers who genuinely love their profession have students who love to learn. Teachers who go the extra mile have students who go the extra mile. Teachers who trust their teammates have students who trust each other. Teachers who show compassion to one another have students who show compassion to one another.
Students reflect what they behold. My question to you is how are your students in your class? If you want to see positive change in them don't try to do it alone, work with your teammates and get your team on the same page. If you do this you will have a very positive byproduct! Some pics from today.

Day 147: BL T.O.W. Ms. WW 'makes me more reflective on how my students...'

Ms. WW with her 1st grade class! 

BLENDED LEARNING TEACHER OF THE WEEK:

MS. WELCH-WALKER

Q. How long have you been teaching?

I have taught for fourteen years in public education with the majority of those years in elementary education in Michigan, Maryland, and North Carolina.

Q. What grade do you teach?

I am a first grade teacher at Hanford Dole Elementary School. Go Bobcats!

Q. How has your first year gone with BL implementation?

My first year as a BL teacher has been great! Blended Learning is taking my teaching style and incorporating the new model to my teaching style, but also the learners’ styles as well.  The students are doing well with the blended learning model and learning better in smaller groups, as well as enjoying the rotations.  It also makes me be more reflective on how my students are learning in the classroom and finding ways to use their multiple intelligences to their advantage.

Q. How has BL changed your thoughts about teaching?

I re-evaluated my teaching style to incorporate rotations to meet the needs of my students and the results are more engaged learners willing to show what they know.  It has made me examine closely my teaching to make sure I meet the needs of all my students. In the teacher directed lesson, as well as the station rotations, personalized lessons need to be differentiated, building the foundation the students need to be successful as independent learners.

Q. If you had one word to describe BL what would say and why? 

 Innovation.   I am passionate about teaching.  Teaching is very diverse and challenging.  I not afraid of failure because failure only makes you stronger.  It challenges me to be reflective about why it didn’t work and find ways to make the learning more understandable and applicable for the learners in my classroom. As an innovator I sees opportunities to challenge and push the boundaries of the old ridged classroom structures to new ways of learning geared toward the learners’ style, but the teacher’s style as well. 

Day 146: Some reasons why a guide on the side is better than a sage on the stage

Day 146: As we progress in our blended learning journey, I have been seeing how a teacher as a facilitator (considered as the guide on the side) is so much more powerful than the best whole group lecture style teacher (which we consider the sage on the stage).

•  The classroom is student centered and not teacher centered.
• Facilitators build the school's vision while sage on stage is glorified.
•  Facilitators trust their teammates to assist with meeting their students needs--sage on stage doesn't want any help in their classroom.
•  Learning is active instead of passive.
•  Facilitators adjust their lessons to meet their students needs. Sage on stage teaches same lesson year after year.
•  Facilitators meet the needs of all students. Sage on stage teaches to the middle or to one type of student. 
•  Students are empowered with choice and ownership. Sage on stage controls all aspects of the environment.
•  Facilitators build facilitators to grow their capacity and teamwork. Sage on stage use inspiration as their method to grow. Inspiration fades after time. 

Below are some pics from Day 145.

Day 144 and 145: RCA Visit

Day 144 and 145: With Wi-Fi being down I am including Day 144 and 145. Today we were able to send 10 staff members to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. Ron Clark is one of the most inspiring educators I have ever seen. His passion, commitment, persistence, high expectations, etc, etc are inspiring and motivating. I received various messages from our staff members who were able to attend today and the one common word mentioned amongst the group was AWESOME! If you have a chance to go and see Ron Clark it will change you!

Ms. Schutz and Ms. Rossi with Ron Clark! 

Day 143: No internet today! What did we do?

Day 143: At a blended learning school, the last thing we need is for our internet to go down and that is exactly what happened today. What did we do in response? Simply put: Our awesome teachers just kept teaching! I was very impressed to see how fast our teachers and students adjusted to this situation. We have become so dependent upon the internet to fuel our apps and our digital content. So great to see how our teachers and students responded so positively in this situation. It is like losing your electricity in the middle of the night and having to rely on candles. Hopefully tomorrow this situation will be resolved if not we will continue to adjust and keep on teaching and learning!