Introduction
I entered the classroom in 2001 at the age of 22 excited to create the classroom I had been fantasizing about in credential school. In my elaborate fantasies, students bounded through my door eager and excited to learn. We were going to sit in a circle and talk about literature and life.
Needless to say, the reality was very different from my fantasies. Instead of bounding through my door, students trudged into my classroom. Instead of engaging in conversation, they sat silent, unwilling to take risks. I was crestfallen. I was failing. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I used all of the tools I was taught with, and all the tools I was taught to teach with, yet I couldn’t get my students to take an active role in the classroom.
Seven years into my teaching career, I was at a breaking point. I remember thinking, “I have wandered into the wrong profession. Becoming a teacher was a monumental mistake.” I decided to take a year off when my first child was born. During my year at home, I taught online college-level courses and was intrigued by several aspects of online learning. When I returned to the classroom, I decided to incorporate some of these online elements into my very traditional and very low-tech classroom.
I began with asynchronous discussions, because traditional discussions tended to fall flat. The same four or five students dominated real-time discussions in class and everyone else avoided eye contact, unwilling to participate. I must be honest; I was terrified of what 158 teenagers would say and do when let loose on the Internet, but I realized that nothing would change if I allowed fear to dictate my decisions.
So, I posted my first online discussion question. Within twenty minutes, the first three students responded—and all three were students who never talked in my class. I was stunned. These kids clearly wanted a voice in my class, but I had not given them a comfortable place to express or share their voice. This moment was a game changer.
I was excited by the power of technology to engage my students and help them to find their voices. I began experimenting with other strategies and technology tools. Despite working in a low-tech classroom, I embraced a BYOD (bring your own device) model and began designing Station Rotation lessons. I began using the Flipped Classroom Model to flip my vocabulary and writing instruction. I was blown away by how easy it was to place students at the center of learning when we used technology.
This section focuses on the individual blended learning models that teachers can use to weave together the best aspects of face-to-face and online learning to allow students more control over the time, pace, place, and path of their learning. The chapters in this section explain the models, suggest strategies for implementation, provide classroom examples, identify common challenges, and present creative solutions to meet those challenges.
Although this chapter is focused on supporting teachers in implementing the model[s] that will work best for them, there are links to leadership throughout.