Vision of Blended Learning ELA -- White Paper
This vision concerns how implement Blended Learning in the High School setting, in an ELA department in particular.
What is Blended Learning?
In a secondary school ELA department, we see the opportunity to focus our work on three modes of interaction, each with several variations (image link/credit). The result, we feel, will be a constructivist learning space, in which teachers and students address literary texts, literacy skills, and real-world problems in a problem-based learning format.
The primary educational mode is still face-to-face interaction, even in a blended classroom. Nothing seems to be quite able to substitute for the caring, insightful, focused presence of a teacher or coach, on hand and engaged with the learner in the content or skill being learned. In ELA, a discussion of social class in The Great Gatsby benefits greatly from seeing the reactions on classmates' or the teacher's face when comments are made--much more fluid and engaging and dialogic than a comment stream. In the case of learning a writing skill, such as incorporating evidence in an argument on the topic of global warming, again, the personalized encouragement of the teacher or face-to-face small group interaction is a vital ingredient toward mastering the skill with voice. To try to appropriate these key ELA understandings without some measure of face-to-face learning is like listening to music online without ever attending a real and in-person concert event, which experience tells us cannot be replicated digitally in quite the same way.
In addition to face-to-face interaction, however, self-paced learning and online collaborative learning will transform the classroom space, enlarging it and giving it leverage. Algorithm-based learning can provide just-in-time content for students who need it:
- No Red Ink -- mechanics and writing instruction.
- Khan Academy -- language and mechanics instruction.
- Reading+ -- Reading tutorial for students below the 40%ile.
In addition, self-paced learning can create opportunities for extension, application into applied problems. As a class is studying inferential reading by exploring characterization in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a student can learn in an online module about empathy maps or facial recognition software and begin to compare literary insights with those we make in lived experience--between the literary world of imaginative literature and the practical, applied world of science and commerce.
Finally, the classroom space is defined by personal relationships among students. We hope to see the online component of blended learning as a means to extend the reach of learning teams so they the can compete globally for solutions that are so vitally needed. For example, in a unit on argumentative writing, students could explore pressing issues such as the steep rise in the U.S. of drug-related deaths, offering the school system solutions in an argument that they construct for the school board or administration. Their insights, when combined with research and the leverage of a learning team, will make argument learning an authentic experience.
Why are many schools beginning to explore Blended Learning?
Disengagement. Too many of our students are not engaged in their learning. According to an article in Educational Leadership (cited below), both teachers and workforce participants and students are not nearly as engaged as they should be. According to this graph drawn from a large-scale data sample, the majority of our teachers are not engaged. This insight plays itself out daily in classrooms where all stakeholders involved have the nagging suspicion that we could be engaging our students to a greater degree than we are.
Choice and higher-level thinking. We know from research on cognitive psychology (Armstrong, 2016) that choice can be a key motivator because it allows an individual to show remarkable autonomy and thus fuels our drive (Pink, 2009). The blended format guides teachers and students to allow more choice in self-paced learning, which can very quickly be moved up Bloom's hierarchy to applied and creative thinking. The SAMR model of applied technology asks teachers to consider moving beyond using technology to merely replicate the paper-and-pencil experience to modifying and re-defining it. For example, in a unit on literary symbolism, a student an contribute to a collaborative document by adding links to symbols in cultures that figure prominently in the news of the day. What symbols are important for the citizens of London today? What symbols figure into the imagination of an ISIS militant? How can an 11th grader apply what she is learning from a study on The Scarlet Letter to these context by quickly identifying labels and visual symbols that add to the class's understanding of the story and how symbolism works. But beyond simply reporting or summarizing what is happening in the text, students and use the leverage of their online technology in a redefined way, recruiting information and media that are not otherwise available in the classroom setting.
Global competition for work. Thomas Friedman rocked my world in his new book (cited below, in which he explains how work flows are so vitally important for our growth. We can't remain complacent and must strive to be in the flow of information as it evolves: “Average is finally over. When I graduated from college I got to find a job; my girls have to invent theirs... Today’s American dream is now more of a journey than a destination--” In the ELA classroom, we have the opportunity to help students to learn to research--to find out, to gauge, evaluate, to think about, to respond emotionally, to empathize, to apply--and share a broad range of topics in ways that engaging and important. Students can learn to share their ideas on an infographic or via original media. The goal of getting secondary students to college is no longer sufficient because a college degree as an end point is no longer sufficient. Students need to be encouraged to learn in a way that engages them long term.
The ELA Lesson Planner
We need to envision students in informal spaces. There is a blurring of public and private space, as students work in informal settings in a glassed conference room adjacent to the formal library setting, for example. They have time and the encouragement to explore, for example, the use of satire and humor in political discourse.
Lesson Planning for a Maker Space and Differentiated Settings. Our lesson plans will need to capture a structurally differentiated approach. Specifically, students who require more assistance with mastering the basic standard will need to have a greater degree of face-to-face interaction with the teacher or aide. These students may attend the classroom for all five days of the school week. Students who are beginning to exceed basic mastery levels should be encouraged to attend a maker space, which for ELA would amount to greater opportunities for research and application. Should the U.S. have backed out of the Paris accord, for example? The only way to know is to read the actual Paris accord document and then apply it back to the ELA classroom discussion of evidence in arguments. What does Bob Dylan think about his own literary imagination as he accepts his Nobel Prize? His lecture video and speech text are available for students to explore and then connect back to the discussion in class about symbolism or character, or the purpose of literature--e.g. Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey--which is a "standard to measure things by."
What Professional Development is Needed?
How can we help each other to prepare for this new way of learning? According to Thomas Armstrong's book (2016), there are several traits of learning that resonate with the cognitive development of adolescents, and I see at least two of them that are augmented to such a degree in blended learning that they are addressed in a unique way: self-awareness activities, and real-world experiences.
We have the unparalleled opportunity to engage students in their natural, adolescent proclivities. As Thomas Armstrong notes (2016), if students seek peer affiliation and acceptance, we have the opportunity to help the channel those very real feelings toward an important project such as a service learning opportunity. If students love risk taking, where can they go to the edge of self-expression, if not in a poetry slam environment or a competition or debate? And so on. What we cannot do is simply go about our business as usual, teaching a sort of bland curriculum that mildly addresses literacy skill. We need to address standards with a sense of urgency and offer extension opportunities that nudge our students toward being leaders and creators.
What are the assumptions and possible drawbacks?
- Teachers will be able to adapt.
- Students will enjoy and learn from the mix.
- We can assure minimum competency on a range of learning standard while still providing students the with chance for extension.
- Using SAMR as described above will lead to applied learning in a sustained, engaged way, not simply dabbling effect.
- More technology exposure will be better.
- Students will learn to self-regulate.
- Students will learn to apply course material to "real-world" experiences.
- School culture will benefit.
How can we evaluate it?
We have the opportunity to engaged in large-scale learning as we grow here. Affective survey data as well as achievement data will be worth exploring here.
- Students - Randomize classroom life survey items and give to two sets of students.
- Examine PLT-level data and STAR data across two groups.
Sources
Pink, Daniel. Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. New York: Riverhead Books. 2009.
This vision concerns how implement Blended Learning in the High School setting, in an ELA department in particular.
What is Blended Learning?
In a secondary school ELA department, we see the opportunity to focus our work on three modes of interaction, each with several variations (image link/credit). The result, we feel, will be a constructivist learning space, in which teachers and students address literary texts, literacy skills, and real-world problems in a problem-based learning format.
The primary educational mode is still face-to-face interaction, even in a blended classroom. Nothing seems to be quite able to substitute for the caring, insightful, focused presence of a teacher or coach, on hand and engaged with the learner in the content or skill being learned. In ELA, a discussion of social class in The Great Gatsby benefits greatly from seeing the reactions on classmates' or the teacher's face when comments are made--much more fluid and engaging and dialogic than a comment stream. In the case of learning a writing skill, such as incorporating evidence in an argument on the topic of global warming, again, the personalized encouragement of the teacher or face-to-face small group interaction is a vital ingredient toward mastering the skill with voice. To try to appropriate these key ELA understandings without some measure of face-to-face learning is like listening to music online without ever attending a real and in-person concert event, which experience tells us cannot be replicated digitally in quite the same way.In addition to face-to-face interaction, however, self-paced learning and online collaborative learning will transform the classroom space, enlarging it and giving it leverage. Algorithm-based learning can provide just-in-time content for students who need it:
- No Red Ink -- mechanics and writing instruction.
- Khan Academy -- language and mechanics instruction.
- Reading+ -- Reading tutorial for students below the 40%ile.
In addition, self-paced learning can create opportunities for extension, application into applied problems. As a class is studying inferential reading by exploring characterization in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a student can learn in an online module about empathy maps or facial recognition software and begin to compare literary insights with those we make in lived experience--between the literary world of imaginative literature and the practical, applied world of science and commerce.
Finally, the classroom space is defined by personal relationships among students. We hope to see the online component of blended learning as a means to extend the reach of learning teams so they the can compete globally for solutions that are so vitally needed. For example, in a unit on argumentative writing, students could explore pressing issues such as the steep rise in the U.S. of drug-related deaths, offering the school system solutions in an argument that they construct for the school board or administration. Their insights, when combined with research and the leverage of a learning team, will make argument learning an authentic experience.
Why are many schools beginning to explore Blended Learning?
Disengagement. Too many of our students are not engaged in their learning. According to an article in Educational Leadership (cited below), both teachers and workforce participants and students are not nearly as engaged as they should be. According to this graph drawn from a large-scale data sample, the majority of our teachers are not engaged. This insight plays itself out daily in classrooms where all stakeholders involved have the nagging suspicion that we could be engaging our students to a greater degree than we are.Choice and higher-level thinking. We know from research on cognitive psychology (Armstrong, 2016) that choice can be a key motivator because it allows an individual to show remarkable autonomy and thus fuels our drive (Pink, 2009). The blended format guides teachers and students to allow more choice in self-paced learning, which can very quickly be moved up Bloom's hierarchy to applied and creative thinking. The SAMR model of applied technology asks teachers to consider moving beyond using technology to merely replicate the paper-and-pencil experience to modifying and re-defining it. For example, in a unit on literary symbolism, a student an contribute to a collaborative document by adding links to symbols in cultures that figure prominently in the news of the day. What symbols are important for the citizens of London today? What symbols figure into the imagination of an ISIS militant? How can an 11th grader apply what she is learning from a study on The Scarlet Letter to these context by quickly identifying labels and visual symbols that add to the class's understanding of the story and how symbolism works. But beyond simply reporting or summarizing what is happening in the text, students and use the leverage of their online technology in a redefined way, recruiting information and media that are not otherwise available in the classroom setting.
Global competition for work. Thomas Friedman rocked my world in his new book (cited below, in which he explains how work flows are so vitally important for our growth. We can't remain complacent and must strive to be in the flow of information as it evolves: “Average is finally over. When I graduated from college I got to find a job; my girls have to invent theirs... Today’s American dream is now more of a journey than a destination--” In the ELA classroom, we have the opportunity to help students to learn to research--to find out, to gauge, evaluate, to think about, to respond emotionally, to empathize, to apply--and share a broad range of topics in ways that engaging and important. Students can learn to share their ideas on an infographic or via original media. The goal of getting secondary students to college is no longer sufficient because a college degree as an end point is no longer sufficient. Students need to be encouraged to learn in a way that engages them long term.
The ELA Lesson Planner
We need to envision students in informal spaces. There is a blurring of public and private space, as students work in informal settings in a glassed conference room adjacent to the formal library setting, for example. They have time and the encouragement to explore, for example, the use of satire and humor in political discourse.
Lesson Planning for a Maker Space and Differentiated Settings. Our lesson plans will need to capture a structurally differentiated approach. Specifically, students who require more assistance with mastering the basic standard will need to have a greater degree of face-to-face interaction with the teacher or aide. These students may attend the classroom for all five days of the school week. Students who are beginning to exceed basic mastery levels should be encouraged to attend a maker space, which for ELA would amount to greater opportunities for research and application. Should the U.S. have backed out of the Paris accord, for example? The only way to know is to read the actual Paris accord document and then apply it back to the ELA classroom discussion of evidence in arguments. What does Bob Dylan think about his own literary imagination as he accepts his Nobel Prize? His lecture video and speech text are available for students to explore and then connect back to the discussion in class about symbolism or character, or the purpose of literature--e.g. Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey--which is a "standard to measure things by."
Low mastery of skill
|
Approaching Mastery
|
Mastered
|
5 classroom days
re-teaching
|
3 classroom days, online reinforcement
|
2 classroom days, extension activities or “maker space” project
|
What Professional Development is Needed?
How can we help each other to prepare for this new way of learning? According to Thomas Armstrong's book (2016), there are several traits of learning that resonate with the cognitive development of adolescents, and I see at least two of them that are augmented to such a degree in blended learning that they are addressed in a unique way: self-awareness activities, and real-world experiences.
What types of training?
|
OPPORTUNITIES TO CHOOSE
|
SELF-AWARENESS ACTIVITIES
|
PEER LEARNING CONNECTIONS
|
AFFECTIVE LEARNING
|
LEARNING THROUGH THE BODY
|
METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES
|
EXPRESSIVE ARTS ACTIVITIES
|
REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES
|
We have the unparalleled opportunity to engage students in their natural, adolescent proclivities. As Thomas Armstrong notes (2016), if students seek peer affiliation and acceptance, we have the opportunity to help the channel those very real feelings toward an important project such as a service learning opportunity. If students love risk taking, where can they go to the edge of self-expression, if not in a poetry slam environment or a competition or debate? And so on. What we cannot do is simply go about our business as usual, teaching a sort of bland curriculum that mildly addresses literacy skill. We need to address standards with a sense of urgency and offer extension opportunities that nudge our students toward being leaders and creators.
Gang membership
|
PEER ACCEPTANCE
|
Service learning project
|
Reckless driving
|
RISK TAKING
|
Poetry slam
|
Substance abuse
|
SENSATION SEEKING
|
Engaging student-initiated learning project
|
Internet addiction
|
REWARD SEEKING
|
Game-based learning simulation
|
What are the assumptions and possible drawbacks?
- Teachers will be able to adapt.
- Students will enjoy and learn from the mix.
- We can assure minimum competency on a range of learning standard while still providing students the with chance for extension.
- Using SAMR as described above will lead to applied learning in a sustained, engaged way, not simply dabbling effect.
- More technology exposure will be better.
- Students will learn to self-regulate.
- Students will learn to apply course material to "real-world" experiences.
- School culture will benefit.
How can we evaluate it?
We have the opportunity to engaged in large-scale learning as we grow here. Affective survey data as well as achievement data will be worth exploring here.
- Students - Randomize classroom life survey items and give to two sets of students.
- Examine PLT-level data and STAR data across two groups.
Sources
Armstrong, Thomas. The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. 2016.
Blad, Evie. “More Than Half of Students ‘Engaged’ in School, Says Poll.” Edweek. 9 April 2014.
Ferdig, R. E., Rasinski, T. V., & Pytash, K. E. (2014). Using technology to enhance writing: Innovative approaches to literacy instruction.
Friedman, Thomas L. Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux. 2016.
Pink, Daniel. Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. New York: Riverhead Books. 2009.
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