A Day of Blended Learning for Vanguards
Mike Brown, Ballenger Creek Middle School
@MBrownTeach
November 29th, 2017 was a day full of opportunities to collaborate, learn, and have exposure to the instructional practices of blended learning with control over time, place, path, and pace for Vanguard teachers. Jason Green and Tiffany Wycoff, co-authors of Blended Learning in Action, spent their day at Hood College sharing their expertise with the first FCPS Vanguard Cohort.
On the evening before our big day of learning, Jason shared his time from 5:00 to 6:30 at Tuscarora High School. There, he began gearing up teachers with an understanding of generativity; a concern usually developed during middle-age to nurture and guide younger people and contribute to the next generation. What does this mean in the scope of education? Middle-age individuals will often be found reinventing themselves as frequently as every 5 years to keep pace with the changing needs of a competitive market place. Teachers, knowing all too well the pace at which education moves, must keep abreast of best instructional practices. Extreme, but not too far-fetched, we need the students we teach to be marketable in a world where a well-developed app can ultimately replace a physical employee. The jobs we prepare students for today may not exist in a not too distant future. Factory-style learning, although still practiced, is a thing of the past. This is where Blended Learning and Vanguard teachers become a significant and tremendously important presence in today’s classrooms around our country, but especially at Frederick County Public Schools where the achievement gap will be closed. Jason also introduced and spent time addressing the LINC PAACC Hallmarks of Effective Blended Learning. These include: Personalization, Agency, Authentic Audience, Connectivity, and Creativity.
Early the next morning, Vanguards gathered at Hood College greeted by other Vanguards, as well as by Jason and Tiffany. After a warm welcome from Eric Haines, Vanguards were turned over to the good care of Mr. Green. Many of the day’s participants had the fortunate opportunity to see Jason the evening before, but for those who had not, Jason began his morning by talking more about blended learning, generativity, and the PAACC Hallmarks. He shared what each component of the PAACC stands for in the Hallmarks of Effective Blended Learning. Personalization includes co-creating unique learning pathways for individual students with students. Agency gives learners the opportunities to make key decisions in their learning experience. Authentic Audiences give student opportunities to create for real audiences both locally and globally. Connectivity allows learners to experience learning with peers and experts both locally and globally. And finally, creativity, giving learner opportunities to make things that matter while building skills for their future.
To be sure that Vanguards had a very real-world experience in a blended learning environment, break out sessions created Ed Camp style were developed. Sessions included team-building activities with some direct instruction from Jason, exploration of blended learning through videos, links, and audio resources, as well as the creation of a database for teachers, by teachers, of useful strategies were built as the day progressed.
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Education, Made-to-Order
Casey Keenan, Liberty Elementary School
@CaseyKeenan22
Personalization is all around us. We see it in our everyday lives, from the stores we shop in to the restaurants we dine at. Recently, Vanguard teachers embarked on a journey in downtown Frederick, a historic, bustling area unique to Frederick County, to explore the world of personalization.
Frederick County was founded in 1748. Today, it is remarkable to see how the city has evolved and overcome obstacles by using personalized plans to meet and exceed the needs of its citizens. At the Frederick Visitors Center, Vanguard teachers had an opportunity to hear about the transformation that Frederick’s Carroll Creek underwent after the damaging floods in 1976. The tragedy forced the city to create a personalized flood plan in order to rebuild the infrastructure. There were two possible options to rebuild. One was the standard and less expensive option that could have crumbled local businesses, and the other option, the more expensive plan, could promote and even boost the economy. The plan and vision for the city had been decided. Frederick would ultimately invest money to create a place where people, local and from afar, would want to come visit. One way to achieve this, was how the city implemented a personalized flood plan that included four underground conduits, large enough for charter buses to drive through, that ran below the artificial creek. Most citizens today aren’t aware of these conduits, but they are a part of a personalized plan that works best for the citizens and businesses of Frederick. This plan is an excellent example of one of the many ways that Frederick personalized its town.
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Coffee EDU
@TTSNavazio1
An exciting part of education that we often don’t take enough time for is to make connections with like-minded educators. We focus so much on cultivating relationships with our students that our professional relationships may sometimes become neglected.
Coffee EDU’s can help us to connect and build our professional learning networks (PLNs). Coffee EDUs are considered an “unconference”, meaning that there is no set agenda, it is simply a time and place for educators to get together to share ideas, problem solve and get to know one another.
Take the time to come and join us for our first Vanguard Coffee EDU! The one hour event will take place on Sunday, January 28th at 1 p.m. at Dublin Roasters. All educators are welcome and encouraged to attend! Take one hour out of your week to come and enjoy conversation with other educators working on making exciting changes in their classrooms!
Blended Learning in the Primary Classroom
@sharilstone
The littlest minds are the easiest to keep engaged, or so we think. When you are a primary teacher your ultimate goal is to have all of your students engaged and learning. If you have not taught primary students before, you may be unaware that we have a wide range of learners, who have a limited attention span (about 10-15 minutes), and are full of energy! So how do you meet the needs of all of your students? You personalize their learning. But how do you do that in a primary classroom?
In my classroom of 25 first graders, I do just that. I have adopted the station rotation model to increase student agency. As an elementary teacher, the idea of rotations and small group instruction is second nature to us. So infusing technology and personalization should be no problem.
WELL... as with anything in the primary grades, you never know how each day will go. Will they be able to log in to the chromebooks independently? Will they be able to remember what to do? Will they stay on task? Will they interrupt me when I am working with a small group?
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Blended Breakout EDU Learning
Heather Rose, Curriculum, Instruction, and Innovation
@heathermcc
Did you realize Breakout EDU is Blended Learning by nature? Breakout EDU is an immersive learning experience, empowering teachers as facilitators and students as consumers. Students work together using critical thinking with only one mission in mind - to unlock puzzles and escape the game.
Students are engaged in academic experiences infused with content knowledge while cultivating skills for success. Similarly, Blended Learning is leveraging technology to create a personalized, competency-based learning experience, including increased student control over the time, place, path and/or pace of learning. Looking specifically at each element of student control in Blended Learning, we will uncover the heart of Breakout EDU. Focusing on the time, place, path and pace of learning, as well as the technology used, the differentiated personalization and the competencies met, we will crosswalk to an intersection called Blended Breakout EDU Learning.
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Upcoming Dates and Reminders
January 28 - Vanguard Coffee EDU
February 26-28 - Mid-Atlantic Conference on Personalized Learning
March 12 - Vanguard Forum
March 19 - Vanguard Launch at Hood College
March 22 - Vanguard Speaker Series - Eric Sheninger
May 1 - Vanguard Micro-credentials deadline
May 9 - Vanguard Forum
June 20-21 - Vanguard Summer Academy
Vanguard Teacher Program
Email: eric.haines@fcps.org
Website: go.fcps.org/vanguard
Phone: 301-644-5182
Twitter: @EHaines24