Piloting a Blended Model of Learning

I tagged this post with "flipped learning" since I don't have a page for "blended learning". I guess I should add one. (I made a Blended Learning tag.)

Today was one of the first-ish lessons in the unit. I have been reading about the Modern Classrooms Project for a number of years, and have been promoting it while not having my own classroom, but this year I have a chance to work with the Grade 7 Math Team (team of 1) to pilot a unit on Geometry. 

When I was first planning this unit, I thought it would go more smoothly than it has so far.

I should explain what hasn’t gone well—mainly the communication with my co-teacher and the limited time I’ve been able to spend in the classroom. Since this is my first time blending a unit, I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

I’ve done a lot of reading on blended learning and flipped classrooms, and I know it’s normal for things not to go perfectly at first. Still, I think it would be easier if I were in the room and leading. Because this isn’t my own classroom, I don’t have the same authority as the homeroom or content teacher.

At the beginning of the year, I was scheduled to be in this class three times a week, but that has dropped to once a week. So during this unit, I’ve only been in the classroom once so far, and that’s made it difficult to prepare students for what to expect.

I haven’t had the chance to clearly explain to students what they should be doing, and I’m already seeing the effects of that. I did make a video explaining the flow of the unit, but I had wanted to redo it before we started and didn’t get the chance.

Here are a few of the changes and run-ins the students have had:

• The lessons have three kinds of problems - Must do, Should do, Aspire to do - and they are color coded. Students were looking for "Must do" to do - not the color.
• The videos are a support. They are there if the students need them like a textbook. Some students are not using them at all, or are unsure of what to do.
• I changed lesson 0 vocabulary baseline to aspire to do since not many students got to it. This is what I believe to be a crucial part of the unit, and I need to get them back on that.

Lesson 1

• Mini lesson (anchor problem) ended at about 13:05 - giving the students more time to work on math.
• We are still in the weeds with learning how to do the lessons, and one student asked me what would happen if he finished all the lessons early. I said there is always more, but this students was particularly engaged with GeoGebra - my Aspire to do tasks.
• Each lesson has an essential question. I changed this from an "I can ..." statement because I thought they knew what they were. I got a question about what it was and why I was "giving them more work".

Reflection after lesson 1.

---

I'm looking through the data I've collected about Grade 7 and the geometry unit I'm blending. There are a number of things I should have expected, but I had hoped things would go more smoothly. I should have known that things wouldn’t go 100% smoothly.

One thing that stands out is that because I wasn’t there and didn’t have good communication with the homeroom teacher, students weren’t properly informed about how the unit runs. In fact, they were misinformed. They weren’t told to complete the exit tickets I call “lesson snaps” for each lesson.

I had to go in last Thursday and explain what to do, but I don’t think many students were really listening. There’s a low response rate to the lesson.

Looking at the data from Lesson 1, the question was:
Kelly says that angle CEB is vertical to angle AEF. Explain why her reasoning is incorrect and name the angle that is vertical to CEB.

A lot of students assumed the angles were right angles. They need to be shown that unless you're told it's a right angle, you shouldn’t assume it. They don't have protractors to measure the angles themselves, so they have to rely on the given information.

Another issue is that this is a two-part question, but many students only answer one part. Which part they answer varies by student. They either need to be explicitly taught to recognize two-part questions, or the question should be split—or maybe both.

Use Kahoot Better

The other day I was supporting a teacher who was using Kahoot as a review task. Gamifying learning can be a great way to get students interested in the lesson and this one had plenty of interest.

While the students were playing, I was standing in the back watching what was going on. This perspective allowed me to notice a few ways teachers might make Kahoot more fun and inclusive for students.

Image from Wikipedia

Read questions for students - the text can be quite small

My eye sight is getting worse as I get older. And it was really hard to read the questions projected on the board. I think teachers can help students -- all students -- by reading out the questions and answers for them. This is a quick way to help those -- me! -- who have a hard time seeing.

Read the answers - for the same reason and the contrast is sometimes lacking (orange with white text)

Just like above, the answers were also a challenge to read for me. The text was small and sometimes the text was white on a yellow background. This made it e

Review the answer after seeing the correct answer

One strategy that could help students retain the information longer might be to discuss the answers after seeing the results. Instead of allowing the students to celebrate, OK, maybe a short celebration, spend some time discussing why the correct answer is correct.

Using Google Calendar and Google Maps Together

Photo by HT Chong on Unsplash

My school had a sports day on Saturday. It was a really good event that was really well organized. 

And as good as the organization was, I got a little frustrated with a few things, mostly how Google Calendar was ignored in favor of Google Docs and Sheets. Most of these were linked together, but still, trying to follow links and read documents on a mobile device -- in the sun -- was not the best experience, but with a few tweaks, I think it could be better.

1. Use Google Calendar

2. Put all information in the event description

I think this would make the information easier to disseminate and would give everyone a single place to look for the information. 

Utilizing Digital Tools would also help cut down on paper. You could print out two or three copies for the event site and post information in a central location for teachers, students, and parents to view.

A bonus would be to put the directions in Google Calendar as I did in the video below. 

Quietening

In this episode of Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight, towards the end of the episode around the 35:20 mark, Christian van Nieuwerburgh talks about the concept of quietening and quieting your inner voice during a conversation.

We can usually tell when we will be distracted in a conversation, I know there are situations when  Will be distracted - it's usually when I am in a noisy environment and there are conversations happening around me. I know that happens to me, so I should choose places of quiet to have conversations. And I know my mind wanders more with some people than with others as well. 

What can I do to quiet my inner mind? 

How can I better prepare for these conversations?

How can we be better at listening?

[Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight] Christian van Nieuwerburgh & Robert Biswas-Diener #coachingConversationsWithJimKnight 

https://podcastaddict.com/coaching-conversations-with-jim-knight/episode/195481937 via @PodcastAddict

Belonging

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The following are my reflections for the Senia Conference in Cambodia. I wrote the below paragraph for our school newsletter. 

The prompt was about one takeaway. When thinking about what to write, I kept thinking about my reflection after the conference. When I was at the conference I felt included, valued, seen, and heard.

It felt good. It felt distant. 

I have not felt like that in a long while. It felt good. 

When we feel included, we’re more likely to take risks, which helps us grow and reach our potential. When all voices are heard, people feel valued and respected. That sense of validation encourages self-expression and motivates participation.

The Head of Inclusion summarized my thoughts to be: 

Thomas Hammerlund, our MYP/DP Inclusion teacher, underscored the power of inclusion in encouraging risk-taking and personal growth. He pointed out that when all voices are heard, individuals feel valued and respected, leading to greater self-expression and motivation to participate.

My first draft was a paragraph that somewhat slighted my school. "How dare you ignore others' opinions and not allow outside opinions!"

We are an interesting little school. There are definite cliques and I have heard that some teachers have not felt as welcome as others when they joined. 

I wonder how we can start to make that change here so that everyone feels welcome.

Senia Cambodia 2025 Resources

Here are the resources I shared with the participants to my [our] workshop in Cambodia. 

The presentation

The resource sheet

A resource list I didn't share out

How to use the sample data with the data set (linked) 

Let's Make Sure We Remember to Model What We Want to See

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

(Not an actual photo of me.)

Once upon a time, I was observed by a Vice Principal the first time I taught a Writer's Workshop Lesson. I thought the lesson went pretty well. By the end of lesson 1, I had the students bought into making a class newsletter. 

My plan was to create a class newsletter, as I did a few years before this lesson, but this time, I would organize my students better.

Interestingly, the students were really into this idea. 

My principal wasn't. He reamed me out after seeing the lesson. 

In a follow-up meeting, he told me to do some things that I didn't fully understand. I asked him to demo a lesson for me. 

He said he couldn't because he was "too busy".

My point here is that if you are not seeing what you want to see, one way to affect this change, to get students to do what you want, is to model for them what you want them to do.

I once saw a lesson where a teacher wanted students to make a poster about a scientist and gave them a template. The students had many questions about what to do with the poster. I didn't know either.

A quick tweak to fix this for next time could be for the teacher to allow students to research different posters. The class could come together again and share ideas to make a bigger list. This might be a good time to launch into creating poster together with the class while talking aloud and asking for student ideas. I might also introduce the website Coolors.co to show them how to make a color swatch.

The idea is to give students an idea about what to do and how to handle the assignment.

What? You Used AI to Make This?

Yesterday, I had a presentation for grades 9 to 12, and at my school, I was asked to do this pretty suddenly, so I didn't have much time to prepare.

The night before the presentation, when I was preparing, I decided against giving a traditional presentation and opted instead to make a quiz. This would make Friday afternoon more interesting.

I've seen many teachers at my school and at other schools I've worked at turn to Kahoot to do a quiz. The problem with Kahoot is that it's stale because students have done it so much. Another problem is that the same people always win. And then, another problem is the way it's set up; you need to have a device in order to use it, and your screen only shows the answers, making it less accessible for those of us with weaker eyes.

[game link]

Fortunately, I know about another tool called Baamboozle. I really like Baamboozle because the students don't need a device to answer - you can project the questions and answers at once. You can set up a quiz very quickly because there is a library with premade options. Additionally, the teacher has control over the answers and whether they're right or not on the spot. Even if a student gets the answer correct, you can choose to not give them points. I can’t think of many use-cases for that, but one thing I do is allow the other teams to challenge the answer to add a little more thinking to the game.

In order to set this quiz up, I turned to AI and asked it to generate 25 questions with answers (see below).

https://chatgpt.com/share/67c27909-6584-800c-9880-27c81cce40b3

During this quiz, I mentioned to the students that the quiz and the answers were generated with AI. I was surprised by the response.

Many students seemed to think that it was not OK to do that. I am wondering how the school can better educate students about when it is OK to use AI.

I really like the scale that the State of Washington, probably based on this work, have put together.

More AI Summaries

I have continued to make AI summaries of lessons for students. Here's my process:

1. Record the lesson with my Android phone
2. Send the file to me through Slack
3. I could use Slack to get the transcript, but I like using Apple's Voice Memos
4. I copy and paste the transcript into ChatGPT (free version)
5. I ask for a summary of [Programme] [Lessson] [Grade] and 5 main takeaways, key vocabulary, and I have started adding common misconceptions, which I call "mistakes". 

I have just started sharing these with students, so I don't have much data on its effectiveness yet, but today I tried something new. I have started asking for common misconceptions with this concept. 

Today, I tried this same thing with a blog post from Catlin Tucker about MTSS. My plan is to keep this around the school for teachers to read since there are many misconceptions about MTSS with teachers and I want to help them improve Tier 1 instruction.

Using AI to Help Make Summary Pages for Students

The other day my coworker showed me how he was using AI in meetings.

When he started talking, I was kind of bored. Oh, yeah, you're talking minutes with AI. Cool. 

Then, as he kept explaining, I realized he was onto something. 

He is the"action coordinator" (or something along those lines) for our PYP program. He meets with PYP teachers during their units to help coach them about how they can add action to their units. 

It sounds like a cool job. 

Back to AI and meetings. 

When he meets with the teachers, he records the meetings. He then takes the recording and puts it into AI and asks for a summary, the main points, and action points. 

When I heard him explain this to me I knew I had to try it. 

Students miss information so the time. 

Students miss class. 

Students forget what was said. 

When I work with teachers I tried to help them understand that students are not listening for the full time that they are in the class. Much of what they say is missed and will need repeating in some way.

Often when a teacher starts to lecture, especially if the lecture is not interesting or if the teacher talks for too long, students will tune out and they will miss information. I tune out and miss information.

This is why I think that either flipping or blending your class is a good teaching strategy because it gets them the chance to review information. 

My coworker had this idea for the meetings and I saw its usefulness in lessons. I saw that students could get a quick handout after each class highlighting the main points and giving them some vocabulary to think about and giving them some questions to look into - promoting inquiry and giving them a little more ownership in their learning.

Below is my first attempt at this. 

I asked for a summary of the lesson. 

I asked for the five takeaways. 

I asked for some key vocabulary. 

I asked him some action points.

I plan on version 2, or version 2.0, to change the action points to some questions that students should find the answers to after the lesson. Hopefully this will help them build background knowledge.

Funny enough, when I showed this to the teacher, she said that the action points are exactly what she is teaching next.

Rethinking Assessments Workshop Reflection

*This post was written with voice typing. I then went back to edit it but I may have missed some things.

Today I went to a workshop at OYIS called Rethinking Assessments. It was geared towards PYP teachers but was accessible to teachers of any program.

Interesting Reactions

Accountability

Self Control

In the beginning of the workshop, we were put in groups; parents, teachers, and students. The question for each of the groups was why do we assess?

I understood this was that we were to answer what is the purpose of assessment for parents and I said accountability. I got a laugh from other teachers in my group. One colleague of mine says that I was being too critical of teachers. 

But from my point of view, if they're paying money to the school, they want to know that their child is getting the best education that they can get.

Don't they want to know that teachers are doing their jobs?

It is entirely possible that I misunderstood the prompt or the directions which is why I said that the prompts and directions should be written on the slides. When a student doesn't hear what is being said they can look at the slide to see what they should be doing.

There were a few times in this workshop where I felt like I was a little off from the other participants. The way that I understood what to do was different from others. My answers sometimes felt very different.

Another time was when we were asked to reflect on an activity that we did we were in a group and we were talking about something. There were a few people in my group and when I wanted to say something I held back. I let others share and then I missed what I was going to speak about, the topic had changed.

When we were asked what skills we used, I said self-control. Everyone thought that was a joke. It wasn't a joke. I actually had to be patient while other people were talking instead of me because I didn't want to talk over them.

And that brings me to my next reflection.

Reflection on Myself

I learn differently

I don't know what it was about this workshop but I what's a little off. My thinking was going in a different direction from the other participants I don't know what it was.

Also, I need time to process. It would be good for me to take a breath once and a while to allow myself time to think.

Reflection on the Environment

The desks were in the same haphazard way they were when the school day ended the day before. 

It made me realize that the room, or environment, should be intentionally set up for each activity. 

Reflection on the Workshop

Allow for more modality

I had to sit in the back of the room because I could not see the whiteboard very well. A lot of the font on the slides was hard to read. There were two problems; 1) it was too small, 2) the colors were not contrasting. I think a lot could be done for readability if the contrast had been better. 

Another thing that could have made the slides better was for the props to write the prompts on the whiteboard or the slide because sometimes I could not hear what was being said and I had no way of knowing without asking another participant. That was not always possible because sometimes others were working or talking with someone else. Instead, teachers can give students or participants a lot more agency if you write the prompt or the question on the slide. 

Another thing that might be good is to add a timer to the slide. That way the timer can be visible for the participants or for students. They don't have to wait or rely on the teacher or be surprised when the timer goes off.

How can I apply this?

When planning lessons I can think through the following questions:

How many students are like me? 

How many are too far from the front? 

How many need time to think? 

How many can't read the screen? 

How many get lost in the directions?

How many have other things going on in their lives?

The Generic Effect of AI

Yesterday in the Japanese Ab intio class I am supporting, students were asked to write a diary typical day. The directions were sparse. It just it just said right about your day and add thoughts and feelings and what you did. This is why I advocate for putting some sort of objective on all assignments - it helps the students and support teachers!

I'm knowing these two students and knowing that Japanese is progressing and knowing that they needed something, I knew they needed something a little more. Putting thoughts together is not always easy in a foreign language.

I opened ChatGPT and put in the assignment and then asked it to make a vocabulary list as well as sentence stems for this assignment.

It was pretty good, but it definitely needed a little bit of work. I wish I had had more time to spend on this. With a little prompting with a little experience these will get better.

But this is also a problem with AI. This kind of generic, generalization for an assignment is not helpful unless done in a pinch.

For this case, my students relied on me more than for this scaffold. 

One thing I didn't do - that I'll do next time - was add furigana to the kanji.

Take a Pause when Things Get Nuts

Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash

In the beginning of my career, my default classroom strategy was from a les of power. I was the teacher, the students were students, they should listen to me. End of story.

Now that I am further along in my career, I would love to write that I have all the answers, but that's not true. I do have a tendency to resort to that dictator when I am stressed. This happened a few weeks ago.

When this happens, I feel awful. It is also not effective. I find that students at this school at this time are less likely to respond to that way as well. - Well, when it comes from me. It's not my nature to be like that.

One thing I have found to be effective is to open my computer and start writing a behavior note. I usually look up at the student while I am doing it and sometimes they notice, but more often, they calm down when they notice they are not getting a response.

This morning I listened to an episode of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast that talked about a similar strategy. 

I should use this more.


The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast - EduTip 23: Calm an out-of-control class with a notebook.