Summer Time Blended Planning

What's up bloggers?!  (...still not sure if that's a term)

With the last school year wrapped up, this summer is all about preparing for blended learning classes next year. Read up on my Introduction to get caught up!

Phase I: Concerns Revisited

As I sit down and wrap my head around what exactly this is going to look like next year, I'm starting to find the answers to some of my questions. Take a look:

1. Will I lose my identity as an educator? The nature of this model lends itself to more one on one conversations with students rather than whole class interactions. Even though I won't be able to directly tell the whole class that I asked for a packet of math problems for Christmas, I'm sure my personality will come barreling through when meeting with students individually or in small groups.
2. How can I use my time most effectively while students are working in class? No answers yet.
3. How can I be sure students remain on task? Other than clear expectations upfront, honestly, I think a lot of this will be trust. When I bring work to a Starbucks, I occasionally get off task with a brief text or glance at social media, but that doesn't mean I'm neglecting my work. If students get off task for a moment, I need to trust that it won't deter them from their work. 
4. How exactly do assessments work? Next year all of my assessments will be paper based. Because of this, students will take assessments on the same day. I'll do my best to make sure the date of any assessment is given to students well in advance. In order to help students keep pace, I'll offer soft deadlines for playlists to be sure they are not falling behind. If a student does begin to fall behind, or feels they need extra practice, they should complete some work at home or see me after school for extra help. (At first I wanted to let students take the assessments based on readiness, but it seems unrealistic since we have to finish the curriculum by the end of the school year. Also it would be an enormous amount of work to create 25-30 different assessments in order to avoid cheating. In a few years, perhaps assessments could be completed online... something to think about). 
5. Video creation is very convenient using the Fujitsu tablets and YouCam software provided by our district, but what happens when they go away? Don't want to think about this! 😩
6. What should the first day of school look like? Planning something epic... stay tuned!

Phase II: Meeting with Jason

As final exams were wrapping up, Jason and I had time for a quick meeting to start brainstorming for next year. We started talking about some tools for next year, and that conversation quickly evolved into "nerding out" and exchanging some epic tech tips. Here are a few MUSTS we discussed: 

• GoFormative: This is where all of the playlists will be hosted.
• Google Keep: To do lists and other random notes on the cloud. 
• Cntrl Shift V: Use this instead of Cntrl V to paste something without the old formatting. 
• Auto-Latex Equations: An add on for Google Docs. This allows you to create/edit equations in any Google document. 
• Edpuzzle: Edit videos that have already been created. (Trim videos, split up large videos into multiple smaller videos, add pauses and question prompts, etc...) 

Phase III: Playlists (Like YouTube?) 

Each lesson that the students complete is called a playlist. Check out Jason's blog post regarding playlists. In short, a playlist is a self-paced assignment where the student watches videos and completes practice problems that are automatically graded. This is not to be confused with a YouTube playlist which is a handful of songs/videos chunked together. Playlists can look super different from one another. For example, one playlist may contain new material students have never seen before and would include multiple videos, while one playlist may focus around practicing prior content. Additionally, one playlist can link to another playlist (this is common when reviewing for an assessment).

IMPORTANT: Videos within a playlist should be as short as possible. Jason and I set a goal for next year to keep most videos under 1 minute. It seems crazy, but research shows students will check out and stop paying attention to a video after a single minute.

All the playlists I create will be in GoFormative. They have incredible live student data so you are able to see what each student is doing at any moment. Also, every question is scored immediately, so a student can see which question(s) they need to review before moving on to the next playlist. My favorite part... Formative lives in the cloud, meaning that when you update it, the playlist updates everywhere. So let's say your students are working on a playlist and they notice an error somewhere. Once you fix it and save the playlist, it will update for all students instantly (they may need to refresh their page). SO COOL!

Phase IV: Goals / Close

Short Term Goals: My goal by the end of the summer is to complete all playlists for Unit 1. When the school year begins, I'll test the playlists out and gather feedback from my students. After making appropriate changes, I'll begin planning the next unit. Also, my epic Opening Day Activity is in the works, so I need to finish that up. 

Long Term Goals:  

• 2017 - 2018 School Year: Introduce Blended Learning / Finish Graduate School
• 2018 - 2019 School Year: Apply for Fuse RI Fellowship 
• 2019 - 2020 School Year: Blend AP Calculus

I'm very excited (and slightly nervous) for next year. I honestly feel like I left my old job and am starting a new one. There's a lot I still need to figure out, but I'll keep at it. Last night I was reading "I Knew You Could" to my daughter Rachel, and the last page was so appropriate for my situation that it gave me chills: "There's more about life that you'll learn as you go, because figuring things out on your own helps you grow. Just trust in yourself, and you'll climb every hill. Say "I Think I Can" and you know what? You will!" - Craig Dorfman

Keeping my goal in mind: 24/7 access to individualized instruction using technology as the gateway in order to provide deeper learning for all students. 

Until next time,
~ Sam