School type:
High school
200 students
Transfer school Daily class structure:
Students rotate daily through groups
Small group instruction
Small group discussion
Independent online work
Class size 15 Tips from teachers:
Use time while students are working independently online to do small group instruction and discussions
Project daily seat assignments on the board to speed up station work
The classroom setting:
Mr. R teaches US History, Government and Economics to an over-age/under-credit student population at a transfer school. Because attendance varies daily, challenges arise in his classroom, such as setting up group projects and whole-group instruction. Mr. R has found that some students are self-motivated and can rapidly accumulate credits, while others struggle to find the motivation to attend school regularly. Additionally, some students are many grade-levels below in literacy skills and struggle to understand the material. To manage these challenges, Mr. R uses blended learning technologies to allow for students to control the pace and pathways of their learning.
A typical day in this model:
Many students in the transfer environment routinely struggle with on-grade level content, but they must master certain concepts to pass Regents Exams and meet graduation requirements. To prepare students for Regents, Mr. R has set up a model of blended learning where students choose or are placed, based on pace and mastery, into four tables or groups. Two groups work on Regents-based content, while another works on skills, and a fourth engages in small group discussion around a topic Mr. R presents. Unless students are missing skills that were taught early in the school year, they can choose what days they will visit the skills group and the discussion group. If students are missing certain key skills, Mr. R will assign them the time at the skills group. If students are not missing skills and they have completed the required number of either the skills or content group, they can choose a group based on what they still need. This allows students to decide when during the week they want to focus
Discussion
on what. If students are assigned to a group, their name is written on a schematic of the class and projected on the SMART board, showing them where to sit.
Design Your Own (DYO) content:
Mr. R has the two groups who focus on Regents’-based content work which he has created and
embedded in the iLearnNYC platform. Students sign in to the iLearnNYC platform and complete graphic organizers, quizzes, essays, etc. based on the content they view. Mr. R has added history-based graphic novel excerpts, videos, images, and articles to drive the lessons and to make the content more engaging.
The course is designed thematically, organizing content based on reoccurring themes in US history.
Students are required to complete two units of their choice out of a total of five for their first credit, and then two more for their second credit. Each unit is scaffolded backwards from most recent events to oldest, showing patterns. Mr. R has found that choice prompts engagement because students are not being forced to study a theme they have no interest in. Students work independently, but Mr. R is available in the room if they need additional assistance.
Build in skills:
Beyond teaching Regents-based content knowledge Mr. R needs to teach his students the skills they will need to succeed on Regents and more broadly in school. Mr. R has one group in his class who works on these skills. He typically begins the class with a mini-lesson with this group and then allows them to work alone or together on the concept he just taught. For example, a mini-lesson may teach students how to write topic sentences, and then students work on an assignment that uses the skills they learned on topic sentences.
Adding in-class discussions:
While Mr. R is teaching this mini-lesson, he has another table set up to work as a discussion group. He provides them with the article or information they need to read, and guided questions to think about.
By the time Mr. R is done with his mini-lesson, the discussion group is done with their reading and they are ready for him to lead the discussion. Students can choose to participate in either the skill or
discussion groups, or they are placed in the groups based on their overall progress in the course. And, if students are too far behind in content, then they are told that they won’t do discussion that week.
Group and independent projects:
Mr. R also aligns skill-based mini-lessons with independent or group projects. Once a student or group of students completes a series of mini-lessons, they receive a project that uses and has them apply the skills they learned in these mini-lessons or workshops. While group projects work when students are clustered in their progress, it can become difficult to implement when students get far behind or ahead of their peers. Because of this, the projects are often completed independently. Students’ projects are based on the themes that they chose and tailored for their specific skill levels.
Challenges with DYO content:
On Mondays and/or Fridays, Mr. R has all students focus on the online content and he is available to answer questions as they arise. If students are too far behind or ahead, they may not be able to ask their peers for help with their work because they’re on a different topic. This can lead to more questions being fielded by Mr. R and longer wait times for students. Some online content provided by vendors provide hints to students who are stuck on a question or concept, but Mr. R, who has built his own content, doesn’t have the technology or programming skills needed to add such a feature. But, he believes that the content he creates on his own is more closely aligned to his teaching goals, and he wants and enjoys this level of ownership over his work.
Lessons learned:
When Mr. R first attempted this rotation method of blended learning, students would often complete all of the online work and fall behind on the skills and discussions, or they would do all of the skills and discussions and not the online work. To mediate this issue, Mr. R is tweaking his system so students are sometimes placed in groups based on their pace and learning pathway to ensure they complete all of their work. Mr. R uses the iLearnNYC platform to track student progress. Unfortunately, due to access and motivation, few students access content or complete work at home at Mr. R’s school. Those students who do access content outside of class time tend to be the highly skilled students. Mr. R also added the discussion rotation to his blended course this year because he felt like students were missing out on skills they can only gain through verbal interactions with peers and adults, such as higher-order thinking, forming opinions, and reasoning.
Wrap-up:
Mr. R feels his model is working well for his students struggling with chronic absenteeism. He also feels like he can better reach students’ at their highly varied skill levels. With this model of blended learning, students can work at their own pace and are not hampered by the pace or skill level of their peers. Mr.
R is still working to improve his model and often collaborates with other teachers at his school. As he gains more experience and learns more about what works for his students, a highly effective model of blended learning will emerge.