The Teacher Blends Classroom
- Adam Slaton
- Jan 12, 2015
- 2 min read
Have you ever wondered what percentage of time is appropriate for the teacher to be talking, when working in a blended classroom? The answer to this question may surprise you, let’s look into a student centered blended learning classroom.
Imagine a classroom in which students are broken up into four groups. One group of four to five students is actively working on the computer working through their online curriculum, working on lessons, assignments, quizzes and doing research or homework, chatting occasionally but largely on task. The second group is peer-editing one another’s essays or some kind of peer collaborative type of activity – for iterative learning purposes and developing critical thinking and communication skills. The third group is at a whiteboard drawing a graphic organizer, or some kind of project based learning activity toward furthering their application or synthesis skills. The final group is seated around a small table with the teacher, discussing the unit’s essential questions and devising new ones, for cognitive development skills. Then on a scheduled basis the students switch stations, so that daily, the teacher speaks in- dividually to each student. The blended teacher is afforded time to develop strong student relationships with each student. So the answer to the question: the teacher is talking 100% of the time in the blended classroom, but within a personalized small group.
Ideally, the blended teacher should be speaking all the time, but the only way this can be ac- complished is by giving up teacher control of all conversations and interactions and instead managing the learning environment. Blended teachers no longer need to be the “givers of knowledge” but act as facilitators, coaches, organizers of the learning environment, and tutors who not only guide students toward content and con- cept mastery, but also help students to build skills of collabo- ration, application of learning, while fostering self-concept and furthering individual interests.
How can K12 help you to unlock the potential of blended learning?
Questions & Comments Donna J. Skinner, Ed.D.
K12 Latin America Education and Sales Consultant Email: dskinner@k12.com Skype: donnajskinner0307