Blended Learning at RMHS - Myth busters!

Last fall, several administrators and a few TLFs visited Huntley High School to observe their blended learning model.  Check out their website here!  From this visit, there appeared to be tangible benefits to student success rates as well as an increased ability for teachers to facilitate individual and small group learning.   For this reason, District 214 decided to pilot this idea with a small group of classes.  At Rolling Meadows, it was decided that there would be one section of Honors Spanish 3 and one section of Geometry taught by Ann Syversen Bullis and Dawn Bodden (a perfect fit for our DTC/TLF roles).

OK.  You may be wondering, "What the heck does blended mean?"  I wanted to dedicate this blog post to busting some of the myths, rumors, misconceptions about blended learning at RMHS.

Myth #1:  Blended learning is online learning.

This is not true for our blended learning pilot.  While blended learning may have an online component (or not) it is so much more.

One definition (Source):
The definition of blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns:
      1.  at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place,              path, and/or pace;
      2.  at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home;
      3.  and the modalities along each student's learning path within a course or subject are connected              to provide an integrated learning experience.

Did that help?  To explain this a bit better to our students Ann created this video (using +VideoScribe ):

Myth #2  Blended students were hand selected.

While it would be interesting to be able to hand pick our students, that was not the case.  Since planning for blended began after sectioning, students were already scheduled in our classes.  What we did do was contact all the students scheduled for Geometry (block 1) and Honors Spanish 3 (block 5) and invited them to an information meeting.  We also sent a letter home.  We did ask this group of students if they would like to participate and asked them to sign a permission slip.  Here is a piece of the letter sent home:


Myth #3  On blended days, the teachers have that block off.

Ahhh, free time.  Not so much.  On blended days the teacher is required to be in the classroom and available at all times for the students during that block.  Some students may choose to stay in class that day and work or get extra help.  Also, any student not in good standing (getting a grade lower than a C) is required to be in class.  This allows the teacher time to give them more individualized attention.

Myth #4  Kids will have total freedom on blended days and it will be out of control.

Interesting experiment, but we are not that risky.  To start off the school year, our blended kids will be closely monitored with the amount of freedom that we give them.  The goal is to model good choices to teach them how to handle this freedom of time and space.  Once we are in full blended mode, students will have the option of going to the library or the cafeteria during their blended time.  They will have to have their IDs, on a school provided lanyard and with a blended sticker on them.  Pending approval from District, students may also choose to come to school later on that blended day.  I can see how this might make one ponder a bit on safety.  This is why we are starting small, signing forms, asking permission, collecting data, and working out the kinks.  

So.....

As you can see, this is a pretty great opportunity for our students.  It is an opportunity that is new and still growing.  Would you like more information about what blended classes look like?  Do you think your class would work well as a blended class?  Please comment below or come and ask Ann or Dawn.  We would be happy to talk to you about our experience so far!