Blended Learning with Station Rotations
Background
Over the last couple of years, teachers and administrators have experienced a lot of positive things through the use of technology as we pivoted our way of teaching and learning overnight. Teachers were thrown into online teaching and learning practically overnight. As the pandemic has sort of gone away, so have some of the things we learned that made things easier. We all learned ways to save time and increase engagement through online learning for all learners (students and teachers).
As I began the ADL program, I was impressed with the efficiency of how information is delivered to me as a learner. We are given a lot of material and requirements but not much direction (hand-holding). I realized that my whole life I have learned differently than what society believed were best practices. I learn best when failing forward. As I created my ePortfolio for my master’s program, I wanted to quit (or hire someone to build it for me), but I didn’t because I saw the benefits of failing forward. Getting to choose what my website would look like, how I was going to build it, and what platform I would use, gave me a massive sense of accomplishment. I believe giving learners choice on how they learn, what they learn, where they learn, and when they learn empowers lifelong learners.
I developed a plan based on my research and created an implementation plan. In order for my plan to be successful, I will need to influence change in behavior on my campus, so I created a plan to execute my goals with my team. In order for my team to be successful with this plan, I need to provide them with opportunities to grow and learn. Therefore, I am creating an alternative professional learning course for my team.
Alternative Approach to Blended Learning Using Station Rotations Professional Learning
5 Steps to Effective Professional Learning
Duration-minimum of 2 years for plenty of time to learn the benefits and get the implementation support. A longer duration takes the pressure off.
Support-The PL will provide support to teachers monthly focused on collaboration and best implementation practices. Teachers will choose their mentors.
Engagement- Teachers will be active participants in PL sessions, read preselected materials and/or videos, and engage in discussions. Teachers will build lessons, share ideas, and collaborate on successes and setbacks.
Model- I will be a learner as well in each PL session. I will share videos of my class in station rotations for group access. I will link the videos through my website as well as my reflections for group discussions.
Discipline-Specific– To ensure the PL sessions are effective, they will be specific to reading teachers. The PL sessions will not include samples, discussions, or ideas of best practices for other disciplines.
Foster Collaboration
Collaboration is vital to implementing blended learning in our curriculum. It is new to our campus, and it is vital to be comfortable with each other so that we can share successes and, most importantly, setbacks to encourage one another. My plan includes monthly professional learning sessions and brief weekly commitment and goal tracking for our WIG meetings. I will send out a form (need to create) before our meetings for check-ins to ensure everyone’s thoughts are focused on our timely collaboration meetings, including conversation starters to ensure staying on track.
Leaders
I will act as a facilitator at each session. I will prepare the WIG meeting agenda and the PL session materials. Eventually, each member will have a role in the PL’s and WIG. As we implement station rotations into our lesson plans, Ms. Restrepo will lead the group through each stage of the lesson plan, type of the final one, and share it with the group at eh next session. Ms. Green will lead the group in creating the rubric we will use to score students’ written responses to their reading, and a rubric for scoring the tracking and ownership of their learning.
Audience and Need
My audience will start with 4th-grade reading teachers, and hopefully one 3rd-grade teacher. As the course develops, I hope to have all of the 3rd-grade teachers join and eventually K through 2nd-grade teachers. Teachers will need materials to show the advantages of blended learning using station rotations, significant learning opportunities for building lesson plans, finding and understanding how to navigate an online reading platform, extra time for collaboration during our school day and PL days, trust from administrators to complete learning from home if we choose, materials for efficient and effective station rotation planning and implementation. We need an engaging online learning platform for reading that fosters student ownership of their learning.
Schedule and Timeline
I am planning on a 2-year time frame. My Innovation Plan will need minor adjustments now that I know more about successfully executing my plan, implementing change, and creating significant learning experiences for the teachers.
August – October 2022 Exploring and discussing Blended Learning using station rotations in reading. We have researched and found an online learning platform or decided to use an ePortfolio type system for students to track their reading growth. Teachers participate in alternative professional learning for implementation, and lesson planning for station rotations.
October – December 2022 I hope to have WIG meetings lasting no longer than 20 minutes. We will begin planning our lesson plans for station rotations and assuring everyone is comfortable with the system we have in place for the online platform. We will begin to teach the students how to navigate the online piece we have decided on,
January 2023 Implementation of station rotations begins.
February 2023 Teacher will introduce the reading rubrics for writing about reading and the rubric for student ownership of their learning.
March – May 2023 Teachers will continue with weekly WIG meetings and monthly PL sessions.
August 2023 – May 2024 Start the year with station rotations in 4th-grade reading and math. I hope to have all of the 3rd-grade teachers beginning to implement station rotations in reading following an adjusted schedule and PL plan.
Resources
- Wifi
- Chromebooks
- Innovation Plan with Call to Action Video
- Blended Learning with Station Rotations Research (Lit Review)
- Implementation Plan
- Influencer Plan
- 4DX Plan
- Articles on benefits of station rotations
- Article on Who owns the learning
- Article on benefits of tracking learning
- Rubric examples
- 4th Grade Reading Scope and Sequence
- Alternative PL Plan with Call to Action Video
- Online reading platforms with videos of how to use the platform
- Google sheets for students tracking their learning
- Google Form for weekly WIG
- Agenda Outline with sentence stems/conversation starters
References
Duarte, Nancy. [Stanford Graduate School of Business]. (2013, February 19). How to Create a Better Visual Presentation. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/so9EJoQJc-0
Duarte, Nancy. [Stanford Graduate School of Business]. (2009, December 16). How to tell a story. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9JrRQ1oQWQk
Duarte, Nancy. [Duarte, Inc]. (2009, December 16). Five simple rules for creating world changing presentations [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/hT9GGmundag
Duarte, Nancy. [TEDx Talks]. (2010, November, 11). Tedxeast – Nancy Duarte uncovers common structure of greatest communicators 11/11/2010. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/1nYFpuc2Umk
Duarte, N. (2013). Resonate: Present visual stories that transform audiences. John Wiley & Sons. An online media version of Resonate can be accessed for free at http://resonate.duarte.com/#!page0
Fink, L. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Jossey Boss retrieved November 1, 2021.
Goodwin, B. (2015). Research Says/Does Teacher Collaboration Promote Teacher Growth? Educational Leadership, 73(4), 82–83. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec15/vol73/num04/Does-Teacher-Collaboration-Promote-Teacher-Growth%C2%A2.aspx
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes Accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013-176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
TNTP. (2015). The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development. Retrieved from http://tntp.org/publications/view/evaluation-and-development/the-mirage-confronting-the-truth-about-our-quest-for-teacher-development
5389 PL Outline -Margie Mead