 April Classroom Visits at Cypress Fairbanks ISDOne of my favorite parts of my job is being able to go into the classroom to watch blended learning in action. The classroom coaching model brings the blended learning workshops to life when I can provide just in time suggestions. This one-on-one coaching lends itself to generating sustainability as well as designing a plan that best works with the students within each classroom environment. No two classrooms are the same; therefore the coaching strategies have to differ from one teacher to the next. Last week, I was able to make one last visit to the elementary and middle schools at Cypress Fairbanks ISD. Let's say that I was blown away by the blended learning progress both the teachers and the students made within one school year. The photos and videos below are showcasing a small snippet of what was happening within the individual classrooms. Rennell Elementary SchoolOn April 29th, I made my first visit to Rennell Elementary School. Mrs. Merideth Akers, the school principal, invited me to present to the whole staff a quick overview of the Three Phases of Blended Learning before school started. The 50-minute workshop showcased the starting points for Phase One as well as level up aspects of Phase Two. The staff was highly engaged as they were able to see sample blended learning classroom videos as well as the step by step guide to how to plan for blended learning lessons. After the kickoff workshop, Mrs. Akers and I traveled around the building visit each classroom. The classroom visits provided me with the background information that I needed to design a Blended Learning Action plan for next year. The action plan is designed around generating weekly, monthly, and yearly blended learning goals. Learn more about the Action Plan by clicking on this link. Mini Lesson, Studio Expert Tags, & Choice BoardsThe essential part of Blended Learning is the Mini-Lesson. The mini-lesson is where the teacher can teach, reteach, and build connections with the students. In the photo below you will see the teacher in a highly effective mini-lesson. Providing choice to the students allows them the opportunity to pick a learning style that best works for their individual needs. Even during review sessions, students still enjoy choice. Student Ownership can start with studio experts. Let the studio experts answer questions and help guide each other students through the checklist while the teachers are in the middle of a mini-lesson. Visit this link to learn more about studio experts.
Organization and Flexible SeatingThe more organized the teacher, the more efficient the blended learning process becomes during class. It works the extra minutes to laminate, cut, and combine the necessary items for the different learning studios. 
Future Ready Skills and Gamification
 Twitter Post from Rennell
Want to get started with Blended Learning?Sign up for a FREE 30-minute blended learning session with Marcia Kish. This 30-minute virtual call can kickstart your blended learning program. Click here to find a time that best works for you and your team. Danish Elementary SchoolI had the privilege to work with Danish Elementary teachers eight different times this past school year. The visits were structured in a way that we were able to visit the classrooms as well as a plan with the teachers during their common planning time. The majority of the teachers at Danish ended the school year in Phase Three learning environment. Below are a few photos from the onsite visit, student projects, and culture of Danish Elementary School. Progression Boards and Studio Choice Boards
Progression board in a Kindergarten classroom. This classroom has moved to a Phase Three learning environment for 90% of day. Hats off the Kindergarten! Independent Studio Future Ready Skills
Sample Checklist
Twitter Feed from Danish Want to get started with Blended Learning?Sign up for a FREE 30-minute blended learning session with Marcia Kish. This 30-minute virtual call can kickstart your blended learning program. Click here to find a time that best works for you and your team. Millsap Elementary SchoolWhat a fantastic year at Millsap Elementary School with the deployment of the Three Phases of Blended Learning. I have seen so many teachers progress from Phase One to Phase Three within the school year. One of my highlights from the year, was when Millsap hosted a Blended Learning Shareout session with all of the blended learning schools in CyFair. The teachers were able to share with the different grade levels and subject areas about their progress with checklist, the planning process, student engagement and so much more. The shareout session was such a big hit that we are planning to conduct more share sessions next school year. Future Ready Skills
Kirk Elementary SchoolThere is so much to share about the Blended Learning progression that Kirk Elementary school has made over the years. This was my first time working with Kirk but over the educators have been implementing blended learning as a building for some time. The teachers and administrators are very passionate about student voice, choice, and ownership. The Three Phases of Blended Learning complemented and intertwined with their deployment plan. Flexible Seating Digital ContentThe second-grade students travel from digital content to independent studios, to future-ready skills, and mini-lessons at their pace. The checklist provides them with a different task to complete at each studio. The teacher will call the students to the mini-lesson when she is ready to work with the differentiated groups.  ChecklistThe second grade team provides the students with a weekly checklist for math, science, ELAR, and Social Studies. The student put their checklist inot their own binder that they carry with them from one learning studio to the next.
Progression Boards
Future Ready SkillsStudents are working on micro labs during science as part of their future-ready skills listed on the differentiated checklist.  Blended Learning in ActionWatch a fourth grade math classroom in action. Look for the mini lesson, digital content, future ready skills, and independent learning studio. Social Media
Want to get started with Blended Learning?Sign up for a FREE 30-minute blended learning session with Marcia Kish. This 30-minute virtual call can kickstart your blended learning program. Click here to find a time that best works for you and your team. Dean Middle SchoolMy last day at CyFair for the 2018/19 school year was spent at Dean Middle School. I truly enjoyed working with this team of educators, administrators, and coaches. Dean won my heart over. I can not express how much this team has grown since the first day I started working with them. The student engagement within each of the 7th-grade math classrooms is off the chart as well as the student scores on district assessments have increased dramatically from last year. The team started the year in a solid Phase One Learning environment. By the middle of November, the team moved to Phase Two and has stayed either in Phase Two or Phase Three the rest of the school year. That means that they deployed student choice, voice, and ownership every single day since November. Unbelievable! Checklist
Mini Lesson
Future Ready
Studio ExpertWatch the short video as a student explains what a Studio Expert is in her GT math classroom.
Social Media
Want to get started with Blended Learning?Sign up for a FREE 30-minute blended learning session with Marcia Kish. This 30-minute virtual call can kickstart your blended learning program. Click here to find a time that best works for you and your team.
16 Comments
5/12/2020 07:26:43 am
This is a detailed article and class room examples on blended learning coaching.
Christine Owings
4/1/2021 08:50:56 am
I feel that this was extremely helpful to be able to see different examples of each studio. I loved the Studio Expert idea so much that when I was working with Marcia my partner and I implemented the idea and it was a game changer. No one wanted to come and interrupt my small groups any more. I also love the idea of using the board as a way to review content in a fun way! I used to use my board daily and they LOVED it. The level of engagement with blended learning is amazing! Scores sky rocketed once we implemented Phase 3. The end of the year DPM scores were higher than they have ever been and Math 100% of our students passed. Our class was not the only one. the class next door got 100% as well. I love to be able to think about my journey now in a coaching role. I am loving be able to help other teachers grow. Thanks for all the amazing ideas, videos, and pictures to help it all come to life.
Kristy Strong
4/3/2021 02:38:32 pm
I loved seeing all the examples of the different checklists! I also enjoyed seeing blended in action in real classrooms! The example of kindergarten students signing up for their own learning was really impressive as well as the first graders with their invention.
Jennifer Bell
4/4/2021 09:16:47 am
This perfect for deepening my understanding of the implementation of the three phases and really diving into different types of checklists as well as the purpose of the future ready and digital content studios. I love seeing the examples of other campuses and how they have organized blended learning for their students.
Christina Sanchez
4/4/2021 04:10:08 pm
Seeing the different checklist was really cool on how they are so varied. It was so impressive to see the kindergarten students take such a big roll in their learning by signing up for their learning.
Brandy Breaux
4/4/2021 05:03:58 pm
Love the visuals, pictures, and real world examples. It's amazing to see the various ways to utilize the style of teaching and learning. blended Learning aligns to all grades and all contents. When grade level teachers work together, students are aware of expectations and can become comfortable.
Susan Blowey
4/4/2021 06:27:58 pm
I always enjoy being in classrooms on my campus and seeing blended learning in action. I loved seeing my campus showcased on this blog and I also loved seeing the variety of examples from several different schools to widen my lens of the components and phases. It is impressive to see the example of a kindergarten class in Phase 3! It is exciting to think about where those students will be as learners by the time they leave elementary school. Wow!
Dorie Glynn
4/4/2021 07:58:23 pm
I love seeing that a kindergarten class has moved to a phase 3. I would love to share with our primary teams more examples of blended learning. I just remember that a couple of teachers had moved towards checklists before the pandemic. I look forward to encouraging them to do so again.
Berto Abitua
4/6/2021 01:27:40 pm
I really enjoy seeing how our District collaborates with each other to ensure high quality first time instruction. Way to go Dean and Watkins!
Carmen Lozano
7/13/2021 07:41:18 pm
I like all the examples on blended learning, it shows the progress on the phases and how blended learning can work at the elementary and secondary level. In all of the examples the students appear to be engaged and look like they are having fun.
Brent D. Watson
7/15/2021 01:48:19 pm
I love seeing the progression of blended learning being used throughout the K-12 sector. This is so helpful as educator. With this model if used correctly for a student from elementary to secondary you will be able to see tremendous growth each academic year.
Justin Nichols
7/15/2021 07:08:32 pm
It is awesome to see the students so engaged and taking ownership of their learning. It's obvious teachers are able to make the most of Blended Learning at different levels. The students seem to be responding well as the teachers progress through the three phases. I'm excited to see this as more of our teams progress as well. Student engagement has a significant impact on so many aspects of school and Blended Learning really brings that to the forefront.
Sharon Quinilty
12/31/2021 02:01:58 pm
Marcia commented at the beginning of the blog that her favorite part is seeing blended learning in action. After recently seeing it in action in a CFISD elementary school and seeing the pictures from various schools here, the big thing that I'm noticing is the level of student motivation and engagement. I'm impressed at how quickly many campuses are implementing blended learning and getting to P2 and even P3. It's not surprising that giving students interesting options and responsibility for their own learning, even in Kindergarten, is translating into student success and improved scores.
Kimberly Halligan
4/19/2022 04:07:39 pm
For our district, I think that it might be a good idea to have Marcia present to the whole school like she describes for one of the elementary schools she visited. It would get her ideas out to the whole school – we could maybe start at an elementary school? I think BL is kind of intuitive for a lot of el teachers because they are very group oriented and I see a lot of stations and rotations and checklists at that level already.
Veronica
3/10/2023 10:26:46 am
I love seeing the different examples of checklists and activities that the teachers are creating! Students can have so much fun and change their learning mindset when we implement Blended Learning. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorsMarcia Kish - Blended and Personalized Learning coach that designed the Three Phases of Blended Learning Categories
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