Skip to main content

Thinks you can THINK

“Oh the Thinks you can Think!” Dr. Suess


In the 1970's Ted Geisel, as Dr. Seuss, brought new ideas to the world of beginning reading. At first few people paid attention to his children's books, they were different. Now, his books are as pervasive and ubiquitous in the introduction of reading to young children as the internet is in our everyday lives.
When I joined the IU8 to support a World of Learning I had previously worked with Blended Schools as the Language Institute Coordinator. The instruction I observed in the live classroom sessions of our Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Latin and Arabic teachers was engaging, lively and connected. It made me think! How can we support and apply this amazing, engaging experience to ALL learning and learners?


Our first opportunity to expand this concept came at Conemaugh Valley, then Windber Area School District supporting French and Spanish instruction. Taking concepts from Blended Schools Learning Institute we partnered with a teacher in the classroom and a virtual instructor. Now students in these districts have a choice - rather than just Spanish or just French they can  choose to not only take the first two levels of a chosen language, they can complete all four levels of the language they choose!
Even with limited resources, it is possible to provide high quality, engaging instruction by thinking differently. Here are some of the ways we worked together to make this possible:
  1. We aligned the our scope and sequence to the ACTFL standards and aligned it as best we could to the current district program.
  2. We collected resources using Padlet to support instruction.
  3. We organized content in Trello Boards to sequence that instruction.
  4. We created courses in Canvas for students to practice and reflect on their learning on the days they did not have live or virtual lesson with a teacher.
  5. We support collaboration with Google Docs so that the teachers can plan and prepare to coordinate their lessons, together.
  6. We hold regular meetings to talk about instructional practices, grading and supporting students in Zoom.
  7. We visit the schools to meet with the teacher’s and students when needed to continue to work on and improve the online virtual experience.
Like Dr. Suess, sometimes what is new and novel is not seen as academically sound or rigorous. Sometimes what seems new can be scary. Yet, over time, we have had one small success after another as we are able to support many more students in finding their path to learning. My favorite story is about the student who went off to college and without blinking was able to ‘test out’ of, and receive credit, for the first level of College Spanish! Her effort and tenacity at in diving into virtual instruction, despite some of the initial problems gives us all cause to celebrate!

We are far from perfect, and we must continue to collaborate with teachers and media specialist, students and administrators, parents and course creators, using both virtual resources and face-to-face relationships to support learning and continue to grow and improve learning experiences and outcomes for ALL. Just think about what is possible!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connected Learning - Anywhere!

Teaching and learning in an online, virtual, blended or internet based platform is not just about the tools, it is also about the connections. Don’t get me wrong, we couldn’t provide virtual services without the tools, but the tools come and some go… so we work hard to figure out how to engage with the learners and make the virtual experience meaningful. In the late fall, we spent some time with a few learners and their teacher. You can see that they like each other even though they have only been working together for about 8 weeks. We wanted to know a bit more about how learners were navigating these new tools that were being used at Windber Area School District so we asked them some questions. Here is what we heard when we asked: “What did you think when you heard you were going to be doing some of your class in a virtual environment?” The first students started “I thought it was going to be hard!” Another student described using the virtual tools as an “ex
Post a Comment
Read more

What Matters in Schools - Today and Every Day?

I started my weekend with a text message from Dave Lehman, the Superintendent at Conemaugh Valley School District about his testimony in the State Senate this week. I like working with Dave. We have become sounding boards for each other as we have worked collaboratively through Appalachia IU8. The job of a Superintendent goes well beyond the scope heading up schools. Most people don’t know how many hats a Superintendent wears on any given day. Some days we talk about alternative programs and expanding learner options - other days we just commiserate about how little we get to talk about education. James Hollis in his book Swamplands of the Soul stated, ‘Doubt is a radical form of faith’, something that I think is needed when working as a Superintendent. I have learned so much from working with Dave these past few years, he digs in when doubt is present. He often has simple, yet profound advice as he muddles through one of the many difficult issues faced by Superintendents most days.
Post a Comment
Read more

Passion, Perseverance, Growth Mindset and Grit

Passion, Perseverance, Growth Mindset and Grit Pat Mulroy, D. Ed. Appalachia IU8 May 21, 2018 It is not hard for me to get off task! As one of two people who ‘leads’ the World of Learning and Open Campus at IU8 I have a variety of task and work that I do to keep our scrappy little group together. So, as I was preparing some of the professional development on Mindset, that we will offer in the upcoming school year, I was reading articles that discussed why Grit and Growth Mindset both are important in education. As you can see, I am down the off-task road, 100%. Yet it was exciting because, it made me to think of all the examples of people who truly expanded their mindset in our World of Learning. Carol Dweck Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation. She examines what she calls mindsets, which people use to regulate their behavior. Her research looks at where mindsets originate, and the role of mindsets in motivation and reg
Post a Comment
Read more