How do teachers feel about their work? How dedicated or emotionally connected do they feel to their work? What factors cause teachers to feel fulfilled by this work? Emotional engagement encompasses a teachers’ feelings about, degree of dedication to, and emotional response to their work (Perera, Vosicka, Granziera & McIlveen, 2018; Klassen, Yerdelen & Durksen, […]
While coaching teachers this month, several expressed a desire to include review and practice activities in their station rotation lessons to help students prepare for end-of-the-semester assessments. Helping students review for an exam often takes the form of a study guide or review game. These traditional approaches to review are problematic on three fronts. Given […]
Teachers got a crash course in creating video content when schools shifted online. They relied on videos out of necessity to explain concepts and model strategies while students learned from home. As teachers transitioned back into classrooms, many abandoned video in favor of live instruction. However, if teachers are going to say the same thing […]
When I work with teachers shifting to blended learning, I strive to establish the WHY driving our work together. I want teachers to understand the purpose and value of the shift to blended learning. Blended learning is not a reaction to a moment. Blended learning is the thoughtful design and facilitation of learning experiences that […]
The pandemic has elevated the phrase “blended learning.” When schools closed or shifted to hybrid schedules, many institutions turned to blended learning to navigate the new demands placed on teachers and educational institutions. As an outspoken advocate for blended learning over the last 10 years, I was initially excited to see so much momentum in […]
The variety of humans in a classroom is remarkable. Their needs, skills, interests, pacing, preferences, and language proficiencies are incredibly diverse. As educators, we have the challenge and honor to teach a dynamic and unique group of students each time a class period begins. Universally designing blended learning presents educators with the opportunity to transition […]
I like to compare the teacher’s work designing learning experiences to the work of an architect. In my new book with Dr. Katie Novak, UDL and Blended Learning, I share a story about working with an architect to design a new home after my family lost our house in the Tubbs Fire in 2017. Over […]
June 3, 2021 was the official launch of my newest book UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes, and I had the pleasure of collaborating with Dr. Katie Novak on this project. We combined our expertise on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning to write a book designed to help teachers […]
Recently, a teacher posted a comment to my blog lamenting that direct instruction consumed much of the class period. Like many, this teacher felt intense pressure to teach the standards and wasn’t sure how to embrace Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning. This is not unusual. There is often a tension created by […]
“Students don’t do the asynchronous work.” “Students don’t work unless I am monitoring them.” “Students will only do the work if I grade it.” I hear statements like this every week. Teachers are frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of focus, engagement, and motivation. I can empathize with their frustration, but I attribute […]
The more physical distance between the teacher and the learner, the more challenging it is to collect formative assessment data consistently. I’ve taught in person, online, and in blended learning environments. The aspect of teaching that is hard to replicate in the online environment is the teachers’ ability to collect informal data by merely listening […]
In the last ten months, teachers have had to design and facilitate learning for various teaching and learning landscapes. Teachers in states hit hard by the pandemic, like my home state of California, have been online since March. Some teachers are on a hybrid schedule seeing students a couple of days each week. Others are […]