World History in North Carolina is a demanding course. It asks students to learn information from 3200 B.C.E. to the 1990's C.E. in ONE semester. Every other state I've worked in has had World History broken up into at least two classes (in the one state it was only mandatory that you take one of the two and you could decide if you wanted to focus on Ancient or Modern). While I would LOVE to spend days going into aspects of culture, have more hands on projects, and go in depth with the topics we teach, there just isn't time or resources. So thus far this is my quest for a blended classroom.
We have traditional notes for half the period (my class is broken into Round One and Round Two so you either start on the iPads or start on the notes side - I have five iPads, thus the need for rounds). We have graphic organizers, fill-ins (clozes), Q and A's, or mini projects to work on on the traditional side. The other side of the room, the students have a list of items posted on Edmodo to accomplish as well as the deadlines for them. By having the assignments posted on Edmodo it allows me to include the information for the assignment, the document (so they can use hyperlinks if applicable), AND they can write me with questions without disrupting the other side of the room (except for the pinging of the iPad to tell me that there's a question). This semester I have three things automatically going on for every unit thus far; next Unit is so short we will only be doing one and two.
1) Quizlet - write down their vocabulary and review their vocabulary; I also have Types of Government and Gods and Goddesses on their quizlet for this unit so they can study at home. (They can also put this on their smart phones and study on the bus, etc.)
2) Project - We've done posters and basic things using the technology for research, but traditional supplies for the end product. Last unit we did Voicethread, this unit we are using iMovie, next unit we're going to be using Key Note.
3) Webquests - This is how I'm getting my in-depth information to them. They are given a specific set of websites to go to that has information based on the N.C. Essential Standards and interesting facts that might gain their interest further. They can work as individuals or as a group (individuals come before school or after school or they can work on it from home if they have computer access). Some of the questions from the test are sometimes taken from them or open ended questions during the traditional side of the room are based on what they're covering in the webquest.
By posting items on Edmodo and having the independent side of the room students are not just working on school work for class, but collaboration for the projects, time management skills for making sure they have everything done, etc.
Learning Teams:
My students are also broken up into learning teams that change every unit to every other unit. So by the end of the semester, they will have worked with almost everyone in the class (if not everyone). This semester they put preferences for the first grouping, but have been changed multiple times since then based on my assignments.
Issues Arising from Groupings:
I take their complaints about not wanting to work with someone by letting them know that those types of arguments would not be acceptable in the real world job scenario (you can't go to your boss and say you don't like someone so you don't want to work with them and expect it to happen), so they aren't applicable in my classroom either since I'm trying to prepare them for the 21st century.
So while there are various challenges emerging with a blended classroom I'm still on a quest to make sure it's balanced. Suggestions?
