Blend My Learning |

Spring Project Season

“Written by Kiera Chase (Envision Schools)”

This week I had the pleasure of visiting Metro, Impact and CAT. As a result, I got to spend time in our blended learning classrooms and immerse myself in the projects that our students are doing. While the 10th and 12th graders are focused on...

Early Wins and Alpha’s Top Ten List for New Blended Operators

“Written by John Glover (Alpha Public Schools)”

“How is your year going?” It is a seemingly innocuous question, but anyone who asks this of a first-year, blended model school operator should be prepared to pull up a chair and get comfortable. Conditions on the ground are… fluid....

Technology Tools Can Increase Student Advocacy

“Written by Kiera Chase (Envision Schools)”

Over the past few months I have had a number of encounters that I can only categorize as magical. On several occasions, when working with either students or teachers, I have had the pleasure of sharing in moments that take my breath away. What...

Motivating Students with (and without) Disabilities to Use Technology in the Classroom

“Written by Lauren Gemske (Achievement First Public Charter Schools)”

Using technology (whether it be a computer, an iPad or an app on a cell phone) is something that seems to be inherently exciting for children. What’s not to love? At school, learning software quickly becomes addicting – children beg to read...

Promise and Challenge of the LPS Oakland College Launch Program

“Written by Dr Louise Waters (Leadership Public Schools)”

As part of its Next Generation Learning Challenge blended-learning design, LPS Oakland has started a College Launch program utilizing online / hybrid courses to prepare first-generation students for college success. A year earlier, LPS had...

Real-World Experiences

“Written by Robyn Paul (Cornerstone Charter Health High School)”

Relevance We’ve all had some version of the question, “When will I use this in real life?” from students. Just because we’re now delivering content through blended learning and incorporating technology does not mean we have magically made...

Pathway to Possibility: A Framework is Renovated and Refined

“Written by Kristen Vogt (Next Generation Learning Challenges)”

Last September, Next Generation Learning Challenges published a white paper laying out our perspective on what next generation learning is and what it requires. The six dimensions of the framework were built out of observations of the work of NGLC...

Adventures in ‘Playlisting’

“Summit Public Schools lessons learned (Part 4)”

When I volunteered towards the end of last summer to create a Playlist that would support students as they learned how to solve a quadratic equation, I figured that my several years of experience teaching quadratic equations in a traditional...

Placing Students at the Heart of School Innovation

“Summit Public Schools lessons learned (Part 3)”

As a former Summit math teacher, I find patterns and trends incredibly interesting. In fact, I often felt most empowered as an educator when I could make data-driven decisions that accelerated my students’ learning. For these reasons alone, it was...

Profiles of Next Gen Learning: USC Hybrid High School

“Next Generation Learning Challenges Wave IIIa Grantee”

Over 1 million high school kids, mostly in urban environments, drop out of school every year. Furthermore, only half of the kids who graduate from high school actually meet college entrance requirements. The University of Southern California Rossier...