• Education
  • Health
  • Technology
  • About
Blend My Learning

Blend My Learning

Where Education, Health, and Technology Meet

  • Education
  • Health
  • Technology
  • About

the wild wild west my california gold rush experience

The Wild Wild West: My California Gold Rush Experience

Posted by Milton Bryant on Nov 14, 2014 in Blog, Education Innovation Fellowship, Featured

The Wild Wild West: My California Gold Rush Experience

Earlier this year, as a member of CityBridge Foundation’s 2014 Education Innovation Fellowship, I was afforded the opportunity to visit a number of schools in California and Detroit that are implementing different models of personalized and blended learning. All of the schools had important takeaways, but two of them—Rocketship and Summit Denali—stood out because of their instructional practices and overall models.

 

At Rocketship, I took away so many little golden nuggets, but none larger than the idea of implementing a flex model math block. Large classes are split into two at Rocketship: One group of students work on computer programs like ST Math or Dreambox with support from teaching assistants and lab techs, while the other half works directly with the teacher receiving content instruction. Observing this model at Rocketship made me question what I had been taught and what I was doing in my classroom. I wondered if this method of instruction could help me get closer to providing every student in my class some of the “golden nuggets” for learning by giving them what they needed, when they needed it.

 

So instead of continuing to question it, I actually implemented some of the practices that I observed during my visits. In February of this year, I created a schedule that split our class up into two different math groups. Each group would have 20 minutes on the computer and 20 minutes of direct instruction. On the computer, students would work on programming that helped them fill gaps in their learning. During direct instruction, we worked on grade level content, but it was differentiated for the different groupings to best meet their needs. My pilot worked extremely well, but there were still some students who were not challenged enough or given enough opportunities to work with their classmates to question each other’s thinking.

 

What could I do next?

 

This is where my visit to Summit Denali Middle School came into play. Summit Denali uses a competency-based progression that relies heavily on playlists to deliver content-specific knowledge. This model allows teachers to focus more on teaching cognitive skills. In Summit Denali’s model, students are allowed to showcase their learning through quizzes and independent or group projects.

 

I decided to change my math block based on Summit Denali’s instructional model. My students began having weekly individual conferences with me to review their progress and determine the math skills they wanted to work on after showing mastery of the prior selected skills.

 

During the 40-minute math block, students had to complete three things before they could select new skills. First, students learned the content from one of the personalized learning tools. Second, students moved on to collaborate with peers and discuss their learning or take a quiz to assess their level of understanding. Then, if students scored 75% or higher on a quiz, they moved on to the third component: projects. To show mastery on the project, students had to be able to communicate how they solved or completed the project, create a model representing the project, and accurately solve the project or problem.

This last iteration of my personalized learning math pilot was successful in my classroom because the students believed in it and took ownership of. These “golden nuggets” are what my students will build their empires on!

 

WildWildWest

Written by Milton Bryant

Milton Bryant

Milton Bryant is a fourth grade teacher at Ketcham Elementary School and a CityBridge Foundation 2014 Education Innovation Fellow.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Categories
  • Education
  • Health
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
Recent Posts
  • Is Almond Milk Healthier Than Coconut Milk?
  • 7 Reasons You Keep Dropping Things
  • Does BCAA Before or After Workout Matter?
Recent Posts
  • Is Almond Milk Healthier Than Coconut Milk?
  • 7 Reasons You Keep Dropping Things
  • Does BCAA Before or After Workout Matter?
  • Does Intermittent Fasting Slow Metabolism?
  • Solutions for When You Get Sore From Stretching
Recent Comments
  • Fashion Styles on How an Egg Membrane Supplement Supports Joint Health
Archives
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
Categories
  • Education
  • Health
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
Meta
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Doo by ThemeVS.