If you walk into a Pasodale Elementary School classroom, you’ll see students scattered everywhere, each working on an independent or group objective. To someone unfamiliar with the model, it might look chaotic. But each student can explain what she’s working on and why.
A growing number of teachers and principals want to make this shift. But how can they build it? How do they find the time? It takes considerable time to convert a traditional, teacher-led unit plan to a series of student-driven stations, tutorials, on-demand resources, projects, and assessments.
Teachers are willing to do the work, but they simply need time.
Our guest today is David Medina. For nine years, David has been the principal of Pasodale Elementary School in the Ysleta Independent School District located in El Paso, Texas, less than a mile from the border of Juarez, Mexico. Roughly 98 percent of his students are Hispanic, and 50 percent are English language learners.
For years his school was mostly teacher centered, meaning that teachers led. He thought that blended learning meant giving children access to technology.
“Little did I know that it really has zero to do with technology and more to do with having students be active learners,” David says. He realized four years ago that technology was not the answer; the answer was to shift from teacher-led to student-centered learning.
In today’s interview, Heather Clayton Staker talks to David about how he freed up teachers’ time to allow them to build the new model. Of all the things he tried, David found that canceling after-school tutoring was the most successful. Instituting “Blended Rounds” every 90 days and weekly 90-minute planning meetings were crucial enablers as well.
It takes time to build a student-centered model. But then, once in place, the new model gives back time because students are less dependent on their teachers. In other words, giving teachers time to build is an investment that more than breaks even.
For a one-page visual about this podcast, go to www.readytoblend.com/blog. It will be available on 11/12/2019 as part of the regularly scheduled Tuesday Share program.
Thanks Principal Medina for your stirring words!
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