Blended Learning in Grades 4–12
Leveraging the Power of Technology to Create Student-Centered Classrooms
- Catlin R. Tucker - Windsor Unified School District
Corwin Teaching Essentials
Use technology to focus on your students!
You've heard about blended learning, which mixes online learning with traditional classroom instruction. You have the support of your principal, the backing of your district, and you are ready to take the leap. Now what?
In this step-by-step guide, teacher and education blogger Catlin Tucker outlines the process for integrating online discussion with face-to-face instruction in a way that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, works for your students, and allows you to focus your energy where it is most needed. Catlin Tucker will teach you how to:
- Use the online environment to increase engagement and drive higher-order thinking
- Design dynamic online discussion questions
- Create a safe space online
- Prepare students for high-stakes exams without sacrificing class time
- Assess online work
- Personalize learning and differentiate lessons
- Move toward flipped instruction, which shifts the focus of class time from teacher to student
With concrete strategies, ready-to-use resources, and sample rubrics grounded in the Common Core State Standards, Blended Learning in Grades 4–12 is the ideal tool for the busy 21st-century teacher looking to create a student-centered classroom.
“A must have for any teacher who wants to connect with students who are either reluctant to participate in class or who have everything to say. The book's tools provide a welcome segue into their terrain and show you how to master it. Included are many ideas and suggestions for bringing the Internet into your classroom and harnessing its power for the benefit of your students.”
“This book comes at the right time with answers for teachers, principals, and schools who want to be on the cutting edge of the effective use of technology, the internet, and teacher pedagogy.”
“This book provides a wealth of information related to teaching in a blended classroom. Designed for 21st century educators, this text is a powerful and valuable resource for those that want to challenge, engage, and facilitate learning for all students.”
“This book will appeal to a wide range of educators and provide them with the foundation for creating a perfect blend for their classrooms.”
“This book will help teachers move their students online while maintaining effective teaching practices!”
Catlin Tucker takes on the questions that serve as teachers' biggest barriers in exploring what technology can bring to their professional experiences. Questions of assessment, time, and access, as well as practical suggestions for how to begin working with modern collaborative resources, serve to guide teachers through the philosophical and pedagogical challenges of exploring the promise of blended learning.
"In Blended Learning in Grades 4-12, Tucker takes on the questions that serve as teachers' biggest barriers to exploring what technology can bring to their professional experiences. Too often, exploration of educational technology is more about the tools than the learning, and consequently it is a pleasure to read this book in which inspiring and empowering students serves as the primary frame for discussion. The skilled examination of the larger question of how to teach well using whatever one has will make Tucker's book a valuable resource for teachers for a long time to come."
"This book shows teachers how to use technology and blended learning practices to blend online discussion with face-to-face classroom instruction."
Great introduction to blended learning in grade schools.