Representatives from the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees, district executives, teachers and principals gathered at Pease Elementary School Tuesday for a Blended Learning Showcase.
According to the LearnUpon website, Blended Learning is “an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online with traditional place-based classroom methods.”
The teacher panel was moderated by Blended Learning Coordinator Mandy Hinojos and Pease teachers Shadiana Saenz, kindergarten, Jaclyn Perrin, first grade, and Sonia Martin, first grade bilingual. Pease is a prekindergarten through second grade campus headed by Principal Micah Arrott.
The teachers spoke about best practices, learning Blended Learning, the trial and error involved and getting buy-in from leadership. Teachers noted that they use existing ECISD resources in their classrooms. Hinojos said there will be another showcase April 12 at Hays STEAM Academy.
Blended Learning Coordinator Mandy Hinojos moderates a teacher panel Tuesday at Pease Elementary School on Blended Learning. Pictured are, from left, Jaclyn Perrin, first grade, Sonia Martin, first grade bilingual, and Shadiana Saenz, kindergarten
“… We have such a great resource being able to do this together, just leaning on each other going off what someone else is using,” Saenz said. “… Not everything’s going to work for everyone. We all have different styles of teaching and different classroom management. … Your first year is going to be scary. This is my first year and I fell straight on my face. But you just keep going and honestly, the kids if you change something, it’s more scary for you than the kids. The kids are just going to roll with it. But just leaning on your colleagues, their expertise. I have such wonderful colleagues that I get to go visit their room, ask them questions. …”
Martin said she feels like the teachers have grown together.
“… I feel like we’ve been doing good for the kids. We have improved together. They have seen me grow …,” Martin said.
She thanked Hinojos for making things easier for the teachers and segmenting things to make learning them easier.
Arrott said they partnered with Curriculum Associates and Raise Your Hand Texas for Blended Learning. Two representatives from those organizations attended Tuesday’s event.
Next year when Blended Learning goes campus wide at Pease, Hinojos said the panelists will help lead that effort since she can’t be there all the time.
The teachers said they would not go back to the way they taught before.
“You can see the kids growing and enjoying and having autonomy and doing what they feel they need to do. Before, they just gave instruction for all of them at the same time, with the same resources … You feel like they come to school happier …,” Martin said.
Perrin said she enjoys seeing the students’ agency — seeing them take responsibility for their learning. Collaboration between the students and herself also is a highlight.
“… They’re knowledgeable. It’s not I know everything. I’m sharing with them, making them aware; giving them academic ownership of their data; and having those data conversations to where … I’m talking with them through it or they’re you can collaborate with each other and talk through that. … Through the SCA (short-cycle assessment), every time we take an SCA the kids know, automatically as soon as we’re done, they stand and they go the carpet because they’re ready. They’re ready to see who passed it; who mastered it; what TEK (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) we did really well on which one that we still need to work on …,” Perrin said.
