needs to be downloaded to your device (most often a phone or tablet).
Introduction
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
—Theodore Roosevelt
THE WHY
Before I start teaching a new unit, I always try to address the “Why?” with my students. Why are we learning about this? Why will it be meaningful to you? Why will it be beneficial to your life?
For this book, I've not only asked myself the “why?” but a few more Ws too. Here is what I've come up with:
What: This is a book about using technology and online pedagogy to enhance teaching and learning as a whole.
Who is it for: K-12 teachers of all content areas, in brick-and-mortar, remote, and hybrid schools.
How might it be used:
1 Emergency Preparedness I was approached to write this book in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of schools globally shut their doors in order to reduce the transmission of disease and save lives.When it comes to safety, schools regularly prepare and practice for emergency scenarios. I imagine schools will now begin to adopt and regularly practice “emergency remote learning” to be prepared for future disease outbreaks, natural disasters, or any other number of unforeseen circumstances.This is a guide for them.
2 Emerging Hybrid School ModelsAlthough many teachers, students, parents, and administrators (rightfully) struggled with adapting to emergency remote or hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope some innovative educators were able to see beyond the struggle to the benefits of hybrid learning for certain student populations, and new hybrid schools models will begin emerging in districts across the country.This is a guide for them.
3 Educational Technology Benefits EveryoneIn a 2016 Arizona State University study on educational technology (EdTech), researchers found that the use of EdTech in teaching and learning “can have considerable positive impacts on student performance, and efforts to adopt new educational technologies in the classroom will be rewarded.”Although this book is focused on teaching in a hybrid model, the tools and techniques can be applied to most learning environments.The study also found that the biggest barrier to success in the implementation of EdTech is providing teachers with the necessary professional development.This is a guide for you.
Bring it back to the building
If you teach full time in a “brick-and-mortar” classroom, look for these sections, where I explain how an online tool, resource, or strategy could be used in a traditional classroom model.
MY WHY
My first teaching job was as a 6th-grade English teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada.
My years there were easily the most challenging and rewarding of my life. My love for those first students of mine resonates throughout my entire body. My students came from the most diverse (in the true sense of the word) backgrounds imaginable. They were Black, White, Latinx, European, African, and Asian. They were the children of wealthy surgeons as well as single parents who worked the night shift at Burger King. Some of my students had boats that they would take out on Lake Mead, while others were homeless. Our school was a magnet school for the deaf and hard of hearing, and we had a number of students who were Syrian refugees.
Meeting the needs of such a diverse and large group (I taught nearly 200 students per year) was an impossible task. However, I thank my lucky stars every day that our school was awarded a grant in my first year of teaching to receive 1-1 Chromebook devices. (Meaning each student had access to their own device that they were able to use in school and take home.)
Because I had little other experience teaching, I threw myself entirely into learning how to use educational technology to engage my students and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of as many learners as possible. I was also incredibly lucky to have a teacher-mentor, Larenda Norman, who supported me and encouraged me to continue learning.
A few years later when my husband had the opportunity to cover a European news circuit, we jumped at the opportunity to live in London. There, I had another lucky break in meeting my next mentor, Andy Caffrey, with whom I traveled the country and continent working as an educational technology consultant, teaching and training other teachers to use technology in their classrooms.
I currently live in my home state of Colorado, where I still work part time as an EdTech consultant through my consulting company, Empowered Edu. I also teach 7th- and 8th-grade language arts at PSD Global Academy (PGA), a public hybrid school in which students spend half of their time learning in person and half of their time learning from home.
I wanted to start with my story because the perspective of this book comes entirely from these experiences. A lot of what I write about comes not from research or interviews but the time I've spent with students.
Everything I do in education is for them.
A NOTE ON ACCESS AND EQUITY
I want to address the privilege assumed in this book.
My experiences in hybrid teaching are based largely on my current position as a teacher at PGA. We live in a well-funded, predominantly White city where we are able to provide laptop devices, 1-1, to all of the students in our school and district.
Further, many of the students who come to our hybrid school have a stay-at-home or work-from-home parent to support and encourage their learning during online/remote days. There are exceptions, but we are ultimately teaching in a position of great privilege.
This type of digital access and support is not a reality for many schools and districts that are disproportionately made up of low-income, rural, Black, Latinx, and/or Native American populations.
I say this to emphasize the existence of a “digital divide” in our country, which needs to be bridged so that we provide access to technology, Wi-Fi, professional development, and after-school/at-home support to every student, school, and district nationwide.
Shining a light on the issue is only the first step, and it is not enough. People in a position of privilege can choose to simply look away because it does not affect them. If you are in such a position, choose to turn toward the light, then act. There are several immediate steps we can take to help:
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