3.2 Systems and Set-ups: Part 1

Juliana headshot"Having concrete strategies and routines for both systems and set-up is key to a successful blended classroom because of all of the moving parts involved in rolling out devices, innovative instruction, and students' ownership of their own learning. It is also important to always make sure that all of the strategies you use match your model, are age appropriate, and match your teaching style in order to be successful!"

     —Juliana Finegan, Relay GSE Blended Learning Curriculum Designer

While exploring the strategies below, think about: 

  1. Which strategies resonate with you the most and why
  2. How to roll out these strategies to your students in a clear and effective manner
  3. Ways to adapt these strategies to better fit your classroom 

Blended Strategies

Blended strategies are named strategies that have been found to support teachers in successful blended implementation. These specific strategies are used to help setup basic procedures around areas of timing, attention grabbers, passwords, etc. Strategies do not need to be taken as is, but instead can be adapted to meet your and your students’ needs.

Music Match 

  • Description: Match student actions with music to help with pacing, expectations of actions, and cues to transition to a new activity. Some examples would be using music to time warm-ups, having fast music during transitions, calming music when entering the classroom and during work time, and/or using music to cue expected outcomes (hand in papers, clean up, etc.)

  • Rationale: Using music to cue different student actions gives more ownership to students because it isn't being directly instructed by the teacher. Additionally, in a blended classroom, having nonverbal cues helps when a teacher is working with a small group and other groups need to be reminded of different actions or movement

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Clamshell

  • Description: Have students close their laptops like clamshells (45 degrees), without closing them completely. This can be paired with a hand signal (making a clamshell) which is a great non-verbal attention grabber when students have earphones in

  • Rationale:  This can be used as both a quick attention-grabber (to give a quick announcement or switch gears in class) and a time-saver, since students won’t need to log back on to their laptops when transitioning back to work

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NOTE: If your school uses iPads, you can substitute “clamshell” with “dark screen,” as seen in the clip below.

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Whole Class Reboot

  • Description: Give the whole class 30 seconds to a minute to let loose and get their bodies and blood moving. You can do this in a structured way (as seen in the clip) or in a more informal way by blasting music and allowing students to dance or just move around and talk (which works better with middle- and high-school students)
  • Rationale: When students are not moving for an extended time frame and instead focusing on one rigorous task, they can start to lose focus, energy, and efficiency.  Giving students a quick break can help them reboot and refocus on the task at hand in a more meaningful manner

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Cart Calling

  • Description: Give students individual numbers, and call them up by their numbers for distribution of devices
  • Rationale: This is a very basic strategy but very helpful for organization and maintenance of devices. It is also helpful to call students in random order to keep them on their toes and make sure they internalize their number and not just the student they come after. It is also important to stay consistent with numbers, and you can eventually pass off the responsibility to a student as well

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