This video recently went viral because of an 8 year old who did an marvelous job delivering her message. Not only did the message move me to tears (I'm not ashamed), but it got me thinking about my message, and to a larger extent, my why regarding blended learning. In her TED Talk, Molly stresses the importance of developing neural connections in children's brains through parent/adult connections and play - Thrive by Five. But we know from brain research that we can continue developing our brain our entire lives - neuroplasticity. So those same ideas of connecting, playing, and talking are important to practice throughout our lives. Molly's message to put down our devices and pay attention helps remind me that blended learning is not about the technology. It's about using the technology to do things in our classroom that we haven't been able to do before, such as individual instruction, in other words, make a personal connection with our students.
I've stated in my innovation plan that my purpose with blended learning is to personalize learning in order to engage every learner. But this video brought me to a deeper realization. I want students to thrive in school. To not only be engaged in their learning, but excited about what they're doing and eager to tackle the challenges that each day brings. Engaged, excited, and eager will be my new litmus test in class.
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