Blended Learning - An Uphill Battle

As I'm feeling the burnout time of year, surprisingly enough, not because of interviews or progress reports or the looming reporting period just around the corner after Christmas break, but because my collaborative inquiry project is coming to an end.

We started blended learning at our school using D2L last spring, where 6 of 13 classroom teachers were able to try activities with their classes. I was teaching a group of 5/6s who were so enthusiastic about anything we did on D2L. Fast forward to this fall, I'm teaching grade 8s on rotary for Science who are very against doing anything online for me. For the most part, they have come a long way since September. I've tried everything, blogging, discussions, videos, posting my lessons online...Tuesday was a good day, they were all ready to do their assignment online, we were all on difference devices, all set to explore a density widget, and lo and behold nothing was working! I was so frustrated that I even used an overhead for the first time this year for my lesson on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, in the computer lab, with all the devices the same, I'm hoping my inquiry task will show the Grade 8s the value of blended learning. They are very much like some teachers who don't want to give technology a chance, because sometimes when you do, things don't go as planned and you have to go back to what works: pencil and paper, the overheads and the blackboard.

Lucky for them, going "paperless" has helped me give more timely feedback and stay more organized, so I'm not giving up! Wish us luck...