DELETE: Introduce teacher videos and quotes in a way that both introduces the videos and ties them to the competency of the chapter. Place your videos and quotes where they make the most sense in the chapter.

13-2.1 Online Integration and Management in the Language Arts

Online integration is at the very heart of blended teaching.  It has to do with how you combine your in-person music classroom with online activities (remember the baker mixing dry and wet ingredients from Chapter 1). Before you begin, here is some advice from Angela Harmon about starting to use blended practices in a music classroom.

Teachers Talk: Small Short Chunks

Angela Harmon

My biggest advice is to start out small and put things together in very small chunks. It can be confusing for students when they first start adding online activities. At the beginning, make it simple and easy to understand—short but meaningful.

Because the main component of blended learning is integrating online and in-person activities, online integration is a good place to begin thinking about blending your classroom.  

This is where you as a music teacher can consider what specific online practices can help you address the problems of practice you identified in Chapter 4–1. The more examples of blended teaching you have personally seen and the more experience you have with online teaching, the easier this process will be for you. But even if you are just starting out, you will probably have a few ideas of your own. This chapter will help you explore more ideas.

Although blended teaching can seem overwhelming, experienced blended teachers say that the best way to go about this process of starting to blend is to think big but start small.  Small beginnings allow you to wet your toes in the process, focus on specific pedagogies and activities, see the benefits and drawbacks, and make improvements on a small scale without becoming overwhelmed by the process.

13-2.2 Planning for Integration

You can take that first small step by doing the following:

1. Identify the problem of practice and the learning objective that you are interested in blending.
2. Think about activities, both in-person and online, that could support the student learning. (A framework for this process is to think about activities that involve students interacting independently with content, activities that involve students interacting primarily with each other, and activities that might involve interaction with an instructor.)
3. Consider how the online activities and the in-person activities can connect.
4. Choose one of the activities you have considered and create a blended lesson. 

See the example below in Table 1 for how this process might work. The teacher in this example explores several activities that could be blended. You have a similar chart in your Blended Teaching Notebook. 

A teacher might identified her problem of practice: I want my students to be more precise and  careful in their analysis of character. The learning objective states: "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text."

Here are some ways she could combine online and in-person activities.

Table 1 (Replace the content to fit your content area. You may want to add videos or quotes between each table.)

Planning for Online Integration: Student-Content Interactions

Table 2

Planning for Online Integration: Student-Student Interactions

Table 3

Planning for Online Integration: Student-Instructor Interactions

13-2.3 Selecting a Blended Teaching Model

If you can find YouTube examples of blended teaching models (flipped, station rotation, lab rotation, flex, etc.) include them here. If not, explain the models using examples from your content area.

Once you have chosen an activity or activities to blend, consider which blended teaching model best fits the activity. (For a review of blended teaching models, see Chapter 2: Online Integration in K-12 Blended Teaching: A Guide to Personalized Learning and Online Integration.) 

13-2.4 Deciding What To Do In-person in a Music Classroom

Blended learning is the strategic combination of online and in-person modalities. But how do teachers decide which activities to do online and which to do in person? 

One way to begin answering the question of what can be done most effectively in person is to look at your strengths as a teacher, the needs of your students, and the types of activities that lend themselves to the best use of the in-person space and those that do not.

Angela Harmon explains how she was able to use the in-person space more effectively by putting an assessment online.

Teachers Talk: Playing Tests Online with Self-graded Rubric

Angela Harmon

One of the activities that in the past took up a lot of class time was playing tests. Playing tests take all of class time. I have 400 students. Hearing each of them play takes several hours. The rest of the class are working on a theory or rhythm worksheet, not the best use of class time, while I listen, fill out a rubric, and give feedback. Some of the students get really nervous. They’re used to playing in the group and to have to play alone can be scary. So, I decided to let them record themselves. They can try several times until they feel good about their performance, and they don’t have to play in front of all their peers. However, that meant I had to listen to all the recordings outside of class, a long process. Finally, I had them record themselves and grade themselves. They have to listen to themselves, fill out the rubric, and report on what they learned about their playing. I use my class time better, and they take more ownership for their learning. 

An important use of in-person time in a music class is whole group rehearsal. However, rehearsals are ineffective when students do not know their parts. Angela Harmon describes how she uses the online space to help students learn their parts.

Teachers Talk: Learning Parts Online

Angela Harmon

In an orchestra class most of the class time is used for rehearsal, playing together or in sectionals. But sometimes the students need individual instruction, so they can master their part. The online space is so helpful for that. I made a lot of videos using loom, where I played every student’s part and gave then tips on how to do each section of it. It took a long time to make all the videos, but they really helped the kids learn their parts and prepared them for playing together in class.

For example, students may be working (collaboratively or alone) on a project or paper. You want to do this in person because you know they will have many specific, unique questions. Answering those questions in the moment that they come up can keep students from getting stalled in the process and keep energy high. It also helps assure that students don’t have to back up and redo work. 

Similarly, you may want to begin a discussion in person. You want students to get excited about the topic and begin thinking about the possibilities of the discussion. Once they’ve had this beginning, they may be more ready to participate in an online discussion. 

Perhaps you are good at reading aloud, and your students enjoy hearing you read. You might want to introduce a new text in person, reading and discussing it. 

Role-playing, whole class simulations, reading circles, discussions of goals and progress may all be activities that work best in the in-person space. 

Know yourself, your students, and your subject matter well enough to determine what you want to preserve for the in-person space. 

Once you know how you can best use the in-person space, you can begin to explore ways to use the online space to allow the kinds of activities you want in the in-peron space, to best use the affordances of the online space, and to make meaningful connections between the two modalities. Answers to the following questions may help you decide. 

• Can I put some instruction online so I have more class time to work with students individually or in small groups?
• Can putting an activity online increase student participation?
• Can I use the online space to allow my students to personalize the pace, path, time, place, or goals of their learning?
• How can I use the online space to target individual learning needs?
• Can I use the online space to help students increase ownership of their learning?
• Can I use the online space to give my students access to materials they wouldn’t otherwise be able to have?
• Can I use the online space to teach the same concept in different ways, so learners will have more than one option in their learning?
• Can I use the online space to allow for greater learner-learner interaction and collaboration?
• Can I use the online space to adapt or differentiate materials to meet different students’ needs?
• Are there new ways I can use the in-person space when I put some of the instruction and activities online?

13-2.5 Evaluating Blended Activities

Blended learning is not just about using technology in the classroom. It is about strategically combining technology with in person activities to improve pedagogy and student outcomes.

Review Chapter 3: Evaluating Blended Teaching for guidance in how to evaluate the blend you have created. 

In addition, the PIC-RAT framework provides a means of evaluating your use of technology to see if it is adding value to your classroom. It helps you evaluate students’ relationship to technology as well as its impact on traditional practices.

For a complete explanation of the PIC-RAT framework, See 2.3.1 "The RAT Framework," 2.3.2 "Blended Activities that Engage (The PIC Framework)," and 2.3.3 "An Evaluative Framework for Blended Teaching" in Chapter 2 "Online Integration" of K-12 Blended Teaching: A Guide to Personalized Learning and Online Integration.

13-2.6 Planning Blended Routines and Behaviors

Process for Implementing Routines in a Blended Classroom:

1. Decide specifically the kinds of behavior and routines you want to put in place.
2. Spend the first two or three weeks really drilling and practicing those routines. 
3. Set clear expectations.
4. Decide what you will do to help students who have a difficult time meeting the expectations. How will you respond to them?
5. Evaluate your plan and make adjustments as needed. 

In Table 2 below your mentor teachers share tips they have learned and implemented that have helped them establish routines to manage their classrooms. As you read through them, think of your classroom. Are any of these tips appropriate for your setting? What ideas come to mind of ways you can effectively manage your own classroom?

Table 4

Blended Learning Routines