The Ken-Ton Curriculum & Instruction Department is spending the rest of the 2024-2025 school year focusing on high-impact practices used in our classrooms across the district. For the remainder of the school year, we’ll be highlighting a different practice each month and spotlighting two of our teachers who excel at modeling this type of practice.
February's focus is “Blended Learning”. This practice combines traditional face-to-face instruction with digital tools and online resources, offering students additional opportunities to engage with content in meaningful ways.
Two teachers who model this type of practice well are Franklin Elementary teacher Alex Bianchi and Kenmore West teacher Arianna Troutman.
“On a daily basis, Alex has been integrating the Modern Classrooms model into his first-grade class at Franklin elementary,” Instructional Support Specialist David Rogalski said. “This model allows Alex to work with smaller groups of students, focusing on specific needs and skills. Alex believes that the focus on mastery-based and personalized learning is having a significant impact on his student’s performance.”
Members of the administration team, including Superintendent Sabatino Cimato, stopped by Alex’s class on February 5th to see the Modern Classrooms Blended Learning model in action. Students moved through self-directed stations that progress in skill level. Students are required to demonstrate mastery in that station’s activity before moving onto the next level. We saw students move through several stations, many of which included Alex talking to students through video instruction.
“They’re watching direct videos of myself teaching a concept again – as a review and second learning opportunity – and I see them growing so much faster,” Bianchi said. “Instead of doing any sort of busy work around the classroom during centers, they’re getting direct instructions from me all over again a second time. So, they’re getting another chance to learn the material, another chance to practice it, another chance to master it, and it’s made a huge difference.”
Arianna Troutman, a science teacher at Kenmore West, has been using Blended Learning in her classroom every day.
“To me, blended learning is key to keeping students engaged and making learning more interactive,” Arianna said. “We start every day with a warm-up on canvas that self-grades, so students get instant feedback. We go over it, and they can earn class money which they can "buy" extra credit with. We then will transition into the main activity, which varies depending on the lesson.”
“The moment you walk into her room, you can feel the excitement buzzing,” said Instructional Support Specialist Mary Beth Flatau. “She masterfully blends traditional learning tools—like paper-and-pencil note-taking, workbooks, and textbooks—with technology, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for her students. Her ability to merge the best of both worlds makes Earth Science one of the most exciting and captivating classes of the day for her high school students.”
On February 7th, Arianna used the practice of blended learning by having her students take part in a digital escape room on Station Models for their weather unit. Students had to use the knowledge they'd learned to work together as a team and solve a number of weather-related questions. They moved through different stations, answering questions and reading about station models. The stations were on dry-erase sheets that allowed them to draw, make mistakes, and correct their answers. Each correct answer was part of a code they put in Google Forms to unlock the next step and “escape” the room.
It’s important to note that while blended learning uses technology programs and resources, it does not mean a student is on their Chromebook working independently for the full instructional block of the day. The combination of video instruction and face-to-face instruction allows teachers to spend an entire class period working with students, fully engaged both in person and online.
“It was a mix of reading, problem-solving, and competition keeping them engaged the whole time,” Arianna said. “I live by blended learning because it keeps things fresh and gives students different ways to interact with the content.”
Over at Hoover Middle School, 5th grade teachers Alex Marcinelli, Heidi Sorel, Katie Anzalone use video instruction embedded in Canvas. Recently, students independently learned how to create an interactive augmented reality experience and demonstrated a high level of independence, collaboration and motivation.
“By not using whole group instruction, the teachers were able to work with students individually and in small groups,” Rogalski said. “This fostered stronger relationships and more focused assistance.”
We’re so proud of our teachers for embracing and using Blended Learning in their curriculum. Next month, we’ll be focusing on the high-impact practice of “Movement” and will be spotlighting two more teachers who excel at using this type of practice.
