Innovation Proposal

October 23, 2020

Dear School Administration,

Students have one-to-one Chromebooks and are learning both at home and in-person simultaneously. Research has shown how simply buying computers changes very little regarding how students are learning and how teachers deliver instruction (Horn & Staker, 2018). Spending money on technology alone does not do much for students. Research shows that purchasing computers only guarantees a rise in costs and a removal of resources away from school priorities (Horn & Staker, 2018). To compete with the schools in the area and to refrain from allowing teaching practices to become stagnant, we must improve our teachers’ ability to allow students to develop the necessary skills to succeed and grow, while meeting the needs of each individual student. 

Our community has not yet grown comfortable with collaboration amongst teachers. Additionally, not every classroom utilizes technology at more than the substitution level yet. Implementing blended learning will allow teachers to have the resources necessary to be able to create a student-centered environment and will provide more time to focus on individual student needs. With blended learning, students will be working at their own pace. Students will be able to have access to activities that allow higher-order thinking. Whether students have learning disabilities or are English Language Learners, blended learning also allows students to have the opportunity to receive personalized support for their different needs. To be successful with blended learning we must start by providing student choice in learning with technology, modifying our school culture, and cultivating an effective professional development program. 

It is important to note that blended learning requires student learning to occur “at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home” and requires “some element of student control over time, place, path and/ or pace” (Horn & Staker, 2018). Implementing this change would allow St. Monica Catholic School to compete with Dallas-area private schools by allowing students to work in a self-paced environment to improve growth.

Teachers need to learn about research-based practices with technology. Implementing blended learning in the classroom would require hard work, however developing students’ virtues through a self-paced, collaborative, and student-oriented learning environment would allow them to excel in all content areas. Providing professional development will help support teachers in feeling confident in the amount of support they will receive (Arnett, et al., 2018). To successfully implement blended learning, we must create a collaborative environment in which teachers can develop. 

After collecting data from the classroom, I would like to share the data and then determine if this would be something you would like to take to other classrooms, depending on the results and modifications necessary for student success. By creating a team to support the implementation of blended learning, we would eventually extend the blended learning environment further than the four walls of my classroom and eventually to the entire middle school. This will be done by developing a Professional Learning Network (PLN) and then eventually extending my learnings to our school through professional development.

While delving deeper into promoting blended learning, I plan to contribute blended-learning findings to my PLN by posting about blended learning on my ePortfolio and Twitter. It would also be necessary for educators to research and learn for themselves potentially through school-sponsored events such as book clubs and professional developments. The learning will be amplified by hosting professional learning experiences for teachers with our Enrichment Coordinator about blended learning, amongst other technology-focused topics. Teachers can then learn various ways and styles of implementing blended learning and then have the tools to try to put it into practice in their classrooms. Teachers will benefit by having someone lead by example, and then students will ultimately benefit from teachers implementing research-based practices that allow for maximum student growth. 

Over the next three years as the plan progresses, more research and plan modification will be necessary. I need your help to develop our culture into a technology-infused, learning-focused school environment. I have enjoyed developing relationships with teachers and I would love to lead the charge with you in implementing blended learning at our school. I am excited to work together to ensure our students become life-long learners. Due to the pandemic, we have had to rethink education. If we use the innovation of blended learning, students will develop the values and character-traits necessary for our students to become self-motivated and life-long learners that can withstand the struggle of learning in-person and potentially online. Our students deserve the opportunity to receive individualized instruction. I would like to invite you to join me in this mission to improve our students’ learning.

With gratitude,

Meredith Lutz Newman

References

Arnett, T., Moesta, B., & Horn, M. (2018). The Teacher’s Quest for Progress: How school leaders can motivate instructional innovation. Christensen Institute. https://www.christenseninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/JTBD.pdf 

Horn, M. & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools.

Jossey-Bass.