Elementary school classrooms do not naturally lend themselves to a flipped or blended environment for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is the trending topic of screen time among young users. There is a growing awareness that although young children gravitate towards screens (who hasn’t received a sweet, yet garbled, text message from their toddler playing on their partner’s phone?) screen time should be limited.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has made formal recommendations of the amount of time young children spend in front of screens. Outside of screen calling with grandparents the Association suggests that preschoolers ages 2 to 5 should have no more than 1 hour of screen time each day. The Association does however acknowledge that screens offer children older than 6 a number of educational and social advantages and does not offer a prescribed limit, saying only that screen time should be managed within the context of other necessary activities for childhood development such as physical activity social contact, family time and sleep.
Blended or flipped environments also are not ideal in an elementary school setting because so much of teaching in these grades is dependent on modelling and direction. Students at this age need to hear, touch, see, feel and in some cases taste their world to learn about it. Teachers in this context are actively guiding that process.
Additionally, students at this age are not only expected to learn their ABCs in elementary school but also socialization, behavior management and self control are additional skills they must develop in order to be prepared for later grades.
Having said all of that, it is similarly illogical to ignore the vast and varied online resources, many of them free to use, that are designed specifically for the elementary school classroom. We will explore a number of the better online resource options focusing on behavior, reading and math. Near the end of the blog I will also explore some of the valuable resources for the professional development of elementary school teachers.
If you love to teach, then you should also love to learn. Ongoing professional development is not only a workplace requirement for teachers but a great opportunity to extend, expand and deepen their teaching practice.
There are a number of PD resources online specifically for elementary school teachers, many of which count as hours towards their personal PD program.
Webinars are a great way to get insight and experience “from the horse's mouth”. Many experienced and awarded educators are willing to share their stories and practices online in pre-recorded webinars. Find a number of free-to-view webinars here and here.
Before we can effectively bring blended learning tools into our classrooms, some of us need to improve our own abilities to interact with and use the various technologies and platforms available. A few places to start that learning include:
While elementary school students need a defined balance between tech and instruction, play and practice there is, as we often say on this blog, a sweet spot where technology can be seamlessly blended with more traditional techniques to create an optimum learning environment for even the youngest student.
In any event, the internet is also filled with real-world resources like forums, printables and PD information that will certainly enhance even the most unblended elementary school classroom.