Moonshots in Education: Launching Blended Learning in the Classroom

“a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path or pace, and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home.”

website AGoogleADay.com gives students a chance to practice

Khan Academy’s software not only allows teachers to see the problems their students are answering correctly and incorrectly; it also provides a dashboard of data ranging from the amount of time students spent on a particular exercise, to the exact concepts that students rewind

Thus, the most important skill that a teacher can give a student in the 21st century is how to search intelligently on the web, how to find the information you are looking for quickly.

To transition to the 21st century, schools need to take a risk—they need a moonshot. They need to find a way to change the culture of the classroom from a teacher-directed model to a student-directed model. That is the basis of blended learning.

At Garfield Elementary, kindergartners sit in a circle and discuss conflicts with parents at home and how to respond to them. “Mommy, I don’t like when you scream at me,” a five-year-old boy learns to express through role play, with help from his peers.

two character traits that are positively correlated to success in life: grit and self-control. Grit is defined as sustained interest and effort toward long-term goals, and self-control involves the voluntary regulation of behavior, emotion, and attention in the presence of distractions or temptations.

Google Apps for Education,

The abilities to keep calm under pressure and to relate well with others are crucial for productive communication and collaboration. Moreover, creativity involves taking chances, overcoming obstacles, and delaying gratification. And in order to think critically, one must undertake processes of analysis and problem solving, which can be challenging

In some schools, social and emotional learning, or SEL, has been implemented as a strategy to equip students with the emotional and psychological skills that will critically affect achievement both in and outside of the classroom. These schools, such as Garfield Elementary in Oakland, California, and Leataata Floyd Elementary in Sacramento, conside