Teachers | Blended Learning | Curriculum Strategy & Adoption | Classrooms | Innovative Leadership
I remember as a kid wondering why there was a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day but not a Kid’s Day. Now as a mom of two I understand why - every day really is kid’s day! At least in my house 365 days a year they get to make unreasonable demands and we cater to them, not only to avoid tantrums (my oldest is nearly 3) but also because we love them and want to celebrate their mere existence every day. So we don’t need to set aside a special day for our kids, but rather need to take time every day to appreciate them.
Today Digital Learning Day is being celebrated across the country. A lot of us at Ed Elements had to pause and think “What? Isn’t every day digital learning day?” The Official DLD is dedicated to raising awareness and excitement about digital learning, and promoting the mission of “giving every child the opportunity to learn in a robust digital environment everyday, with the goal of success in college and a career.” And while at Ed Elements this is something we think about and do every day, we like the idea of celebrating it and encouraging others to do the same. So today we will celebrate it too.
Some of our teachers are asking their students to write about what they like about blended learning - you can check out what they had to say here. You will see that while we often talk about blended learning as blending instruction and technology, some of our students talk about it blending “learning and fun.” Kids talk about liking to see their own progress and know they are improving, something we know excites our teachers too. In fact, we also asked teachers to tell us how blended learning impacts them, and you can see some of those responses here too. They like seeing progress and being able to differentiate instruction. They like that their kids are more engaged, and they are (mostly) confident that at the end of the year the test results will come back higher than the year before.
We wanted to set aside the time today to celebrate digital learning, and all of the teachers and leaders we work with across the country that are using it to transform their classrooms and schools but when February 6th rolls around and Digital Learning Day is over, we are going to keep celebrating, keep advocating, and keep working hard to provide services and a platform that makes digital learning scalable and sustainable. Because digital learning is important to us every day, and will be until every student has the opportunity to experience it. Happy Digital Learning Day!
