I'm growing a plumeria (or frangipane, whichever you prefer to call it) from a stem. My brother has a red one in his yard that he brought back from Hawaii, and I have a white one which was given to me as a gift from him on his Hawaiian adventure. My tree is enormous. I really wanted a red one, so we decided to trade stems so we could propagate the desired color. Currently, mine looks like a green stick with about 5 leaves popping through the top of the stick. With time, what looks like a sad, struggling stem will transform into a beautiful tree with fragrant flowers wafting in the wind. Right now, my classroom (the hybrid entirety, not the physical one) looks like a stick with a leaf or two. Scraggly, pathetic, marginally green, but a leaf nonethless.
Hybrid learning requires 5 things which happen to be the same 5 things my plumeria needs.
1. Patience - nothing is moving at the same rate. Destination is the same, the rate is not. Make it work. Figure out a way to make it happen. But, you must have patience. Patience with technology. Patience with students. Patience with parents. Patience with colleagues and with yourself.
2. Diligence, a neighbor to patience- you have to keep watering the stem and trust it will grow. The results are not apparent day by day, but rather over a period of weeks. Keep faithfully teaching and working in the way you know is right, and over time, you will reap some rewards.
3. Vision - I keep working with my plumeria stems knowing that one day they will be the beautiful trees in my front yard that I need to finish off my tropical flower bed. I have to keep a picture of my students getting an acceptance letter from the college of their choice in my constant view. I have to keep a picture of my students graduating in the forefront of my mind. The beautiful end will help me realize the grind of the days until the end arrives, the grind of days which is often ugly and frustrating and long....did I mention long?
4. Balance - I have to balance the exposure to light, the intake of water and the addition of growth hormone to achieve the best results. I have to balance the engaging activities with the practice problems for a concept with an assessment tool that is authentic. I can't just teach and give practice without being engaging and I can't engage students to bring them nowhere. Balance is crucial. Is it hard to achieve balance? Yes, it is hard. Can it be done? Of course.
5. Attention to detail. I have to monitor the growth of the plant in relationship to the pot and soil in which it resides. I have to react accordingly. In the classroom, I have to monitor the growth of students relative to the place where we are working in the curriculum. I need to react accordingly. Hybrid requires that attention to detail coupled with flexibility and a willingness to problem solve for the benefit of students.
I know that this may seem simple as we may be so exhausted we can't consider one more thing. I have a Bible verse on my planner that speaks to me reminding me of these principles. "I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." This idea has carried me very far. I would have given up if I didn't believe that God would show goodness and blessing and life to me despite the circumstance. That is the essence of hybrid teaching --- grit. We want it in our kids, and now we have to demonstrate grit to them.
I have to have faith that in time, the sad looking stem of the education in my virtual environment coupled with the brick and mortar environment will one day be a beautiful result that has many blossoms.
Comments
Post a Comment