Teacher Spotlight - Jumping in With Two Feet at Bethel Hanberry Elementary School

Mrs. Corbett is new to Richland Two this year and of the 21 years she has been in education, this is her first year in a 1:1 classroom. In a little over 3 months, she has successfully embraced 1:1 and Blended Learning. She integrates traditional face to face instruction with online learning in her 5th-grade classroom. She originally heard about "playlists" while attending the New to Two training in July and it intrigued her. Now if you are not familiar with playlists, it is a "checklist" or "Hyperdoc" of work/activities that allow students to have some control over their learning, whether it is over the pace or path of their learning. She does what every good teacher does and tweaks these playlists as she goes, going as far as to get feedback from her students to make those minor improvements. She started blending units for Social Studies and because she had such great success she quickly transitioned her science instruction to blended in just 3 months. Blended Learning allows Mrs. Corbett to support her students in a different way, whether it is scaffolding the playlist for the students or meeting in small groups more frequently.

A visit to Mrs. Corbett’s class at Bethel Hanberry Elementary School finds students responsible and engaged in his or her own learning. What does Mrs. Corbett think about the changes she has made in her teaching style? She says she is having fun. She is seeing the students grow in their learning. The level of thinking and conversations my students engage in is incredible. They have more time to work on projects and opportunities to think outside the box.

Keep up the great work Mrs. Corbett!