Ready to Blend
32 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratingsThis podcast is for the Guardians of the Internet Generation—the teachers, school leaders, and parents who are raising youth in a society filled with technology. We’ve got to get this right—our future depends on it.
I’m your host, Heather Clayton Staker, co-author of the book Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. I'm founder and president of Ready to Blend, based in Austin, TX. I write, speak, and train on how to use technology in schools.
In this podcast we'll discuss the whys and hows of introducing technological innovation into our children's lives.
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Episodes
31. Short Film: "Reflections"
May 26, 2021 03:18 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBPatience Nyanway is an aspiring college students in Texas. A few weeks ago Patience used her phone to interview children and parents in her neighborhood. She wanted to give them a voice so that they could share their feelings about this past school year, an unusual one for its widescale cancellation of in-person schooling. This podcast includes the audio from her short film. You'll hear Patience interviewing several families. To see the video version, go to https://www.readytoblend.com/p...
30. Online and Blended Learning Fundamentals: Learning from the Pioneers
April 12, 2021 19:57 - 1 hour - 69.1 MBAs the pandemic has required schools to innovate, including with online, blended, and hybrid models that are unfamiliar to them, too many educators have suffered from trying to reinvent the wheel. The alternative is to look at pioneering virtual and blended schools that have won hard-fought battles to design learning experiences that are happy and effective. Their successes and failures can lead the way for educators who are new to the online world. In this class, you’ll look backward at...
29. Helping Children Feel Safe to Share
March 16, 2021 02:51 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this class, Heather teaches three ways to build bridges that help learners connect across any divide they might be experiencing so that they feel safe enough to speak up and express themselves, whether at school or home. You’ll learn to use digital tools to give learners a bridge into conversations where they might initially feel foreign or shy. You’ll discover how transparent norms can serve as a bridge to encourage sharing and participation. And you’ll explore how to tie your group di...
28. Using Games to Support Children Socially and Emotionally
March 09, 2021 16:14 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBI've restructured this podcast as a class, so that each episode going forward will teach a skill to help you blend online learning into school and home in ways that nurture all children. Today's class is on using games to improve children's well-being. You'll hear evidence for why students need social and emotional intensive care right now. Then you'll listen to examples of teachers who are using games to connect together their community. You'll also hear an example of using games to reduc...
27. Where Do We Go from Here? with Atomi's Simon Hennessy
November 10, 2020 20:19 - 56 minutes - 52.6 MBWe are alive right at the moment when there's an opening of opportunity to retool the classroom for the end user. We have the will plus the disruptive innovations to do it. School leaders and entrepreneurs can make it happen. Today's show features the main excerpt from an interview Heather Clayton Staker did with Simon Hennessy for the Atomi podcast in which they discuss principles of disruptive innovation that will bring about the transformation. What You Will Discover - How noncons...
26. Developing Student-centered Teachers
October 27, 2020 02:13 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBWhat's the best way for school leaders to equip teachers with the skills they urgently need to transform their instructional model? For years many educators have longed for a more personalized, competency-based, student-driven learning model to replace the traditional classroom. This year, remote/hybrid learning has created unprecedented demand for finally taking that call seriously. In the ideal, educators would have a modular solution for PD--one that lets them order up the specific sk...
25. Hacks for Solving Esteem Gaps
June 05, 2020 23:38 - 29 minutes - 27.8 MBChildren want to make progress. They crave achievement—even if they do not appear to be motivated—provided that the basic levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are satisfied. The inequities in society grow worse for each day that children lack “flex” environments that are blended (online and face-to-face) that help them make progress seamlessly, whether they are in in-person or remote setups. Unlike ever before, it is becoming surprisingly simple to set up a Flex blended-learning model. In...
24. Hacks for Solving Social Belonging Gaps
April 29, 2020 02:47 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBFeeling somewhat lonely and depressed? Small wonder . . . the world is locked in social distancing, and humans brains are wired to suffer as a result. We can’t fully solve for social isolation right now. But we can avoid pitfalls that make loneliness worse. This episode addresses level three in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: the level of social belonging. We chat about how not to exacerbate children's (and our own) loneliness. For families, some types of screen time will increase heartbrea...
23. Hacks for Solving Safety Gaps
April 21, 2020 03:00 - 18 minutes - 17.7 MBThe shifting pandemic and school closures are opening safety gaps for many families and children, including personal, financial, and emotional insecurities. This episode offers a few hacks, in the sense of scrappy efficient shortcuts, for governments, schools, and families who are working to close safety gaps. Sometimes becoming resourceful in the face of adversity creates more strength and safety than before the adversity hit. What you will discover: * Why scoring high on the "Do Y...
22. Hacks for Solving Physiological Gaps
April 21, 2020 00:28 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MBSchool closures and lockdowns are causing major physiological gaps for some children in the form of food, exercise, and sleep shortages, while other children are benefiting physiologically. Caregivers and educators want to help solve for physiological gaps, but it's not always obvious how to do that. This episode offers a few hacks, or scrappy efficient shortcuts, for governments, schools, and families who are contending with physiological gaps. We are more powerful than we think when i...
21. How We Will #MindTheGap
March 31, 2020 12:05 - 39 minutes - 36.8 MBIt might take a village to raise a child, but with school closures from coronavirus, parents/caregivers shoulder 99 percent of the work. It's on them for meals, schooling, recreation, church, and socializing—often while trying to work, deal with sickness, or solve for unemployment. Given these challenges, this show focuses on how to support parents. Until we're through with the virus, children's well-being is dependent almost exclusively on the strength of their immediate family units. Y...
20. As Schools Cancel, Mind the Gap
March 22, 2020 05:38 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MBSchools throughout the world are closing because of COVID-19. Millions of schools are rushing to post their lessons and assignments online. But there's a better way to go about it. Abraham Maslow's famous "Hierarchy of Needs" points to the way. Maslow said that people are motivated to meet their physiological needs (food, shelter, exercise, shelter) first, before they can attend to higher needs. Then they want safety (personal, emotional, financial). Then comes belonging (family, friends...
19. Hurricanes and Other Hurdles with Guest Roy Moore
March 03, 2020 22:22 - 38 minutes - 35.8 MBGreat leaders help their organizations adjust. That's true for big events that require big adjustments, as well as for lesser events that still benefit from flexibility. Episode 19 features Roy Moore, principal of Notthingham Elementary in Texas. He adapted with ninja-like agility to succor his community in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. And his staff are learning to do the same thing in their learning design. Principal Moore goes into detail about Pathway Time, a 40-minute block set asid...
18. Data-Driven Learning with Michael Norton
February 20, 2020 01:26 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBYou may have heard of Data-Driven Instruction (DDI). But what is Data-Driven Learning? Data-Driven Learning will replace DDI, I predict. Why? Because today's youth need to respond entrepreneurially to the abundance of data that surrounds them. To thrive in the Information Age, they must learn to cut through the noise, discern what data matters, and respond accurately. Data-Driven Learning is like teaching a teenager how to read the gauges on the car dashboard herself, without the adult s...
17. How Clayton Christensen Improved My Life
February 05, 2020 16:20 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBOn Saturday I attended the funeral in Cambridge, Massachusetts of Clayton M. Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School who died on January 23, 2020 at the age of 67. Clayton Christensen is regarded as the father of innovation theory. His academic work shaped the principles of business strategy. I'm one of countless people Clay's work impacted. Clayton Christensen’s theories, and his life itself, shaped my life profoundly and for the better. Ahead for you on this podcast: *...
16. Flexible Learning Environments, part 1 with Michael Norton
January 22, 2020 21:05 - 26 minutes - 25.1 MBOur guest today is Michael Norton, manager of blended learning and academics at KIPP Texas, a network of 55 charter schools in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. Michael helped these classrooms transform into flexible learning environments where students have multiple options for how to make progress and teachers have several new ways of reaching and engaging each learner. The initial goal for KIPP Texas was for students to be ready for Algebra I by 8th grade. But the success of the...
15. Moving Beyond "Tech Integration," with guest Lisa Adams
January 08, 2020 20:47 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBCaution: If your school has embarked on “tech integration,” that’s a red flag. Often that phrase is code for cramming devices on top of the traditional instructional model. Multiple studies show that approach to be a waste of effort. In this podcast episode, Heather talks to Lisa Adams, assistant superintendent at Temple Independent School District in Texas. Lisa says that for years, Temple ISD was great at giving each student access to a device and giving teachers Google Classroom trainin...
14. Districts Can Support Principals, with guest Micha Villareal
December 10, 2019 03:09 - 35 minutes - 33.2 MBBringing about a major shift in teaching and learning might seem impossible in a large, urban school district. Processes tend to hold firm. But Ysleta Independent School District in southern Texas is bucking that pattern. Now in its fifth year of implementing a system-wide blended learning project, Ysleta ISD has transformed 10 campuses. Part of Ysleta's success stems from bold school principals, such as David Medina, the guest of our previous podcast (episode 13). But there's a second e...
14. Districts Can Support Principals, with guest Micha Villarreal
December 10, 2019 03:09 - 35 minutes - 33.2 MBBringing about a major shift in teaching and learning might seem impossible in a large, urban school district. Processes tend to hold firm. But Ysleta Independent School District in southern Texas is bucking that pattern. Now in its fifth year of implementing a system-wide blended learning project, Ysleta ISD has transformed 10 campuses. Part of Ysleta's success stems from bold school principals, such as David Medina, the guest of our previous podcast (episode 13). But there's a second e...
13. Finding Time to Transform Your School, with guest David Medina
November 06, 2019 19:24 - 33 minutes - 31.3 MBIf you walk into a Pasodale Elementary School classroom, you’ll see students scattered everywhere, each working on an independent or group objective. To someone unfamiliar with the model, it might look chaotic. But each student can explain what she’s working on and why. A growing number of teachers and principals want to make this shift. But how can they build it? How do they find the time? It takes considerable time to convert a traditional, teacher-led unit plan to a series of student-dr...
12. You Can Get Good Grades
October 22, 2019 20:29 - 29 minutes - 27.8 MBDo you know how to get good grades? Did you know that it's possible to get good grades even if you don't feel smart in some of your classes? This podcast episode is talking to students—to high school, middle school and even elementary school students who might be worried about how to get good grades. We'll talk about four basic strategies that will set you up for success, and then five power behaviors that will help you take your grades to the next level. One of the challenges that might...
11. School at the Atomic Level, featuring Prenda School
August 15, 2019 15:56 - 54 minutes - 50.3 MBPrenda School is becoming the largest network of America's tiniest micro-schools. According to Kelly Smith, founder of Prenda School, sometimes tiny things can cause outsized effects. A former student of nuclear engineering at MIT, Kelly says that operating a micro-school reminds him of splitting an atom, a process that releases incredible amounts of energy. Kelly sees a similar phenomenon at his schools. Students don't learn the standards one course or lecture at a time. Instead, they...
10. Opening a School, featuring Slope School
August 08, 2019 03:55 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBImagine you're in charge of building a new school from the ground up. You've worked on it all year and now it's time to open the doors to your first class of 4-13 year olds. What is your life like right now? In this podcast, we'll hear from Matthew Clayton as he faces this exact scenario. Matt is founder of Slope School, opening this month in Provo, Utah. It's part of the Acton Academy network, a fast-growing micro-school model that began in Austin, Texas and now has over 200 offshoots. ...
9. Shorter School Days, featuring Tesla Academy
August 01, 2019 00:47 - 1 hour - 58 MBHow much time should teenagers spend in school? Is your teen over-served by the nonstop schedule at your local comprehensive high school? This podcast features guest Brad Barber, founder of Tesla Academy, who takes us on a tour of his program in Orange County, Calif. Tesla Academy is a low-cost microschool that serves professional surfers, elite soccer teams, T.V. actors, and dozens of formerly average students who have now become exceptional learners. Heather begins with an overview of ...
8. What School Could Be, with guest Ted Dintersmith
July 17, 2019 18:05 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBWhat could schools be? Best-selling author and film producer Ted Dintersmith contends that the 20th-century school design does a disservice to children today. Schools should be retooled, starting by de-emphasizing testing. “Low-level tests prepare children to be good at exactly what artificial intelligence excels at,” according to Dintersmith. “What if our measures of success actually impair children for their future?” In this podcast, Heather Clayton Staker and Ted Dintersmith discuss w...
7. Competency-Based Learning
July 04, 2019 04:07 - 26 minutes - 24.9 MBTime. It's so valuable. Often we feel we don't have enough of it. How can schools make the most of their learners' time? This podcast focuses on competency-based learning, an idea whose time has come. In a competency-based system, learners move from one level to the next based on their own choices and timing, not based on the school calendar. Over 360 studies show that competency-based learning significantly helps children. To understand the idea, Heather takes you on a journey through f...
6. Summer Phone RAPS
June 26, 2019 01:35 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBSummertime can mean more cellphone time for kids, and that can mean more anxiety, depression, and emotional distress. In this episode, Heather shares four strategies for how to set up kids for success with their phones during the summer. She shares the four-part RAPS system: Relationships — Discover your teens' love language and speak it to them. Awareness — Create an open dialogue about cellphone use. Protection — Set up guardrails to make it not so hard. Sustaining — Keep this proces...
5. Personalized Learning with Shawn Rubin
June 18, 2019 20:47 - 39 minutes - 36.8 MB"But plain old classrooms worked for me!" That's one of the common objections adults raise to the idea of replacing the factory-based classroom with a personalized model. In this episode, you'll hear a discussion between Heather Clayton Staker and Shawn Rubin, Chief Education Officer of the Highlander Institute, on the topic of personalizing learning. Heather and Shawn talk about Shawn's idea that a personalized strategy has three legs: pacing, agency, and differentiation. Then they look a...
4. Digitizing Classrooms
June 05, 2019 20:32 - 32 minutes - 30.6 MBThe effort to digitize classrooms is often fraught with expense and disappointment. Schools have spent well over $100 billion on computers, but often find their investment does not pay off. The good news is that it's possible to use technology to create school designs that were completely unimaginable a few decades ago. But it takes the right model and the right leader, both at school and home. This episode focuses on the problem of "cramming" technology into children's lives and suggest...
3. Disruptive Innovation
May 25, 2019 19:59 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBWhat's the future of schools? Is online learning a fad or will it transform teaching and learning? What essentials do schools and individuals need to know? This podcast introduces the Theory of Disruptive Innovation, a brilliant theory that Professor Clayton M. Christensen of Harvard Business School developed to help us be able to predict the future of innovations with greater reliability. This theory shines a light on why online learning is changing the way the world learns. During the ...
2. Plan before you Purchase
May 21, 2019 22:11 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBThis episode focuses on the single most important question to ask as you consider whether to purchase technology (computers, tablets, phones...) for your school or family. In The Blended Workbook, Michael B. Horn and I provide a 20-question "Interest and Readiness Assessment" that you can use to analyze whether a tech investment is right for you. But, ultimately, those 20 questions do not matter as much as one specific question about your readiness for technology. Let's look at that que...
1. Owning Technology
May 21, 2019 20:24 - 36 minutes - 51.2 MBHow much tech is the right amount of tech for schools and families? Most homes and school are brimming with technology, including computers, tablets, phones, and TVs. Some people embrace this trend and race to expand their WiFi and enlarge their screens. Others are afraid of technology, noting its real risks to optimal physical and emotional development. This inaugural podcast, hosted by acclaimed author and K-12 education expert Heather Clayton Staker, explores the trade-offs for scho...