May I ask for a description of blended learning? I’ve never heard of it, and how it negatively affects students. I ask with respect and out of curiosity!
When I homeschooling my son in middle school, I used Saxon math. No calculators ever! And I instructed him to do as many of the problems in his head as he could. We are teaching our kids to always rely on paper, calculators, etc. I wanted him to use his noggin first.
In high school I worked at an ice cream shop. My boss would not let us use the register to determine change. It was the best thing that miserable jerk taught us.
The "element of student control" is the flaw in the system, IMO. Teachers no longer teach, they're facilitators. Students are now "learners". The vast majority of 13-14 YOs do not have the maturity to stay focused. They need leadership and guidance, that's where teachers come in.
All students at the school have been issued tablets, and I laugh when I get an email that my son was caught playing a game. What in tarnation did they expect?
I just got an idea for creating a year long curriculum based on the game "Civilization", a game I've played for 20 years. Thanks to a strong modding community, there's a bevy of historical figures that I had never heard of, such as John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough. As I read about his successful campaign known as the Battle of Blenheim, I noticed one of his victories was in the German town of Trarbach.
I lived in Traben-Trarbach for four years during my tour in Germany, and I never saw any mention or recognition of that battle. BTW, he was an ancestor of Winston...
The class would be based on all aspects of the game, from technologies, forms of government, historical figures, etc. At first glance, I can see kids going "wow, this class will be a breeze!" LOLOLOL, when they find out MY teaching methods. For example, when they earn a "Great Person", they'll have to answer a variety of questions about who-why-where, etc.
Same. Worked at a snack shop at a ball diamond from 10 years old to 15 (ahhhh - child labor) with no registers or calculators of any kind. The calculators started popping up about the time I left (this was 30 years ago).