A new method that allows students to learn with teacher-created videos and progress at their own pace is showing promising results in Chesapeake.
The school division partnered with the Modern Classrooms Project last year to train teachers at three middle schools on the model. More than 30 teachers participated and began using it at Hickory, Oscar Smith and Western Branch middle schools.
One of the biggest differences between traditional teaching and an MCP classroom is that a class does not center around a teacher giving a daily lecture. Instead, teachers create shorter instructional video lessons — and other digital content — that they upload online. Students then come in and pick up where they each left off. One student could be on lesson 13, while another who perhaps missed a few days while sick could catch up on lesson 9.
Chief of Schools Jacqueline Miller told board members this week that the model lets teachers “duplicate themselves digitally, allowing them to more freely respond to the various needs of students in their classroom.”