How to Use a Hybrid Lesson in Your Drama Classroom Tomorrow

I’m a creative and imaginative person. If you follow my blog, you’ll know that when I was ten years old I decided I would direct Mary Poppins in my backyard and have my father hire a helicopter to fly me into the yard near the forsythia.

Yes, I’m that kind of creative.

I get an itch in my fingers if I’m not creating something. Usually, I can appease this creative itch by cooking something new or coloring in a coloring book or developing a new product for drama teachers.

Author Susan Vreeland thinks, “Painting feeds the eye just as poetry feeds the ear, which is to say that both feed the soul.”

I agree. Without being creative and imaginative, I am pretty unhappy.

Yet, even with this new interest of mine in developing drama education resources, I was becoming a bit stale.

I’ve been making drama lessons and adapting some of my former lessons for two years. Two years and 220 products later, I have created quite a library for the busy drama teacher to use. If you are interested in checking them out, grades second to twelve, go here: Dramamommaspeaks Store

Enter Boom Learning

Among the many resources I used in my classroom in the past, recently I’ve learned how to make word walls, growth mindset posters, one pager assignments, word searches, short biographies, Broadway musicals units, Google slides, etc.

Lately, I’ve been interested in digital task cards. These puppies are HOT in the education market. There’s great interest in using them in the classroom because I think we all know our students are going to have at least six months to a year of distance learning.

Because of this, I thought about what I could create for distance learning in particular hybrid learning.

Boom Learning is a website of digital task cards for all subjects and grade levels. They are called Boom Cards. Here is their description,

“Boom Cards are interactive lessons created by teachers like you. Using our platform, you can easily create Boom Cards to use in your class, or sell them in our marketplace. made for teachers and parents Teachers can use Boom Cards in the classroom or parents can use them at home.”

I have to say these digital task cards are really cool. Teachers assign the cards and the students work through a set. Without them realizing it, the students grasp a concept (through short games) or practice a skill.

Hybrid Learning and Differentiation

As I mentioned, I’m a creative person. I got to thinking………………is there some way to teach both through digital task cards AND through instruction from the teacher?

Of course!

As usual whenever I blog, I searched the internet and found this helpful definition of Hybrid Blended Instruction from Schoology.com says:

“Beyond differentiation in terms of content, process, product, or modifying the traditional learning environment, blended hybrid learning combines face-to-face instruction with some form of “computer-mediated instruction.” Blended hybrid learning “has the opportunity to provide personalized instruction with some element of student control over path, pace, time, and place.” Thus, it is a mode of instruction that adds a significant amount of student agency to learning that is not otherwise possible through in-person differentiation, which still occurs synchronously and, in practice, largely at the direction of the teacher.”

How do I use hybrid blended instruction in my drama classroom?

Primarily, this hybrid blended instruction could be used with drama subjects which could be best taught with limited but not limited to topics such as the history of scenic design, stage properties, lights, costumes, etc.

The first hybrid lesson I developed was my Costume Design with Fairy Tale Characters. I adapted parts of my PDF lesson to make it.

Drama Lesson: Costume Design with Boom Cards!

For Distance Learning–

It’s a three-step process. First, the teacher assigns the student to view a portion of a video which demonstrates the costume design concepts. Next, she assigns the Boom Cards! for the student to study prior to the assignments. Finally, the teacher charges the student to design a costume for a fairy tale character and complete the creative writing assignment. This lesson can last one or two days.

Included in the PDF product:

Letter to Teacher
Rationale for Teaching Costume Design
Costume Design Template (Female)
Costume Design Template (Male)
Writing Assignment Sheet
Writing Assignment Sheet Examples
Sources
Video Links

Included in the Boom Cards! product:

16 Boom Cards which include the history of costume design
True/false questions to secure the learning as the student progresses through them

For the Blended Classroom

This is a definite paradigm shift for a drama teacher. We are used to doing all the teaching ourselves. However, if other teachers in a school are using digital learning in their classes the students may adapt quickly to our use of them.

What are the benefits for the teacher?

It frees up your time to take attendance, speak to individual students about their progress in class, take a break for! a few minutes!
The digital task cards are self grading. A teacher checks the students’ knowledge on a subject without having to grade another set of papers. Yet, they are continuing to teach the students.

What are the cons to the Hybrid Blended Classroom?

According to Schoology.com

“….the blended hybrid classroom must bring true computer-mediated instruction into the mix, creating learning outcomes that aren’t possible through traditional methods. It takes technology infrastructure, planning, and hard work to make that ideal a reality.”

In other words it is going to take some time to prepare the lesson, accept the paradigm shift and conquer! In the long run, I think you’ll be glad you did. Until then, lean on me for help.

Hey, if I can do it then so can you?

If you would rather use just the digital task cards without the hybrid lesson, you can find them here:

Here are three sets of digital task cards which may come in handy for you. (Tap on them to see their entire description.)