Welcome to the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. Each week we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self-paced, and mastery-based learning to better serve their students. In this episode, Toni Rose is joined by Game Development Design School’s principal, Crystal Deaver to discuss how she implemented a blended, self-paced, mastery-based learning environment school-wide. 

Educators and stakeholders often wonder how to implement a blended, self-paced, mastery-based learning environment school-wide. Our implementers ask how they can get their school leaders and colleagues to buy-in to this model to better serve all their learners. Crystal gives us some reminders, ideas, and hard truths when trying to implement a new teaching and learning model school-wide. Here are 5 key takeaways to keep in mind when considering implementing MCP school-wide. 

#1 Be Strategic

Introduce the model to a group of teachers and align the model with school goals and mission. Crystal invited her guiding coalition (department heads / team leads) to check out the free course and come back with questions, thoughts, and challenges. When they came back together, they answered questions and created a way to support teachers who may have similar questions. Crystal provided four opportunities for teachers to partake in the Mentorship Program. She handpicked the first group to start the conversation: her guiding coalition and two teachers who have a strong voice within the school community. The second round consisted of teachers who were hesitant at first but wanted to learn more about the model, based on the positive things that students have been saying about the model. The third cohort consisted of teachers who didn’t want to go through the virtual mentorship program during the school year. The fourth cohort is for new teachers who are coming in. 

#2 Outsource: It’s okay that you don’t know it. We’ll learn together

Acknowledge that shifting from the traditional model to a blended, self-paced, and mastery-based learning is new and will be challenging. We will all have questions and that’s okay. Crystal shared that she knows she’s never implemented the model before; therefore, her knowledge is limited. She doesn’t mind outsourcing so that her teachers feel supported and successful in shifting their teaching and learning practices. She reminds her teachers that we’ll learn together and make mistakes.

#3 Don’t Doubt Yourself & Trust the Process

Not everyone is going to be on board when it comes to implementing blended, self-paced, and mastery-based learning environments, and that’s okay. Crystal gets vulnerable with us and says, “It feels like failure when someone doesn't want to come along with the new programming that you're going to implement.” She lost teachers who refused to implement the model, and even though it’s not the best time to do that, she also acknowledges that it’s part of the process. It doesn’t mean the teachers weren’t “good” teachers; it just means that those teachers were looking out for themselves the best way they know how. 

Crystal doubted herself in so many different instances, and that’s okay. She had an assistant principal to remind her to breathe and trust the process. Again, this is all a part of the process. 

#4 Give Teachers Time to Plan

Time and time again, we talk about how it takes time to shift, to implement, to make a difference. Teachers need to be given the time to plan for a blended, self-paced, mastery-based learning environment. To some teachers, all of this is new. To others, all of this is a reminder of what they already know. Crystal gives her teachers time by cutting staff meetings. She has implemented the model in her own leadership practice by recording a short video that teachers can access whenever and a mastery check to ensure that teachers understood what they just watched. She also created the twin teacher model (consulting her Guiding Coalition first, of course!) so that each teacher gets a 3-hr planning block. Because MCP allows for the learning to continue regardless of the teacher being there, it makes sense for teachers to partner up and watch each other’s classes so that they can each plan. This creates more of a buy-in from teachers and creates a collaborative and interdependent environment. 

#5 Don’t Look at MCP as an Initiative

Initiative has had a negative connotation in education. Educators and stakeholders are often hesitant when it comes to a new ‘initiative’. Crystal pushes us to not call MCP an initiative, but rather, “Just say, like, this is the learning and teaching practices that are going to happen in this specific school, and this is just how things are going to be done to max out student growth.” 

Typically, when something is an initiative, we put a time constraint on when we should be getting results. Crystal reminds us that there is no time limit to shift the way we’ve been teaching and learning. 

Learn more about Game Development Design School.

For more tips on launching your own Modern Classroom, or for introducing this instructional model to your students,
read this blog article!

Our Guest

Crystal Deaver has been in education for 13 years. She was a HS Physics and Chemistry teacher, instructional coach, assistant principal, and is currently a principal for Game Development Design School located in Burleson, TX. 

Our Host

Toni Rose (she/they) strives to be the teacher that she never had growing up. She knew that she always wanted to be a teacher when she was little, and because of her love for reading and writing and struggles of learning English as a Filipinx immigrant, she became an English teacher. Toni Rose focuses on anti-racist, anti-bias work and wants to create a safe space for everyone around her. She especially loves being a thought partner for teachers. Toni Rose has taught in Atlanta, Baltimore City, DC, and currently resides in Washington state. 

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