Edpuzzle Book Club: A Review of Balance With Blended Learning by Catlin Tucker

There’s no question about it: one of the most difficult parts of being a teacher is developing a work-life balance.

If you’re on the endless treadmill of waking up before dawn, teaching a full day of classes, spending your afternoons and evenings grading and lesson planning (rinse, repeat), you know what we’re talking about. But what if there were a better way?

That’s exactly what Catlin Tucker’s new book, Balanced With Blended Learning, proposes. Read on to discover how life-changing this book really is!

Who Should Read Balance With Blended Learning

If your work has anything to do with the realm of education, chances are you’ll find something for you in Balance With Blended Learning.

Organized into chapters by theme with excellent book study questions at the end of each one, the book is perfect for:

• Anyone in school studying to become an educator (it might even be on your syllabus already!)
• New teachers who are feeling overwhelmed by the reality of teaching
• Teachers who are suffering from burnout and desperately need to reclaim their lives
• Administrators interested in helping their teachers achieve a better work-life balance and give students more autonomy
• Parents who want to help their children take more responsibility for their education

No matter what your background is in education, you’ll be able to take something away from this book.

Who is author Catlin Tucker?

For anyone who hasn’t encountered Catlin on Twitter or read her excellent blog, you’re missing out! A high school English teacher who was voted teacher of the year in Sonoma County, Catlin is now pursuing her doctorate. She also works as a blended learning coach to give teachers the same tools that revolutionized her teaching practice and speaks at educational conferences around the world.

If that weren’t enough, she’s also a best-selling author who’s published numerous other books on blended learning in addition to this one! And to top it all off – she’s a contributor to the Edpuzzle blog :)

What is Balance With Blended Learning about?

First of all, what is blended learning? To quote our expert, Catlin writes:

At its core, blended learning is a shift in control from teacher to learner. The goal of the various blended learning models is to give students more agency over the time, place, pace, and path of their learning.

In the book, Catlin explores topics related to blended learning such as the problems with traditional grading and how to remedy them with techniques like single skill rubrics, side-by-side assessments and grade interviews.

It also explores how to flip the learning process using videos and free up time to give your students personalized feedback through the station rotation model.

We guarantee you’ll have plenty of wow moments as you’re reading every chapter!

Top Takeaways from Balance With Blended Learning

After reading Catlin’s book, we were beyond inspired. Here are some of our top takeaways to give you some added motivation to pick up a copy:

1. You’ll look at grading in a whole new way. (Hint: say goodbye to “pointless” points!)
2. Discover the magic of side-by-side assessments and ask yourself, why am I grading this?
3. Teach your students the value of metacognition and the power of self-assessment – a game-changer!
4. Revolutionize the way you give feedback using techniques like the station rotation model and grade interviews.
5. Find out how to take your life back and stop dedicating every waking hour to grading. Follow in Catlin’s footsteps when she made the decision to stop taking grading home. (Read the book to see how it’s possible!)

You can get Balance With Blended Learning in e-book format or as a hard copy, but we want to know your thoughts! Make sure to tag us on Twitter with the hashtag #EdpuzzleBookClub so we can continue the conversation!