Lawrence Quail Run Elementary teacher Paula Barr receives the Blended and Online Teacher of the Year award Tuesday at the International Association for K-12 Online Learning symposium in Orlando.

After having taught using traditional teacher-led instruction for 30 years, Lawrence elementary school teacher Paula Barr was about to try a different method — called blended learning — that also uses online material and individual or small-group work.

“As a traditional teacher, all my 25 sponges sat at their desks and I poured into them everything that I thought they needed to know — I decided when, how and how much,” Barr said. “As a blended learning teacher, I take my sponges and throw them in the pool.”

It has been three years since Barr, who teaches second grade at Quail Run Elementary School, was selected as one of 40 teachers in the district to begin using the blended learning method in their classroom, and this week she was named the Blended and Online Learning Teacher of the Year.

Lawrence elementary school teacher Paula Barr

“It’s thrilling that this deserved recognition of Paula’s journey will draw attention to what we see as a model for successful 21st century teaching and learning,” said Rick Doll, superintendent of Lawrence public schools, in a news release.

The International Association for K-12 Online Learning recognized Barr for her innovative teaching in blended learning, and presented the annual award to her on Tuesday at its symposium in Orlando, Fla. The education technology company Blackboard, in cooperation with the Lawrence school district, nominated Barr for the award.

The district’s blended learning classrooms use Blackboard’s online learning platform to post material — including reading material, images, links, videos, quizzes and tests — for each lesson.

One of the most important aspects of the blended learning method is choice, Barr explained. Students can work through lessons at their own pace, choose between working individually or in a small groups, and with or without teacher-led instruction. Barr said the method teaches skills that students will need in the real world.

“Students in a traditional classroom often will look to the teacher for all the answers,” she said. “What I’m trying to do is get these kids ready for a world where that is not what happens: you don’t just go to your teacher and expect the answer, go to your boss and expect the answer.”

Instead, Barr said her job is to direct them to use Blackboard or online research to find the answer themselves, and if they’ve made that effort, then she’ll sit down with them.

“It’s not that I don’t want to help them, it’s that I want them to develop their own confidence and self-reliance,” she said. “It empowers them.”

This week’s award is not the first recognizing Barr, who has been teaching in the Lawrence district for the past 20 years of her 33-year tenure. Barr was named Lawrence Teacher of the Year in 2014, received the Lawrence Schools Foundation’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004 and the Vicki Larason Landman Equity in Education Award in 2000.

“Parents and colleagues are in awe of her classroom and the work her students produce,” said Samrie Devin, Quail Run Elementary principal.

And the district would like to see more classrooms functioning like Barr’s.

“Lawrence Public Schools have committed to replicating the constant creative buzz of student engagement, collaboration and achievement found in [Barr’s] classroom throughout our district,” Doll said.