A most exciting thing has happened, and it didn’t happen in my classroom.  I’m away from school most of this week because I’m serving on my district’s Strategic Planning Committee to create the Big Vision for the next five years.  (My students are taking some time to recall and review what they learned in the fall semester while I'm out.)  Anyway, the wonderful thing is that a fellow committee member is the other teacher in our district who flipped her classroom this year!  

She is an 8th grade science teacher, and she flipped her classes in August like Robert did.  Her students watch videos she makes, so we have been talking about the process.  "Do you give them one day or two to watch the video?"  "What do you do with the kids who persist in not remembering to watch?"  It's very energizing to have someone local, a kindred spirit, with whom to compare notes and brainstorm.  Of course, we aren't getting much time to chat during the committee meetings, but since our schools are 20 miles apart this is an improvement!  

A neat aspect of her class set-up is that her students report their work (especially on projects) by blogging about it, and they are expected to critique honestly, politely, and constructively the work of their peers.  The powerful truth I'm discovering about flipping is that every teacher finds his or her own way to do it.  Sure, some of that variation is due to content area or grade level or particulars about one's school design or curriculum requirements, but mostly we flip in ways that reflect our own distinctive teaching styles and drives.  I've been looking at different videos that teachers are making and posting for Algebra 1, and we're all different!  Sometimes you see the teacher and the material is already written out in advance on whiteboards that are shuffled through as the work is explained.  Sometimes you see the teacher at the board, writing as he or she speaks, so you're seeing the lesson as you would see it in the classroom.  Sometimes, it's Khan-like... neon on black background.  I know that the next videos I make are going to be a real Version 2.0 step up in quality, because I've learned so much about the process just in these few weeks.  

My next task is to run the numbers, to examine results.  The first test is graded and in the books, but I haven't looked closely at whether student performance has improved over last semester's traditional approach.  I'll be back in a few days with an update!