Howdy y’all,

Did you miss me? It’s been a wild month with a newborn (and the influx of family that goes with it), a half-marathon (and the debilitating sinus infection that went with it), and the impending doom of the end of a grading term! I’m sure many of you have been trudging through a marsh of student recommendations, too. 

Tomorrow I will be doing a presentation for  a district science conference on flipping the classroom, so I’ve got my blogging juices flowing again.  In the last entry I mentioned that this post would include some information about considerations I made, so let’s take it one step at a time.

1. Now that I have the means to make videos, what should the content of the videos be comprised of?

The big idea behind a flipped classroom is giving students access to the fundamentals of your content in a way that allows them to prepare for critical thinking successfully AND independently.  Since the critical thinking is meant to occur with teacher guidance and support IN the classroom, the content of the video does not need to explore the depths of a subject, but instead introduce students to academic vocabulary and help them make connections.  The rigor of the content demonstrated in the videos can scaffold throughout the year as students become acclimated to their responsibilities in a flipped classroom and as their content proficiency increases.

2. What can I use the videos for? Is it just to introduce new concepts?

“Flipping the Classroom” is not formulaic.  It is a dynamic interaction with your curriculum.  You need to assess what your students need and can handle and make it fit your style.  It absolutely requires some purposeful thinking about how the series of videos and subsequent lessons will unfold.  I have found that I can use videos to:

• Introduce students to concepts that will be further explored in class.

• Review concepts that were taught first in class and reinforced at home.

• Guide students through example problems to get them started on a more typical problem set.

• Provide students with information regarding lab safety, lab setup, and lab analysis to maximize student independence during investigations and in calculations.

• Demonstrate how to navigate through resources (using screencasts).

3. How often should I use videos?

I’m a pretty busy guy, but even if I had all the time in the world I probably wouldn’t make a video for every night of homework. As with any instructional technique, it is a tool used strategically when the teacher can see a clear benefit from its use.  Just because I can use a hammer to put a screw into a piece of wood doesn’t mean I should!

Let’s get back to how I’m a pretty busy guy. I’ve got to cut myself some slack every now and then.  In my first year of implementation, if I can make half the videos I would ideally like to have I will be in good shape.   By “flipping” my classroom, I have not suddenly become a better teacher,  I have just focused on providing more resources for students and protecting class time for some good head-scratching.  Also, there are just some lessons that don’t work as well in video.  I have introductory lessons/lectures that create “A-HA” moments for students, and I will not sacrifice that in-class joy for an at-home video just so I can move through curriculum faster.

4. Is there anyone that I can collaborate with?

Some reading I did about flipped classrooms indicated that students respond well to videos that star a familiar face, like their actual teacher.  I try to make sure that students see my face or hear my voice in videos.  It also ensures that the analogies and terms they hear in the video is consistent with my messaging in class. However, sometimes it’s just really nice to go and download a video that someone else made from YouTube.  They are usually much cooler videos than mine anyway!  I sometimes supplement my videos with other ones I find, too.

I had also read that students respond positively to videos in which there is some natural interaction (question/response) between two people.  This slows down the flow of content and simulates more of a conversation than a lecture, which is what would happen in class.  I wanted a coconspirator that I enjoy working with and had my same sense of adventure, so I asked a colleague/friend I had worked with at my first high school.  She readily agreed to be a part of this project and we have  nice, casual, and often corny exchanges in our chemistry videos.

Okay, so seems like I had a lot to say.  Stay tuned as I talk about holding students accountable and using more technology (iPads!!) in the classroom.  And wish me luck on my full marathon on Feb 19!

Just a quick note to say that...

Whew!  It is working!  :)

Summary: 

All students answered all questions on the test.  Before, a small number of students would leave a lot of questions untouched.  

Mistakes made are mostly small computational errors rather than large conceptual misunderstandings.  When the students corrected their tests, the process went much more smoothly.  This is likely because they are more comfortable consulting with peers now, they are more comfortable asking me for help, and they didn't have huge mistakes to correct.  

Overall, scores are better than they were with the old teaching model.  There are no huge gains and we aren't where I'm aiming yet, but I'm pleased because I can tell from their work that they are learning more.  

Cool thing:  I had them do the LTF Alg 1 lesson, "Exponential Functions Exploration" during that unit, and the students NAILED the questions about exponential functions that were on the test. In the future, the only thing I would change about the lesson is to have them draw the lines that "cut" the sheet down to size instead of actually cutting the page.  And that's just so they could use the same sheet (front for #1 and back for #2) for both explorations.  

Anyway, now I'm wondering if I should try some kind of pre-test + post-test approach.  Then again, the last thing my students need is more tests!  Off to make a new video....

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!