The year is winding down.  As my students prepare for their final qualitative analysis investigation and prepare for their final exams, I am able to take some time to reflect a little on the year.  Here are some things that I have found by interviewing students (I am currently editing a video capturing student perspectives):

• All of the students said that they liked having the videos available as a resource, regardless of the amount of time spent utilizing them vs. written notes.  Some students watched the videos over and over, while others only watched it to complete the video guide in compliance with my homework policy.
• Many students asked that there be more videos (they conveniently did not ask for more video guides to accompany them..) that went further in depth.  I kept my videos pretty entry-level this year as far as content goes.  The critical thinking went down mostly in class.  I am thinking that next year, I will beef up the videos to REVIEW the application of content. I may choose to create a classification system for videos (lab videos, understanding videos, answer-key videos, review videos, etc).  I’m open to feedback. 
• Some students said that they enjoyed the videos that showed the interaction between myself and Mrs. Lozano.  However, for more math-based problems, they preferred to be able to see my work up close (as in the document camera videos). I have recently purchased a MacBook Pro and a Wacom writing tablet so I can do more videos like Melissa!  This summer will be a fun time for me to explore some more crafty digital editing, although I have a sinking suspicion I’m going to discontinue many of the videos I made this year.  Seriously, I’m not reinventing the wheel, but it feels like I work at a wheel factory some days.
• Some students said that they liked being able to write questions about the content in a specified section of their video guides, but that it wasn’t really possible for me to answer them all.  I am thinking of creating an online forum for students to post threads that I moderate.  I think this will allow for it to be interactive both before and after the class period the video is meant to prepare them for.  It will also help keep content rather organized and archived. I’m going to see if Weebly can host a forum rather than just a blog.  Does anyone know of another place I might look?
• Due to student feedback I am also considering including practice problems, mostly in word-problem form, at the end of the video guide.  This would necessitate posting answer keys so it may be more than I can chew, but it seems like a good practice.  There just wouldn’t be enough time to go over EVERYTHING in class.  Another option is to incorporate the problems into the videos and prompt students to pause the video and solve the problem and resume the video when they are ready to hear the explanation of the answer.  Clearly, the questions would have to be rather simple in design with this method. 

I have had some pretty wicked brainstorms about the use of audio files (without video) for next year.  This would not replace, but continue to supplement my in-class curriculum and video lessons.  Stay tuned, because my ideas are getting me totally excited and I think you will like my train of thought.  I’ll also be posting a blog about the use of the ShowMe App!  Thanks for reading!

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!

I found my mind swimming and brimming with ideas for increasing student accountability and content retention after learning about the “flipped classroom” approach.  I had a moment of vertigo, as if looking down from some great height I was unsure how to descend, before I decided that I would explore this path freely even if less equipped than the pioneering “flippers” I was following.  I steadied myself for a heavy dose of path-less-taken or path-not-present and trusted in my capacity to orient myself in even the most unpredictable topography.  With my pedagogy as my compass and a bag of goodies amassed over my years in the classroom, I started to take my first steps.  Here were some of the things I encountered:

1)      I needed a way to record lessons-Luckily, with a baby on the way (born 1/14/12) I had already budgeted for a camcorder! I bought myself a Canon Vixia HFR20 HD Camcorder.  The guy warned me that I would have to go through some extra steps to get the video into Standard Definition (SD) but it would be worth having the HD for my daughter. Luckily it came with a tripod as part of the package deal.  I already had a Jing account for screencast (there are lots of competing software out there that do the same thing).  My classroom is outfitted with an innovation station that has a Lumens document camera that can record video to the PC.  With a USB desk microphone I was set!

2)      I needed a way to process the video lessons – Once I recorded a lesson with my video camera, here’s a run-down of what I did to get the video into a workable file size.

1. Convert the video to standard definition (SD) on my camcorder.

1. Transfer the files from my camcorder to PC desktop computer (files are .mpg) at this point.

1. Edit/Compress videos into roughly 4-6 min clips (so files would still have a decent resolution and stay under 100MB) using Windows Movie Maker and save them to my computer.

1. Since files now have the .wmv extension (windows media video), I decided to go the extra (often unnecessary step) of converting it to the more universal .mpeg extension.  This makes the files playable on macs, too.  For this I used the free website, www.convertfiles.com. 

3)      I needed a way to get the videos into student homes – Luckily all but one of my students has access to the internet at home.  I did some internet research for file hosting and website creation, and was momentarily discouraged by the cost and limited bandwith available.  I’m on a budget, afterall!  I finally settled on a Weebly Pro account because it was cheap ($2.99/mo), allowed me to upload unlimited files (each with a maximum of 100 MB), and had unlimited bandwith.  I found it to be extremely user-friendly despite the somewhat boring layout options. The ability to drag ‘n drop elements like files, text, video, and audio made publishing the videos  (post-editing) a breeze.   You can check out my website at www.keepgonzoweird.weebly.com. If you are wondering about that one student, I informed him (and his mother) about the resources available here at school.  I also offered to put the videos on a flash drive which I could provide, but he never took me up on it.

At this point, I was done practicing with the technical aspects of posting videos and I needed to start making some.  The next blog will describe some of the considerations I made as I engaged in that process.

Year after year, I have students who show up to class complaining that they spent two hours working on the problem set I assigned for homework.  They are frustrated by the rigorous workload they perceive and I am flabbergasted that a student would spend so long poring over a task designed to take only 20 minutes!  I prod a bit; asking if they looked at the example problems we did in class or if they referred to their notes.  Invariably they just stare at me with the I’m-so-lost-I-didn’t-know-where-to-begin look on their faces as the words “..but I understood it when you went over it in class” spill out of their pouty mouths.  

It’s a discouraging scenario for students, and a disheartening pit in my stomach.  Didn’t I scaffold that lesson appropriately? Didn’t I do a purposeful sequence of problems? Didn’t I use quality questioning strategies to engage them in the problem-solving process I was modeling?  It’s an endless list of evaluative self-checks that often culminates in the stale, defeatist, “I just don’t know what more I can do.” I have a feeling you are reading this with a great deal of empathy right now. The challenge to provide students with an array of resources robust enough to dig deeply into critical thought as new state standards continue to expand the breadth of required content seems at times insurmountable. In the strictest sense, my only goal is to help students reach success in ways that affirm their capacity for  academic growth. Easier said than done, indeed. 

According to the definition I crafted for myself in my first blog, “flipping the classroom” IS my way to:

• Promote student accountability
• Increase student access to a valuable resource, me!
• Ensure reasonable and realistic work that students are responsible for in the preliminary acquisition of content knowledge.
• Protect more class time for meaningful student/teacher and student/student interactions.
• Establish a climate of student success and support in an abstract, technical course.
• Support students who are absent from my class for school-related purposes or otherwise.
• Fulfill, and extend beyond, some of the modifications I am asked to provide to special populations.
• Make my teaching public to a larger audience than students (including parents and fellow educators).

In my opinion, “flipping the classroom” IS NOT:

• Purely a technological issue.
• An approach that works the same for every lesson.
• A substitute for in-person formative assessments/dialogue on EVERY concept.
• An easy fix to your curriculum time-crunch.
• A system that works universally well for every student.
• A stand-alone strategy with a unique pedagogical design.

In my next blog, I will be discussing some of the most basic logistic needs and considerations for flipping a classroom. For now, I’m off to record some lessons!

So here we are.  The year is 2012.  The first days in January are ripe with resolutions, reflections, and hopefully little regret.  In the spirit of the new year, I wanted to begin this blogging bonanza with a few introductory thoughts.

Perhaps my favorite thing about being a teacher is the vast pedagogical playground that can unfurl around even the smallest lesson.  If I am the architect of this educational playscape I must consider the tools at my disposal. Do I choose the metaphoric slide, or the teeter-totter? It is easy to find myself overwhelmed by the magnitude of the design and the endless stream of new advances.  There will always be a shinier slide, or perhaps a more ergonomic swing.  Throw yourself into the analogy for a second and you might find it fitting that in our classrooms we must create a space where students are stimulated, can explore, investigate, and find new pathways.  Our safety features must be up to code, our structure (pedagogical content knowledge, right?) is modern and clean, and parents must trust that their child will return home undamaged and with the possibility of a second (or fifth) chance to demonstrate the ability to swing across the monkey bars without falling.

LTF has helped me to shift my instructional paradigm by changing the role of teacher from lecturer to facilitator, thereby changing the state of the student from passive to active.  This is my ninth year in education, and I feel like I am just starting to understand the way the very many cogs shift and spin and connect.  Nancy Schunke, a marvelous teacher I met in a chemistry training, turned me on to the notion of not only shifting my practice, but flipping it.  Here’s my personal, and ever changing, definition for what she inspired me to try:

Flipping the Classroom:  (v) changing the instructional approach to provide appropriate resources for students at home in order to capitalize on critical thinking opportunities only available within the social construct of the classroom. 

In the posts to follow I hope to address the following (and more):

1. Reasons for flipping a classroom.
2. Logistics.
3. Considerations for lessons.
4. My experiences with putting it in practice in the Fall of 2011.
5. Updates as I move forward with my approach in 2012 and beyond!

I look forward to your comments, suggestions, and questions.