Virtual Teachers

I started to think about the flipped classroom after seeing a TED TV special on the Khan academy a year ago. I had been looking for a way to give my students ownership of their learning experience.  I’ve often felt that my strength as a storyteller has allowed me to entertain and engage students during lectures and I was successful with some students but not with as many as I wanted to be. Many of my students seemed to be going through the motions of learning, writing down notes and completing worksheets. Further, students that were having difficulty with homework would often give up at home and be frustrated when they received a low grade on their homework. This motivated me to explore the topic by reading Bergmann and Sam’s Flip your Classroom.  The premise of the method described in the book is to record a PowerPoint or lecture style lesson and post it online for students to view before the next class. Students are encouraged to pause the video and view it as many times as necessary to gain understanding of the concepts. The following day, class time can be spent answering questions generated by the previous night’s video, and also on activities and collaborative work to support concept mastery. Since teachers don’t have to spend time lecturing, they have time to work with individual students or small groups during that time.  I started to think about the details of exactly how I would apply this method to my 10^th grade Biology class. I started researching science educators that used the flip method. I found that they had several things in common. Most importantly, they all redirected attention away from the teacher and put it on the learner.

Many teachers spoke of persuading students to turn off “distractions” while they were watching the video and use a note taking method such as Cornell to record questions that come up during the video for discussion in class the next day. Others spoke of the reception they received from students and the overall satisfaction they ultimately felt as time passed and students were more successful.

OK, in my Dad’s words- Nothing to it but to do it.  On Mondays, my students always receive an outline of the activities to come for that week.  This week will look different from the last one they received. There is no time set aside for lectures. Instead, there is group discussion time where they will share the 5 questions they developed while watching the video. I will be going over how to take Cornell notes and develop good questions for discussion. There is flex-time to work on the project due next week or watch the video at the library. I’m sure there will be lots of questions and concerns- bumps in the road and angst. We are starting on a new path. I will keep some things the same. They are used to having me grade every thing they spend time on.  To start, I will give them credit for taking notes during the video and developing their questions but I will have to minimize and change some of that to survive. They will hopefully see the value these things have in helping them learn the material and not need to receive points on everything they do to help them learn. Stay tuned- I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’m finding a wealth of resources in Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts that can be useful in my classroom. Richardson’s text provides some excellent examples of how teachers have effectively used wikis in their class. I was particularly impressed with the wiki that was created by Jason Welker for his AP Economics class in Zurich, Switzerland. I liked how Welker laid down the rules for this wiki. Specifically, he states: “Only constructive, well thought out and informed input is welcome.” The setting of high standards prepares students for the rigorous academic work that is required in college. When students are the only ones allowed to post in the wiki, then it is the students that become the teacher. They are completely invested in their own education. This site started me thinking about how a wiki could be deployed in my CP Biology class at Tolland High School.

One of the most popular and useful places to start a wiki is Wikispaces.com. They have given away hundreds of thousands of ad-free wikis to educators. Wetpaint is the application within the wiki that enables the teacher to monitor the frequency of posting and editing by individual students. I can see how this would be essential for any teacher using a wiki in class. The set up is fairly easy and straightforward. The maintenance of monitoring student edits and posts on the wiki takes time and discipline. Nothing gets posted until the teacher has deemed it appropriate and accurate. This is crucial because we all know that high school students don’t always posses good judgment. This is where we as teachers can instruct our students in proper digital citizenship.

The book written by Jonathan Bergmann and Arron Sams, Flip Your Classroom is an informative, quick read that discusses what the flipped classroom is and why it works.  They also talk about the flipped mastery model, in which the students work through the material at their own pace.  I read the first four chapters that focused on the "traditional" flipped classroom (I am eager to learn how the mastery model is done, but I think I’d get overwhelmed at this point).  The information provided in the text made me feel competent that I could implement this model in my classroom. Bergmann and Sams are encouraging in that they emphasize the idea that implementing the flipped classroom model is a process and that it is okay to make mistakes... you just need to dive in! In the flipped classroom, lessons that would traditionally be done at school are done at home and vice versa.  The students are required to view the lessons, which are presented through different media sources, as homework. To prepare for the class they are to take notes, be ready to discuss their learning and ask any questions.  When they arrive at class they begin with a discussion on the video and then the students break into guided and independent practice, projects, and/or activities. The teacher then takes on the “tutorial role”.
“Flipping the classroom establishes a framework that ensures students receive a personalized education tailored to their individual needs.” Flipping the classroom helps the struggling students because teachers can quickly assess how they are performing on independent and/or group tasks while circulating the room. They are then able to work with individual or small groups of students that are struggling on a particular skill. In the flipped classroom children are encouraged to communicate, collaborate, think critically, and to be creative.  The teacher is no longer the only disseminator of information.

I plan to try this model in my classroom with a math lesson.  It will not truly be a flipped classroom because I will use class time to have them view a video.  I intend to have them view a video on www.learnzillion.com about recognizing fractions.  I am then going to have them work in collaborative groups to create posters.  They will be required to think of an everyday situation in which we need to make fractions (cutting pie, sharing a candy bar, folding paper), then I will have them pick three fractions cards, they will have to draw the item showing the fractional sections (draw a pie with 1/3 colored, and one with 1/8 colored, and another with 2/5 colored).  We can then post them around the room to be used as a reference material.

 Eventually I will have the children view the videos at home.   However, as Sams and Bergmann mentioned, this is a process, so I’ll take really small steps.  When I do become comfortable with the idea in the classroom, I will need to take a considerable amount of time communicating with parents.  In the book they discuss several reasons and helpful tips to talking with parents.  Some of them are, behavior is less of an issue because the students are so engaged, it makes the classroom transparent, and it allows the parents to better assist their children at home. 

There is a section on how to make your own videos – Camtasia Studio is a good screen casting program. 

I also mentioned www.learnzillion.com – it’s a great website for math and language arts.  You can enter the CCSS (4.NF.1) into the search box and it will pull up a bunch of videos.  They average 5 minutes.  I have only used the math videos, but the LA ones look good too.