Flipclass assignments

Flipping my classroom has been awesome.  I have gotten to know my students better amongst other myriad things about which I have already posted.

Lately, however, my students have been struggling getting work done.  We have a 9th grade biology class that cannot seem to get everything done.  After much deliberation and discussion with my co-teacher, we decided to change.

In the past, I just assigned "video notes" as homework with the only direction being that they take notes as if they were in class.  Last year being my first year dipping into the well of flipping, this was and has been the easiest way for me to go.  The biggest problem with that is that we could not figure out if students were actually learning anything while watching the notes.  Also, they could easily just copy down what I said without actually watching (although to me, this is a minor point).

The decision we made was to make tiered assignments based on the notes.  The first one I made was on energy passage through an ecosystem.  Rather than my discussing ad nauseum here how it is done, it is easier to see one linked here.  You see that they now have a choice.   They can choose a 3/5, 4/5 or 5/5 on this assignment.  Here is another much like it.

The key is that the required ones are ones they MUST know to pass any test over our objectives for the unit.  The ones for a higher grade require a little more critical thinking and some original research.  This is to hopefully motivate the upper level student to go above and beyond the "normal" assignment while giving the very busy or struggling student an "out" where they can still get it done but without the angst of having to "get it all done".  This also introduces a little bit of educational choice.  Students feel like they can choose how much to do.  As Daniel Pink shows in DRIVE, feeling as if you have some control over your life can be motivating. 

I realize that this is not a new concept but I have found it very easy to use and the students are now starting to get used to it after 3 assignments like it.  I will be surveying them regarding the class soon and am excited to hear how they feel about it.  One other key thing is that they have more than 1 night to get it done.  I usually give them 1 or 2 every week.

On the due date,  I use @crystalkirch WSQ idea and put one of the student's work (randomly) on the document camera. The class evaluates it and proposes changes in order to make it an "A" paper.  We then go over the changes and discuss them.  This is valuable on so many levels.  The student whose paper it is gets evaluated by peers rather than me (they do not know whose it is unless the student blurts it out), they get quick feedback and can make adjustments to their own work painlessly.

I do not grade them on correctness of their work but merely that they tried it and have some kind of answer that makes it obvious that they tried.  I do not worry about "cheating" because it is only worth a small portion of 20% of their grade and they will still have to take a summative over the material to prove that they do indeed understand and did not just copy their way to a grade. 

So far, this has been a very good trial.  Students can always work on this if they get done with our class work (lab etc.) and they know exactly what to do while watching the notes.  They do NOT like the fact that the answers are not obvious but they have to actually think to get them correct (or close to it).  I also like the fact that the work is non-googleable (is that a word?).  There are no pat answers that can be found with a simple search.  Too many assignments I used to give in the past were.

Please feel free to comment!

Study guide or research?

So, I have always considered myself a good teacher.  I teach all ages of high school and kids like to take my biology classes.   I get along with all kinds of student.  I have been doing this for 20 years and it wasn't until THIS year that I realize that I could have been doing SO much better.  You see, I now have my son in my classroom taking AP biology.  I now see how students view and do the work I assign.  I now see that I have been doing it wrong for 20 years (well, if not wrong, then poorly).

I usually assign a study guide and reading from the text as homework.  Well, last week I read @ichrislehman post on research in education.  I thought about it and realized that I was guilty of telling kids what to research.  So with my AP class, I tried a bit of a simple experiment, one that I could not do without my son in the class to observe his at-home work actions.

I assigned my normal 2 page study guide on fermentation (alcoholic and lactate) for them to do.  This study guide is as comprehensive as I could make it with all of the information they needed to know.  I also assigned them to summarize this question:  How are muscle contraction, beer and bread making related?

I then was able to observe my son as he worked.  It took him approximately 15 minutes to complete the study guide.  He had his book in front of him but, rather than reading it, he merely looked through the text for the answers or copied down the diagrams as necessary.  He then attacked the question.  5 minutes in, he says "this question is dumb."  "I can't find the answer anywhere."  Being a pretty good student, he spent another 20 minutes poring over the text before slamming it shut.  I asked him what the problem was and he said "I have no idea how to answer that question."  I then asked him why not?  "I can't find the answer in the book."  What he meant was:  "I am so used to just looking for the correct answer, I have no idea how to RESEARCH and CONNECT to come up with an answer that works."  After thinking for a while, he logged on to a computer and managed to come up with a response but then said , "But I have no idea if it is right or not."

All I could think is...why have I not done this all the time?  He spent far more time and learned WAY more by trying to answer one simple question than he did on the whole 2 page "study guide".  AND his answer is not really copyable.  In other words, anyone can do the study guide and give it to everyone else...not everyone can come up with an original response to a research question.

I think we have been shortchanging kids in education for a long time now.  We have been teaching our kids to "use the glossary" and "look it up in the dictionary" and " fill out this study guide (which to students means test review guide)  and memorize it and you will get a good grade" when we should be getting them to see connections and answer simple questions with deep meaning.  If I can get my students to spend 20 minutes researching a simple question, they will learn more than if they fill out a rote form.  I think I taught that way because that is how I was taught.  Now I dont have to teach that way anymore.  It is freeing.  The trick will be to come up with interesting questions that make the topic researchable.  But that is fun!  And way less work for me than making a 4 page study guide on anything

What makes my school awesome to work at

So...what did your staff do on the first day of school professional development?   In the past, our staff met, had a keynote speaker, gave out some awards, had some meetings and left for the day looking forward to 2 more of the same.

This is what we did today:

8 am: 

1. We met as a whole school community (bus drivers, parapros, teachers, admin etc.)  in the auditorium. 
2. Our superintendent had a 10 minute presentation (hilarious) about what he learned in his first year on the job (he learned that if he is only half as good as the last one, he will be fine :) )
3. Each administrator (transportation through administration)  introduced new staff and noted the ones who have worked there for a certain number of years (10, 20, 30) 
4. We split into 16 "power teams" (I am on the pink power processors team and wear a pink shirt!) that are a mix of all staff.  My team has 2 admin, 8 teachers, food service, bus drivers, parapros, admin. assistants.  We met in a classroom to get our instructions for the day.  We also collected 50 cents from each member of the power team.
5. Each power team had to go to 3 business partners in the community and thank them for what they do for our school every year.  We rode school buses, went to the local companies and delivered a care package with a note signed by the staff thanking them for contributing to our school community.  We then had to find a way to use our money to "pay it forward" by using the money to help out in the community somehow.  We only had $10 but we were able to parlay that into a free oil change for a customer at the auto store, 3 free children's haircuts for a family and gave $5 a family at the grocery store to assist with the bill.  We had to take pictures everywhere we went and generally had to spread good cheer in the community. 
6. We returned to school, got back in the classroom and spent the next 30 minutes brainstorming how we would pay it forward all year as a team.  Our team will clean up baseball fields in the spring, attend a sporting event and collect canned goods, donate any gift cards we receive to needy families, and every once in a while, buy a student lunch.
7. After we finished with that, we had lunch together.
 8. We gathered back in the auditorium to celebrate what we had done that morning by looking at pictures from the morning and talking about what we were going to do. 

For the afternoon, we were free to work in our classrooms and prepare for the upcoming year. 

I am not sure I have ever felt more a part of the community than I did today.  I live in the town and am a teacher there.  I live 2 minutes from school and 5 minutes from every business we visited.  We saw many former students and parents of students along the way. 

What a great message to send from our administration about what is important to our school. 
Our community knows that we are all about service.  We are all about giving back to the community for what they do for us.  That is powerful and more important than any speaker.  When people see teachers, bus drivers, custodians etc.  all together giving back, that speaks volumes by itself. 
I live in the community and am less than 5 minutes drive time from every place we visited.  All of those people now see me differently.  I am not "just a teacher" but someone who genuinely cares and likes to be a part of the community. 

I think if EVERY school did this, the negative messages sent about public education would vanish.  If every school in Michigan sent their staff out into the community to thank them and ask what else they could do, people would WANT their kids to be a part of that kind of society. 

Failure?

This past year I (as I blogged below) took flipped class to the extreme and had a portion of my AP class as online only.  We met approximately 66% of the days and they had to work on the other days.  Result????

worst AP scores EVER! 

I had as many 5's as normal but far fewer passing than ever and the lowest AP scores as a group that I have had..   After self-flagellation and inward thinking, here is what I have come up with.

Reasons for these results:

1. Unable to DRIVE the students to work harder by not seeing them every day.
2. CLass time was more meaningful when we met but not meaningful enough.
3. Online quizzes do not encourage deep study or motivation to study
4. Group was the laziest I have ever had, many seniors who basically did enough to get by with a passing grade.
5. I did not give them enough work to do which led to a feeling that they had done enough.
6. Not grading homework or allowing work to be turned in late with no penalty DOES NOT WORK for students who are not self-motivated.
7. I did not have my students WRITE their thoughts enough, rather used mc quizzing as the main means of formative assessment.

Too often in education we are afraid to try new things because of the possiblity of what happened to my class this year. I realize that these scores may have been this way even if we met every day (or they may have been worse :) 

 I DO think blending online and face to face instruction is still a valuable option and I am going to continue to pursue it.  I will this year still allow my students to work at home some days but it will be far fewer days and it will be on days where all they would be doing in class is working anyway.  We will not do online quizzing except in a formative manner.  All graded quizzes will be done in class and WRITTEN! 

In conclusion, blending instruction in this way MAY be better for elective classes like my anatomy class where there is no summative, competitive exam at the end; however, I must try it again with a few changes before any assumptions can be made.  As a scientist, I know that one trial does not an experiment make so I will continue with another set of students with a few changes listed above.  As an educator, I know that nothing is perfect but I have to continue to try to find the best way to educate my students in the 21st century.

Make your own videos!

Much of the discussion and many of the questions about flipping the classroom revolve around the use of video to transmit information to students.  There has been much discussion about Khan academy and the like as tools for this transmission of information.  While KA and other sites are phenomenal and are often used by students as review/learning tools, this author believes that for any classroom teacher to get the most out of flipping their class, every teacher should make their own videos.  Here are some reasons for that:

1. Making your own videos enables you to deliver the exact content you feel your students need.  Many other postings are maybe too detailed for your class or emphasize points that are not that important to learning what is needed at the time.

2. Making your own videos is a great personal learning tool for the teacher. There is external pressure to say the right things because this becomes a public process.  Therefore you ensure that you have the information correct before you publish it.

3. Making your own videos gives you ownership of your instruction.  I have tried using other's material for teaching in the past: powerpoints, worksheets, etc.  and I never have felt comfortable as a teacher doing it this way.  A student WANTS to know their teacher and if the teacher is using someone else's voice to deliver material, the class becomes much less personal and more distant.  This also becomes a way to connect with parents who hear and see what their children are doing in class and can hear you teach when they could not before.


4. Making your own videos allows your voice to be heard locally.  I use local examples that would not apply to someone in Germany or even Kalamazoo. One of the failings of a textbook is that they have to use very general examples that could apply anywhere.  I can use examples of the landfill just outside of town, the cheese factory, the river, Lake Michigan, etc.  


5. Making your own videos is an easy way to sell the idea to parents because the perception that flipping is a lazy way out goes away when they realize that you have taken the time to put all of this together and you aren't just doing a quick internet search and using someone else's hard work.


Now, in our school, we have 3 teachers that teach 9th grade biology.  I don't think it is necessary in that case for all of us to make videos on the same subjects.  In fact, it is pretty cool when my students listen to a lecture made by another teacher in our school because they are getting variety of style, ideas, humor, etc.  but in a LOCAL flavor.  They are hearing someone they see in the hall and their friends have as a teacher.  That is far different than hearing someone you will likely never meet or see.


Comments/Ideas for and against are welcome! 

One student's thoughts.

This is so insightful I just had to share it.  This was posted on a forum by one of my students:  The writing prompt was:  What about today's teaching and learning do you dislike and what do you like? In other words, what would the perfect classroom environment for you be like?  (#flipclass #inquiry #blending anyone??)

Robert Myers - Thursday, May 31, 2012, 12:34 PM

It is my opinion that the teaching methods in use today are less effective than they could be. The methods I have experienced in my educational career I believe to place too high an emphasis on rope memorization and mandatory homework. In my opinion, this is largely ineffective. The presentation of facts cannot stand alone. In order to truly understand the material, which of course makes the facts much easier to remember, it is required that one understands why the facts are what they are. Why does the Quadratic Formula work? Where did it come from? How was it discovered? Why did Rome spread itself thin? Why was it imperial, yet reestablished the governments of every nation it conquered? Why were the Jews so resistant to Roman rule? Why did Rome work to eliminate Christianity, yet was perfectly willing to accept the vast majority of religions? How has Rome gone from trying to eliminate Christianity to becoming the universal symbol of Christianity? Why are these facts true? What motivates these historical events? How were these facts discovered? These are questions vital to truly understanding the material. After 3 years of knowing the Quadratic Formula, I still cannot derive it, or explain why it works. I cannot prove the Quadratic Formula, yet I use it constantly. I do not understand the Quadratic Formula. I remember the Quadratic Formula. Nothing more. My ideal teaching environment is impractical in a school such as Coopersville. However, I will detail it, as steps towards such an environment I believe would be beneficial. The ideal environment would consist of classes of about half the size of the current class. The class would be discussion based, with the teacher only guiding the students. The material, as far as is practical, would not be taught. It would be discovered. I mean, obviously you can't have students figure out the composition of a proton. That would require the construction of a particle accelerator and knowledge much more advanced than is appropriate to teach prior to teaching the composition of a proton. However, the ideal environment would involve as much discovery as is practical. For example, our science classes often teach the subject, then demonstrate it with the lab that led to its discovery. Invert that. Do the lab first. Give the students a question and resources, and have them design and run an experiment to answer it. Have them figure out why the results were what they were, and introduce every subject in this way for which it is practical to do so. In history classes, present a fact and let the students discuss possible implications of the fact. Allow them to exhaust their ideas, perhaps throw in a couple guiding remarks, and then teach the actual implications. If the actual implications differed, have the students determine why. Teach two facts and have the students explain how they are connected, or the motivations or circumstances that led from one to the next. Have them discuss it among themselves, figure it out themselves. In English classes, assign reading. Then have the class enter a discussion and tear the selection apart. Allow the students to discuss directly with one another, rather than being fed the answers by the teacher, and allow them to find the deeper meaning themselves. Allow them to own the understanding, having figured it out themselves. In mathematics classes, present the material in the form of problems. Have the students figure out the material through solving the problems, then bring them together to discuss their solutions or what stumped them in order to get farther into the subject. The teacher should only say what is necessary to make sure the subject is taught. That is the ideal environment, in my opinion. However, such an environment requires intelligence and drive from the students. Coopersville, being a public school, does not consist entirely of driven students. We have struggled with late work and missing assignments and people just not doing the work. A literal use of my environment would not work. However, I believe adopting some measures and modifying some of the more radical suggestions may allow my environment to prove beneficial. I also realize that Coopersville lacks the means to have such small class sizes. However, it seems to me that there is no reason why AP classes cannot conform very closely to my environment, and why others cannot adopt some measures. I believe it would benefit the school. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Tell me and I'll forget. Teach me and I'll learn. Involve me and I'll understand." Involve the students. Allow them to discover the material themselves, to take part in teaching each other. Only then will there be true understanding

Intentional Nonlearners and blended instruction

To begin with, I would like to thank my brother-in-law/mentor/fellowbiologynerd @ronremink for the Intentional nonlearners (INL) term.  I have been thinking about this alot lately as I plan for next year in my #flipclass and my blended AP class. 

As #flipclass becomes more and more a part of the lexicon of education, many people are looking for flaws in the idea.  One that has become a very prevalent question is: "what if they do not watch the videos at home like they are supposed to? What do you do about it?"  On the surface, this is an important question.  However, if you think more deeply about it, you should begin to see the fallacy of this type of question.  For years in my classroom (and I suspect many others), if a student did not do his/her homework (questions from the book, answer questions at the end of a lab, etc.),  I gave them a Zero.  This meant essentially that they did not have to do it, especially if they could manage to listen in class, take notes and pass the tests. So our solution for INL is to help them not learn.  This is actually even more true today with the onset of standards based grading, assessments counting for 80% of the grade, etc. We need to find more ways to motivate ALL students.

I argue that flipping the classroom puts the onus for learning MORE on the students and LESS on the teacher.  It is much much harder to be an INL and pass a class.   It is not up to the teacher to make sure they do their homework.  If the class is set up correctly, when the students fails to do the homework assignment, they will not pass any test over the material.  If the student chooses not to try, then they will fail.  Before, it was up to the teacher to work their butt off in the 55-90 minute period to make sure the student was exposed to the material and then if the students decided to not do their homework, well, that was really ok, they could still pass the class without it.  Now, as the year has gone on, I have learned more and more that if a student doesn't do the work, they will have a MUCH harder time passing/getting any grade they like.  They will have to eventually watch the discussion in order to be able to pass any formal assessment.  This way, they CAN choose not to do the assignment, however, they will find out they will eventually HAVE to do it if they want a certain grade.  This can occur without any number being entered into the gradebook at all.  My students know that they can retake tests.  But because the tests are directly based on the learning targets, many of which are covered by video, they must watch the video to pass the standard.

Last week, we had the assignment to watch notes on cellular respiration.  I did not record any grade to doing this (they did not know this).  Then we did a concept map of the terms in the video in class.  The students who had never watched the notes had NO idea of what to do.  As I walked around the class talking to students about their maps, it quickly became evident to the students who had viewed the discussion and written notes and who had not.  Some logged on and began watching the notes in class and making a concept map from that.  I HAD DONE IT!  I had gotten them to do it anyway.   You may argue that this is a waste of class time but I think the opposite.  The students who had done it were being forced to extend their thinking in a new way while not wasting time.

INL suck up most of our class and PD time.  While we need to work with those students and try to motivate them, we also need to find ways to motivate the accelerated, stupendous learner who "gets the idea" and needs to be able to extend themselves to maximize learning.

Blending Student Evals

Here is my students reaction to a couple of questions regarding our AP biology blended learning class this year.   Their comments were unedited in any way   

Q:  What did you think of how the class was done this year with 50% online and 50% face to face instruction? What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it? 

a1. The structure of the class was very convenient.  I obviously liked how I could do my work whenever.  I prefer the traditional classroom setting to the online setting, but I don't dislike the online setting. 

a2 I liked it, it gave me more time to do the assignments on my own time, the videos were really great but i felt like we didn't get that in depth but that is probably because of how much material we had to cover. 

a3. I thought it was really good! I feel like I learned a lot more from the video lectures than I did when we came into class. I think it is because i took notes for the videos, but sometimes i didn't think there was a whole lot of benefit from coming to class. I think a lot of people struggled with knowing when things were due what the requirements were for some assignments. It was probably our own faults though. 

a4.I think it was a good idea. I appreciated the ability to work through things on my own. I would have appreciated more control over my study, such as the ability to skip homework over stuff I understand already, and, to be honest, I thought the video notes could be shortened by half or three-quarters without losing any of the information. However, these are my own feelings, and I do not think it would be beneficial for an entire class to implement them 

a5 The online was not my favorite because I think that during class, we would have done more with the time that we had than we did online. With online, the assignments were short and sometimes I did not have time outside of school to do the review that we were supposed to do. The reason I saved the review for home was so that I could remeber it better the next day when we had a quiz or whatnot. 

a6.  I liked that we were able to take our work home and work on it there because I work a lot better when I'm at home by myself then I do in a class room setting because I get distracted really easy and can't focus but at home I can do whatever it is that im suppossed to be doing because I focus and just listen to music and don't talk to anyone. And I liked doing all the labs in class. 

Q: Your grade aside, evaluate your personal efforts in this class. Do you feel you worked as hard as you needed to? Do you think that the format of the class was a hindrance or help to you in this way.

a1. I do not think I worked as hard as I needed to.  I think the format of the class caused me to postpone work more than I would have in the traditional classroom setting

a2. I feel like I could have worked harder to get a good grade but I did in fact learn a lot and that matters. 

a3. The setup this year in my opinion allowed me to work harder because we only met once every two days. If I could not complete the homework on a specific night I had an extra day to catch up and watch the notes. However, the last few weeks I did slow down more and not pay as much attention because it seemed easier than the beginning of the year.

I do think that many of these comments and issues could be applied to flipped classroom also.!

Experimentation week

So this week we decided to experiment with the flipped classroom in our biology class a bit.  The first part of the week was the "old way"  I spent 30 minutes in class lecturing on the immune system (specific immunity, B and T cells etc.) and the students spent 20 minutes working on an activity related to it.  And we spent the last 15 minutes watching a discovery channel video on flu.  The next day was a repeat except we discussed vaccines, HIV and finished the movie with discussion.  for 18 years I have mostly taught this way.  For many of my colleagues I was a GREAT teacher those 2 days.  I am a good lecturer with good and interesting stories, the students asked a few questions that were pertinent.  I had a ticket out the door and they seemed to know what we did.
                                                    The problem was.....BOREDOM!!!! 
The level of energy in the classroom was 2 on a scale from 1-10 and the 2 was because I am an energetic speaker.  As stated previously, there was longggg minutes with nothing except students frantically writing down notes and copying graphs into their notes.  They were super relieved to put away their notes and move on to something else.  The results of the next day's formative assessment quiz were about where they are no matter how they are given the material. Some did great because they looked it over, some did poorly because they didn't.  There was and is no measurable grading difference between flipping and not.  The biggest difference is the ENERGY in the classroom and the amount of individual learning that was going on. 

The last day we decided to try mastery learning.  The assignment was to watch the notes on respiratory system.  The only way to move on was to get 100% on the quiz.  They took the quiz, if they did not receive a score of 100% they had to review the notes {some had to watch them yet :) } and when they felt prepared, redo it.  If they once again did not, they had to speak with us about it and discuss what they did not know. 

If they received a score of 100%, they went on to a lab on the effects of secondhand smoking on baby mouse lungs (inquiry because we have not yet talked about alveoli and how gases are exchanged with the blood).  The energy and learning in the room was awesome.  Questions about what actually happens to the oxygen we inhale, misconceptions revealed about what lungs actually do for you, etc, etc.  All students were on task for the 70 minutes with something about respiration. They could not "check out" mentally.  Our classes are mainstreamed biology 9th grade with some of the top 9th graders combined with up to 15 special education students (LD, EI, POHI).  The hard part is that we had to repeat many of the same things to students because we were talking to them individually (or in groups of 2).  The good part about THAT is that we believe students will remember better if you are talking directly to them as they try to figure out a problem rather than listening to a group lecture.

Next week, we are going to survey the students regarding our experiment.  Results will be posted here! 

Comments welcomed!

Flip class lesson plan

Action research flipping

So...because one limiting factor we all have is time......

A vocal  teacher in our building was discussing the laziness of using #flipclass the other day.  He could not believe our principal let lazy teachers use video for notes.  I decided to try to prove him incorrect with data (as any good science teacher would).  One of the classes I teach (anatomy and physiology) is still not flipped for reasons of my sanity and time. I DO however, record all in class lectures for students who are absent or for student review.  I pause the lecture recording while students take notes.  I record my speaking/writing and any questions from the audience.  Here is the data from the last 3 class periods of doing this:

1. Intro lecture on nervous system: total video time: 8 minutes; total class time this took (waiting for students to copy it down, dealing with interruptions, etc.) 29 minutes

2. Lecture on action potential: total video time 12 minutes; total class time this took: 32 minutes

3. Lecture on synapse transmission and reflex arcs:  7:48; total class time: 28 minutes.

I do realize that I could provide students with a lecture outline or some kind of sheet to reduce copying time in class but every time I try that, I have many students tell me that they dislike it because they learn better when they write it themselves. 

In contrast, here are the last 3 days of my 9th grade mainstreamed (which means team taught with a sped teacher for 2 of my 3 classes)  biology flipped classroom.  Students were to watch a 15 minute notes video on the circulatory system (path of blood flow and heart function and parts of blood) as homework.  In the past, these notes took me 2-3 days @ 20 minutes a day to cover because of copying time, etc.

Day 1. discuss notes summary and do an online lab relating blood flow to digestion and excretion. discuss at end of hour
Day 2. discuss how to write a good experiment (again:) ) and have them write and perform an experiment testing a question regarding heart rate. They had to write questions, hypotheses, fill in data, make a claim and explain their claim.
Day 3. Lab group presentations of experiments like (does holding your breath slow heart rate?, does placing your arm in ice water slow heart rate?) Showing their data and stating their explanation.  The rest of the students then assessed the presentation in writing:
             a. How confident are you (1-10) in their results?  Why?
             b. How confident are you (1-10) in their explanation?  Why?
They then shared their assessment verbally with the group that presented.  This led to an hour of discussion on what is good science and how is heart rate related to breathing, ice water,etc.  The interesting thing is that all students were on task for the complete period on this.  The discussions were fantastic.

The point is that with creative use of the time, flipping is the OPPOSITE of lazy.  In fact, I think my students learned more about the heart this year than ever before. I know that much of what they learned is not "testable" but is still important.   I also know that next year, I am flipping anatomy also.  It is a must for a laboratory classroom.

Standards based grading and flip class

I am in my 20th !!! year of teaching and this is the first time I have used standards based grading.  I really wonder how I ever lived without it.  Here is the evolution timeline in our biology classrooms.

1. Principal sends us to meeting regarding formative and summative assessment.  We all agree that we all use both of them but not in any formal manner (Formative anyway).

2. We continue to try to record a grade of some kind EVERYDAY and be proud of it.  Then we have plenty of points for kids to show what they have done.

3. Principal sends us to Ken o'connor workshop on grading practices.  Teachers have an argument about what he says but there is general agreement that he has valid points (grade the work not the behavior is one).  

4. Principal convinces staff to begin using posted learning targets in all classrooms.  (This is extraordinarily important step I think)

5. Biology teachers decide to not only flip the classroom but institute standards (learning target) based grading in 9th grade biology classrooms.  

6. Teachers spend hours in the summer putting together learning targets and lesson plans for flipping.

We believe that true SBG is only possible if you flip the classroom.  If a teacher lectures for 30 minutes per day, there is no time for true remediation.  This is especially true in the science classroom where you must do labs and other hands-on activities.  Now when I give a summative test, instead of it looking like this:

I. Multiple Choice  

II. Short Answer

III. Essay

IV. diagrams

It looks like this:

I. I can diagram the digestive system 

II. I can describe how nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine.

etc.

When it is graded and entered, now a student (and instructor) can see exactly what they need to be remediated on.  This is because grades for a test are not entered as one grade but as several, one grade for each learning target.  This is more work but the tradeoff is that we are not entering a grade every day anymore but rather a few grades all at once.  We have many less "points" per semester but we have a much better handle on what students know and do not know.

We think we are just scratching the surface of this.  The next evolution (maybe as soon as next year) is to allow students to pace themselves in biology.  They will obviously have to be done with a certain number of learning targets at the end of each quarter but how and when they get there can be up to them.  This autonomy alone will be a great motivator for kids.  Our challenge will be to provide materials that challenge the "fast" workers who right now are being slowed down by the masses.  The kids who if allowed could learn so much more in a year but have to spend much of their time waiting for others who don't learn the same way or at the same rate.  With SBG and flipped classroom, this is possible in a way that has never been before.  

Motivation

We had an online discussion in my class the other day regarding student motivation.  What an outstanding topic!!!  In education, we spend millions of dollars and hours on the newest crazes. Here is a list of some education buzzwords, old and new:

outcomes-based education                         
common core
National standards
flipped classroom
graphic organizers
authentic assessment
formative assessment
ACT
SAT
Block scheduling
rigor and relevance
portfolios
Standards-based grading
multiple intelligences
cooperative learning
rubrics
NCLB
IPADS
accomodation
constructivism
IEP
EDP
manipulatives
etc, etc, etc

Very few of these in my experience (20 years! now) have made our job any easier.  I have been able to spend a couple of days in the last month with 14 VERY motivated learners.  They are all 11-12 grade students who are interested in research for science.  Teaching them is easy.  It would not matter if you used SBG, OBE, IPADS, or if they had an EDP or IEP because they WANT to learn and love to learn. 

Today's education focuses on things like learning targets and standards.  So, I have for the first time put all of our "learning targets" on the board.  They stay there for the whole unit.  Our test is now ONLY over those learning targets.  In fact, each LT has it's own question or set of questions that are grouped together on the test.  So, this should make education so much easier, right?  All students know what we are doing each day, what we are doing it for, and what the test (sorry, summative assessment)  will be about at the end of the unit.  They should all have no problem getting an A in the class and for sure passing the class.  I have done all of this extra work to help them INCLUDING ALLOWING THEM TO REDO ANY PART OF THE TEST THEY NEED TO!  So, this should make education easier right? 

No, unfortunately, no.  All of this has not really changed grades in 9th grade biology, 11th grade anatomy or AP biology much at all.  Maybe a hard-working student who needed direction learns more because they study and redo the test but that is about it.  In our school, we had just as many 9th graders fail first semester as we did last year before all these changes.  We have had just as many students fail anatomy (an ELECTIVE!) as before.  Why?  None of all of this gobbledy-gook has changed the real problem in education (a problem that has been present since the beginning, I am sure!).  Unmotivated students.  I spend 90% of my time trying to "help" students who really dont want help but need to pass to move to 10th grade.  So, what is the answer?  Our politicians threaten us with NCLB and reduced funding if we don't get unmotivated students to pass. 

Where is the outcry from teachers for PD on motivating students?  Where is the outcry from administrators to provide PD on motivating students?  I have not yet found a university class on student motivation and ideas for doing this.  Much of our PD is on motivating TEACHERS!  We dont need motivation. We need to motivate students.   If we can find a way to motivate them, all other problems go away.

Game day and teaching

It's game day!!

Not sure what life would be like without coaching.  Coaching makes every day more interesting.  You never know how your kids are going to perform in games or practice.  Practice is fun because you can interact with students at such a different, personal level.  You get to know the whole person (and sometimes whole family!).  They also see you in a different light.  They see me not only as a biology nerd but someone who is passionate about basketball and has a life outside of the classroom.  I spend weeks in the summer with them helping them improve at a game we both love and getting to know them without the specter of playing time over their heads. 

Game day is an entirely different animal.  Players are engaged in class because they are excited by the prospect of performing tonight.  They feel like they are important and are given the task to wear the school colors and perform for something bigger than themselves. 

When I was in college, I was told that I should not coach my first few years of teaching so I could "learn how to be a teacher first."  I have asked student teachers and new teachers in my building if this is still told them and it is!  This is a huge travesty of misinformation. 
I coached 3 sports my first 3 years teaching, gave up one for about 15 and am coaching 3 sports again now.  I have learned more about how to interact with students and how to "read" their emotions and feelings on the field and court than I ever would have if I did not coach.  I have been able to get to know hundreds of people in a way I never could have if I did not coach.  I encourage all new teachers to coach something...even if you don't feel like you are qualified.  You can learn enough every day to "stay ahead" just like you do when faced with a new teaching hour you have never done.  You will get far more out of being a coach of middle or high schoolers than you ever realize.  The relationships you build last a lifetime.

It's game day!

BLENDING SEMESTER 2

So my AP class is in the second semester of the great blended experiment.  A couple of seniors are behind because they decided to take the weekend off.  What they are finding is that with a few hours of work they can kind of catch up but they miss any discussions we have because they dont understand the questions.  I am hoping that they see the error of their ways and fix it soon (although the fact they are seniors may have something to do with it.)

One other interesting thing is that I find that they are much more social during face to face class than they used to be.  I think they like coming to class and seeing the others.  They also have developed relationships in the online world that have made it to the real world.  I am not sure this would have happened if I didn't have them online so much.  I think that being in class everyday limits the voice of certain students who are very much willing to voice their opinion and ask questions online.  This has made them feel free and now they will speak more in class and kibitz with other students that they feel they know because of the online nature.

I still worry that they are not "getting" the  material because I did not tell it to their face.  However, their summaries of the notes and their work on daily quizzes seems to show otherwise.  The proof will be in the pudding in May when they take the AP exam! 

If you read this, feel free to respond in any way!

Twitter is AWESOME!

I used to hate twitter!  I thought tweeting was for people that had nothing better to do.  Now I realize the power of short communication.  I realize that I can learn from people around the world without having to leave home.  If you have not tried twitter yet (although if you are reading this post, you are probably on it!) you need to now!  For teachers #edchat#edtech are just two of the areas where you can learn a ton in a short period of time. 
This morning I was looking for a fun way to intro my circulatory system unit.  On twitter someone posted an article which two clicks later led to this.  I now have a GREAT intro and a critical thinking piece to start off my unit.

Blending Biology

So I feel like I am a loner.  I check twitter, I check blogs, google, etc. and there is NO ONE posting regarding blended instruction.  I think we are on the cusp of a revolution, not where #flipclass is going but one where students will NOT be in school or in your class everyday but one where they will have the freedom to be elsewhere working on your class.  This year I have implemented (with the blessing of my principal) a blended learning AP class.  The reason for AP was:

1. students are intrinsically motivated in AP
2. all of the students are comfortable with computer use and have all had at least one online class
3. the time of day the class meets is conducive to attempting this.

We started on October 14 with a note to parents about what we were attempting.  They were all on board with the trial.  We meet every other day in class (with exceptions made for labs and other things).  The in class day is spent reviewing any material we need to, doing labs and other activities to enhance understanding of the material from the particular unit.  Since we started this, there has been no discernible difference in their test scores either from the first test (pre-blend) or past years.  The rubber will meet the road in May when they take their AP test. 
For me, the biggest issue has been maintaining the amount of work that they have to do.  At first, I would not give them enough to do because I was thinking in terms of meeting days and not in terms of all days.  I felt like I was overloading them when in actuality, I was underloading them.  I spent ( and still spend) all of the online day making lesson plans for the next rotation and trying to come up with new ways to help them learn online.  I am making recordings of all "lectures" that I would be giving in class and having them take notes and then summarize the notes to hand in electronically (thank you @crystalkirch for the idea!)
For the students, there have been a couple of issues:

1. time management-they tended to slack at first and not use the online day wisely
2. not using the online vehicle of forums to ask questions but rather waiting until f2f meeting when we had the quiz over the topic
3. difficulty in keeping track (using provided information) what was due. 

I had to help them by providing a monthly updated google calendar and have just recently started weekly updates which they REALLY like. This has also helped me organize my thoughts in this new way of doing things. 
All in all, I think this has been a successful foray so far.  I would appreciate any questions, comment,  thoughts you have on the idea of blending instruction.