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!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
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??)
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 |
Monday, June 4, 2012
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.
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.
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