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.
Interesting. I think you are right - AP kids need the push of the teacher's presence. My AP students needed my praise more than I realized - next year I will work them harder than I did. Last year was my first year with AP so it was a huge learning curve in every way. I did a semi-flip - some material - I made videos for and then put them to work in class. I realize now that the great students kept shining and studying but I let some kids be lazy and figured it was their choice. Next year, I will push them all more (not in a freaky hard core pushy teacher way) but I mean to hold all students accountable to show me that they know the material. My scores were all over the place - two seniors who got As in class who worked so hard for most of the year got 1s - I am guessing they gave up and didn't study? I don't know. I think you are right - AP kids really need US - the personal caring and attention and the pressure to prove what they know. Great, honest post!
ReplyDeleteJess: thank for the comment! All kids need us but I thought that maybe AP could do it on their own a little more (and maybe they can). I am also going to push them hard and I am going to do it in a freaky hard core teacher way :)
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