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.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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.!
Friday, May 4, 2012
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!
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!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
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.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
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.
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