Counting Down

The official "flip" occurs on Monday, which means I'm going to be assigning students their first projects at the end of this week. I'm actually going to Washington DC this weekend, so I won't be in school Friday- bad timing on my part. This means I have to work double speed to get everything done in time!

I am almost finished with the interactive notebook- I'll post an example once its finished. I'm really pleased with how it came out. I used powerpoint to create it. I put in the two column notes the kids already used, but incorporated maps, pictures, and spot check questions as part of it, all corresponding with the lectures. I'm hoping to have it done tomorrow, and to record at least the first units lectures tomorrow and Wednesday night...so much to do!

I decided that I should also set up some kind of online gradebook so that the kids could keep track of their grades from a more accessible place, since this style of classroom is putting responsibility on them to complete the materials, it only makes sense that they should always have access to their grades. I used a site called Engrade. It was really easy to set up. I logged on and clicked "create new class" and typed in the kids first and last names and ID numbers. The site even generates a print out of all the kids access codes so I could send it home with them to test out. Many students had expressed interest in this sort of thing to me, so I hope they take advantage and set it up.

My school system already uses an online gradebook (though not one accessible to the students) so plugging grades in online won't be a huge change. I'm hoping I can do it at a faster pace though since I will only be correcting several exams at once instead of 100. I also think this will give me more time to really give feedback on essays and short answers.  I currently have to skim those looking for key points, rather than give them the full attention they deserve.

I'm getting nervous, and a little sad, I enjoy lecturing and I do try to make my lectures "funny" for the kids so I'm going to miss that a little...who would have thought! However if this method works better for the students- this is what I need to do.

I will update tomorrow or Wednesday with an example of an interactive notebook and an accompanying lecture.

Does anyone else use Engrade? Do you find your students utilize it? I'm curious if seeing the grade constantly change with their work will motivate them.

Woah there..slow down!

I've been working hard the last few days to organize and write out instructions for each project students will complete during the course of the unit (1 per week). I have decided to make an "Informational Binder" for my classroom. The binder will be divided into the following:

Tab 1: Research on Flipped Classrooms
Tab 2: Overview and Grading
Tab 3: Project descriptions and Rubrics
Tab 4: Copy of Interactive Notebook
Tab 5: Paper copies of Quizzes and Tests
Tab 6: Additional info

My primary motive in creating the binder was to keep visitors to my classroom informed of what we're doing, but also to make my communication with the SPED teachers in my room easier. I teach on a team, and our team currently has two SPED inclusion programs, additionally we have some ELL students. I wanted a central source of information where teachers and paraprofessional's in my room could access all of the information whenever they need it.

Three additional thoughts occurred to me about "flipping" my class:

1. It will make better use of my "co-taught" classes. As mentioned I have two SPED programs on my team. In an idealistic world these classes are co-taught between the SPED teacher and myself, with additional classes having a paraprofessional assisting. Due to the current structure of the traditional classroom this almost never happens, yet it has always been a hope of mine. I think this set up will make co-teaching a natural and daily occurrence since neither of us will be the "central source" of information. Rather all students can access either of us during the course of class. I think it will make better use of the strengths and knowledge that the SPED teachers bring to my room, and allow them to share that with my regular ed students in addition to their own.

2. This is lofty and far too forward thinking since I don't even know if this whole "flipping" concept will even work, but I think flipping would allow me to present different "courses" within the same room. Its not something I will do this year, but maybe in the future if it works. For example, if a student takes a US history class in college (and some high schools) their class is presented using the teacher's "lens." In other words some teachers may present the Revolutionary War from an economic point of view, or from a women's history point of view, or a military history point of view. Since the content in a flipped classroom is being delivered via screen cast to students, in theory you could record the material using these different lenses and essentially allow students to chose which "course" they want to take, following the video lectures for that course. The possibilities of individualizing learning with this model are fantastic, I'm excited to explore them.

3. Although for this Unit all students will be listening to the same video lectures, in the future (again if this whole thing works) I think I will make various "levels" of videos and allow students to follow that lecture path, even further differentiating for them.

I think the one thing I need to remind myself of here is that this may not work. I am wary of becoming so consumed with this project that I push it to succeed when maybe it won't. What can I say? I'm excited. I do need to remind myself once in a while though to slow down, lest I get too ahead of myself. I wonder if it is better to do a "full flip" as I am or if others have had more success just doing "partial flips"? I'm definitely curious to see how it will go.

I found this great picture at usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com (thanks for the inspiration)! I think it really sums up the flipped class:

As a final thought, I just realized that if each student does 1 project per week for 7 weeks I'm going to have roughly 700 projects in my room...good thing I have a big closet I guess!

Hashing out Realities

I have to start off by saying that I think I was up until about 5am. Every time I fell asleep I would think of another idea and need to get up to write it down. I haven't been excited about my classroom in this way in a long time...maybe flipping will renew my energy as well as the kids?

After posting yesterday I decided that if this project was going to succeed I would need to gain the support of my administration. Since I would be changing my entire class structure, I knew that parents would probably wonder about the entire structure of a class changing. I also knew that it may appear as though I'm not "teaching" to someone just walking by my class. I decided to fill my Vice Principal in on my "flip."

I was pleasantly surprised at the response. He was extremely supportive even with the understanding that this experiment could ultimately fail. He also helped me think through some of my concerns and alleviated some of them. I am tentatively setting a start date for my Unit on Ancient Greece (the first "flipped" unit) for February 1st giving me approximately two weeks to prep my materials. Too much stuff, not enough time? Probably...but if I'm going to be up until 5am because I'm too excited about this to sleep- I may as well give it the ol'college try.

Some crazy 5am ideas:

Instead of having the kids simply take "2 column notes" (our district standard) I would create an "Interactive Notebook" for students to use as they work their way through the lecture. I found this site to be very inspirational. I would like to find more "how to's" from the teacher end.

At the end of each section (my unit on Greece has 4 sections) there would be a day where students would have the option to come in and sit at a table of their choice
-Table 1: I want the notes re-clarified to me in person.
Table 2: I understand the notes but I'd like to read for content.
Table 3: I'd like to demonstrate mastery through writing.
Table 4: I'd like to demonstrate mastery through drawing.

I'm not sure how I would work the tables quite yet.

I also am toying with the idea of having independent and group projects for students to work through for each section and designating certain days group days and certain days independent work days. Will there be enough time for both? I'd like to assign actual novels to some students...is that too ambitious? Will they resent the extra work?

This week I am working on the creation of the Interactive Notebook as I think this will guide my lectures and answer some of those questions.

Has anyone ever combined interactive notebooks and flipping?