Tonight I joined in on my first-ever "Twitter Chat". Considering I just started using twitter 6 weeks ago, tonight was a little overwhelming. I would read through the tweets, reply to a few, and then there would be another 40 to read through. It just never ended! Here's the archive.
But, it was pretty cool. I may not be able to join in every Monday, but I definitely will do it again.
Before I get to the work I should have gotten done a few hours ago, I need to "splat" my thoughts down so I don't forget!
A few take-aways for me (and even more questions to ponder...):
1. I need to really think through and plan how I am going to "induct" my students in September to the Flipped Class world. How am I going to present it? How am I going to "wean" them off of Traditional? What procedures and expectations do I need to put in place right away? How do I teach them the skills needed to be responsible for their own learning?
2. "Ask 3 then me". Emphasize to students the importance of collaborating with each other before going straight to me to answer their questions.
3. Sometimes, instead of using a video as "direct instruction", use it to pose questions to the students that can then be discussed in class to learn in a more inductive way.
4. Idea - having students do "WSQ" online through Edmodo/Google Form. I get more immediate feedback and can prep for questions in class (or even answer them that night), students have to do it right after video instead of waiting until during school like some of them do.
5. Idea - having students make blogs where they keep their WSQ's. Students comment on each others blogs and converse about material. Example at http://learnmathclassblogs.blogspot.com/ or have students use http://edu.memiary.com/ to keep track of what they learned/key questions, etc - thanks to @jrowley1004 for the idea!
6. Keeping finding more in class activities for students. I will be attempting this in a week or so in my Math Analysis Honors class. We are learning about Verifying Trigonometric Identities and I will be having students make videos in partners of teaching the examples. Still trying to figure out how it will all work (logistics, cameras, etc). Suggestions to have students use cell phone cameras. I want to still keep the amount of practice time long though (these problems need practice!!!) but yet provide other experiences to learn as well.
7. Should I keep holding students to the daily expectations/deadlines? At our school, we have to hold the kids accountable somehow with our structured missed assignment system. How can this work/be modified with the flipped class? I want students working at their own pace, but with the daily assignments, they are either forced to keep up or motivated to just finish one day's work and then be lazy.
8. How can I make it so students only have 3 videos a week instead of 4-5? Since I literally teach a new concept every day, I don't know how to make this work... Ideally students would make this work for themselves b/c they can watch the videos any night (so they could watch ahead if the y know they will be busy).
9. How can I make my videos more interactive and in a way "force" students to be more active listeners and not just be copying the information and examples down, but actually making meaning of it? We can make meaning together in class; how do I teach students to learn how to make meaning themselves?
10. How do I choose which lessons to do on video and which ones not to? When I first experimented with this, we flipped every other day. It started to get confusing for me and students. Some days they would have traditional hw (practice) AND flipped hw (video for next day). Some students still want it like that, but I feel it was too much. In math, I believe students always need to practice material on their own, so if I were to teach the lesson in class (via lecture, exploration, small group work, etc), they still need some independent practice! So now, every lesson is taught on video and pre-watched. Depending on the material and how tough it was will determine if we do any whole-class activities or if I let students work on what they need to work on.
11. "What's the point of the classroom" - answer from Aaron Sams
Most of my students find class time very beneficial. But there are still a few who still DON'T GET IT. What do I say to them? How do I reach them?
Okay I'm sure there's more, but that's enough for tonight. What answers do you have for me? :) (or thoughts, reflections, experiences... there probably isn't one perfect answer...)
Krystal- thanks for posting this I was unable to attend the chat last night but your summary and thoughts were much appreciated and spot on. It sounds like you are doing an amazing job of flipping and reflecting on it. Thanks for your thoughts and insight. I am definitely looking forward to you and your students thoughts and findings as your year wraps up.
ReplyDeleteTony - thanks for reading and for your comment. Did you see the link to the whole chat archive? Brian Bennett is posting it every week so if you miss one (like I'm sure I will in the coming weeks) you can still read up on what was discussed and then contact those ppl on twitter.
DeleteIn response to # 5, I use Schoology.com with my students. I used it before flipping and since flipping have found it invaluable. It is similar to Edmodo but I think it has many many more capabilities. They also have a dropbox feature that would be ideal for what you are looking to do. I definitely recommend it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info - I'll look into it.
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