Flipping with Kirch FAQ's

My email inbox has been inundated lately with lots of questions about the flipped classroom.  So, I have created a "Frequently Asked Questions" page on my blog where I am trying to answer all the questions I am getting in one place.  Let me know if you have any follow-up questions after reading through the FAQ page.

Flipping with Kirch FAQ

3 month blog-aversary... What I have learned thus far

When I first heard the phrase "lifelong learner" in my teaching credential classes, I don't think I realized how true that would be for me.  I really do feel like I am constantly learning new things, trying new ideas, and modifying the way I do things to fit student needs.  In my five years of teaching thus far, no year has been identical to one in the past.  While certain consistencies definitely carry across the years, every year has brought about changes and tweaks to not only try to make my methods better, but to suit the needs of the learners I have each year.


Today celebrates my 3 month "blog-aversary".  It's hard to believe it was only January 22nd that I delved into the world of blogging and twitter, but it was.  I feel like I have grown so much in these three short months and learned so much about being an effective teacher, especially in the "Flipped Classroom" setting.  The ideas that I have been able to try out and the feedback/conversations I have been able to have with others have been absolutely essential in my professional growth.


So, with that, I would like to do two things in this post:
(1) Reflect back on the last three months and look at some of my "favorite" blog posts (other than my Weekly Reflections, which I think have been essential in my growth as a Flipped Teacher)
(2) Reflect back on the last three months with the most important lessons I feel I have learned



My "favorite" blog posts

• What does my Flipped Classroom look like? (letter to parents) - This is the first letter that I sent home mid-year explaining the change.  I'm hoping to adjust and modify this to use for next year since I will be starting to flip from Day 1.
• My Favorite WSQ  and Using the WSQ to deepen student understanding and academic conversations in my Flipped Classroom, as well as my WSQing strategies page- when I came up with the idea of the "WSQ" over Winter Break, I really had no idea if it was a good idea :).  I thought I would give it a try and see how it worked.  I had no idea how central and vital it would become to my flipped class and how much the idea would spread to other teachers in all content areas to use a similar tactic in their flipped classes.  I really like how the WSQ has evolved (going from "open summaries" to "guided summaries" with questions, requiring the students to seek out a written answer to their question, starting to have portions of it submitted online so I am ready to support and give feedback at the beginning of class, teaching my students how to have focused conversations about the math and how to discuss problems and misconceptions, etc)
• The following are posts that show student growth my class.  I still remember these exact days, these exact moments.  These were the days that reminded me that using a Flipped Classroom really is helping my students think deeper and better.  These were the moments that showed me WHY I use a Flipped Classroom. (1) Today my flipped class was... amazing (2) Conversations and Observations - Every Single Student (3) Truly differentiated instruction... (4) Getting students to talk about math... (5) Student-Directed Teaching
• My Goals for the Flipped Classroom - I set these goals for myself near the beginning of the semester.  So far, I feel like I am reaching most of them.  I am seeing improvement in test scores, improvement in A's/B's and decrease in D's/F's on almost every exam this semester.  I am seeing an increase in homework completion by some students who struggled first semester (there are still those that don't do it regardless).  I am meeting my goal of talking with every student every day, although I can continue to work on trying to spend a little more time with those who need it, because sometimes they get the short end of the stick.
• 9 reasons why I'm a flipping convert - a great summary of some of the best reasons why I truly believe the flipped classroom is one of the most effective ways to "run" my class.
• Craziest Hour of My Life... first #flipclass chat - reflections, thoughts, and MORE QUESTIONS! - My very first Twitter Chat.  While this first one was an overwhelming experience, it has become a highlight of my Monday nights and always gets me thinking.  I get to connect with new teachers every week and share ideas, thoughts, struggles, and concerns.  #flipclass has completely changed my attitude towards twitter - I used to think it was a useless site where celebrities posted stupid stuff that nobody should really care about except people read it because they are obsessed.  Now I realize how valuable of a tool it really is when used with a purpose.
• John Wooden and the Flipped Classroom - I really do want to start a new blog dedicated to John Wooden and his sayings - and how they apply to me as a teacher and a coach.  His maxims, as well as the way he modeled them and lived them out during his long life, have so much impact on the way that I think and the way that I teach and coach.
• Struggles with Motivation and Efficacy - I still remember writing this post during my 2nd period conference period after a very rough 1st period.  I was so incredibly frustrated and I just had to get it out.  I did not expect the amazing amount of support and encouragement I received on twitter and my blog after writing this post.  While there are still days like this, I am reminded that I am not alone, teenagers are still teenagers, and that me implementing a flipped classroom ideology is a complete and total mind shift for students and it sometimes is really hard to understand.
• Initial Impressions (Part 1 of 3) - this post gives the reflections from the first official visitors I ever had to my flipped class.  While I was a little nervous to have guests, it was one of the most exciting moments to "show off" what was going on in my classroom.  To see the excitement and the wheels turn in this teacher's head after seeing a flipped class in action was truly rewarding.
• Critics of the Flipped Classroom - My post "criticizing" critics of the flipped classroom who have never really tried it themselves and who just take the opinions and words of writers and speakers online of what the flipped classroom is.  I was a little nervous in pushing "publish" on this post, not knowing what sort of response I would get.  It has actually become one of my most read posts, right underneath my posts on WSQs.
• The day without the flip and the two days that followed Back to the Flip and Flipping over my flipped class this week :).  It was a great experience to go back to traditional for a day.  For one, it was nice to mix it up.  But, most importantly, it verified and clarified so much for me about why I flip my class.

The most important lessons I feel I have learned so far...

1. Every flipped classroom is different, and that is okay.  I have loved being able to share my flipped classroom with everyone and feel honored when someone else finds something useful that works in their classroom as well from my blog.  And, I love finding new ideas from other people's blogs and from twitter.  But, one thing I have found is that there are a lot of ideas that totally work for others that just don't work for me, and that is okay.  The flipped classroom should help to increase student responsibility for their learning as well as engagement with / deeper understanding of the content.  However that plays out in an individual teacher's classroom may be completely different than mine.  I have learned to not get so caught up in finding the "right way" as a whole, but the "best way" for me and my students.  I have also learned that what my flipped class looks like this year may be completely different from how it looks a year from now because I am sure I will change and progress as well. 
2. Student feedback is vital and important to a successful flipped class.  I want my students to have ownership of their learning, and I want them to feel like it is "our" classroom and not "my" classroom.  I am constantly seeking student feedback and ideas, both formally and informally.  I am willing to try new things and am willing to admit when they are "flops".  Student feedback is essential because it is truly about their learning and what will help them succeed most.  As I have grown closer to my students this year, I have learned to distinguish between what is a "teenage complaint" (and tried to brush those off, especially those expressed to me in anger or frustration) and what is a valid issue or concern that needs to adjusted or changed.
3. Students need freedom, but they also need accountability.  In a traditional class, students could show up to school, be "present", and "receive" the content.  For some students, this would be enough to pass the tests, pass the class, and move on.  Now that the initial delivery of content is done outside of class, it takes more initiative and responsibility on the part of the student to succeed.  However, when they are held accountable to doing "their part", they are able to truly receive the benefits of the flipped class (which, if you haven't figured out yet, isn't the amazing videos I make [sarcasm intended], but the engaging and active class environment and activities that the flipped classroom frees up time for!) My WSQ chart has really helped with both giving them freedom and accountability.  I never used to have a way to keep tabs on every student and how they were progressing.  If a student was absent, they usually never made the homework up because I never remembered to check it because I never remembered they had been absent in the first place!  Now the students are fully in charge of their own progress.  They are in charge of keeping track of what they have gotten done and when it was completed.  With the WSQ charts come the "Weekly Deadlines" I have set for them.  I feel like my system of "Blue Signatures" (on time) and "Red Signatures" (late) has been working quite well, and provides that little bit of extrinsic motivation our students still need.  I still have not yet figured out the best balance between freedom and accountability for all students, but I feel like this has been a great start.
4. Relationships with students are so important. Because the flipped classroom gives a lot more ownership and control over to the students, there does need to be a certain amount of buy-in from them that this, although different and weird, will be worth it to them.  Building one-on-one relationships with students helps to aid in having them "buy-in" to the whole idea of a flipped classroom because they know that I am a teacher who cares about them as people (not just students) and who believes in them and their success, even when it is challenging for them.   I know this is an over-used phrase with flipping teachers, but I really do get to "talk with every student in every class every day". I don't know how I used to do it!  I have always had great relationships with my students in the past, but I think it was more of a great relationship with the class as a whole, and certain students who would stand out or who would talk a lot.  Now I am able to have that same relationship with all students, even those shy ones that would normally try to hide in the corner.  Now, when I say this, I definitely still see areas of growth and certain students that I want to try to reach out to a little more, but it is better than in the past.  It is still a challenge to reach out to those shy ones when the loud and vocal students still cry out for your attention.  However, now there is time set aside every day to do that, as long as I am intentional in doing so.

Thank you for being a part of my PLN these last three months.  There are eight weeks left until summer and I can't wait to see what I will get to learn in the next two months!  Then, it will be summertime when I can try to make sense of all this amazing new knowledge and experiences to start flipping from the beginning of a school year!  My summer to-do list related to the flipped classroom is already growing much too rapidly...

Why I Flip My Class (Student Quote)

The flipped classroom is really coming around, more so than usual, because it promotes interaction and it makes sure that you are on task- otherwise, you have to do double the workload that night. I feel that I am getting more excited about math; I always enjoyed it, but it's really fun, despite the difficulty of the lesson, because of all the videos we make and the talks with our groups.  

This is from a student who HATED the flipped classroom in the beginning.  One that I had to sit down with after school and talk to about how to succeed in a flipped class.  Her transformation has been amazing and gives me hope for the rest of the kids who haven't quite come on board yet :)

My Goals for the Flipped Classroom

I think it's about time I actually verbalized the goals that I hope to accomplish (for myself and for my students) by using the Flipped Classroom.  Then, in June, I will have a measuring stick to see if my goals were actually met or not.  This is list still a work in progress and I will be adding to it as needed.  I will be starting a new tab on the top of my blog titled "Data" that will track the progress of these goals.

For Students:

Using the Flipped Classroom ideology will increase student understanding of the material as shown by:

• An increase in the percentage of students receiving A's and B's on my Chapter/Unit Tests by an average of 5% over my 2010-2011 students (taught with a Traditional Classroom)
• A decrease in the percentage of students receiving F's on my Chapter/Unit Tests by an average of 5% less my 2010-2011 students (taught with a Traditional Classroom)
• An overall class average increase of 5% over my 2010-2011 students on each individual Chapter/Unit Test

Using the Flipped Classroom ideology will increase student motivation in math as shown by:

• A decrease the number of homework cards students receive by 20% for the entire semester. (1st semester - 219, 230, 206 = 655 HW cards in 3 Algebra 1 classes; 113, 156 = 269 HW cards in 2 Math Analysis classes)
• A consistent decrease in the number of homework cards students receive each week as we continue through the flipped classroom model.
  

For Myself:

Using the Flipped Classroom ideology will allow me as a teacher to:

• Interact with every student (ALL of them) on a daily basis in at least a short math-related conversation.
• Be able to more easily and readily assess student mastery of the content on a daily basis and provide the immediate support they need to succeed.

What are your thoughts on these goals?  Do you have similar goals for your students?  What are some goals I may be missing that I should consider setting?  All ideas and feedback welcome :)

Reflections on Week 3 (solid strides in the right direction!)

Week 3 of the Spring Semester is now over and I feel like this has been a very solid week in making strides towards what I want my flipped classroom to look like and feel like.



All Reflections from This Year can be Found Here. 

*Each week, I spend some time personally reflecting on the week - what I did, what worked, what didn't, what I liked, what I didn't, etc.  I try to organize my reflections in a similar manner each week, since they do get pretty long: (1) Math Analysis; (2) Algebra; (3) Sharing and Collaboration; (4) Other Thoughts; (5) Running lists (Things I've heard this week that I love; Characteristics and qualities of my flipped classroom that I want to keep; Changes I've made this week that I like; Ideas I'm still contemplating and experimenting with).  I hope these reflections give you insight into my classroom and give you some ideas to try in your own flipped classroom.  I appreciate any comments, feedback, ideas, and follow-ups that you provide, so please comment and join in on the conversation!

Math Analysis

I am very happy with the growth I have been seeing with my Math Analysis students.  I have really been encouraging them daily to "take charge of their own learning" and "manage their time wisely to help them succeed".  I feel like that is really starting to click with a lot of my students.  It's definitely far from perfect, but I love the progress I have been noticing.
 
This week in Math Analysis we implemented the new "self-pacing/self-evaluating" process I described in my Week 2 reflection.  Basically, I allowed students to be "waived" from certain assignments once they could show me proficiency.  If it was super easy for them and they understood it after watching the video and completing the WSQ,  they could come to class and take the concept quiz and then move on rather than spending the period practicing a concept they had already mastered.

Here are my thoughts on it from the first week of implementation.  I feel like I need to continue to use this for at least a couple of more weeks to really get a grasp on if I like it or not:

What was good:

1. I had a lot of students take advantage of the opportunity to just take a quiz in replacement of 10-20 practice problems.  Then again, Unit N that we just started began with VERY easy concepts they had all learned before (converting from degrees to radians, converting from radians to degrees, drawing angles in standard position, finding supplementary and complementary angles, and finding coterminal angles).  Thus, even some of my lower level students were able to pass the quizzes perfectly within the first day after the video.  The sixth concept (finding reference angles) had fewer students taking the "waiver" and more completing the entire assignment.

2. It was pretty easy for me to give the students instant feedback on their work because there was one version of the concept quiz that was used each day (the version changed daily depending on what day the students decided to take the quiz), so I could grade it right away and go over what they got incorrect if they did not score a perfect 8.

3. I felt better about the work that was assigned to the students because they were doing it for their own good and for their own learning, not for the sake of getting the assignment done or feeling like they were doing busy work.

What wasn't so good - I will describe two specific scenarios with students that happened this week.

1. Student 1 came into my classroom on Wednesday morning to take Concept 6's quiz.  I was busy working with my Algebra 1 students, so I did not know what he was doing specifically.  He brings up his quiz packet to me for me to grade and he did Tuesday's version of the quiz (there is a big whiteboard right by the quizzes that says "Today's Version: ______".  I told him that he would have to complete the correct version because the answer keys to yesterday's version were already public and possibly floating around.  By that time, the morning bell was about to ring so he had to come back during our seminar class.  He took the correct version and I had time to grade it.  He solved one of the problems correctly, but the other incorrectly in a way that clearly showed major misconceptions about the concept (reference angles).  I asked him if he had watched the video the night before and he said no.  He did not watch the video and did not even look at his SSS packet the night before. He just came to class (cocky, in my opinion) and assumed he would know how to take the quiz.  This situation with Student 1 can happen very often in this "self-evaluating/self-assessing" model.  I think Student 1 learned from this lesson and I hope won't make that mistake again of just assuming he's mastered the content instead of at least practicing it.  I told this same story to my classes (anonymously, of course) and made the point that before you take a concept quiz, you need to have (1) watched the video because I do convey more important information than basic rote mathematical operations and examples - the stuff I describe and talk about, the connections I explain, etc are all important to the overall understanding of the material, (2) completed the full WSQ to really cement the information in the student's head in their own words instead of mine, (3) tried at least a few of the homework problems on their own to make sure they can do it without my help on the video.  I think this is something I will have to continually remind my students of.  They waste their time (taking the quiz instead of practicing) and mine (grading) when they come in unprepared and cocky.

2. Student 2 is one of my top students.  He had an A all first semester and received A's on all of his tests so far.  I just graded the Unit M (Conic Sections) test last night and he received a 70.5%.  I watched his face when he received his test back today and he was in shock.  I think it is the lowest test grade he has ever received.  When I had a chance today, I went over and talked with him.  I sat down and went through the places he made mistakes.  A lot of the mistakes were not major misconceptions, but small missing pieces of content that connected with each other led to a "train de-railing" effect as the problem went on.  I explained his mistakes and then talked to him a little bit about his actions over the last week.  To be honest, I had a feeling that something like this (a low test grade for him) would happen, but I wasn't going to say anything about it ahead of time, because I don't think it would have done any good.   He needed to experience it to realize what needs to change.  He is a student he wants to do the minimal amount of work but still receive the good grades.  In certain units, he has been able to get away with it because the content has been easier.  He took advantage of the "waiver" in this unit, meaning for a few of the concepts he did a little practice, took the quiz and did well on it, and that was it.  He didn't "practice practice practice" the concept until he knew it like the back of his hand, didn't see the concept in a variety of different setups or formats to make sure he still knew how to work with it... he basically just did the littlest amount of work he could get by with - and look what happened.  I didn't really have to explain much of that to him because he realized it.  He knows he was trying to do as little work possible and now he has first hand experience with what lack of hard work does.  I really hope Student 2 takes this as a learning experience and changes his effort and focus in class.  He is capable of great things and is very bright, but he needs to realize that laziness does not pay off.

My thoughts on the process as a whole:

1. Students need to learn and experience through the process of self-evaluating and self-assessing.  We can talk to them about it as much as we want, but sometimes they just need to experience the process themselves.  They will try and sometimes succeed right away, but I think they learn quality lessons when they try and fail and then realize what they need to do to succeed in the future.

2. I'm still hoping this "take the quiz when you are ready" thing is working as far as student honesty goes.  Integrity is one of the character traits that I highly emphasize in my class, and during the first semester, we always took the quizzes together at one time, in rows, no talking, etc.  With this method, however, students take them at any point during the period and are supposed to put everything away and not talk while they are quizzing. I am monitoring and can tell who is quizzing and who is working.  However, I know that a kid who wants to cheat will find a way to cheat.  My goal is that they fully realize that the concept quizzes (worth 15% of their overall grade and can be retaken an infinite amount of times) are for their own good and for their own learning and if they choose to cheat on them just to get out of doing homework problems or some other reason, they are only hurting themselves, because when the tests come (75% of their overall grade), they will not know how to do it.  I really feel most of my students understand that fact, but I think cheating is always a valid concern from any teacher.

Other thoughts on Math Analysis from this week

The Unit M Test results were really great.  I will be posting some more detailed information in a post later this weekend as I am collecting data comparing the test scores from last year (not flipped) to this year (fully flipped).  I will be doing a "Data Analysis" post after every assessment to post the results and talk about the differences between the years for both Math Analysis and Algebra 1.  I will link to that post here when it is complete. DATA POST #1 - UNIT M

If you have any data that you have collected about your flipped classroom, please feel free to share it.  That is one major request I have seen from teachers thinking about flipping - they want to see the proof in the numbers!

Algebra 1

Remediation:

This has been a pretty crazy week overall for Algebra 1 with the mandatory remediation my students have had either before or after school every day.  The attendance has been pretty good, ranging from 29 students up to 46 students for each day (2 identical sessions offered each day).  I had a total of 76 students assigned to the remediation sessions and only 11 of those 76 students attended zero sessions.  Everyone else attended at least one.  Today was the final session before they take the test on Tuesday, and I had 46 attendees.  Unfortunately, that means that 30 students did not get the "practice test" or answer key that goes along with it.  I will be posting it on Edmodo, so the proactive students will still be able to access it.

I am excited to see the results on Tuesday.  I hope there is a correlation between the number of sessions students attended and the increase in their test percentage.  I want my students to realize that hard work, time, and dedication does pay off.

A few concerns did spark my attention this afternoon while students were working on the practice test.  Concepts we had covered in Session 1 and 2 were already forgotten!  Once I gave them a couple hints they could follow through with it, but I won't be able to do that on the test Tuesday.  I gave them a "study schedule" to follow over the weekend, but we will see who really does it.  I don't want them to feel like all their time was wasted.

One awesome thing I saw at the remediation sessions was the aspect of the flipped classroom that is really growing - students working together, asking questions, pointing out errors, explaining how they solved things, etc... all that was happening without my complete direction or instructions in these after school sessions!  They made me proud!

The "Flipped" part

I made a few important adjustments in the flipped classroom this week in terms of the expectations I have for students and their WSQ's:

1. Students cannot ask "yes/no" questions.  I was getting far too many of them and students were not thinking deeply about the concept.  So, I took a lot of my class time this week spending at least a few minutes at each group's table reading their questions and answers, probing them to think deeper, asking them follow-up questions, and then having them write their new answers down in their own words.  I wouldn't sign off their "Q" until this was done.  At first, I was like "Oh gosh, this is going to be a never-ending process, isn't it!"  But, the second day they were better and by the third day, I was seeing a lot of progress.

Here is the progression that I took my students on this week.  I am looking forward to seeing more progress next week.

A lot of students will ask questions like:  "Do you always have to use the box method to multiply?"  They would write answers such as "Yes because if you don't you'll get the problem wrong."  I told them that if their answer consisted of a "yes" or "no" and then any phrase that had to do with "because you'll get the problem wrong" or "because that's the way you are supposed to do it", or the like, I wouldn't accept it and they had to think more deeply.

So, I started to get questions like this: "Do you always have to use the box method to multiply?  If so, why? What makes it useful?"  I would get answers like this: "You do not always have to use the box method to multiply, but it is helpful because it keeps you organized and makes sure you don't forget anything".

Here is an example of a student WSQ and what my comments would be to them (click on the picture to make it bigger):

 This student asked: 

Q: "Does [sic] the degrees have to be in order from biggest to smallest?  Will it be wrong?"

A: Yes because it will be wrong if it isn't in order from biggest to smallest...we need to keep it in standard form

The discussion we had in our group was:

-Give me more than "it will be wrong if it's not in order from biggest to smallest".  

-Follow-up/Probing questions: Why is it important to put it in that order?  What will it help us do?  How does it help us stay organized?  if it is in standard form, what can we quickly identify?

-Even with a "bad" question, I was able to probe and use follow-up questions to get the deeper thinking I wanted out of my students.

-As the week went on, I saw improvement in students' original questions, and we could still continue to ask follow-up questions.

2.  This led me to adjustment #2.  Students must use at least three math vocabulary words (mine are bolded below) in the "Summary" part of their WSQ and also in their answer to the questions.  This would change the previous question and answer to look like this:

Question: "Do you always have to use the box method to multiply polynomials (specifically, monomials with trinomials)?  If so, why?  What makes it more useful that simple distribution?"

Answer: "You do not always have to use the box method to multiply monomials with trinomials because you could use the distributive property and get the same answer.  However, when we multiply larger polynomials later, such as binomials with binomials or binomials with trinomials, the box method will be the most useful because it will keep us organized, help us to not forget any terms, and help us to notice which like terms we need to combine together.

3. Come up with several different ways to share our summaries and encourage discussion in class.  I am trying to vary the way that I have students working with their summaries and questions so they don't get bored or used to the same thing.  At some point, I want to start keeping a list, so be on the lookout for a new page up top coming soon.  I'll link to it here when it's ready.  Here are some of the ways I've tried so far along with any pros/cons I have found:

-Summaries as a whole class - pick one or two students and put their summaries on the screen.  Read through them, talk about them, critique them, add to them, and then "score" them.  Then have students read their individual summaries and "score" themselves, adding what is necessary based on our conversation. PROS - whole class norming, accountability with whoever's name is "drawn" to be read, whole-class discussion. CONS - takes more time, not engaging for all learners, sometimes embarrassing for student whose summary gets read if it is not good.

-Summaries in small groups - students turn with their groups and a specified number (one, two, three, or four) of students have to read their summaries to their groups.  The students in the group are supposed to stop the reader, question the reader, ask the reader to repeat or clarify, etc as the summary is being read.  At the end of the summary, the group discusses anything that needs to be added or changed. PROS - all students engaged in discussion, students more willing to ask questions and make comments because it is not in front of the whole class. CONS - less accountability since I cannot listen in on every group at all times, possible misconceptions or non-accurate comments or phrasing since I cannot correct immediately, can take a long time if all four share; students can "get out of it" if only one person shares.

-Our "Perfect" summary - in small groups, one student is chosen to have their summary be "made perfect".  The group reads it together and as they are reading it, they cross out words that don't make sense, add sentences or fragments to increase the value and comprehension of the sentences, replace general terms with math vocabulary (and highlight the math vocabulary so it stands out), and otherwise make the summary "perfect" - four brains are better than one. PROS - all group members focused on one common goal, students required to think and speak mathematically, easy to check up on because it is one per group. CONS - teaching students to think and speak mathematically with confidence is a process and is not always easy!

Random note - I love teaching math vocabulary with songs!  Here is the one we are using this chapter to help students remember all the stuff about polynomial names and degrees: "Polynomial Degrees" (to the tune of ABC's/Twinkle Twinkle).  The great thing was that when students took their concept quiz, I saw them all counting on their fingers and whispering/mouthing the words to the song to help them remember the names.  


To see more of the songs & chants I use in my math classes, click on this link.

Coming Prepared to Class... issues and solutions

This was a huge week for Algebra 1 in terms of coming prepared to class.  I understand that there are sometimes issues with students not being able to watch the video at night (or sometimes just not making it a priority).  I don't necessarily have a problem with that as long as it doesn't become a constantly re-occurring issue.  What I do have a problem with is students not taking control of their learning and taking responsibility for themselves.  When I begin class, I assume that all students have done what they were supposed to in order to be prepared for class unless they have already spoken to me.  I have mentioned this on several occasions, but this week I decided to really make a point about it.  There would be some points last week where I would finally get around to a group about 35 minutes into class only to find out that one or two of the students in that group hadn't watched the video.  They didn't say anything to me, and there were open computers waiting for them, they just didn't care!! If students came up to me before the bell rang and told me they didn't watch the video yet, they got right to work on one of my classroom computers or were told what number they were in line to get a computer.  I started class and we started whatever intro activity/discussion we had planned while the students who needed to catch up did so.

However, on Tuesday, when I tried the "Summaries as a whole class", the first three names I drew did not have their summaries complete.  At that point, a little frustrated, I told the students, "If you did not watch the video or complete your WSQ last night and have not yet told me about it, get out". I had them go outside my door and wait for me to talk with them.  I got the class started on "Summaries in small groups" and then talked to the students outside.  I told them that I understood that things come up and they may not always have the video watched, but they need to show some sort of concern or care for their education and take responsibility for that action by letting me know in person before the tardy bell rings that they are not prepared.  I told them it was unacceptable to come into class not having watched the video and to then just sit there and not say anything about it.

On Tuesday, I had about 8-10 students in each class that I had to "kick out" and have the short lecture with.  On Wednesday, it was about 4-5 students in each class.  On Thursday,  it was two girls in my first period and nobody for the rest of the day!  That doesn't mean all students watched the video every night - it means that the students who didn't took responsibility for their learning and came and told me in person right away so we could get them started on catching up and joining the class!

So, even though it seemed harsh to have to "kick out" kids three days in a row, I think the point is being made and I will continue to have that rule in place.  If you don't have your WSQ done and you don't come tell me, I will be talking with you outside personally about what it means to take responsibility for your learning.  I really think the kids are starting to get it.

One of my top students in Algebra 1 stayed after class on Wednesday to talk to me.  He was frustrated that I had to take class time out every day to lecture the students who weren't prepared and didn't think the "flipped classroom" was working because I just had to get mad every day.  He didn't think it was fair to him that I waste class time getting "mad" at the students who didn't care. I appreciated him feeling open enough to come and talk to me about it and offered some guidance and solutions.  First, I made him aware that I do look at the clock and no more than five minutes of class is spent on getting the class started and "kicking out" the kids who need to be talked to.  Second, I reminded him that the beauty of the flipped classroom is that you can work at your own pace - whether that be slower or faster than the students around you.  I told him that he is more than welcome to be working ahead and starting the assignments before I actually tell the class to get started.  He needs to participate in the whole class portions (activities, group discussions, etc), but otherwise he can be working on his assignments.  I told him that he can even choose to watch all the videos in one night if he wants and then just work by himself on the problems if he chooses.  He was (somewhat surprisingly) very happy and satisfied with my responses and very grateful that he sensed that the flipped classroom could really help him.  All in a 5 minute conversation!  I am hoping to see him start to stretch and push himself next week; we will see!

Sharing and Collaboration

So far (as of 2/17/12), I have received 31 responses to my Flipped Classroom Questionnaire.  If you have not yet had the time to fill out the survey, please try to do so before I close the survey in about a week.  I would like to see between 100-200 responses, as I know there are thousands of teachers out their flipping.  Please send the link to any and all teachers that you know are flipping, thinking about flipping, or have tried flipping.  The survey is meant for all teachers in all subjects, all grade levels, all countries, all levels of experience with flipping etc.  The link to the non-embedded survey is here.  Feel free to email it, tweet it, post it, etc.

I have had several requests already for the results of the survey and I will be sharing as soon as the survey is closed.  Responders do have the option to keep their responses private, so I do need to go through and edit the Google Docs survey and take out any unwanted public information before posting it.  At that time, I will post the survey responses as a whole as well as blog about anything I feel is important.  If you would like to personally be contacted when the results spreadsheet is available, please let me know by commenting below or sending me an email

I have also finished collecting information and questions from my staff from the presentation I gave about a week and a half ago.  I will be posting a blog on that later this weekend as well and will link to it here when it is complete.

Please check out the list of blogs on my right hand side for other "Flipping Teachers" and check out #flipclass on Twitter for lots of great articles, insights, and experiences daily from teachers all around the world!

Other Thoughts

It was a pretty exciting week overall with feeling great about the flipped classroom every day when I came home (just ask my husband - sometimes the day is just full of complaints, but this week I had positive and exciting things to say every day!).  What topped it all off was being voted by my colleagues as "Educator of the Year" for my school.  It was an honor and a great surprise.  It is nice to know that your hard work is being recognized and that people appreciate the effort you are giving to help your students succeed.

I have had several conversations with colleagues interested and exciting about trying to "flip" next school year.  Most of them are going to wait until they have time to prep and prepare over the summer, but I am excited to see the excitement growing! :).  I am hoping with the information I get from the survey I mentioned above will provide support for all of my colleagues of different subject areas with a contact of someone who also flips that same subject area and to whom they can look to for questions, support, and tips.

THINGS I'VE HEARD THIS WEEK THAT I LOVE: 

(I asked students to send me notes on Edmodo about these two questions 1. The flipped classroom THIS PAST WEEK has helped me as a student in these ways... 2. What did you like most about the flipped classroom activities/learning experiences/work we did this week AND WHY? 

STUDENT 1 (Math Analysis):
- This week when I watched the videos, mainly Concept 8 Part 1, I had chances to see if I could get things on my own, by pausing, and then have it explained, which is something that is rarely seen in a regular class and helps me see my mistakes.
- If I want to go back and learn the steps in detail I can, and I won't have to stay after class or get weird looks like I'm stupid . . . 
- The video for the unit circle is a video and not a one time lecture, so I can go back and watch instead of just looking at paper with numbers on it. It explains why everything is what it is, the patterns and the tricks and is an actual help at learning. It's not just mindless memorization, it gives reasons to why thing are what they are.
-It's fun and I feel like the flipped classrooms are a less stressful way to learn and if more teachers try it then less people will be stressed out, so it's like helping the world!

STUDENT 2 (Math Analysis):
-The flipped classroom this past week has helped me as a student because I could work at my own pace. Concepts that I had once covered were refreshed in my memory, and for concepts which were a bit more challenging I was able to still learn at my own pace. I did not have to worry about falling behind because I got to learn on my own time and ask questions in class. Flipped classroom allows me to spend more time on concepts that I need more help on than lessons that I already know.
-The "take the quizzes when you're ready" and "waiver" were a great idea because I could actually decide what to do for myself. We have to make our own choices later on anyway, so why not start now? :) It also helped me because I didn't have to spend too much time on something that I already knew and I could move on to more challenging concepts.

STUDENT 3 (Math Analysis):
-it allows me to review and understand the explanation and the concept from the videos.
-The "waivers" allowed those who understood the concept the following day a sort of reward or a pat on the back; exempting from additional homework (mandatory), but does not take away from additional practice. 
-Also, answering our questions opens additional understanding of the concept (if the question is well-written). It allows a discussion within the group and opens different explanations/answers to one question (maybe/depends).
-Well, there was a particular discussion concerning the similarities and differences between the formulas of the ellipses and hyperbolas. We took into account the similar variables and formulas. But there were minor differences within the formula that played big roles to change the shape of a ellipse into a hyperbola (i.e. a^2+b^2=c^2 vs. a^2-b^2=c^2 or we switch a^2 and b^2 in ellipses while we switch the terms (y-k)^2 and (x-h)^2 in hyperbolas). Such discussions like these help me remember like "Oh yeah! I remember talking about that with my group."

STUDENT 4 (Algebra 1):
-It helped me see that I have done my work correctly. Help me focus more to make a GREAT summary. Also, it helped me prepare for a review of the concept that we learned.
-What I like most about the flipped classroom is that we get to do activities that apply to the concept we are learning. I like doing homework in the classroom rather than at home because it feels relaxed. When I need help on a problem, I can ask the teacher rather than wait the next day to get the answer. This week was very fun because it was a very easy week. We did activities and reviewed concepts that we had trouble on. The flipped classroom is great!

CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES OF MY FLIPPED CLASSROOM THAT I WANT TO KEEP (running list each week):

1. Students MUST ALWAYS have a written answer to the question part of their WSQ.  This can be written by them individually or answered with the help of a group member or myself.  The questions must require more than just a Yes or No answer.   This ensures that their question does get answered, and it forces students to practice using academic language in writing.

2. Picking a place in the classroom next to a group and sitting on my stool for a while, helping if needed, but listening in and guiding the group along.  (did not do that as much this week, but I like it)

3. In the videos, always have at least an example or two that students need to work out on their own.  Two ways to do this - #1 - in the middle of the video, tell them to pause it and try it on their own.  Then they can follow along with me once they get stuck, and then pause me again and try from there. #2 - at the end of the video, assign 1-2 problems for the students to complete on their own before class.  Work out these problems in a "part 2" of the video for students to reference if they still get stuck.

CHANGES I'VE MADE THIS WEEK THAT I LIKE: 

1. Our "Perfect" summary - I really like it!

IDEAS I'M STILL CONTEMPLATING & EXPERIMENTING WITH (running list each week):

1. "Waiver" for assignments once students have shown mastery on a quiz

2. Coming up with a list of "key questions" myself for each concept to have handy to ask students, to have students discuss in groups, and to show students what "good, HOT questions" look like and sound like (modeling).


3. Splitting the class into three groups (Math Analysis - maybe have them split themselves; Algebra 1 - I would need to split them, at least for a while).  High, Medium, and Low.  High kids work together on their own (or tutor low kid).  Medium kids work with me.  Low kids work with a small group led by a "high kid" tutor.  Will this work?

Thoughts, comments, ideas, your own experiences? Please share!!!

All Reflections from This Year can be Found Here. 

Reflections on Week 2 (growth, learning, and new ideas!)

Week 2 of the Spring Semester is now over and I feel like this has been a week of growth and learning.


All Reflections from This Year can be Found Here. 

*Each week, I spend some time personally reflecting on the week - what I did, what worked, what didn't, what I liked, what I didn't, etc.  I try to organize my reflections in a similar manner each week, since they do get pretty long: (1) Math Analysis; (2) Algebra; (3) Sharing and Collaboration; (4) Other Thoughts; (5) Running lists (Things I've heard this week that I love; Characteristics and qualities of my flipped classroom that I want to keep; Changes I've made this week that I like; Ideas I'm still contemplating and experimenting with).  I hope these reflections give you insight into my classroom and give you some ideas to try in your own flipped classroom.  I appreciate any comments, feedback, ideas, and follow-ups that you provide, so please comment and join in on the conversation!

Math Analysis 

My Math Analysis students continued to work on Unit M (Conic Sections).

I remember teaching this last year (and the last three years) - I would spend two days on each conic: one day going over a few examples, one day having the students practice. These questions are pretty complex - imagine having to take an equation, identify the conic (we'll go with hyperbola for this example), complete the square with two variables, identify which direction the branches open, identify the center, identify a & b, use that information and apply your knowledge to find the vertices and co-vertices, identify the transverse and conjugate axes, use the formula to find c, apply your knowledge to find the foci, pick one of two methods to identify the asymptotes, and then plot everything I have mentioned and graph it accurately. 

Okay I just lost some of you on that description :) My point is, this is A LOT to go over, learn, and understand.

In class, with all the questions, comments, and confusions when teaching the examples to the whole class, we would MAYBE get through two examples in class. The students would go home and practice a few, generally still confused, and then come back to class when my goal was to have them practice all period but so many of them were still confused that I had to go over another example in class, leaving them little time to practice on their own and actually get help. 

Now, let's transition to this year with a flipped lesson: one night watching four examples on video (20 minutes of video total split into two parts - Part 1 and Part 2), one day in class practicing in groups getting questions answered and confusions clarified, another night watching two examples (Part 3) on video and completing two on their own (with video support (Part 4) for those two if the students still didn't quite get it), and another last day in class working through examples and practicing. 

When students arrived to class this week, they were already "pre-loaded" with all of the vocabulary, relationships, examples, etc that would give them the tools to succeed.  I had them get in their groups and the first thing they did is have a discussion.  I had one student read their summary out loud to the group. (If you don't know how I do homework yet in my Flipped Class, check out My Favorite WSQ for a description) Group members have been shown how to be actively engaged in this process and to "stop" or "pause" the reader if they feel like something is missing or wrong or needs to be clarified.  Some groups are getting good at this, some groups still need some practice; however, overall I really liked what I was hearing.  

After the summary is read and discussed, each group member reads their question.  I did the "question" process in two different ways this week: for ellipses (the conic section we studied on Tues & Wed), students had to trade their notebooks in a circle and a different group member had to actually write down the answer in words to their question.  If they couldn't answer it themselves, they could ask a friend or me, but it was a test to see if they could answer it themselves.  For hyperbolas (the conic section we studied on Thurs & Fri), I had students write down the answer themselves to their own question and then share with their group members.

For the rest of the period time, the students worked in their partners and small groups working through problems.  I started a new thing this week with a stool that I have in my classroom.  Instead of mulling around the whole period and monitoring, I actually took my stool and plopped down in front of a small group of students and just watched and worked with them for 3-5 minutes.  Then, I would pick up the stool and pick another group of students who needed some help and sat down.  Sometimes, I picked a group who had raised their hand with a specific question; sometimes I just picked a group who I wanted to hear what they were saying, talking about, and working through.  I thought it was neat.

I made a few other changes in Math Analysis this week that I will be experimenting with for the next unit before deciding if to continue.  It has to do with the students self-pacing and self-evaluating.  What I told them on Thursday is this:

"Some of you need to do all 10 hyperbolas for practice in order to understand the material.  Some of you probably need to ask me for more practice.  Some of you could probably master the material after 8, or 5, or even 2.  Once you feel you have mastered the material, you can prove it to me by taking the Concept Quiz for Hyperbolas.  If you can get an "8" [a perfect score], you will be excused from the rest of the Hyperbolas assignments and can move on.  If you try and don't get an "8", you need to go back and practice more until you understand it better.  Basically, you have the right to receive a 'waiver' for certain assignments once you show me proficiency on a certain concept."

By class time Friday, I had seven students who had showed me proficiency on the Hyperbolas Concept Quiz and were "waived" from the remaining practice and were able to work ahead on the next assignment.  I had two students who tried the Quiz right away on Thursday and made several mistakes.  So, they had to go back and practice some more and could take a different version of the Quiz on Friday.  The second time, they all passed.

Excitements about this:  

1. Students don't have to sit around feeling like they are doing meaningless work.  Once they get it, they can show me they get it and can move on.

2. Students will have to learn how to self-evaluate they progress.  They have to "know what they know" and decide if they are ready for it.  If they think they are, but then end up not passing the quiz, hopefully they will learn from this and discover how to know when they really have mastered something.

Nervousness about this:

1.  In math, there are always different ways to set up or phrase a question.  Students could practice a few of them, and then take the quiz that has the question set up or phrased in a different way and not know what to do because that certain set up/phrasing was supposed to be practiced in question #5, but they didn't get that far.

2. Students could practice a few, show proficiency on the Concept Quiz, and then think they know it well enough to still pass it on the unit test a week later.  They don't look at the material at all or review it; they don't practice the questions they have been "excused" from; they don't review the videos they have been "excused" from... and then they fail that Concept on the test.  This is obviously a learning experience and if it happens once, I would hope the student would take charge of their learning and learn from that mistake to not let it happen again.

There is one major issue with this as I have it set up right now - there are still deadlines for all of the assignments that students must meet or they will receive "red lines" (late credit) for certain assignments or WSQ's.  So, if a student goes home and decides to only practice 2 of the 4 questions because they feel they "get it", and then show up to school and take the quiz before class and DON'T get an "8", they will receive late credit for the remaining two questions they didn't complete on time.   Students either have to have the assignment completed or the "waiver" completed by its deadline.  Right now, I still feel like the daily deadlines are important for my students.  I know that some teachers just have weekly deadlines for students, (or no deadlines at all) but at this point, I feel like my students are not ready for that much freedom and need some guidance.

I will be experimenting with this for Unit N and then deciding how to tweak or modify it for the future, or get rid of it all together.

As far as the WSQ charts go, they were MUCH better for the Math Analysis students this week.  Most of the students got everything done on time.  I do have a few homework cards to write for students who didn't (1) watch the video on time twice in one week; (2) complete the required assignment twice in one week; or (3) scored less than 60% of the points in all of the categories (Watch, Summarize, Question, and Assignment).  Most of the students learned from last week and got their stuff done on time.  I still have one student who refuses to write any summaries (he "doesn't have enough time because he has sports practice") and I gave him a homework card even though he doesn't fit into any of the categories because I warned him daily, gave him a final warning on Thursday, and he still showed up on Friday with no summaries written.

Algebra 1 

 Algebra 1 class started off on a "fun" note with the horrible results from the Chapter 6a test.  Students were assigned mandatory remediation that began this week and will continue next week.  They have to come either before or after school every day for a focused "session" on a certain concept that they didn't pass on the test.  If students did well on a certain concept, they could get excused from that session.  Several students have gotten excused from certain sessions.  

When I presented the remediation, I gave the analogy of running a marathon (finishing the marathon is like passing the test).  I told them that if your goal is to run a marathon (pass the test), you have to prepare.  You have to train your body and your mind, or you will show up, try to run it, and puke all over everyone (fail the test miserably).  I told them we will be in training for the next 7 school days so we can successfully finish the marathon (pass the test).   The training will not always be easy.  Sometimes they won't want to come because they would rather relax, hang out with friends, etc.  But in the back of their mind, they need to remember that if they don't train, they will show up on the day of the marathon (the day of the retake) and it won't be a pretty picture.  I challenged them to think about that when their alarm goes off in the mornings (is it worth it to push snooze or will it pay off if I wake up now and get to school for the 'training' session) and after school (is it worth it to hang out with friends and socialize or will it just pay off to go to Mrs. Kirch's room and go to 'training'?).  

I have 77 students who got below an 80% on the test that are in the "training" group.  For Session 1, I had 36 students attend; Session 2 had 28 students attend.  Both sessions had about 3-5 students waived from that specific session.  So, attendance is just under 50%, which honestly is not that bad for the first week.  After a few parent emails/Edmodo messages and phone calls this weekend or on Tuesday, I am sure attendance will improve but I would be stupid and stressing myself out if I thought 100% of the students would show up for every session.  In my dreams, my ideal world, my perfect classroom - yes... in reality - no.

Let's talk about the "flipped" part of Algebra 1.  This week we were covering Chapter 6b, which was systems of equation word problems.  All along, I was planning on this test being an "Open WSQ" test - meaning the students could use all of their WSQs  and practice problems on their test.  I didn't tell the students until Friday, the day of the test, although I did give a new hint every day that most of them figured out before Friday.  I still need to grade those tests, so we will see how they did, but I hope the results are good.

I want students to realize that if they do a good job on their WSQs and don't just write crap down (which right now, most of their summaries are simply crap - two sentences that come straight from the first few things I say on the video with little or no thought beyond that), the WSQs can be very helpful for them in many ways.

I do need to take more time in my Algebra 1 class to work on the summaries as a class.  The only issue is, there are still several students (probably 5-10 a class every day, out of 36-38 students in every class) that show up not having watched the video and/or written the WSQ.  I guess I could still do it, I just need to make it a priority. 

In terms of the usefulness of class time, I feel like my classes made progress this week.  They still need daily reminders of my expectations for group work and even within the class period they have to be reminded to get back on task, but I still feel like there is progress.  I need to remind myself that these are CP freshmen and sophomores who are still in Algebra 1 because they have struggled with math in the past - and normally it's not just struggled in math, it's struggled with general study skills and time management.


The time that students spend on my class outside of class is still pretty pitiful.  They will, for the most part, watch the videos. [In fact, I stopped in and chatted with our librarian and one of our counselors who were supervising our "Library Late Night" we had this Wednesday and they said many of my students were in the lab watching my videos and they loved what they saw - the students were pausing, taking notes, rewinding, etc - everything they were supposed to be doing!].  However, if they leave class with one or two problems left unfinished, their assignment is to finish them before class the next day.  They don't.  For the most part, anyways.  The only reason they should leave class with a few problems unfinished is if they are off task.  They are given plenty of time to work through them. If I feel like the whole class has been on task and working hard and still don't finish the problems, then I will cut down the assignment.  But, when I see them off task and not focused, there is no way I will reward them for that behavior by cutting down their assignment.


Thus, so far, one of my goals of cutting down HW cards in Algebra 1 is not coming to fruition.  75% of my students in each of my classes for Algebra 1 this week will receive their first HW card.  I am hoping they will learn sooner rather than later that it really just takes a little bit of effort, responsibility, and focus to meet my expectations.  I'm not expecting them to work magic or to become math superstars overnight - I just expect them to try their best and work hard in class.  We will keep working...

Sharing and Collaboration: Staff Presentation 

I presented My Flipped Classroom to my entire staff (teachers, admin, counselors, etc) at our Delayed Start PD this week.  Overall, the response was very positive.  I will be blogging later this weekend about their thoughts, questions, and concerns based on a Google Forms survey I gave them. (Pre-presentation and Post-Presentation survey)  So far, I have about 40 responses to each survey, which is about half our staff. 

Our Principal also told me I may be getting visitors from three nearby school districts who want to see my Flipped Classroom in action.  One of her mentors, a retired Principal, sits in on many of our Leadership meetings and discussions and was there for my first presentation of the flipped classroom last week.  He liked it so much he told some of the other Principals that he works with and they want to learn more about it.  Hopefully I will be able to blog about that soon!

I did get a call from one of our Assistant Principals on Friday.  He got an email from a concerned staff member about student use of electronics in the classroom.  We have a very strict policy regarding cell phones, iPods, etc.  Students are allowed to "have them" on campus but they should not be visible at any time they are on campus.  He asked if I allowed students to use iPods or other devices during class.  At this point, I told him no.  Because I have three laptops, students have been able to use those if they needed to watch the videos.  Only a few students have the videos loaded on their iPods or have 3G and can stream them. I do have a few, however, who will be in my classroom outside of school hours (before school or after school tutoring) and will use their personal electronic devices to watch videos on.  He said he was fine with that, and he was even fine with the students using them during my class time with my monitoring and under the system I have in place.  I was glad to hear of his support for an issue that will probably come up at some point in the year.  It also reminded me, though, that there will always be others who will not be supportive of any "changes" or "modifications" of the rules, even if it leads to increased student understanding, engagement, and involvement in their learning.

Other Thoughts

 I did have one issue in Math Analysis on Wednesday with a student frustrated with the Flipped Classroom.  At the end of the period (last 2 minutes), I called the class back together to summarize where they should be and to remind them of the expectations that are set on them to guide and take charge of their own learning.  Without any prompting, one male student shouted out "I Hate the Flipped Classroom! I want to go back to Traditional!".  This led two female students to say, "Yeah, I want traditional!".  After quickly making it clear that this was not discussion time and their behavior was not appropriate, I went on to remind the students of what I needed to say.  I pulled the 3 students aside to my back room after class to discuss with them the incident that just happened.  The male student is one of my highest achieving students and was very visibly frustrated, and I think almost embarrassed that he got himself in "trouble".  The other two girls are the ones who have been complainers all year and no matter what we do, they have something to say about it.  I called them back to basically tell them that they are entitled to their opinions, but there are mature and appropriate ways to express their opinions and what just occurred was not one of them.  I reminded them that I am the professional educator and I make decisions based on what I think it best for my students as a whole, and the Flipped Classroom is the model that I am using.

That evening, I actually ran into the young man again at the Library Late Night I mentioned earlier.  I pulled him aside individually and talked about why he was feeling the way he was.  Before this, I had discussed with one of my colleagues how I should deal with the situation, and she said "It sounds like those three students are just trying to give you solutions for a problem, but they haven't even told you what the problem is!".  I agreed - they were all trying to tell me what to do, but they hadn't told me why they were dissatisfied with the Flipped Classroom.  The young man expressed to me that in the past, he was able to get his math homework done in his other classes during the day and never had to bring any of it home.  Now that his homework is watching videos, he has to do math homework and home and that is frustrating to him.  He finally stated the problem!!!  With that, I was able to come up with a suggested solution for him.  I am going to allow him to work at his own pace (mainly working ahead) and not feel tied down to the pace I have set up for the rest of the class.  Ideally, this means that he would take maybe one or two nights a week to watch all of the lessons for the week, and then he could use his time in class (and in other classes) to get done what he needs to get done.  This, coupled with the "waiver" feature I talked about earlier, will hopefully solve his frustrations.  We will see.

As far as the two girls go, I have not talked with them further about their outbursts.  I did change their seats the next day because they were actually sitting right next to each other, and we all know how much easier it is to complain when we have someone to complain with.  We will see how it goes...

THINGS I'VE HEARD THIS WEEK THAT I LOVE:

"I used to not be able to explain anything I had learned in my own words, but now I am getting much better at it and I feel confident I could explain anything I've learned to a partner"

CHANGES I'VE MADE THIS WEEK THAT I LIKE:

1. Students actually have to write down the answers to the questions they ask.  This ensures that their question does get answered, and it forces students to practice using academic language in writing.

2. Picking a place and sitting on my stool for a while, helping if needed, but listening in and guiding the group along.  

IDEAS I'M STILL CONTEMPLATING & EXPERIMENTING WITH:

1. "Waiver" for assignments once students have shown mastery on a quiz (see notes, comments, and things that make me nervous in the Math Analysis post above)

Thoughts, comments, ideas, your own experiences? Please share!!! 

All Reflections from This Year can be Found Here. 

TWRLS

I was able to go to a three-day SIOP training this past summer and took A LOT from it. One of the biggest points was getting our students to do "TWRLS". I had an epiphany earlier this week that my flipped classroom is finally allowing my students to do so.

Thinking
Writing
Reading
Listening
Speaking


Thinking
My students have to think about the content individually before coming to class. They have to try to make connections and ask HOT questions (see link on right) about the material.

Writing
My students have to write a summary at the end of each video lesson. We talk in class about what a "great", "good", and "bad" summary are and have them self-evaluate their summaries daily. They add information in that they realize they missed and challenge themselves to put their learning in their own words in writing.

Reading
My students have to read about math on a daily basis. They read their summaries and they read their group members summaries, offering critiques, questions, and additions to what they wrote.

Listening and Speaking
My students have to listen and speak to each other on a daily basis. They work in small groups of 3-4 students and are forced to work together and talk about the material. Oftentimes, if a student calls me over to ask a question, I ask the group what they think about it first and we are able to have a discussion.

Previously, I would be the one doing most of the Thinking, Writing, Reading, Speaking, and Listening, while my students would be passive participants in my daily display of knowledge. Now it is in their hands, and I love the conversations, thinking, and growth that I have seen!!!

I have this vision...

It has only been 2 weeks since I started the WSQ version (see previous posts) of my Flipped Classroom (last 2 weeks of the first semester), and I am already beginning to see a vision of what I want my classroom to be. I am seeing students hunched over working together, explaining problems in their own words to each other. I am seeing students of multiple achievement levels working together. I am seeing myself walking around and getting asked a question, but before I am able to answer it, someone in the group does. I am seeing students re-watching videos when they need it explained again, freeing up my time to work with more students.

I hope to continue to see this vision become fuller as the students get used to the different type of classroom. I have a lot of goals and visions, but I think this one is a big one:

I WANT A CLASSROOM WHERE STUDENTS ARE DOING THE LEARNING, THE TALKING, AND THE PROBLEM SOLVING.

I'm kind of sick of being the teacher standing up front teaching for 40 minutes and only giving my students 10 minutes to actually work on it before they are sent home to do it on their own.

So far, having a "flipped classroom" is helping me to accomplish that vision.