Reflections on Week 15 (starting to wrap things up!)

What does this picture have to do with this post, you may ask?  Nothing, really.  Except we had a modified day today and got out at 12:30 and I went to the beach with my husband.  And this was my view. It was gorgeous.  Feet in the sand, sun on my face, book in my hand... wonderful afternoon :)


It's hard to believe there are officially 3 weeks left of school (and then finals week).  I say this every year, but this year flew by!  This is the point of the year right now that I get to every year - I am excited about finishing strong, but my mind is constantly bombarded with new ideas and what I want to change or try for next year.  I have been able to have some good conversations with some of my students about the Flipped Class and come up with some good thoughts for next year.  I am VERY excited to start a school year flipped from the beginning!  

I had three visitors from our District Office come and visit one of my class periods on Monday, and it was very exciting to share with them what I have been doing.  They were very excited and impressed with the level of engagement of the students and the focus/on-task behavior that they saw.  It is really cool to me to think "that's just normal" now for my classroom.  Students are generally engaged, focused, and on-task for the majority of the period and classroom management is not that big of a deal.  I am hoping they might do some district-wide training on the flipped classroom next school year that I will be able to be a part of!  Yay!

Also, I will get to present my flipped classroom at our next Department Chair meeting in June!  I am doing a "flipped" presentation - the other chairs will be watching my webinar before the meeting and send me questions they have.  Then, the 20 minutes I would normally have to present/discuss the flipped classroom will be spent all on discussions, questions, and ideas!  I'm excited!

Oh, and speaking of my webinar, if you missed my first one, I will be doing another one on June 12th at 4pm PST.  It will be the same presentation, but if you missed it the first time, hopefully you can join in this time live!

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! 

For those of you who read my weekly reflections consistently, you will notice a change this week compared to the past.  These posts will be shorter with links to more detailed external posts on specific topics.  I was finding (for myself) that it was hard for me to go back and find a previous post on a specific topic because it was hidden among a huge weekly reflection.  So, hopefully this will alleviate that problem.

Other posts from this week:

1. Frustration rant about student responsibility and motivation here.
2. Some more end of year thoughts and reflections here.
3. My weekly #flipclass chat random musings post... things that stuck out to me and what I want to think about further.  This week's chat was on incorporating reading and writing strategies into every content class.  Post here.
4. A post about a speech I gave to my Frosh/Soph Algebra 1 classes about self-assessment and evaluation.  Our new phrase in class is, "Oh yeah, I get it now". Post here.
5. Round 1 of "End of Year Student Interviews".  I am having all of my students interview on video answering 9 questions about the flipped classroom.  The questions they are answering are here and the first student video is here.
6. What will you miss the most about #flipclass?  What part did you enjoy the most? Student answers here.
7. Three types of students that struggle in my #flipclass.  Do you have any of these students in your class? Post here.

Math Analysis

1. WSQ resubmissions

2. Senioritis and the Flipped Class

3. Final Exam Idea

4. Summer Excitement!

1. WSQ resubmissions
I continued to require WSQ resubmissions for incorrect and incomplete answers.  I really like how this makes the WSQ an even greater accountability tool for students.  Here is the general process.

• Students submit their WSQ electronically.  The WSQ includes their "summary" (answering specific questions I ask), their own HOT question (with what they think the answer is if they have an idea), and their answers to the "Secret Questions" I have them answer.  I have started to ALWAYS give the students between 2-5 problems to try on their own after each video as a way to self-assess.
• After submitting, students are given the link to the spreadsheet that will show all student responses, in addition to my "perfect" response at the top of the page.  There are also sometimes links to short video explanations of the "Secret Question" problems in case they got them wrong.
• Students can read through their classmates responses and figure out where they might have had misconceptions or did not fully answer the question.  I am able to make comments immediately on student responses, and color code their names to let them know their "level" (Green = clear, Pink = wrong answers, Yellow = incomplete answers).
• Students must resubmit their answers to any box that is not Green as soon as possible (by the end of the Unit is my deadline).  They can do it in two ways: in person by explaining it to me during class or by sending me a note on Edmodo.  Regardless, when they resubmit, they must also explain their answer in more detail and explain their misconception or where they went off track the time before.  This is because they basically have the right answers in front of them now so they have to do more than just copy the correct answers that are already there.   I add a column called "corrections" where their corrected answered are copied into.

2. Senioritis and the Flipped Class
This is the point of the year where my seniors in Math Analysis have major struggles with senioritis.  They have less than 3 weeks of school left and none of them need my class to graduate.  So, they would much rather slack and not watch the videos at home and then not be productive in class.  I remember how I felt my senior year when graduation was so close, so I do feel for them a bit.  But, at the same time, I wish I knew a cure for senioritis...

3. Final Exam Idea
My students already took the first part of their Final Exam before our State Testing at the beginning of this month.  So, they are just supposed to take a "mini-final" at the end of the year covering the last 6 units of the year.  Because our seniors take finals a week early, it completely throws off the schedule because my class is mixed juniors/seniors.  In the past, we have always had the seniors take the finals on their day, and the juniors do so during the real "finals week".  I really want to do something different this year and have the juniors and seniors take the final on the same day, and do something different with the juniors for the 2 hour "final exam" time period.

So, I've been running some ideas through my head for what to do for the "final", especially since it's actually the seniors last day on campus and I usually do a big "farewell, good wishes, share about your future" sendoff day.  They still need to take some sort of "final" exam though.

Any ideas for "non-traditional" final exams?  I don't have any ideas fully formulated yet to share, but I'd love to hear if you have tried anything "different"

4. Summer Excitement!

I am VERY excited for the "summer #flipclass" our incoming students will be doing.  We always give our kids summer packets for Honors/AP classes, and I never felt they were as useful as they could be because students wouldn't really do them.  So, we haven't done them the last 2 summers for Math Analysis.  But, now that we are going to incorporate the use of Videos, modified WSQs, and online support throughout the summer, I really think it will go well.  We are doing this for two reasons:

1. The first chapter of Math Analysis is actually usually skipped because it is Algebra 2 skills.  However, we normally spend a month on it.  Our students come in, think this class is a piece of cake, spend little to no time on homework, get into bad habits, and then get hit really hard come a month into school when they realize this math class is actually difficult.  We want to avoid that by starting off running.

2. There are several chapters we have actually had to skip (polar, parametric, matrix operations, vectors, 3-D graphing, conic rotation, etc) because we don't have enough time to cover them.  I would love to have the extra three weeks we would gain back to spend more time on our current content and start teaching some of the stuff we had to leave out again! 

Algebra 1

1. "Oh Yeah, I get it now"

2.  Students back to Chapter 1 and 2

1. "Oh Yeah, I get it now"
See my "speech" here.  This is one of my biggest frustrations/concerns with my Algebra 1 kids.  They seriously just lie to themselves and they don't realize it.  If there is one thing "non-math" I really want my students to learn from my class, it's how to self-evaluate correctly and how to learn.  A lot of my students really seemed to get a lot from my "speech", as they have talked to me about it every day.  However, changing their mindset and the way they've always gone about doing things is not a one-day or one-week change.  It's going to take a while. I only hope I provide a step in the right direction for them.

2.  Students back to Chapter 1 and 2

At this point, all of my students below a 40% are in a completely separate group in my classroom, working on basic operations from Chapter 1.  My goal is that they are prepared well to hopefully succeed in Algebra 1 next year.  This whole experience makes me really consider the thought of a Flipped-Mastery Model.  Why are students allowed to move on to a harder chapter when they haven't mastered the pre-requisite skills.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to try this on a large-scale for next year, but it will definitely be in the back of my mind for my struggling learners.  Having all the lessons on video will be a huge asset.  We'll see how my thoughts develop on this...

Sharing and Collaboration

I love my #flipclass and blogging community.  Have I said that lately?  You are all amazing and so valuable in my professional development as a flipping teacher!!  THANK YOU!


If you haven't checked out my Blogroll on the right hand side of other flipping teachers, do so! It is only through sharing and community that we learn and grow!  Also, be sure to use #flipclass on twitter to join in the conversation.  If you are a "flipper" and  a "blogger" and don't see your blog on the right, please let me know. I would love to follow you and read up on your experiences!

Every Monday there is a #flipclass chat on Twitter (8pm EST).  Check it out and join in.  Connect with @bennettscience to find out more.

Other Thoughts

Found this on my desk Thursday after school.  Still have no idea who put it there, but it made me smile :)

 

THINGS I'VE HEARD THIS WEEK THAT I LOVE: 

From my student's weekly reflections:

• Just want to say that you're so awesome Mrs. Kirch! You're starting a revolution!

• XD thank you for caring and being like a chittah! :) can be rough but you do it cause you know its for our own good. thank you for a being a great teacher! ^_^

CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES OF MY FLIPPED CLASSROOM THAT I WANT TO KEEP (this list is now kept on a separate page here and is updated weekly)

CHANGES I'VE MADE THIS WEEK THAT I LIKE: 

nothing brand new :)

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

1. 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)... This will be tied in with the "Guided Summary" I will be starting to try out.  I think this is going to be put off in its entirety until this summer.


2. Begin coming up with activities students can do to apply their knowledge or practice their knowledge in different ways once they get the basics.  Again, this is something I think may just start to happen over the summer or next year since right now it's just crazy.

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

All Reflections from This Year can be Found Here. 

Initial Impressions (Part 3 of 3)

On Friday, I had the privilege to host three visitors from a neighboring school.  I asked them to give me their initial impressions of the "flipped classroom" after seeing my class in action, as well as to ask what questions they had about implementing the flipped model in their classroom.


Part 1 ...  Part 2 ... Part 3 

Here are the thoughts and concerns from Visitor #3.  This visitor was an administrator.


Visitor #3:

Thank you for allowing my team to visit your classroom last Friday.  It was fun to observe your students so engaged in learning mathematics.  Your strategies are innovative, fun and ambitious.  It was very evident that you are a model teacher who cares about student achievement.  We enjoyed our time at "" High School.
Thank you once again.

Thoughts on teacher implementing a flipped classroom model

Concerns- 

• what if student’s don’t watch the video
• huge time commitment for the teacher in the initial years

Benefits – 

• Students work collaboratively (21^st Century skills) to help each other problem solve.  
• They are not “spoon fed.”
• The teacher has more time to give individual assistance as students complete independent practice.  
• I would suspect that students learn at a deeper and more sustainable level.

Challenges- 

• training students and parents on the new philosophy/process, 
• computer availability for absent students or students who did not watch the video.  
• Need a good camera or Ipad and website that can handle the uploads.  
• Tech support.

Initial Impressions (Part 2 of 3)

On Friday, I had the privilege to host three visitors from a neighboring school.  I asked them to give me their initial impressions of the "flipped classroom" after seeing my class in action, as well as to ask what questions they had about implementing the flipped model in their classroom.


Part 1 ...  Part 2 ... Part 3 

Here are the thoughts and questions from Visitor #2, as well as my attempt to answer this teacher's questions to the best of my ability. 

Visitor #2:

I cannot thank you enough for sharing your "flipped" classroom with us on Friday.  I loved how the classroom was a student-centered working environment.  Also, I thought that the students having access to watch the videos in the classroom was essential for classroom management and optimized the learning experience for ALL students.
A couple concerns that I had were when and how students take their quizzes and assessments.  I see this area as one where excessive cheating may occur.  Also, I am not quite sure how I would work this with a block schedule.  Despite the work load that is involved with this amazing idea, I truly do feel that it would be better for all students.
I plan to play with this idea of a flipped classroom for both my Algebra 1and Pre-Calculus Honors classes.  As of right now I do not believe I will go with a complete flip.  Good luck and THANK YOU for all of your hard work and dedication to our youth.  Teachers like you are what inspire the world's greatest ideas :) 

My response: 

Thanks for your feedback.  I agree with you, the initial workload can be overwhelming, but it gets easier with time and as the years pass and you don't have to create as much content from scratch.  You can start small, (like you mentioned not fully flipping) and you can also work with another co-teacher to develop the materials.  Let me know if you have any questions as you start playing around the idea some more; I would love to be able to help you out.

The quizzes have always been a concern of mine as well, but there have been a couple ways I have worked around those concerns.  First, quizzes are only worth 15% of their grade, while tests are worth 75%.  If they choose to cheat on the quizzes, they are basically "screwing themselves" and will feel it on the tests.  Second, quizzes can be retaken as many times as a student needs to pass it, so there is little pressure to try to cheat and pass the first time.

At the beginning of the year, there is a lot more structure and guidance for the quizzes as the students learn my expectations and the fact that the quizzes are there to help guide them and monitor their progress as a learning tool, and not as a "final judge".  As the year goes on, I am able to give them more freedom.  Do students still take advantage of the system and cheat?  I'm sure they do, sadly.  I've realized that a student who wants to cheat will find a way to cheat.  However, it's pretty easy to tell when they pass all of their quizzes and then don't do so well on the test, and I have individual conversations with those students about my concerns.

I do know of several teachers who flip their classes on a block schedule. I'm not sure exactly how they schedule their activities, but from what I know the class is broken up a little so the kids aren't just working on the same task for the whole block period.  If you aren't planning on fully flipping, you could also use your block period to have the first half be working on a "flipped" lesson and the second have be a new, traditionally taught lesson.

Good luck as you continue to explore the wonderful world of flipping :)  It is definitely not a "fix-all" and not a "magic bullet", but I feel it is a great tool to help support our students.

Let me know if you have any more questions in the future.

Initial Impressions (Part 1 of 3)

On Friday, I had the privilege to host three visitors from a neighboring school.  I asked them to give me their initial impressions of the "flipped classroom" after seeing my class in action, as well as to ask what questions they had about implementing the flipped model in their classroom.


Here are the thoughts and questions from Visitor #1, as well as my attempt to answer this teacher's questions to the best of my ability. (when I get responses from Visitor #2 and #3, I will link those posts here)
Part 1 ...  Part 2 ... Part 3


Visitor #1:

OK here goes - my first thought when I walked in was that the students were all engaged and on task, which was great.  It was pretty overwhelming at first in that there are so many moving parts - students on the computers, one student making up a test, students walking around getting what they need, and you moving around the classroom signing off on the sheets of paper that each student had, as well as helping those that needed help.  But, the more I walked around and talked with some students, I realized that it was more like organized chaos, but in a very productive way - the conversations going on were inspiring, because the students were communicating mathematically and not just talking about unrelated things.  I liked the packets of work that kept the students organized and allowed them to see what they were expected to learn as well as when they needed to learn it by.  You and the students got the most out of the 54 minutes that you had available to you - super productive!

Visitor #1 questions and concerns for own implementation with my answers.  If you have any follow up questions that I didn't answer clearly, please feel free to ask in the comments.

1. If every student gets multiple packets throughout the year, the duplicating costs would be high.

Yes, students get packets for each chapter so it is a lot of paper.  I am able to utilize our district's Print Shop services.  However, depending on your student population, their access, and your school's tools, you could have them responsible for printing it.  I like giving them the packet because it guides their learning with the videos and gives them structure for in class time.  From the other teachers I have talked to, students do better with the videos when they have guided notes to follow along with rather than just copying down what they think is important.  It helps to keep them organized and gives them a great resource to go back to when they are reviewing previous concepts.


2. Managing the paperwork that comes in seems like it would almost be never ending.  I for one do not like to collect much - I usually sign off on the homework while the students are in class, and the only thing I ever take home is a test or a quiz - which is more manageable for me.


Paperwork is generally only collected on Fridays at the end of the week (which is when you visited). There is not one "right" or "best" way to organize the paperwork you choose to collect; you really just have to find what works best for you in your classroom and with your style.  With my concept quizzes, I really try to do most of the grading automatically so none of it has to be done after class and students get automatic feedback.  I have also heard a lot of teachers do online quizzes through different Learning Management Systems (Moodle, Edmodo, etc) so they don't even have to grade them by hand.

3. How do the students gain access to the videos?  Are they on your Google site and they each have their own log in?


My videos are hosted in a variety of places.  They are uploaded to YouTube and SchoolTube (since YouTube is blocked on campus) and can be found by searching or going to my channel www.youtube.com/crystalkirch.  The links are embedded on our class Edmodo site for students to access.  I am playing around with a couple of other options for next year, including a blog interface and utilizing playlists through MentorMob.com and Sophia.org.  I am also hoping to find a way to do an iTunes podcast feed so videos can be synced and downloaded automatically with students' iPods.

4. How do I keep the students motivated to complete the packets and not waste time?I don't have an easy answer to this.  There will always be a few students here and there who choose to not be productive during class, and they feel it that night when they have more homework than they should.  I try to keep my classroom busy with activities so the students always have more to do and several options of how to spend their time - from working on problems, watching videos, taking quizzes, making videos, etc.  When the class environment is productive, it helps persuade students to stay productive. 


Also, since my Math Analysis classes have been flipped for a little over 3 months now, there has been a development in what class time looks like.  At the beginning the students need a lot more guidance and structure of expectations and good work habits.  Over time, I have found out ways to give them more freedom but still have them be on task.  I have definitely tried some things that haven't worked, so I am just continually trying to find more "keepers" to add to my list of what is working.


One thing I have found that has worked well is giving students the opportunity to have a "waiver" for an assignment once they show mastery by receiving a perfect score on that specific concept quiz.  This motivates them to learn the material well the first time so basically they can "get out of" extra work.  I don't want my work to be busy work, and I think most students in my class have realized that with my system.  The practice is for their benefit, not mine.

5. How often do you switch it up and so they are not always just coming in, completing their packets, etc.?

It really depends on the students and the content.  I want class time to be most beneficial to them and their learning, so there isn't a set pattern or anything.  Every day, there are so many different things a student could choose to focus on to help their learning.  Some students love to just work in their groups all period.  Some students would rather focus on taking quizzes or making videos during class, and bring some of the "classwork" home.  Sometimes I see the need to do small group instruction or even whole group instruction (like I did with that one proof on Friday).  


I am always on the lookout for different activities and ways to engage the students in learning, but I have started to stray away from "whole-class" activities and games and focus on the individual student or groups of students.  

6. What happens when a student doesn't watch the video? How do you know when they don't?

If a student doesn't watch the video, they need to (hopefully) get it watched at the beginning of class.  I rarely have more than 1 or 2 Math Analysis students who need to watch the video each day; I have about 5-8 in my Algebra 1 classes each day.  Because the students have to answer summary questions based on the video and be ready to discuss in them in class (with the 5:00 timer), I can easily tell when I am listening in the discussions who doesn't have their WSQ (see link to page with more info above) completed because (1) They have it written down in front of them for me to see and (2) they are able to talk about it with their classmates and answer any questions posed by me.  By this point, students have realized that the videos do help them and it is worth it to watch them or they will be lost in class.

7. If you have a couple of computers to catch students up, what if you get more students who need catching up than you have computers available?

They have to wait their turn.  However, there are plenty of other things for them to work on if they are a day behind - reviewing old concepts, taking quizzes on those concepts, etc.  Also, their classmates can help them with the concept by explaining it to them in their own words until they can get the full lesson.

8. Where did you get the big timer that gets displayed at the beginning of class?

online-stopwatch.com. It's awesome :)

9. Is there any research that supports the flipped classroom model actually helps the students?

There is not a ton published out there right now, but it is starting to come out. I know three teachers around the country who are currently completing Action Research projects on the Flipped model.  You can check out  http://flipped-learning.com/?page_id=415  to see some research that has been done, as well as my "Flip Data" tab up top to see the data that I have collected this year.  I have seen improvement in test scores in terms of class average, as well as an increase in the percentage of A's/B's and a decrease in the percentage of D's/F's for four straight Math Analysis tests.  For Algebra 1, I have seen a group of kids who scored on average 8-10% lower than my 2010-2011 students consistently in the non-flipped class to only scoring 2-3% (or even the same) lower in the flipped class.

10. What type of student does it not work better for?

The students that struggle are those who 
(1) don't do traditional homework anyways, so they don't watch the videos either.  I have seen improvement in homework completion from the "middle to low" kids, but the low low kids who never did homework to begin with still don't do it.
(2) want to "play the game" of school.  They are used to being spoon-fed information and then spitting it back out on a test and not really having to make sense of it themselves and think critically or discuss the content.  They now have to take responsibility for their learning, manage their time wisely, and be able to talk about math and not just mindlessly do the problems.  Many of these students are "coming around" but there are still a few who really don't like the flipped classroom model because they want me to be up front teaching the whole period and them sitting in their chairs copying notes.  I have had to have a few individual student "mini-conferences" throughout this semester with some of these types of students, and they have responded well and have started to figure things out.  It's hard to break 10+ years of indoctrination, but it's possible!

11. Do students who finish packets early have something to do when they finish?Students are given their "WSQ charts" for the whole week, so if they finish one day's assignment they can move on to the next and even watch videos ahead of time at school so they don't have to watch them at home.  It is all about how the student manages their time.


I do have one student who, up until this chapter, was about 2 weeks ahead of the class at any given point.  He was completely self-paced and took the tests when he was ready.  If he finished before I had the next unit ready to go, he would work through a list of "challenge" problems I had taken from the textbook or even started learning the basics of AP Calc with a few resource books that I had.  Next year when I actually have the whole year planned out, videos recorded, etc, I am hoping to have more options and activities for students who do want to move faster than the class's pace.  Most of my students are fairly happy with just keeping up with the pace I have set for them.

12. When students watch the videos at home for homework, do you also give them practice problems to do at home?If the student has a video at home, all they have to complete is the WSQ.  They Watch the video, which includes me explaining the concept, working out a few problems, and usually giving them one or two to try on their own throughout the course of the video (but the problems they try on their own are always worked out for them in a "part 2" video).  They write a summary/answer the questions I pose for them, which are either asked at the end of the video or written down on their WSQ charts.  Then, they have to write their own question to ask in class the next day - either something they really don't understand or, if they understood everything, a question they think a classmate my be confused about.  The S and Q are what guide the discussion time in class.


The videos are between 5-15 minutes long, depending on the content.  I try to break up the longer videos into multiple parts. Watching the video (and pausing, rewinding, etc) and writing the WSQ for a 15 minute video will take the students about 30 minutes.  That is about how long they should be spending on homework time for my class anyways.


There are some nights (in Math Analysis only) that students will have a short video and a short set of review problems to complete for a test, but that is only in the night or two before a unit test.


On nights there is no video, students do complete traditional homework. This usually only happens in Algebra 1.  Those are the nights I see the LEAST amount of homework completion.  My lower Algebra 1 students are coming around to watching the videos and doing the WSQ, but when it comes to actually completing regular practice problems at home, the old issues of "I forgot how to do it" arise with those lower, unmotivated kids.

13. When students get to the end of a unit and have not learned concepts, what do you do? 



I haven't figured this out fully yet.  Because I keep most of my students on the same pace (unit tests are all on the same day still), if they don't pass the test, they have the chance to re-assess and retake that test after going through a few different remediation options.  However, this is in addition to what is going on in class currently.


There are several different "versions" of the flipped classroom (as you explore it more, you will realize there really isn't "one" flipped classroom - every teacher does it differently and it evolves over time and with different classes).  One version I like is the "flipped-mastery" version where students are fully self-paced and CAN'T move on until they have shown proficiency.  This means every student in your class may be on a different page every day, and you have to have the whole year pretty much mapped out.  I'm not ready for that change yet, but I hope to head more towards that in the future once I have this whole thing figured out a little more.


Please let me know if you have any follow up questions! I am far from an expert, but I feel like I have already learned a lot in my journey with the flipped classroom!


Another note I added to this response:


One thing to remember is that there is not one "flipped classroom" that is perfect and works everywhere.  The main point of using this ideology is to time-shift the instruction (content delivery, direct instruction, etc) out of the classroom so class time can be more meaningful, engaging, and interactive for the students.  It's not all about the videos, but the videos are used as a tool to help make this work. There are so many different ways I have seen it done, and I am constantly tweaking my model to find better ways to support my students.  It is a hard change at first for both us as teachers and for the students, because it goes against almost everything we have been taught and that we have experienced.  However, I really think the change is worth it, and I hope to continue to see the growth in my students and the data in achievement scores to prove it.