1. Quote from teacher: "Teachers are wasting their time and just re-inventing the wheel by making their own videos. There are a ton of teachers on YouTube that already have taught everything, and there are videos that come with the textbook that we have. Why waste time and re-make them?"
I didn't speak up at the time and now it's bugging me. But, I guess I can't expect everyone to understand the benefit of teacher-created videos and flipped classroom ideology if they aren't willing to try it themselves. I know many teachers just don't want to try new things.
2. Students that never learn to take responsibility for themselves. I still have quite a few F's in my Algebra 1 class - like 40%. And it's all because of their failure to come in and retake or make-up work...even doing so during CLASS time. There comes a point when you hope that you have modeled and taught those life skills enough and if they don't pick up on it, maybe they just aren't at the maturity level where they understand it yet. But still, it leaves me wondering, "What more could I have done?"
3. How much freedom can I give my students in the Flipped Class? In my honors class - a lot... in my CP class, I think I may have given them TOO much... but at the same time, it made them learn about responsibility... and if their grade doesn't show it now, does that mean they didn't learn some life skills from my class?
4. What would it look like to head towards Mastery Learning? I don't think I'm ready for it next year yet, but it's definitely something I want to explore. Why do we push our kids on to Chapter 2 (Solving Equations), when they haven't mastered chapter 1 (basic operations, distributive property, etc). We are setting them up for failure in Chapter 2 if they haven't mastered Chapter 1. This will be very big on my "thinking list" for the summer and next year.
5. Quote from teacher: "So what do we do with students who aren't tech-savvy and who can't even type a paper?"
Umm... teach them how. Expect them to learn it. It's a life skill. I sure hope they leave my math class learning something OTHER than math. And if it's how to use a computer and be tech-savvy, then so be it.
1. I would love to have great videos at our disposal that work well with students. I tried to use them in years past and they don't work. Students need some emotional connection to the videos in order to watch and learn. When I used Khan Academy, students didn't understand the topics as well. When other teachers use my videos, their students find me in the hallway and have conversations. If online lessons worked well on their own, everyone would attend an online school.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy,
DeleteI love your quote "If online lessons worked well ON THEIR OWN, everyone would attend an online school." I couldn't agree more. That is why we need to keep teaching the meaning of the TRUE flipped class - it's not about the videos!! :)