Module 7 Culminating: The Flipped Classroom

Article Link:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/Evidence-on-Flipped-Classrooms-Is-Still-Coming-In.aspx

Reflection:

One new idea in education today revolves around the idea of a “flipped” classroom. That is, the students are able to watch short videos with the lesson presented at home, or at the beginning of the class, and then the majority of the time spent in class with the teacher is used to practice the concept, ask questions, or compare problem solving solutions. Particularly in mathematics, this strategy can be worthwhile as students often fail to fully grasp new concepts when they learn them through a lecture format. As suggested in the article “Research Says Evidence on Flipped Classrooms Is Still Coming In” by Bryan Goodwin and Kirsten Miller, in Educational Leadership’s journal, “after a hit-or-miss lecture, teachers often assign homework, which many students perform in a private hell of frustration and confusion” due to their lack of understanding of the concepts. As the curriculum has changed so much in the last twenty years, the concepts that students are now learning are often foreign to their parents who are thus unable to assist them in completing their homework. The flipped classroom reverses this problem by allowing the students to learn the concept at home, and then practice the concept in class with the aid of the teacher and their peers. Teachers are also able to better communicate with students, and provide them with much faster individualized supports and feedback.

I really appreciate the beginning of the article which acknowledges that lectures are not inherently bad, as “they can be an effective way to help students acquire new knowledge”. As a secondary teacher, I recognize the importance of providing students with the tools that they will need to succeed in post-secondary institutions. I therefore feel that it is important that students are exposed to some lecture-style lessons, as many of them will be faced with this style of teaching in university or college, and will need to understand how to effectively take notes and ingest the information. Through the flipped classroom, some of the video lessons may still be in lecture format, which can allow students to practice their note taking skills and ability to digest information in faster paced environment. With that being said however, for many students, they may need additional supports in order to understand new concepts. Using a technique such as the flipped classroom may allow these students who may feel overwhelmed with lectures to learn the concepts more thoroughly and develop a greater proficiency as they are able to ask more questions and get one-on-one assistance after they have watched the lesson online.

The journal article also notes how today’s students have a limited attention span of often around ten minutes. Through the flipped classroom, teachers can utilize this information to chunk their video lessons into more manageable ten minute sessions in order to increase engagement and understanding. I have found in my own classroom that many students often cannot sit still or pay attention for longer than ten minutes as they are digital natives, and are accustomed to accessing information at a much faster pace. They would often prefer a quick explanation, rather than a longer more exploratory lesson.

I am curious about the results of some of the preliminary studies which have been conducted on the flipped classroom. The article mentions that in one survey of 453 teachers, 67% reported increased test scores (especially for advanced students and students with special needs), and 80% noted an improvement in student attitudes. I am curious whether these statistics would change based on the subject and grade level. While I recognize the benefits of the flipped classroom in a secondary math and science classroom, I wonder how effective it would be in other classes where there is not always the need for ample practice time and problem solving, such as history or English classes. Most exemplars focus on the sciences and maths, but I think it would be interesting to explore how it would work in the arts or social sciences, where rote practice may not be required.

Project vs Problem vs Inquiry

	Project Based	Problem Based	Inquiry Based
Similarities	·         Place an emphasis on teaching process, not just content ·         Require students to make discoveries for authentic audiences and purposes ·         All fit well in a technology-rich learning environment where the focus is on the learning experience ·         Use technology as a way to facilitate learning ·         Bound to the students interest of solving a problem or addressing an issue they find meaningful ·         Provide authentic applications of content and skills ·         Emphasize student independence and inquiry ·         Are longer and more multifaceted than traditional lessons or assignments
Differences	·         Focused on developing a product, performance, or event ·         Often involves multiple subjects ·         May be lengthy (weeks or months) ·         Often involves real-world, fully authentic tasks and settings	·         More often single-subject ·         Tend to be shorter ·         The “product” may be just a written or oral proposed solution ·         More often uses case studies or fictitious scenarios as “messy problems” created by the instructor	·         Student explores a subject or theme and formulates a question themselves ·         Student develops a plan of research ·         Not about seeking the “correct” answer, but to seek resolutions to questions and issues

There is no “best” practice when it comes to these three. Many different source, such as Lauren Davis on Smartblogs, give different ideas of where they are more commonly found. According to her entry, “Project-based learning is usually done in English, social studies or foreign-language class… Problem-based learning often takes place in math and science class… [and Inquiry-based learning] is often done in science but can be done in any subject area.”

For a better understanding of each type, please check out the following websites that have a lot of information on each:
Eduscapes
Edutopia

University of Saskatchewan
Smartblogs

Technologies Aid in the Classroom

For me personally, I have used websites, such as Trello, to help me better communicate with my students and parents. I have used Trello this past year to set each of my Physics 30 students into groups for their final projects (or individually if they choose to). I had posted all of the required information on the Trello page and left the students to complete this project. As they complete each individual part of the project, they post their work to the Trello page, which allows me to immediately give feedback to them, and also a nice place to keep a record of all things they have completed with all previous versions of their work.

Another tool that our school has adapted this past year was to use Maplewood as a recording software for the students marks and attendance. This allows us to enter the students marks with comments on each individual assignment and have them available to use anywhere with an internet connection. Also, students and parents can log in at any time and see what they are missing, what their marks are like, and any attendance issues.

A classroom blog is also an amazing way to bring focus on the course work that you do within your class on a day to day basis. This allows student who have missed the class to find out what is required of them for the next day. This also allows parents to see what is happening within our room.

I believe all of these items have helped me to collaborate more with both parents and students. Parents are able to see which assignments need to be completed and what we are up to in each class, to allow them to be more connected to their own childs education. The students are also able to keep on top of any assigned work and ensure they are completed all of the required course work on time.

Since we have integrated our classroom with the use of the Internet and World Wide Web, a lot of the content in classrooms have changed. A lot of teachers have changed from having students do journal entries to creating a classroom blog or even Twitter page that allows parents to see what is happening within the classroom. In my class, I am able to do a lot of online simulations for Physics experiments that we would normally be unable to obtain. The Web has also allowed me, and many others, to share and receive pre-planned lessons and course material (why re-invent the wheel?). This has created a large selection of material for each teacher to use at their discretion.

Technology in the Curriculum (SK Edition)

Flipped Classroom Lesson Outline

Click HERE to be transferred to a lesson outline which uses the Flipped Classroom model approach, modeled well by Graham Johnson on his website "Flipping Math."

I highly recommend watching the video on Graham's website which explains his methods in the mixed classroom.  I can see it would take a long time to incorporate into a class setting, but could be very much worth it.

Personal PD

Throughout my education and career thus far, I have experienced a variety of different PD opportunities, from those that were mandated through the school division, to those that I was able to attend myself based on my interests and learning goals.

Each year our school division has a two day conference which all teachers must attend. Often these sessions are held in August right before the school year begins. We have had a number of notable presenters and educational theorists, such as Sandra Herbst, Damien Cooper and Mike Mattos. I really enjoyed listening to Damien Cooper last year as he provided some great suggestions for making effective assessments and a better framework for understanding the key components of assessment. The only downside to these conferences however, is that the sessions are often very general, as the speaker must cater to teachers from pre-kindergarten to high school level. I commonly prefer PD which can be catered to teachers’ levels and subject areas so that they can provide applicable examples and direct examples which could be implemented in my own classroom. As teachers, we are constantly struggling to find time outside of teaching time to prepare and improve our materials, so if the material that is presented is not adapted to meet my subject area, I find that I often get caught up in my day to day work, and don’t have time to alter and change the presenters’ ideas to meet my needs. This reaffirms the main idea in the document entitled, What is Effective Teacher Professional Development, from the Canadian Education Association, which suggests that “teachers need to have the chance to put what they learned into practice and to reflect on how new ideas and teaching approaches work within their classrooms; and that students are more successful when teachers have meaningful, ongoing, PD opportunities.”

Our division has also started a PD program for first year teachers, where we were able to meet once every other month for a full day with fellow first year teachers and more experienced teachers and mentors in our school division. I found these days to be highly worthwhile as we were able to not only learn more about initiatives within our board, but we could also spend this time working with other first year teachers to share resources, problem solve, and ask more experienced mentors for assistance in any areas which we were struggling. These meetings were a great way for us to establish connections with other teachers and to learn from their experiences, which is one of the key indicators of effective PD as suggested by the Canadian Education Association. By giving us a choice about the direction these meetings took, we were able to cater these PD sessions to meet our individual needs and learning goals. As a first year teacher it was nice to listen to experiences of other teachers and reflect on the outcomes in our own classroom throughout the year- rather than just having one meeting. I also had the chance in my first year to attend a first year teacher conference in Saskatoon with first year teachers from across the province. This opportunity provided us with a great opportunity to network with one another and learn more about the profession and benefits through the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF). By learning more about our rights and the logistics behind the profession, we were better able to maintain a safe and effective learning environment within our own classrooms.In the future I would like to continue to focus my PD opportunities around the flipped classroom and new mathematics and science initiatives (such as robotics). I am also very interested in technology (which is the reason I am taking this course), and would like to continue to take courses/attend PD sessions focused on integrating technology within the classroom as the students we are teaching today are digital natives and often are more interested in subjects such as math and science when technology can be integrated. The only challenge which I have faced as a result of these PD sessions, is trying to get new technology and programs approved by the board for classroom use. Sometimes this process can be highly lengthy, and as a result, I am not able to integrate new initiatives in a timely manner at which point there may be newer technology available to use.

What is Effective PD?

Effective professional development is important for the progression of teachers’ skills and understanding. Often times, professional development happens through local workshops, school based collaboration groups, or formal/informal presentations. In our school board we have a number of professional development days built into our yearly schedule that are solely devoted to improving teacher skills. We worked in horizontal and vertical teams within our school, and had presentations from experienced educators and administration to help guide us through new board initiatives. Each year we also have a PD conference which is mandatory for the entire division that has brought in a number of well-known theorists and presenters, including Mike Mattos and Damien Cooper.

In order for PD to be effective there are a number of guidelines by which it should be run. Firstly, it is imperative that teachers are given choice in the conferences and sessions which they attend. Since teachers are professionals, their choice and interests should be given some consideration as PD is much more engaging and worthwhile if it relates to the content or teaching strategies that a teacher is using. As a high school mathematics and science teacher, I have experienced this first hand, as a number of the PD sessions which I attended at one conference were primarily geared towards elementary and primary teachers, and thus I found it difficult to remain engaged and apply the concepts to my own classroom because they were so unrelated.

It is also important that through PD teachers have an opportunity to reflect on their learning. Often times, teachers attend conferences and pick up great resources, only to have them sit on a USB or on a shelf never to be touched. By having a chance to come back to their place of work, try strategies, and then reflect on their outcomes, teachers can better utilize PD as a learning opportunity that can guide and improve instruction. This process may also involve data collection and reflection, as it is easier to reflect on the effectiveness of your improvements if you have concrete data to analyze. Through programs such as Aimsweb and Key Math, teachers now have a variety of instruments which they could use to test students prior to a PD session in order to use the results to provide a greater understanding of the improvements made or challenges which may have been faced.

We often think of PD as being solely those opportunities when a guest speaker is invited to present a new theory or strategy, when in actuality, PD can be just as effective when it occurs with local teachers and support staff. As educators have such diverse backgrounds and experiences, we all have different strategies for teaching, assessing and reporting. As such, this provides a great opportunity for teachers to learn from one another. Effective PD can occur within our own schools, by taking the time to teach each other about new ideas or strategies that have worked well in our own classroom, and asking questions to one another about how to improve and optimize student learning.

In summary, PD requires work. It requires constant reflection and commitment. As suggested in the document entitled, What is Effective Teacher Professional Development, from the Canadian Education Association, research has confirmed that “teachers need to have the chance to put what they learned into practice and to reflect on how new ideas and teaching approaches work within their classrooms; and that students are more successful when teachers have meaningful, ongoing, PD opportunities.”