One of the primary things I took away from this week's #flipclass chat was that I needed to be more explicit about how my classroom looks so that other English flippers can both learn/steal from me AND so I can get feedback to make it better!

To start class, we do one of the following:
1. A DOL from The Chortling Bard - Caught'ya! Grammar With a Giggle for High School.  In my 10th grade class, we're using the storyline of Twelfth Night.  In my 10th grade support class, we're using Much Ado About Nothing.  It breaks up the story into daily sentence corrections with etymology and vocabulary development built in.  I post it as an assignment on Edmodo, then they get three minutes to correct it on their own.  I random call or take volunteers to correct it, then they turn it in.  To grade it, I choose one/two focus points and if they got those right, they get credit.  If not, they get reduced credit.

2. A review of what we did in a previous lesson.  Today, I posted a timeline activity students completed in class or at home yesterday and they went through and reviewed the work of their peers.  It helped them all review the book we're reading (Night, by Elie Wiesel) and gave me a good indication of who had mastered the material and who hadn't.

After that activity, I usually assign the main work for the day or have them continue where they left off the previous day.  I am moving from a VERY traditional method of assigning points and grading to a mastery approach, so this is a work in progress. 

I'll use today as an example.  There were two tasks that they were working on:

For students who were ready, they had their first attempt at the Reading Comprehension Mastery Test for Night.  There were 29 multiple choice and 2 short answer questions, of which most were questions developed by my collaborative grade-level team and are used by all the 10th grade teachers.  I added a few more to make sure that I could show mastery in each area.  If they passed, they obtained mastery and moved on to the next activity. 

The students who were not ready, either reviewed some of our previous assignments, or started the short story they are writing in conjunction with Davidson High School in Australia.  The story is about resilience, and they have a pre-writing task to complete.  Some did it on computer, some did it on paper (there are so many non-functional computers that we're short about 3 of a full class set in my largest section).

Tomorrow, the students will either take the test or work on their short story.  They will be writing it on computer, and submitting it on Edmodo.  Then we'll be swapping with the Davidson students, and they will be doing some peer-editing and reviewing with us.

At the end of class, I'll often have a final task that they complete to show me what they've accomplished or learned.  If we're using TodaysMeet, I'll ask it there and they'll answer it there.  If not, it will be on Edmodo, posted as a note.
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Now, when we're reading the novel or watching a movie, class is a little different.  For both occasions, I create a room through TodaysMeet (TM) and they all sign in.  Then they post questions, comments, reflections, etc. live as we read or watch.  I will also ask them questions and have them respond in the thread.

For essay preparation, I have them find quotes that match a theme and post it to a specific TM room dedicated to that theme.  Same with finding literary devices.  Those were the two focus themes for this unit.

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Now about the mastery grading.  I'm still working this out, so if I get something wrong, let me know.

There are certain skills for each unit that they need to master.  For this one: identifying and explaining significance of literary devices, finding evidence to fit a theme, understanding historical context/importance of Night/Holocaust, writing an interpretive essay, writing a short story that shows a particular theme (resilience), and writing an essay that uses a properly developed thesis, supporting evidence, compelling commentary, and correct conventions of grammar/spelling/etc. 

For each skill, there is an assessment task and several formative assignments.  They complete a diagnostic assessment, which tells me what they need to learn.   Then they complete activities that help them develop their skills.  Then they take the mastery test, and if they don't achieve mastery, they go back and review, then try again.

I'll write in my next post an example of what that actually looks like for a single strand.

Hope that's helpful for some of you!

On Monday nights, there is a really exciting event on Twitter: the weekly #flipclass chat.  I heard about it just after it finished two weeks ago, so this week I was determined to catch it.  And catch it I did.  I'm still new to Twitter, but the teachers in the #flipclass community are pretty awesome.  The ideas I took away from the chat:

--There really aren't many of us flipping English or History.  But there's some really innovative teachers out there, and the average English class isn't nearly as far away from being flipped as the average math or science class.  And if you are reading this and are flipping English or History, especially in high school, I'd really like to hear from you!  Leave a comment or contact me through the contact form.  Please?

--Twitter is a really powerful tool to build your Personal Learning Network.  Professional development is necessary for all teachers, but I've found so much value in what happens through the interwebs rather than what happens in the few PD days we have left after all the budget cuts.

--The summer is a great opportunity to make it possible to start the first day flipped.  There was a lot of discussion on whether to jump into flipping the first day, or whether to work up to it.  I think I'm somewhere in the middle.  I will start by showing some of the videos in class, but the expectation is that students will be doing their own video watching within the first few weeks.

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but that's all I can remember at this moment.  I'm super exciting for the #flipclass chat next Monday night!  If you're on the Twitter, it happens from 5 PM (PST) - 6 PM.  This coming week, I will be participating while travelling to the KQED Do Now Advisory Board for using Twitter!  They invited me to participate and learn how to better incorporate Twitter into my classroom.  I'm humbled to have been chosen and excited to see what I can learn as a result!

As far as my classes are concerned, there have been some exciting developments.  I've started to have them work on compiling quotes for each theme in Night.  Across the periods, they are adding to the same list.  If students post the same quote, that's fine because it will immediately show which quotes are most important.   Students are choosing great quotes - I'm shocked by how much better they are at it this year than in any previous year.

I also had them look at the literary devices they posted and see if they could find any patterns.  I had a few in mind (there's a lot of language about wind/breath as well as about violence), but they came up with some amazing stuff.  They said that the language went from personal to universal then back to personal when Elie was talking.  They said that the natural images went from peaceful to violent.  They said that he personified words and speaking a lot (words choked me, my voice was paralysed, etc.).  They noticed that there was a lot of language around the heavens and the sky.

I was so impressed with them.  My kids rock.  I took pictures of the day on my phone, so the next post will just be pictures of them hard at work.

So this is my new blog!

After seeing so many educators on Edmodo blogging about their experiences flipping, I decided that they weren't doing anything I couldn't do!  So this is my attempt to record many of the successes and failures I'm experiencing in my classroom this year as a part of my experiment in flipped learning.

For a little context: I have mixed-ability 10th graders in an urban school in San Lorenzo, California (the Bay Area...by Oakland).  My classes are in themed academies, and I teach two sections in the Green Academy, and one in Bay Area Digital Arts.  The demographics of my classes are reflective of the demographics of the school and district - about half Hispanic/Latino, one-forth African-American, and one-forth white/Pacific Islander. 

Here's how it looks in my class right now:
1. For some units, videos have been more prominent than in other units.  When we were prepping for the California High School Exit Exam, we used lots of videos in a more traditional "flipped" model.   I also used them for when I had to attend a multi-day training so the kids wouldn't lose instructional time.  The videos were very skill focused - how to write a business letter, common literary devices, finding main idea, etc.  Students reported that they liked the videos, and that they preferred learning that way.  Hell, there was even a day where I lost my voice, so I showed them a video during class, and they actually paid more attention to the screen than they would have to me normally.  Weird.

2. About a month ago, we went 100% digital and paperless.  All of my assignments are posted through Edmodo, and students complete them there. 

3. The biggest change came when I hit on the idea to do Live Response.  I was watching Britain's Got Talent (I'm a British TV junkie, I'll admit it!), and they kept posting hashtags so people could use twitter to discuss what was happening at that minute on the show.  It occurred to me that it is exactly THAT world in which my students live. 

So I tried it.  I set them all up on Edmodo with a discussion thread and turned them loose while we watched a video (Dave and Trey Go to Africa - about the impact music has on culture).  It was a success - far beyond what I had even anticipated.  So much so, that I decided to adapt it for reading Elie Weisel's memoir, Night.  So they have a kindle edition of the book on their screen (no more, "Can I get my book? I forgot it in my locker!"), and they have either Edmodo, Today's Meet, or Cover It Live open on their browser (I use them for different reasons because they all have strengths and weaknesses as formats). 

As they have questions, comments, reflections, connections, or responses to other students, they post.  Instantly, I'm able to respond and clarify, or direct them to have conversations with each other.  I KNOW they understand, because I can see it clearly.  I know they are paying attention.  I know they are listening.  It's really a beautiful thing.

4. I'm working towards a flipped mastery model.  During the Night unit, I gave students diagnostic tests in the four areas in which they would be tested at the end of the unit.  From those results, students will be placed at a certain point in each skill, and will work from there.  The ones who are already advanced won't have to repeat what they already know.  The ones who struggle will get to have the time they need to master one skill before moving on.

Flipping my class has changed everything.  Even though I'm in my 8th year of classroom teaching, I feel like I'm starting over and learning so much about how to do what I do better.  It's exciting.  I haven't been so excited about coming to work in a long time. :-)