Everyone who has taught for any length of time and is at least moderately reflective has felt like what they are doing isn't "good enough" and that other teachers are doing it better. It's easy to look at your colleagues and believe that they are doing a better job than you are (even though they would probably disagree with that assessment). But without any side-by-side comparison like team teaching, shared students, or recording devices embedded in their classroom, there's no way to know.
So when I offer up my classroom as an example, the doubts start to creep in...is what I'm doing that interesting? Is it going to be worse than a "normal" classroom? Is she silently judging me as she sits there, filming my every word? How bad does this video make me look?
However, the kids were (as always) awesome. Their discussion is here: www.todaysmeet.com/nightchapter2
We started by watching a video made by Yad Vashem about an album they found that documented the deportation and transport to Auschewitz of Hungarian Jews in the summer of 1944 (which is the same time/place as Wiesel's own deportation). After that, we read 22 pages in an hour (!), using the Night videos I made (they're in the resources tab if you want to see them). The kids were awesome. But about half-way through, I started wondering if what we were doing was really that good.
I mean, sure, they were engaged. They were responding to each other. They were interacting with the book and video. But was it really that special? Was she getting anything useful on film?
So I tentatively asked afterward what she thought, preparing for her to be lukewarm about it.
But she thought it was great. The kids, she said, were engaged. They obviously knew how to use the technology and showed a lot of enthusiasm for it. They were on-task and had zero behaviour problems, even when the technology wasn't working correctly. She was really impressed with them and how different my class was from the last time she visited in January.
It reminds me that because of how isolated teaching can become, we just naturally start assuming we're not doing a good job. But flipping is bringing lots of other people into my classroom - both virtually and physically - and I'm now starting to see that what's happening in my room isn't bad. In fact, it's pretty awesome. Kids are learning, and no one is being left behind. In fact, many kids who previously had sat silently in class, tweeting secretly under their desk, now make up some of the most engaged, active participants.
So when I offer up my classroom as an example, the doubts start to creep in...is what I'm doing that interesting? Is it going to be worse than a "normal" classroom? Is she silently judging me as she sits there, filming my every word? How bad does this video make me look?
However, the kids were (as always) awesome. Their discussion is here: www.todaysmeet.com/nightchapter2
We started by watching a video made by Yad Vashem about an album they found that documented the deportation and transport to Auschewitz of Hungarian Jews in the summer of 1944 (which is the same time/place as Wiesel's own deportation). After that, we read 22 pages in an hour (!), using the Night videos I made (they're in the resources tab if you want to see them). The kids were awesome. But about half-way through, I started wondering if what we were doing was really that good.
I mean, sure, they were engaged. They were responding to each other. They were interacting with the book and video. But was it really that special? Was she getting anything useful on film?
So I tentatively asked afterward what she thought, preparing for her to be lukewarm about it.
But she thought it was great. The kids, she said, were engaged. They obviously knew how to use the technology and showed a lot of enthusiasm for it. They were on-task and had zero behaviour problems, even when the technology wasn't working correctly. She was really impressed with them and how different my class was from the last time she visited in January.
It reminds me that because of how isolated teaching can become, we just naturally start assuming we're not doing a good job. But flipping is bringing lots of other people into my classroom - both virtually and physically - and I'm now starting to see that what's happening in my room isn't bad. In fact, it's pretty awesome. Kids are learning, and no one is being left behind. In fact, many kids who previously had sat silently in class, tweeting secretly under their desk, now make up some of the most engaged, active participants.
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