One of those people is Andrew Thomasson (@thomasson_engl). He and I met through Twitter, while following #flipcon12 and #flipclass. There are so few of us English flippers that we get really, REALLY excited to find another person crazy enough to plow head-long into the unknown. After dozens of messages back and forth, we decided to just have a real conversation over FaceTime.
It started with the idea of creating some skill-based videos together. We're both flipping primarily 11th-12th grade, with high achieving students. And then we came onto the idea that changed everything: working together, we could create a series of videos that follow the writing process from idea to publishing, and shows a complete essay as it's being created. We'll work with a teacher/student dynamic, and flip roles periodically.
He came up with this filter to spiral out our skills (because you obviously can't cover everything in one video):
--What should a serious essay include?
--What should a competent essay include?
--What should an awesome essay include?
For the first video, we'll cover the research process/essay. More info to come (when we figure it all out).
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This is only one of the projects that I'm going to collaborating on with other teachers over the summer. I don't know why I never thought to expand my classroom walls previous to this. Okay, that's not true. I do know why. But it's not relevant to the classroom.
Another part of my summer collaboration is to interact with the Edmodo group for English Language Arts teachers who are flipping or planning to flip. There are now over 80 people in the group! It's amazing how much the idea of flipping has spread. I'm excited by the opportunity to work with such talented, visionary people who work so hard to make the classroom the best possible environment for learning. It's an exciting time to be a teacher!
If you're interested, below the fold is the document I put together using the Common Core Standards connected to each part of the writing process. I hid it beneath the fold so that you don't have to scroll forever to get to the end of it.