We get asked about our classroom workflow and technology a lot, and since the last posts I've done about technology are out of date (for example, we no longer use any LMS whatsoever), I thought I'd try again.

So Andrew has occasional access to class sets of Chromebooks (last year he ended up with 3-4 days a week, actually), but no open BYOD network for students.  I am moving from a school with a barely-functional BYOD network (and a paucity of decent student devices) to a school where we are 1:1 with MacBooks and many (if not most) students will also have their own smartphones that can be used on the school wifi.  Seriously.  I know, I'm ridiculously blessed in this regard.

However, none of that is going to change the basics for us.  Before I go into the tools we use, here are a few of the principles we operate under:

• Everything should play nice with Google sign-ins.  We are both at GAFE schools, but have had students use outside accounts to bypass the ownership/sharing issues with GAFE.
• There should be as few tools as possible. Keep it simple.
• It's okay if we're not experts on the tool or tech.  It's good to admit to students that you're learning alongside them.
• Everything we use should be as functional for the students as it is for organising course content.  

So here are the tools we use in our class.  I've divided them into lesson design and management and student major and minor players.

1. gmail and google drive for collaboration, communication, storing documents, uploading and sharing videos and creating drawings. We also use google hangout to collaborate and connect with others, and google presentations (both for ourselves and for students)
2. the tmiclass website (created on Weebly), where students can find course assignments and project resources.  Each of us embed our google calendar of assignments and have links to every assignment
3. lessonpaths, where we have playlists to host all the assignments in every unit in order. Students also use lessonpaths to create portfolios of assignments or to upload assignments
4. video making, editing and storage tools are a little trickier. These are more fluid because of a few factors. We host most of our videos on YouTube, though we do use ShowMe for others, particularly reading videos.  To make simple videos we use ShowMe or Playback (this is new to us, but is really cool because you can also have your face in the video and it's all done from an IWB app on the iPad)
5. for any video that requires editing (which is most for us), we use Camtasia for Mac.  For real simple screencaptures that don't require editing, we'll use Snagit sometimes too. This video was for a conference but it gives you some information about those apps
6. for students, we have them use Splice for iOS (make sure you search for iPhone, not iPad apps) and WeVideo for Android/PC (it's also available for iOS) because they are free and pretty easy to learn
7. remind (formerly remind101) to send texts to students with updates and announcements
8. bitly to give our students shortened links so students can find the assignments quickly, especially on mobile devices
9. on our website, we embed a google form that runs with the help of a script called autocrat.  Every time a student submits the form, it creates a document and emails a link to the student so they can have editing access, but it's owned and organised in our google drive.  The link above is to a walkthrough I did for how to set it up
10. grammarly to have students proofread their own writing. Here's a video I did about it

So some of those are lesson design or management tools, and some are used by our students to create or share their work.  In order to make the workflow more clear, let's take a sample assignment and work it through what it looks like in the classroom.  

Andrew and I make a video using Google Hangout  and Camtasia, then load it on YouTube.  We then show it in class, while students take notes on their own device or paper.  We give them a shortened link to the video so they can watch it later, and we add it to the course calendar and lessonpaths playlist so they can access it there too.  We add an article to the playlist and students read that on paper or their device.

Then we ask them to write a short essay on something related to the video and article, so they go to tmiclass and fill out the form for their class.  They then check their gmail or google drive and open the file.  It is already titled and shared correctly and has the standard heading on the top of the document, so they don't need to worry about any of that.

Then we ask students to collaborate by reading each other's work.  The students exchange gmail addresses and add their partner to the sharing permission for the document.  They use the comment feature so we can see their work.  We then ask them to run it through grammarly to check for mechanics issues, and they work with their partner to get it up to the level we require. [alternately, they could post it on a blog and them comment as well, although we did not use blogs last year at all]

The next day, we ask them to turn their two essays into a collaborative video blog so they write a script and use their mobile devices to film it.  They edit it on Splice or WeVideo and then either email it to us or upload it to google drive or add it to their playlist.  Where it goes depends on the purpose of the assignment and whether it was a first or second or final draft - we tend to ask for drafts on drive or email and final drafts on YouTube and/or lessonpaths.  That way, they are only making the final product sharable, but we are able to keep them accountable for the drafts.  When the final product is due, we send a remind text to students telling them to upload it to their portfolio playlist and when it needs to be completed.

We then make a lessonpaths playlist of all the videos and create a bitly so we can ask students to see what their classmates created.  We have them on a single collaborative document filling out a rubric for each video based on the criteria in the assignment.

All of that is archived on our website in the assignments calendar and in the embedded lessonpaths playlist.

In our classroom, much like in every other classroom, nothing ever runs this smoothly or is as ideal as it’s written here.  We don’t use every tool in every assignment, but it should give you a picture of what it’s like to be a student in our class.  

Because we don’t use an LMS like Edmodo or Moodle, a lot of these systems are built so that it’s easy for us and easy for our students to find all of the things.  You may find that using an LMS suits you better, but for us, we have been hit by so many changes in school or in technology supported by the district that we have found it useful to have an independent website that stands alone.  It also makes everything open source and collaborative, and easily adaptable to any instructional context.

But fundamentally, it works for us.  And what works for us probably won’t entirely work for you, because we’ve designed this around the way we teach and our technology preferences.  And that’s okay.  The bottom line with using technology in the classroom is that is has to work for you and work for your students.  

We also know that there are probably better ways to do some of these things, and that with the introduction of Google Classroom we might be changing...but that’s just how it goes with technology.  We just get used to something and it disappears forever.  Or it becomes a paid app.  Or our district blocks it for no apparent reason.  So we adapt, and as we adapt, we keep pushing towards a model that makes our classroom work better for us and our kids.

What do you use in your classroom?

Disclaimer:  I am probably crazy for even considering this.  That's what it feels like as I look out on students preparing right now.

In a week, every 9th grader at East Bay Arts will be delivering a TED-Talk style presentation.  They will get two minutes to talk about something about which they are really passionate.  They have to use a visual of some kind, and have been told DO NOT DO PUBLIC READING. ESPECIALLY FROM A POWERPOINT.  Unless they want to make their teachers cry, that is.

So let's back up.  Every students in 9th grade started the year with a unit on learning, the brain, and education.  The centrepoint of that unit was a series of TED-Talks.  We learned how to take notes and listen attentively.  We talked about passion, and how passion influences people to speak from a place of excitement and power.

Concurrently, they have been working on their very first all-school project.  At EBA, every grade level does one major project per trimester.  For the  first freshmen project, students have traditionally been asked to choose a social issue that is important to them and both write an essay about it and prepare a presentation to be given to a room of their peers and graded by the teacher.

If you read my blog and/or know Andrew and I, we tend to blow things apart and find the pieces in the rubble that work, and then build up the structure around those things.  That's kind of how this project started.  We liked the idea of self-selected topics.  We liked students giving a presentation that means something to them.   We also liked the idea of a project that all their teachers could see, work on with them, and learn from.  

But we also saw problems: most teachers from last year reported there being a ton of speeches on abortion or drug laws.  Having students write a research paper then deliver a persuasive speech seemed like a mismatch, and like too much for first trimester freshmen.  The topics don't necessarily touch the students' lives in a serious way, or in a way that is relatable in a 4-5 minute speech.  Also, the teacher in charge last year pretty much just told the other teachers what to do, and we really wanted to include the rest of the project team on the planning.

So we decided, in collaboration with the other two teachers on the team, to make it a presentation about how they wanted their school to change.  We started gearing up for that when we had a better idea.  Instead of advocating for a change at school, what would happen if we gave them the freedom to share something that made them truly passionate and interested?  What would school be like if every student got to share something they loved for a day?

Wouldn't that be the best day of school ever?  Wouldn't that MAKE the kind of school they would want to attend?

Then the next piece  that fell into place was when we realised that this was basically the structure of a TED Talk.  Since we've watched so many, it was an idea students quickly embraced.  It also has the benefit of being a real-world context for public speaking.  After all, how many people leave high school and ever have to present about a social issue for five minutes on their own?  But sharing an idea with passion and enthusiasm and clarity...that's something EVERYONE has to do.

And the final piece (stolen from Jon Corippo and Minarets): the teachers will not be assessing the students.  Instead, students will judge one another, based on the format of American Idol (the original).  There will be a Simon, a Paula and a Randy.  They will offer feedback based on the rubric categories and will decide the grade...but more importantly, will share what they thought and how it could be improved.

We will be filming the whole thing, and students will vote on which ones to feature on our YouTube channel.  I also told students that this was their chance to show their teachers, their parents, their friends, and the world that they were more than just a "dumb teenager who only cares about stuff posed on Facebook."  This is their chance to prove that they can have 80 9th graders in one room, listening to each other talk about something they love and not fall apart.

I'm writing about it here because I'm very aware that it might fail.  In fact, failure is likely - not of the whole event, but of certain presentations, and certainly technology.  But I'm sharing it so that I am clear going into it that the outcome doesn't matter.  What matters is that we aimed high and worked hard.  And that we learn from whatever failures may come.

In a week, it will all be over.  I'm excited to share what happened.

A few years ago, I thought that using video in class was the lazy way out.  It was for teachers who couldn't figure out how to have a class discussion or didn't want to make copies.

I also thought YouTube was for cat videos and people with too much time.

Boy, was I wrong.

Now, I start class with a short video (under four minutes, generally) every single day.  This unit's playlist has dozens of videos that were shown in class, most of which I didn't make.

So what changed?

A few things.  I started delving into the world of online video and YouTube content creators because of my interest in John Green and his brother, Hank Green.  They have been video blogging (vlogging) on YouTube since 2007, when they went for a year using video instead of any textual communication (emails, texts, etc.).  Since then, they have added over a million subscribers, and have one of the most amazing online communities anywhere on the internet (called Nerdfighteria, with individuals being called Nerdfighters - basically, instead of being made out of flesh and bone, Nerdfighters are made out of pure awesome).

I saw thousands of teenagers interested in music, literature, politics, news stories, and even in helping make the world suck less.  The central tenet the Vlogbrothers and Nerdfighteria promote is that our job as humans is to understand each other complexly.  Humans, especially those growing up in this rapidly changing world, are used to seeing black and white, but often fail to see the much more complex tapestry that makes up human experience.  

As a literature teacher, that idea resonates with me.  I read so that I can understand what it's like to be someone else, living a different life.  I read so that I am connected to people with whom I could never otherwise be connected.  I teach reading so that my students can not be limited by what they see, or what they experience, or even what they are.

Exploring the Vlogbrothers led me to a variety of other channels.  If you're interested, here are some of the other channels I now subscribe to, here are some of my favourites: ViHart, WheezyWaiter, ZeFrank1, ZeFrankenfriends, Schmoyoho, TheGregoryBrothers, CrashCourse, Hankschannel, HankGames, KidPresident, gunnarolla, MentalFloss, Pewdipie, TheArtAssignment, TheLizzieBennettDiaries, TheFineBrothers, CGPGrey, Veritasium, VSauce, SciShow, MinutePhysics, PemberleyDigital.

I subscribe to some of those channels because they are EXTREMELY POPULAR.  For example, Pewdiepie, a Swedish video gamer, is the #1 most subscribed user on YouTube.  If you think that's weird, watch this video of him playing a game called Happy Wheels.  Well, don't watch it if you are offended by swearing.  He does that a lot.  But he also is pretty funny.  And that is what our kids are watching.  I want to be watching what they are.

I may never show his videos in class, but I do think it's important to understanding our students.

Some of those channels make content that is outstanding, like the reimagined Jane Austen stories on Lizzie Bennett Diaries or Pemberley Digital.  Some of them are science content, like V-Sauce, Veritasium, SciShow, and Minute Physics.  And some are just awesome and educational, like Crash Course or Vi Hart (if you hate math, watch this.  And then repent of hating math.  I showed this video months ago, and I still find fractals filled with elephants on papers).

Those videos are the ones I show because it says to my students:

• I care enough about you to understand the world in which you live
• I am interested in a lot of things, and I spend time learning when I'm not in class
• There are amazing things on the internet that can teach you anything you want
• I value other voices and other talent 
• There are people who can explain something or tell a story in a way that I never could match

On the practical side, here's some benefits to the strategy:

• Students hate missing the opening video.  That means they get to class on time
• It gives me time to take attendance, pass out papers, and get everything set for class
• It helps students settle into the routine
• It gives them something to write about in their daily writing warmup

Now, I also use longer content.  For example, in this unit, we have been studying the brain, how we learn, and how education can best meet the structural, psychological, and cultural challenges of adolescence.  I could have learned all of the content in the half dozen TED Talks we watched, and designed lessons with scaffolded note-taking and worksheets, and given multiple choice assessments on that information.

Or I could let the expert talk, and use it as a chance to teach students to monitor their comprehension while listening and how to best handle note-taking.  Plus, it allows me to take my own notes during the video so I can model how to do that best.  And, I take notes every time I watch the video, which shows them how much my notes improve every time I watch the video.  

Now, I don't think that my job is to just teach them how to sit down, shut up, and take notes.  In fact, if that's what education is, then we're failing our students completely.  However, I do think that note-taking is something that everyone needs to learn, and every teacher assumes another teacher has taught already.  Spending this much time taking in content and working on producing notes that accurately capture the information in a way that's useful to the student is totally worth it to me.  It builds the skills they need when they start taking on more responsibility for their own learning.

In this first trimester, the goal is to help them learn how to do all of the things they will need to do when they are more self-directed.  As Andrew and I have learned, throwing students into a self-paced autonomous environment right away is ALWAYS a failure...and especially at schools where the culture is one where spoonfeeding is accepted and expected.  So we teach them the basics.  Kind of like boot camp.  Only more fun.

That's another key to the whole "using video" strategy.  It's fun.  You know what's not fun?  Taking notes.  But when they are learning to do that with engaging content, it doesn't feel as soul-crushing.  Plus, we know that students can't really sit still for the entire hour-long class period.  Having short videos provides frequent breaks so they can help manage their attention and time on-task.  When a student knows that they will get a break in five minutes, they are able to worry less and learn more.

Fundamentally, using videos - both as short warm-ups and as longer content-delivery-systems - comes from the belief that when students see what life is like for something else, they will start caring.  Video gives them a much wider world to explore, and that gives them the opportunity to experience something they never could have on their own.  Literature still have a place, but I think English teachers have an opportunity to use this newer medium to teach many of the same skills and content we do for literature.

And that's pretty awesome.

On Saturday, I had the great honour to co-present with about flipped English at the Michigan Flipped Learning Conference.  Obviously Andrew presented with me (we really don't tend to do things separately, if you haven't figured that out by now), but we were joined by April Gudenrath - the most experienced English flipped teacher there is - as well.  The hangout was broadcast and can be seen in its entirety here, and you can view our presentation through Google Drive here, and you can fill out the Flipped English Teacher Community form here so we can get a good list of as many flipped ELA teachers as possible.

Anyway, most of the questions we got this weekend at #MIFlip (and on Twitter afterward) were around how you get started with flipping.  The school year has already started, so that ship has already sailed for this year, right?

I would argue that mid-year is actually a BETTER time to flip than the beginning of the year.  The kids know you.  They trust you.  They believe that you are out for their best interests and care about you.  You get to start ahead.  As many of us found out this year, jumping into the flip with new students is really, really difficult.

So you're convinced you want to try something.  But you're not sure if it'll take, or if you'll have enough time, or how you should start.  Let me see if I can help.

There are a few main models:

1. Flip 101 - take your direct instruction and put it on video. Have the kids watch the video at home. Use class time to help them get more in-depth with reading, writing, projects, or discussion.
2. Asynchronous Flip - use video in class or as a supplement to what you would normally do. Put your novel reading on video and use todaysmeet.com to have a live discussion. Let kids work through curriculum at their own pace, where students can work ahead but can't get behind. Video is one way of accessing the content, and students can choose others, so long as they can demonstrate learning.
3. Flipped Mastery - using either of the two models with the integration of mastery or Standards Based Grading (SBG) to assess student learning.  
4. Co-Flip - short for Collaborative Flip.  This model is student-centred, where instruction takes place if/when needed, and may or may not be on video.  It could be asynchronous or synchronous.  It could be self-paced or with everyone at the same pace.  It could use mastery or SBG or neither.  But the most important elements are 1) student-centred pedagogy, 2) use of higher order thinking, and 3) deep value in and use of collaboration, between teacher and student, student and student, and teacher with other teachers. 

Most of us start at Flip 101 - I did.  And if you use a lot of direct instruction, that's where I think you SHOULD start.  Take those lectures you always give (as April calls them, "points of pain") or instructions you have to repeat over and over, and put them on video.  If you have an iPad, use ShowMe.  If you have a Mac, open PhotoBooth (so your face is on screen) and capture your screen with QuickTime (every newish Mac comes with it, and it's free).  If you don't have either, use one of the free services online - ExplainEverything, Jing, Screen-Cast-O-Matic, etc.  I've used them all, but I prefer ShowMe for quick stuff, and Camtasia for everything else.

If you feel like adding in direct instruction would be taking a step backwards pedagogically, then start by starting the shift to asynchronous or mastery.  Use video where and when you can, but focus on getting students to be responsible for themselves and their learning - that's the first flip.

The way you do that depends on your students and what they need.  You need to use class time in the best possible way, with the intention of creating opportunities in the classroom for collaboration between students, and the availability of the teacher and peers to help.  For Andrew and me, that means using class time to let our students compose in class, do close-reading, work on collaborative projects, and having discussions as a class.  The way you use class time is FAR more important than what you put on video.  Video, like all technology, is just a tool to help your students learn best.  Don't make video the point; make it the process.

**

When you've gotten your feet a little wet under one or more of those models, you pretty much have to move on to Co-Flip.  Flipped learning is WAY too hard to do it on your own.  I don't have any colleagues flipping (or interested in flipping) in my department or school.  But less than an hour away, there are dozens of flipped teachers - even a few who flip English.  And when I broaden the search a little, I find people who not only want to do what I'm doing, but they can push me to get better at what I'm doing.

I know I'm kind of a one-trick pony in this regard, but my classroom didn't really get to the point I knew it could until I met Andrew.  Then came Karl, and Carolyn, and Crystal, and Brian.  Then came the other Co-Flippers: Delia, Lindsay, and Audrey...and the rest of the Flipped ELA gang (see many of us discussing flipped writing here): Kate B, Kate P, Dave, Troy, Shari, Katie R, April, Sam, Natalee...and more I'm probably forgetting.  All of those people have helped me shape the way I think about flipping, and the experience of flipping in my classroom.

There is no way I would be the teacher I am now without them, and I'm lucky to have a PLN that not only supports me and gives me ideas, but will discuss tattoo design until ridiculous o'clock, or run up my tweet total to 5k (special thanks to Sam for that one!) or just be silly and join the #HashtagRevolution.  I'm lucky to have Andrew as a #CoLab partner (get it? Lab partner, only COlLABorative? Yeah, I know I'm #EduAwesome at wordplay).  I'm lucky to have a #CoLab partner who will be as pissed off about the things that I'm pissed off about, but will help me calm down and reason through it.  I'm lucky to have a #CoLab partner who will spend a whole day building a website that we can't actually use, and then will throw it out and start again without looking back.  I'm lucky to have a #CoLab partner who understands my strengths and weaknesses better than I do.

Andrew makes me better.

Don't believe us?  Ask Katie Regan and Shari Sloane (and now Dave Constant, who has joined them as the #ladygeeksanddave) why #coflip is better than any other flip.  Ask Carolyn Durley and Graham Johnson why #coflip has kept them sane.  It's not just the intellectual and practical support.  It's the personal support.  We care about each other, We care for each other.  We're friends first, collaborative partners second.

So once you've decided what kind of flipped model will fit your classroom best, find someone who will help you do it even better.  Ask questions.  Jump in on conversations on Twitter.  Join the Flipped English group on Twitter.  Get on the Ning for Flipped Learning.  Post here.  

Start a conversation.  And don't wait for a "more convenient time" - start now, where you can.  Don't make yourself crazy trying to do everything - but find people who have already done it.  Listen and take whatever they offer.  You don't have to use it for it to be worthwhile for you.  And if you annoy someone by asking too many questions, they probably aren't the person you want to work with anyway.  We're all adults, and personality does make a big difference.  Find people you genuinely like and then see what you can get, and what you can give.

Without Andrew, I would have given up a long time ago.  I never would be presenting at conferences, or writing a few chapters for an upcoming book about flipped learning, or reaching my students in the most effective ways.  No matter how crazy I make him, or he makes me, our collaboration is worth it.  Neither of us could do this alone.

And neither should you.

There are some days where you just don't feel quite so alone - that was today.  

For most of my colleagues, the first day back to class meant hiding out, staying isolated all day, learning new names, handing out syllabi, just surviving.

And even though I had five brand new classes that started today, it was a day of really meaningful connection.  I intentionally got out of my classroom to talk to a few colleagues and had some great (short) conversations with them.  

I also got to speak to every one of my new students (all 152 of them!) at least twice, and often five to six times in the class period.  I don't know their names yet, but I have seating charts with preferred names filled out and group pictures so I can try to learn them faster than last semester (I'm pretty sure I was still guessing on names in the 6th week...remembering that many new names in 50 minute periods just doesn't work for me I guess).  I ha former students drop in to say hi.  The best ones were when 6th period was about to start, and a whole group of my former 6th period students walked by - they wouldn't stop telling the newbies how lucky they were, and how they wished they could switch with them.

But the amazing thing was tonight.  For about 90 minutes, Andrew and I had the pleasure of being a part of the largest gathering of English flipped learning teachers that we know about.  Here's the line-up:

• Me, 11-12th grade, California
• Andrew Thomasson, 10th grade, North Carolina
• April Gudenrath, 9-12 IB, Colorado
• Kate Baker, 9th/12th grade, New Jersey
• Katie Regan, 10th grade, New York
• Shari Sloane, Alternative school environment, New York
• Sam Patterson, 9th grade, California
• Dave Constant, HS, Connecticut 
• Troy Cockrum, 7th-8th, Indiana

The amount of knowledge in that room is just absolutely incredible.  I learned so much just from being there and listening.  It reminds me of just how much we really need each other and how important it is to work with each other, but also just to connect and be friends.  We need both.

The most amazing thing is that all this time, there has been another collaborative partnership - Katie and Shari - in the English Flipped world.  It seems that Katie and I play a similar role, and Andrew and Shari play a similar role in the way we work together.  

As Andrew and I debriefed the conversation, we were struck by just how much we know, but how much we don't know.  None of our flipped classes look the same.  We all flip writing to some degree, but it looks different in every context, every classroom, every video.  Reading is a much more open field with far fewer answers.

We recorded the conversation and will be posting it soon.  I hope more people can learn with us.  As Andrew says, we may know stuff and may be "defacto experts" but we are learning as we go.  

If you're interested in joining us for one of these conversations, let us know either here on the blog or by finding us on twitter.  Maybe we can fill the room a little bit more next time.

Andrew and I have worked incredibly hard this year to make our team-teaching a success.  We spend hours planning over G+ Hangout, or in Google Drive documents, and we are pretty proud of what we've accomplished.  None of the material in our first unit was anything we had ever taught (with the exception of one of the short texts each).

We also believe in open source, free materials for teachers.  We do not intend to ever sell our materials.  We want to give them away for free with the caveat that you give us credit for the work.  We, by no means, want to present the material as if we think it's perfect - it's not.  There are lots of changes we will make when we teach it next (since we both have new students at the semester, it will be January-February when we teach it again).

But for now, here is the unit - complete with planning documents and links to every assignment, text, grading rubric, and warm-up.  If something is listed but doesn't appear, let us know and we'll fix it right away!  Almost all of the links are through Mentor Mob, since that's where we store our student playlists.

I hope you find it useful.  It's been amazing to plan and teach, and we hope that others can use some of the ideas we have developed here.

Here is the information from the document linked above:


The Master List of Unit 1 Resources
Andrew Thomasson and Cheryl Morris

Planning Documents:
Original Unit Plan (with full assignment descriptions, although a bit different from what we ended up teaching)
Skills Map (Thomasson’s iteration)  
Morris’ iterations: 1 2 (Morris modified her maps from the main document)

Playlists:
Weeks 1-3 (Morris)   
Weeks 1-2 (Thomasson)    
Smoke in Our Lights (both)    
Weeks 3-6 (both)

Unit Goals:

1. Introducing students to the technical processes they need for the class
2. Easing them into the flipped class part - how to watch video, how asynchronous instruction works, how mastery grading works, etc.
3. Familiarise them with the patterning strategy and why we use it
4. Making inferences based on evidence
5. Constructing a definition, both in narrative and informational writing
6. Collaborate with peers on a variety of tasks, and differentiate that from doing Group Work.

Essential questions:

• What is a flipped class, and how does OUR flipped class work?
• What goes into a good definition, and how does that differ based on genre and purpose?
• What is the best way to collaborate, and how is that different from cooperative learning/group work?
• What is a pattern and how do those patterns build meaning in a text?
• How do you access meaning beyond the literal/surface level?

Since our classes are asynchronous much of the time, this is mostly a suggested pacing, and is close to our actual pacing.  It took Morris six weeks, with about 240 minutes per week (11th-12th graders), and it took Thomasson four and a half weeks, with about 450 minutes per week (10th graders).  Please use any resources freely, so long as you give us credit for our work.

Yesterday during the #140edu conference, I began to think about the technology that plays a large role in my life.  Here is what I use primarily:

1. MacBook Pro, 17' with the apps I use the most: Camtasia, Adobe Photoshop Suite, Chrome, uTorrent, iTunes, and VLC

2. iPad 3 (Verizon) with ShowMe, Messaging, Mail, Twitter/HootSuite, DailyBible, Flipboard, Edmodo, Notability, Instagram, Facebook, Camera, Music and Paper 53

3. iPhone 4 with most of the same apps as the iPad, Socrative and Pandora as well.

4. Web-based apps: Google Docs (including shared folders and live collaboration with the #cheesebuckets), Dropbox, Weebly to maintain this site, BBC iPlayer through Expat Surfer, UKNova, Netflix, and Hulu Plus.

Now, why am I telling you all that?  Because I believe that it tells you something about who I am as a person, as a teacher, and as a learner.  Most of my news comes from Twitter.  All of my television/screen time is through my computer (I don't even have a TV).  All of my radio and music comes from what's stored between my three devices (and a really old iPod classic) and Pandora.  Most of the communication I have with friends is through Twitter, Facebook, and messaging. 

Even right now, I have all three devices open, working on different things (streaming the final of the men's gymnastic all-around competition on BBC and composing this on the MBP, Twitter on the iPad, messaging on the iPhone).  I take all three devices everywhere, because this is how I engage with the world. 

And I'm double the age of most of my students.  If technology is so important to me, then how much more is it to them, who have had it their entire lives?

But that's not the point of this post.  It is however, sort of relevant.

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As I was thinking through my preferences for technology use, I suddenly realised that it wasn't MY preference that matter.

In a flipped class, student-centred pedagogy is one of the three pillars.  So why am I the one setting the requirements?

Now, there my plans/goals for my students:
1. I want all students to blog
2. I want an LMS, either Moodle or Edmodo or both
3. I want to use google docs
4. I want all students to use an RSS feed for SSR time
5. I want to use a backchannel for live response
6. I want to participate in the KQED Do Now curriculum
7. I want students to collaborate outside of class time
8. I want students to watch some videos outside of class time

And there are some things I know about my students:
1. They all have gmail and google docs and like them
2. Most don't have Twitter accounts
3. They use Moodle
4. Most have their own devices to use in class
5. They are not used to using technology in class. At all.

So there are a lot of pieces of information I don't know yet.  But here's what I do know:

I need to allow my students to drive the technology in my class.  Instead of teaching them all new tools, I need to help them gain proficiency in the ones they already have and know.  When it comes down to it, I need to embrace the mess and allow my students to teach me sometimes, rather than me having all the knowledge.  I need to use their passion for technology and show them how to make it relevant to my class.  I need to put aside my preferences and be willing to not be the expert in order to better meet their needs.

So I don't have a completed plan for what technology I will use.  And that has to be okay.  I have a starting place: Moodle, Google Docs, and a BYOD policy.  And I have lots of question marks: Will I require a Twitter account?  Will I use YouTube?  Will I use Google+ hangout?  Will I use Edmodo?

I don't know.

I DO know that I don't want to give my students a worksheet asking them what they use.  Here are some ideas for how I might gather this information:

1. Have students enter the names of their technology into a Google form (much as I did at the start of this post) and then create a Wordle from it.

2. Use the start of year video to show my technology, and have students write a blog post or create a video of their own showing theirs.  Yes, this is time consuming, but I can really learn a lot from this about my students and their context.

3. Ask students to put together a photo essay about their technology use.  Turn this into an essay.  It has nice thematic links to the Snapshot of a Modern Learner article.  It could even be part of the essay on that text.

4. As the first project in Blank White Page.  Again, the video I make could be the model for this to show them what BWP is all about. 

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I'm sure there's a better idea out there of how to do this.  Feel free to comment and tell me your ideas for non-worksheet ways you collect this information from your students.

I've been accused of being far too confusing in the past.  So I have an idea that started simply enough.  I'm sure it won't end that way.

But I also want to give you a lesson structure that, with slight modification will work below the grade level I'm teaching (11th-12th).  So here goes.

Objective: 
Analyse impact of author's choices in a series of related texts. Analyse common theme. Analyse word choice.  This is all customisable depending on what you want to do with it.

Common Core Anchor Standards:

1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
   
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

Explore: 
Students are divided into groups (or if you want to make it simple but more time-consuming, have all students do all/most of the songs).

Read the lyrics to the song (and/or listen to it or watch it on YouTube if time/tech allows).  The inquiry question is some form of this:

What is the overall message in the song?  What language helps convey that message?

All of these songs make extensive use of figurative language to convey the theme/narrative.  Here are some songs that could work (substitute your favourite song or poem if you want):

Your Heart is an Empty Room or Title and Registration by Death Cab For Cutie
The Stone (full band) or The Space Between by Dave Matthews Band
The Cave or Roll Away Your Stone by Mumford and Sons
Ballad of Love and Hate or Weight of Lies by Avett Brothers

Then have the students mark up the text.  I use patterning.  You can use whatever you want.  You could even do it with them, so long as they draw conclusions about the inquiry question for themselves.  They can write their answers or do videos or talk in small groups...whatever floats your pedagogical boat.

After that, get students into groups with students who did different songs/poems.  Have them start making lists of similarities in the way the artists convey theme.   Hopefully it is here they will figure out that it's figurative language that make them similar.  Even better, they'll figure out something WAY more interesting than that connection (this always happens when I do this with students).

Flip:
If you are a content-video flipper, you could make a video with definitions of literary terms like this video. 

If you are a process-video flipper, you could make a video of yourself marking up a different song/poem and discussing the inquiry question to model the process.

Apply:
Have students find their own song or poem and complete the same analysis process on it that we did in the Explore phase.  I'd also have them do a process video of them marking it up, then I'd have two students trade videos and come up with ways in which their poems/songs were similar.

But here's the cool thing about the apply phase - you could have them do ANYTHING.  A creative project, write their own song with figurative language, whatever.  Application is the "fun" part in EFA.  

You could even have students define a literary device in a video/essay/blog post/project using their self-chosen song/poem as an example.  These would make awesome teaching videos next time you taught this unit.

More ideas of how to expand this lesson?  Post them as comments!

I've been in a frenzy of collaboration in the last few days.  First, I participated in a webinar with other English/Social Studies flippers: Troy Cockrum, Andrew Thomasson, Karl Lindgren-Streicher, and moderator and blogging-flipping-extraordinaire, Math flipper Crystal Kirch.  Kate Petty tried to join us on video, but due to technical difficulties wasn't able to be there the whole time. She did participate in the comments and wrote up some blog posts afterward that were really helpful to clarify and crystalise the thinking behind flipping English. 

We screencasted the entire webinar so anyone could watch it.  Here it is!

I've also been working intensely on a definition for what Flipped Humanities is and should be.  Andrew Thomasson and I will be recording a video about it soon, based on the five page (in-progress) collaborative Google document we developed with Karl Lindgren-Streicher.  

It's one of the coolest things I've done.  Karl and I started it with nothing, and within an hour, we had argued (in different colour text, obviously) back and forth and clarified our thinking and come to something that I think is the most clear and well-composed definition I've seen.  It's about 90% there, and still needs some work, but you'll hear more from Andrew and me about that soon.

It also came out of the debrief we had after the webinar and a conversation that started on Twitter the day after the webinar, and included Kate Baker, as well as the others mentioned above.  

Working with the people I've been blessed enough to meet through Twitter and the Flipped community is making me a better teacher, and giving me SO many great ideas and projects that it's just staggering.  I want to publicly thank everyone I've mentioned so far, for making me a more reflective teacher and helping me bring my ideas to life.  I also credit you guys for most of those ideas because they wouldn't exist without the collaboration we've shared.

More than anyone else though, I want to thank Andrew for the role he's played in my life the past few weeks.  It is an intense privilege to have him as a collaborative partner, and I have learned so much from him, both professionally and personally.  I can't say thank you to him enough, really.  None of this would be possible without you, homie.

Something else Andrew and I have been working on all week is the video Jon Bergmann asked us to make describing our collaborative video process.  We shot the original footage on Monday.  On Wednesday, after spending about 15 hours editing, not to mention the original 3 hour shoot, we decided it wasn't good enough and started over...even though it was VERY late in North Carolina.  That footage can't even compare to the original.  It's so much better, probably because we did what we do best: make an explicit plan, then ignore that plan and just talk to each other candidly. 

Then, with a TON of help from Crystal and Karl, we edited it into two videos:

1. The basics of what we're doing:

As well as the longer and more complete video that covers 

2. The applications and pedagogical underpinnings of what we're doing:

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I'm looking forward to the next series Andrew and I have planned: writing an analytical essay.  We will also start making some flipped reading videos as we start to plan our year of curriculum.  

So that was my week.  

Spending it with the Cheesebucket Posse makes it pretty much the best week ever.

And if I haven't convinced you that you need to be on Twitter, go back and read every entry tagged with Andrew Thomasson.  Then tell me why you want to miss out on potentially creating this kind of awesome collaborative partnership.  

If Twitter scares you, let me know WHY and Andrew and I will make a video that addresses those concerns.  Seriously. 

ETA: here's what Jon Bergmann thought of the video.  He was the one who asked us to make it, so it's totally relevant.

Can Jon Bergmann write a blog entry about our video?  Seriously?

I don't know if I can handle how awesome that is.

So this project on which Andrew Thomasson and I have embarked is exciting.  The filming has become less of "how do I write a research paper adequately?" and more of friends hanging out, and oh, we just happen to also be writing a research paper.

And that makes it really hard to edit the videos well.  There's also the fact that our last session clocked in at nearly 70 minutes, and is breaking down into five videos.

I've finished videos six, seven and eight.  They're posted up in the Thomasson & Morris Instruction tab if you want to see them.  Just keep in mind that I haven't added YouTube annotations yet (all the places that say "click here" will eventually redirect to the other videos in the series), mostly because I didn't want to do it before all ten videos were on YouTube.

This whole problem is compounded by the fact that Mr. Thomasson left for the weekend and so I'm missing half my filter for "is this good or not?" - which is one of the reasons our partnership works so well.  

Posting this blog entry is also sort of procrastination.  The hardest video is yet to come - the actual "writing the draft" one includes a lot of me just sitting there typing, while Andrew gets up and leaves a few times.  We're figuring we'll need to do a voice-over track on it...which means waiting until Andrew gets home tomorrow.

Other things I've done to procrastinate:
--posted to Facebook about my project with Andrew
--tweeted and surfed my timeline
--started planning my courses (i.e. assigned a different colour pen to each class, counted the weeks in the semester, then gave up)
--made some Blue Bottle coffee (if you don't live in the Bay Area, that reference is probably lost on you...and that's a shame.  Best coffee in the Bay).
--pretended to do some dishes
--filled up my water bottle
--posted a question on Ask Metafilter (my other favourite time-killing website) to solicit the best humourous works to use in my Language of Humour class
--started reading an essay about writing essays in The Essay Connection (Bloom)
--responded to the following Tweet:

Okay.  Back to work...


...after I check Twitter.