After having such a productive conversation with Andrew Thomasson (@thomasson_engl) yesterday, I was on a #flipclass idea binge. So as I was driving home from Marin, I was thinking about what my first week of school would look like.
And I made the logical conclusion that the first week of school should be flipped.
I know...duh, right?
But it's important to consider what that looks like. Normally, I would give out a syllabus and spend at least a couple of days teaching them how to succeed in my class. But I kept asking myself the Flipped Class Question: What is the best use of my class time?
So as I was thinking about that, I realised that there is NO better way to give them the typical "syllabus" information than in short videos. Each night there could be a small portion of some major skill or piece of information they'll need.
Here's are the videos I'm planning to do (your needs may vary):
1. Signing up for Edmodo and format of Cornell Notes*
2. Rules and Procedures (food, electronics, hats, that kind of thing)
3. Introduction to Flipped Learning
4. Technology they'll use (GoogleDocs, Today's Meet, Socrative, Edmodo, etc.)
5. Patterning** system
*The really metacognitive part here is that the first video will teach Cornell Notes style, and then they'll have to re-watch the video and take Cornell Notes about the video (super meta, right?) and submit them on Edmodo.
For each of the videos, there will be a specific task, like the Cornell Notes, that will help my students learn what I expect - all without me having to lecture them once face-to-face. Then the first thing we'll do in class is have them ask the questions they generated during their viewing of the video.
**patterning is a system that I will discuss on this blog at some point, but it's too much for this section.
******
The other thing I needed to figure out was what it would look like to do an inquiry unit (roughly an explore-flip-apply unit) for this information. That's when I had the second Great Idea.
The inquiry (explore) question is: What is it like to be a student in Ms. Morris' class? What will help you succeed in Ms. Morris' class?
I will have them answer those questions (just outside my classroom, so they can't hear each other) in a short video interview on the first day, while the rest of the class is doing White Blank Page. What they say will be interesting, because it will be based on whatever evidence they've managed to glean about me from being in my classroom. That tells me something about their critical thinking, and will help guide me as I create the research unit videos. It also gives me an opportunity to talk about first impressions, and the psychology around the way we use language - verbal and body language - to help guide our impressions about the world around us.
At the end of class, they'll turn in their White Blank Page assignment. The next day, I'll show them how I can glean evidence about them from their work. They will use those skills to gather evidence about me based on what I've put up in my classroom and what they can learn by asking good questions. I'll probably do a little with personality/ learning and brain-based learning. I know there isn't a ton of science behind MBTI, but ever since I had several students email me or come find me after graduation to tell me that was the most useful thing they did in my class, I decided to keep doing it. I'll cover that at some point if people are interested in seeing it.
The eventual result (apply) will be them writing an "essay" that will answer the inquiry question and help me understand them. That will also help me diagnose what writing skills need to be covered.
It's only June, so I'm sure as the summer goes on, I'll have more ideas. I'd also like to hear your thoughts!
And I made the logical conclusion that the first week of school should be flipped.
I know...duh, right?
But it's important to consider what that looks like. Normally, I would give out a syllabus and spend at least a couple of days teaching them how to succeed in my class. But I kept asking myself the Flipped Class Question: What is the best use of my class time?
So as I was thinking about that, I realised that there is NO better way to give them the typical "syllabus" information than in short videos. Each night there could be a small portion of some major skill or piece of information they'll need.
Here's are the videos I'm planning to do (your needs may vary):
1. Signing up for Edmodo and format of Cornell Notes*
2. Rules and Procedures (food, electronics, hats, that kind of thing)
3. Introduction to Flipped Learning
4. Technology they'll use (GoogleDocs, Today's Meet, Socrative, Edmodo, etc.)
5. Patterning** system
*The really metacognitive part here is that the first video will teach Cornell Notes style, and then they'll have to re-watch the video and take Cornell Notes about the video (super meta, right?) and submit them on Edmodo.
For each of the videos, there will be a specific task, like the Cornell Notes, that will help my students learn what I expect - all without me having to lecture them once face-to-face. Then the first thing we'll do in class is have them ask the questions they generated during their viewing of the video.
**patterning is a system that I will discuss on this blog at some point, but it's too much for this section.
******
The other thing I needed to figure out was what it would look like to do an inquiry unit (roughly an explore-flip-apply unit) for this information. That's when I had the second Great Idea.
The inquiry (explore) question is: What is it like to be a student in Ms. Morris' class? What will help you succeed in Ms. Morris' class?
I will have them answer those questions (just outside my classroom, so they can't hear each other) in a short video interview on the first day, while the rest of the class is doing White Blank Page. What they say will be interesting, because it will be based on whatever evidence they've managed to glean about me from being in my classroom. That tells me something about their critical thinking, and will help guide me as I create the research unit videos. It also gives me an opportunity to talk about first impressions, and the psychology around the way we use language - verbal and body language - to help guide our impressions about the world around us.
At the end of class, they'll turn in their White Blank Page assignment. The next day, I'll show them how I can glean evidence about them from their work. They will use those skills to gather evidence about me based on what I've put up in my classroom and what they can learn by asking good questions. I'll probably do a little with personality/ learning and brain-based learning. I know there isn't a ton of science behind MBTI, but ever since I had several students email me or come find me after graduation to tell me that was the most useful thing they did in my class, I decided to keep doing it. I'll cover that at some point if people are interested in seeing it.
The eventual result (apply) will be them writing an "essay" that will answer the inquiry question and help me understand them. That will also help me diagnose what writing skills need to be covered.
It's only June, so I'm sure as the summer goes on, I'll have more ideas. I'd also like to hear your thoughts!
RSS Feed
