What I've Been Doing

7/13/2012

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:

*******

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.

@guster4lovers it is great. I love how you explained why you did them together.
— Jonathan Bergmann (@jonbergmann) July 14, 2012

@jonbergmann @guster4lovers She's on PST, so she's probably still asleep. I think I speak for both of us when I say we'd be honored.
— Andrew Thomasson (@thomasson_engl) July 14, 2012

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

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

9 Comments

Kate Baker link

7/13/2012 08:00:40 am

Let me publicly thank YOU! I have a swimming pool's worth of ideas thanks to you flippers and I'm totally stoked to collaborate and revitalize instruction in this time of standardized blah-ness.

Andrew link

7/13/2012 08:05:41 am

Thank you. Back atcha.

And for the viewing public, "frenzy" is a very good word for what she's been doing. :)

Cheryl Morris (admin) link

7/13/2012 08:17:13 am

Kate, I am really looking forward to working with you on the poetry collaboration too! I expect to learn a lot from both of you, since teaching poetry is, like, my weakest area by far.

And Andrew, I'd say that WE have been frenzied getting this done. Because that's The Rule.

Kate link

7/13/2012 08:45:52 am

Holy smokes!!! I finally got a chance to view the videos and I am astounded! The fast forward in the first video was definitely frenzied! :-)

And whereas you are weak in poetry, I am strong, but I will definitively need your expertise in the video creation. My tech expertise as always been in a self-taught form of desktop publishing (Word docs & PPT's) and I need to learn how to translate that to an off the paper approach.

Sustainable! YES! Process oriented! Love it! Teachers as students! YES!

So let me play devils advocate so that we can win more over to the flip side...
1. How long does it take to create/edit the video?
2. I love that the content is controlled and exactly what you want in the created video, but it would be good to locate videos that are already created. A flip library would be really really really useful and time efficient.

I'd hate to harp on time, but as a mom with 2 young girls, in the middle of my career, but at the beginning of their education, my time and priorities are divided. I'm sure other potential flippers are in the same boat. Work smarter, not harder is one of my many mantras.

My only critique for the collaborative video is in the audio-- there was a difference in Andrew's audio versus Cheryl's video. Andrew was more hollow -- weak mic?-- and Cheryl's was definitely stronger and easier to hear. And one other nit-picky critique: Transition & audio in the first video from the discussion to the black screen text ("we met on twitter") and twitter screencast need some tweaking. You went from having your dialogue to no sound. I actually checked my computer to see if my headphones were still plugged in.

And to risk being cliche, Emerson's quote is absolutely applicable to you both:

“Don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path…and leave a trail” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

You two are pioneers! Blaze that trail! I'm ready to follow! :-)

Cheryl Morris (admin) link

7/14/2012 05:26:02 am

To be honest, the fast-forward part was LESS frenzied in the final version than in the draft. Karl (rightly) told us to slow down and explain ourselves and that's what we tried to do...although it's probably a lot to take in if you're not staring at it for hours and hours a week.

I'm happy to do the video creation part and teach you whatever you want to know! I did the YouTube annotation video for Andrew yesterday, and I can easily do that kind of thing on anything I'm doing at any point. And I LOVE poetry, I just don't teach it well. I'm super constructivist and structuralist when I approach text, and that hasn't translated as well to poetry because part of what I love about poetry is that physical resonance that goes beyond the meaning of the separate words in isolation. That's hard to communicate to other teachers, let alone kids who aren't reading at a high level.

Here's my attempt to answer your (very good and valid) questions:
1. How long does it take to create/edit the video?
If we don't start telling Harry Potter and Morgan Freeman stories, it would probably take about an hour to plan and film a 10-15 minute video. Editing takes about that long again, unless there are unusual circumstances. Annotating in YT takes about 20 minutes. So that's about 2.5 hours for 15 minutes of content. That is going to seem overwhelming to most people. But think about it this way: how many times have you taught how to write an introduction? I teach it 5-10 times a year times five sections. That's more than 2.5 hours in a single year...and this video will be there forever and kids can watch it when/as many times as they need it. Yes. It seems like a lot of time upfront, and it is. Part of why Andrew and I work so well together is because I have the time/skill to do the video editing side and he's really good at reviewing it and making suggestions that make it WAY better than the original version. He has a young child and I don't so I do the video editing. That's a totally fair deal to me. I also kind of like having the control over editing (and I actually enjoy it...at least I enjoy it when Camtasia isn't crashing at 5 AM after 10 hours of editing the same freaking video...okay, I'm done). I'm not super creative in other ways, so this gives me an outlet.

When I make videos using ShowMe, it pretty much takes me 30 minutes for a 15 minute video. But I'm usually doing lessons I've taught a million times before so it's super quick. That's more manageable for someone who has limited time.

2. I love that the content is controlled and exactly what you want in the created video, but it would be good to locate videos that are already created. A flip library would be really really really useful and time efficient.

I have to disagree with you here. I'm not comfortable using content that I didn't create in my own classroom. Now, I have the luxury of time that many educators don't have. But my kids learn most effectively from me. I can tailor the video to their levels and prior understanding of the topic. When I've considered using someone else's videos, I've always watched them a few times and then just decided to do one myself.

Again, I have the luxury of time. I think everyone needs to make the choices that fit best with their priorities in life. I also see the irony in the fact that I don't use anyone else's videos but am recommending they use mine. The other thing to remember is that I've been doing English videos longer than nearly everyone publishing them on the internet (that sounds WAY more conceited than I intend it to be). I haven't found many English teachers with more content than I have between ShowMe and YouTube. Troy Cockrum has me beat on volume and on how long he's been doing this. So I have a huge head-start on most English teachers and have learned to fail fast over and over to the point where I'm mostly happy with my videos now.

So overall principles:
1. It's better to make your own videos
2. You will be happier if you keep your priorities in order and if that means not making your own videos because your kids need playing with and feeding, then that's absolutely the right choice.

Re: the audio. I'm doing screen-capture by basically recording the audio as it comes out of my speakers. I have some really high quality external speakers that I can try to see if that helps. But because Andrew's voice is being filtered through the internal speakers and then captured using the mic that comes with the computer (if I used a different mic it wouldn't pick up on his audio). I could buy a splitter, then run a cable between the headphone jack and audio in, then also run a microphone into the audio in, but it doesn't seem worth it for a negligible improvement in audio.

The Twitter screen-cast was a Karl suggestion too. I recorded it at like 3 AM and couldn't bring myself to re-do it. That's why it sounds different. I'm glad I did it, but I wish the sound was better on it.

We are le

Amie Trahan

7/14/2012 07:36:50 am

I'm in awe of you guys--such good and helpful information. Thank you for putting yourselves out there for us to live through vicariously. I'm nervous about the collaborating--can I give up the control? Do I have enough to offer? I'm speaking with Troy on Monday night about possibilities. We'll let you know ;)

Cheryl Morris (admin) link

7/14/2012 09:45:20 am

Okay, now that you're in the project, you need to learn about Rule #1. I'll send you a message on Twitter because the Cheesebucket Posse operates on a very complex rule system that is incomprehensible to outsiders.

And for you (and anyone else reading), collaboration breaks down etymologically like this:

com - with, together
labore - work
tion - state of

So what we're doing is just working side-by-side, together on something. How is that scary? There is no "expert" here. I started flipping in January, but because I've been teaching nine years and had some exceptional personal circumstances that lent themselves well to putting ridiculous amounts of time into my teaching practice, that turned into flipped mastery after about three. Then it became asynchronous flipped mastery after another two months. So yeah.

I guarantee that I will learn as much from you as you will from me. So yeah, Rule 1. And Rule 2.

Amie Trahan

7/14/2012 03:01:25 pm

You crack me up!! I love the rules :) Thanks for the pep talk!!

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