Science+-+Spalding,+Jennifer

=Jennifer Spalding - Science MW=

__**Class Notes from 5/15:**__
 * Flipping the "Prussian Paradigm"
 * We don't need mechanization anymore
 * we need to help students develop critical thinking skills, innovation, creativity, etc
 * Flipping reorders the steps of the Hunter model for effective instruction
 * Rather than occurring at home as homework, the independent practice happens in class where the teacher can provide support
 * the "input" component of instruction which consists of recieving the information necessary to complete the objective of the lesson will happen at home via recorded lectures, readings, videos, research, etc

__**Notes & Thoughts on Markette's videos:**__


 * Stakeholders are individuals who will either benefot or lose in some way depending on the success of the model under which you are operating.
 * 4 main groups: students, parents, administrators, colleagues
 * For Students, Markette recommends explaining about the Prussian Paradigm in class and how a flipped classroom will benefit them. Allowing for reflection and questions is a must.
 * For Parents, Markette states that excited, passionate students will be the best method for getting parent buy-in. Therefore you need to get student buy-in in order to get parent buy-in.
 * One question that I had: Markette recommends making the relevance of a flipped classroom clear to parents and explaining the irrelevance of the continued use of the Prussian Paradigm. While I understand the need to make the benefits of a flipped classroom clear to parents, I would never want to inadvertently put down other teachers' methods of teaching. In other words, I don't want to put out the message that if teachers aren't flipping, they are ineffective and irrelevant.
 * For Administrators, Markette recommends being transparent with the reasons behind your methodology and why it is sound pedagogy. She also recommends making your successes their successes. Furthermore, she points out that flipped learning supports many of Hilton's current initiatives, including the Common Core curriculum, IB, the use of technology, collaboration, creaviity, self-directed thinkers, etc.
 * For colleagues, she recommends being able to eloquently explain your reasons for flipping. She also states that excited stuents will always sell your method of instruction.

**__Assignment #1:__**

 * Reflection Question #1:** What are the pros and cons of flipping instruction as you see them?

Without having actually tried flipping, it's hard to come up with pros and cons of this practice. Based on what I have learned thus far, I have come up with the following pros and cons. I am sure that these may change and new ones will be added as I learn more about flipping and actually try it out.

Pros: allows for more time to work on projects and activities that allow students to really delve into the concepts being learned, promotes self-directed learning, creates a more student-centered classroom as oppsoed to a teacher-centered classroom

Cons: Access to technology at home, not completing the outside work, students not able to get questions immediately answered as they might during in-class direct instruction


 * Reflection Question #2:** Who are your stakeholders? What are their common concerns?

For me, the most important group of stakeholders would be my students. They are who I would be doing this for and who most directly will (hopefully) benefit from this practice. I am assuming that their concerns would be the amount of work they would need to do outside of the classroom and if they are supposed to be "teaching themselves".

As for the other stakeholder groups mentioned in Markette's videos, I think parent buy-in will not be a huge issue, especially if results show that students are engaged and really learning the material. I have always found administration to be supportive whever I try something that I think will benefit students so I am not worried about them, either. As for my colleagues, most of the teachers that I work with are open to trying new things and would be excited about trying the flip as well.


 * Reflection Question #3:** (How) does a FlipClass better address student needs than does a traditional class?

I think the first chapter of the Flip Your Classroom book explained this very well. A flipped classroom allows teachers to better personalize instruction for students. To quote the book, "The time when students really need me physically present is when they get stuck and need my individual help. They don't need me there in the room with them to yak at them and give them content; they can receive content on their own". When students come to class already prepared with the background information on a topic, we are able to get right into activities and labs that allow them to practice the concepts and see them in action. It also really gives them an ownership of their learning.

__**Assignment #2:**__
1. Read the chapter entitled "" from Khan's book The One World Schoolhouse. Collect evidence about the challenges inherent in using the Prussian paradigm in 2013 for inclusion in your plan to win stakeholder buy-in.

Evidence collected: The educational system as it was designed back in the 18th century tended to stifle deeper inquiry and independent thought, which are skills that we now seek to help students develop in today's world. While there are good things about the traditional approach to education, there are also flaws that need to be examined and addressed if we want to continue to move our students forward in today's global society. Using a flipped classroom model is one way to work towards that goal.

2. Read chapters 2-3 of the Bergmann & Sams book. Choose a passage from each chapter that you think will be useful to know and be able to explain while building a case for a flipped class. (two passages total) Post these passages here as a discussion, so others can benefit from your insights.

*See Assignment page for the passages I selected.

3. Find and share an additional source that explains some aspect of flipped instruction. Link to it on our "Resources" page and add a brief explanation of what the source makes clear for your stakeholders.

[] This site is maintained by a teacher who has flipped her classroom. She has gathered many resources that she has found to be helpful in her flipping journey, including information aimed at each of the major stakeholders we have identified.

(This is also posted on the Resources Page).

Questions:

1. During week 1, you identified your stakeholders and their common concerns. Reflect on last week's work: add or amend as needed now that you know more. At this point, I am not planning on completely flipping my classroom. I want to start out small and do a few flipped lessons here and there and see how it goes. I think this is why I am not too concerned about stakeholder buy-in. I would imagine that stakeholder buy-in becomes more of a concern when you flip every lesson of every unit. Nonetheless, I will still need student buy-in to do what I am planning to do, so that is where most of my attention will be directed. If parents, adminstrators, and/or other teachers question me about the flipped clssroom model, I feel like I have learned enough about the reasons for flipping that I can make a sound justification for it to those stakeholder groups.

2. How does a flipped class better address their concerns than a traditional class? Bergmann and Sams give 15 reasons on why you should flip your classroom in Chapter 3. You may want to focus on 2 or 3 that best address what you believe will work best with your student population. Of course you can add a different reason not mentioned in the book. For me, there were 3 reasons that really stood out. First, and most importantly, flipping helps struggling students. Flipping allows for more interaction with students. It can be difficult to gauge who understands your lesson and who doesn't when students are just copying down notes. A flipped classroom gives the teacher the opportunity to walk around the room and see students engage with the content more frequently. This is when who gets it and who doesn't will become clear. Second, flipping allows students to pause and rewind their teacher. This is the passage that I chose to quote from chapter 3. As I mentioned earlier, students process information at different speeds. Some write faster than others. Some need to hear things multiple times before it finally clicks. These videos that they watch outside of class allows for all of this, whereas the tradional model of lecturing in class does not. Third, flipping helps busy students. These days, students miss class for a variety of reasons, whether it because of illness, sports, counseling sessions, or even vacations. I love how flipping enables these students to stay on top of their work and not fall behind. Furthermore, it will save me from having to re-teach a week's worth of lessons!

3. What might be some challenges you will encounter? How do you plan to address them? There are some challenges that I am predicting I will encounter. First of all, I think that there will be some students who don't do their homework and therefore come unprepared for class. As for how I will address this problem, that would probably depend on a variety of factors, including the type of assignment, the student's access to technolgy at home, et cetera, so I will probably deal with that issue on a case-by-case basis. Another challenge that I had been thinking about is not being able to immediately clarify or answer questions as students are first introduced to content. Luckily, the Bergmann and Sams book had a wonderful suggestion for dealing with this issue. They taught their students the Cornell note-taking method which has students take notes, record questions, and summarize their learning as they watch the videos. This would help me see if the videos were effective and also help the students process the information. It is my hope that they would then come to class with any questions they might have and that we could be able to efficiently and effectively clear up any misconceptions about the material before moving on to the day's actvities. I am sure that there will be more challenges that pop up along the way but these were the first two I thought of when I was first introduced to the flipped classroom model.


 * __ Assignment #3 __**

1. What is flipped instruction in your own words?

Flipped instruction is the practice of giving information to students outside of class in a variety of formats, including videos, that would normally be given in class in a lecture format. Then, when students come to class, they are ready to engage in the content through hands-on activities and collaborative group work. The teacher circulates through the room and works with small groups or even one-on-one with students to provide relevant and timely assistance to students.

3. Why is flipped instruction beneficial for 21st century learners?

Today's students have grown up using technology. It doesn't make sense to have them not use it when it comes to learning. This method of learning and disseminating information builds vital skills that students will need to be successful in a global society.

7. What data will you be collecting on which to assess effectiveness of your flip? For my class, lab scores would be a good indicator of the effectiveness of the flip. This is because rather than doing calculations and analysis at home by themselves, students will be doing that in class where they can get support from the teacher and their peers. Test scores might also be a good indicator. Test scores of students who typically struggle would be of particular interest to me since those kids should really be able to benefit the most from the flipped model. This is due to the teacher being able to differentiate more and also give more one-on-one attention to those students.

8. By which methods will you be collecting this data? The obvious method is the scoring of these assessments. In addition to these scores, however, formative assessment will also be useful. This can include warm-ups, tickets out the door, and simple observation of student work and interactions. All of these can gauge students' level of understanding.

__** Assignment #4 (Final Assignment) **__

Stakeholder Buy-in Plan: As I have previously mentioned, at this point my plan for flipping is to start out small. I want to try flipping a few lessons and see how they go before flipping an entire unit. Therefore, I feel that student buy-in should be my main focus. I will explain the Prussian paradigm to my students. I will explain why I think the flipped format will benefit them, including the following points:
 * Flipping will allow them to listen to the lecture at their own pace. They can pause, rewind, et cetera. They can also go back to the videos as many times as they like. This can be helpful for a quick refresher and also for studying for quizzes & tests.
 * Flipping allows us to be able to do more hands-on activities in class.
 * Flipping gives me more opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

Since I am not planning on flipping all of my instruction, I do not feel that it is necessary to send a formal notice to parents. If I do decide to flip an entire unit, I will create a handout for parents that explains what flipping is, why I am doing it, and how their children will benefit. If parents do contact me with questions about the lessons that I am flipping, I will respond with following explanation:
 * Flipped instruction is the practice of giving information to students outside of class in a variety of formats, including videos, that would normally be given in class in a lecture format. Then, when students come to class, they are ready to engage in the content through hands-on activities and collaborative group work. The teacher circulates through the room and works with small groups or even one-on-one with students to provide relevant and timely assistance to students.
 * Flipping benefits students in a variety of ways. First, and most importantly, flipping helps struggling students. Flipping allows for more interaction with students. It can be difficult to gauge who understands your lesson and who doesn't when students are just copying down notes. A flipped classroom gives the teacher the opportunity to walk around the room and see students engage with the content more frequently. This is when who gets it and who doesn't will become clear. Second, flipping allows students to pause and rewind their teacher. Students process information at different speeds. Some write faster than others. Some need to hear things multiple times before it finally clicks. These videos that they watch outside of class allows for all of this, whereas the tradional model of lecturing in class does not. Third, flipping helps busy students. These days, students miss class for a variety of reasons, whether it because of illness, sports, counseling sessions, or even vacations. I love how flipping enables these students to stay on top of their work and not fall behind.

I did revise the letter that I send home to parents at the beginning of the year to include the type of homework that a flipped lesson would entail. Here is the paragraph:

Students will receive a grade based on warm-ups (“Brain Boosters”), homework assignments, class work, projects, labs, quizzes and tests. As per district policy, homework will not count for more than 15% of the student’s total grade. It is imperative, however, that homework assignments be completed to the best of the student’s ability and they should be completed on time. Homework assignments help to reinforce concepts learned in class and give students a chance to practice their understanding at home. Occasionally, the homework assignment may be an introduction to new material that students must complete prior to coming to class so that we can dive right into labs and other hands-on activities. I do not give credit for late homework assignments.

As for the other stakeholder groups (Administrators and colleagues), if they approach me with any questions about the flipping practice, I will respond similiarly to what I have outlined above.

Overview of Flipped Lessons: I have decided to flip a few lessons from my Cells unit. Instead of using class time to label the parts of the microscope and the functions of each part, students will view a video at home and fill in their worksheet for homework. Then when they come to class, they will be ready to actually pratice using the microscopes. Similarly, instead of using class time to label the cell organelles and take notes on the function of each organelle, I made videos that students will view at home. While viewing these videos, students will fill in the accompanying worksheets. When they come to class, I will have a warm-up for them to do on the material. While they are working on the warm-up, I will check to see that the notes were completed at home and give them a hw completion grade. We will then be ready to go right into an activity with the material, such as a cell-school/city comparison poster, a lab, et cetera.

I have posted the three videos and the accompanying student worksheets on my classroom website. Here is a direct link to them:

[|http://schoolcenter.hilton.k12.ny.us/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=31386&catfilter=8466#showDoc]