Math+-+Pink,+Allie

=Allie Pink - Math MW=


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

Pros: 1) It is a more efficient use of the students' time because they are receiving the direct instruction from the teacher on their own time and the independent practice/investigations with the teacher so they can ask questions. 2) Students can watch the video at their own pace. They can pause and rewind whenever they need to review what they heard. 3) In a traditional model, if a student had questions about problems they were doing at home, they had to go in for help the next day. With this method, students are doing the work in the classroom and are able to get their questions answered immediately. 4) Learning is student-centered, not teacher centered. The focus is not on the teacher teaching the content but on the students making sense of problems and persevering to solve them. They will also have more opportunities to construct arguments and critique the reasoning of other students in their groups. 5)There is more time for me to answer student questions individually, correct student misconceptions immediately, and provide feedback to groups and individual students. 6) Parents do not have to worry anymore if they can’t help their child with the math homework.

Cons: 1) Technology constraints - What if every student does not have access to a computer or Smart phone? 2) Creating a video lesson that is 5 -10 minutes that encompasses everything I would do in class is challenging. 3) A couple students stated that they had a hard time learning from a video because it was difficult to focus with distractions at home or because they were copying down the guided notes without really comprehending them. 4) It is challenging to make the math videos interesting and humorous.

The stakeholders are my students, my parents, my administrators, and my colleagues. My students' concerns are "what do I do if the technology doesn't work?", "I get distracted when I watch the video so what should I do?", or "how can I ask my questions if I'm watching a video?" One of the parents' concerns is that this is not the way they learned so it makes them uncomfortable to see such a different method of teaching. Another one concern is access to technology. The administrators want to make sure pedagogy comes first. They would also be concerned with teaching a topic using flipped instruction before teaching it once first directly. This becomes a problem with Common Core which includes both new and old topics. My colleagues concern would be that not everyone can flip at the same time so there has to be some conversation about it before implementation.
 * Reflection Question #2:**
 * Who are your stakeholders?**
 * What are their common concerns?**

A flipped classroom gives students greater ownership over their learning and therefore increase student engagement. It better meets the needs of students by providing time for individually answering students' questions or meeting with them to check their progress. It also provides the time in class for inquiry-based learning and rich tasks (working in groups or individually).
 * Reflection Question #3:**
 * (How) does a FlipClass better address student needs than does a traditional class?**
 * You must be able to tell this story believably to a variety of people who will challenge. You must be ready to explain your pedagogy, with sources, often and eloquently.**
 * What evidence will you need to collect to satisfy your critics?**

My evidence is student surveys, comparison of common assessment test results from before and after flipping, and samples of student work from investigations/rich tasks.

Week #2:

Challenges Inherent In The Prussian Paradigm: (1) We want students to master larger ideas and make connections between subject areas. The Prussian Paradigm isolates the subjects from one another and fragments abstract information. (2) The subjects could be learned through memorization whereas now we emphasize critical thinking and problem solving skills. These skills were not valued in the Prussian paradigm because they were looking for people to submit to authority. (3) Self motivation is stifled by constant interruptions that we called sets or periods.

Questions 1, 2, 3:

1) During week 1, you identified your stakeholders and their common concerns. Reflect on last week's work: add or amend now that you know more.

I can now address the student concern of "what if the technology doesn't work?" by making the technology available in many different places - youtube, ensemble link, on flash drive, load onto IPod or any smart device, or students could use the two laptops in the classroom after school. If Moodle or Schoolcenter is down for whatever reason, it is definitely a good idea to have the video on YouTube also. The other student concern of "how can I ask my questions to a video?" can be answered with a blog where students can ask questions while they are watching the video and receive answers from their teacher that afternoon. Within Moodle their is a blog feature and a messaging feature.

2) How does a flipped class better address their concerns than a traditional class?

Flipping better addresses the concerns of parents of struggling students because it increases the amount of individualized support students get as they are working on problems in class. Students with special needs don't have to frantically copy down notes in class with the flipping model. Instead, they can rewind and rewatch specific concepts in the video until they have grasped the topic.

Flipping changes classroom management because instead of a "well behaved student" being a student that sits quietly and raises their hand, it is now a productive student that asks good questions. When talking to parents about how their child is behaved in class, with a flipped model teachers can discuss whether or not the student is actively learning in class instead of how well they are taking notes.

3) What might be some challenges you will encounter? How do you plan to address them?

Some challenges will be the new Common Core curriculum being rolled out at the same time as testing out the concept of flipping. How I addressed that this year was that I flipped units that had not changed very much with Common Core such as Probability and Statistics. I think it is important to have taught the material once first before I go to the flipping model.

I also will face the challenge of not every student having access to the technology so I will have 2 laptops in my classroom that students can do their assignments on.

Students want to be able to watch the videos during study hall so I would need to gain the buy in of my colleagues in the building so that they would allow my students to watch the video on their phone or IPOD during study hall with ear buds.

If students do not do their homework, the solution I have right now is to have them watch the video to get the direct instruction piece while the rest of the students work in groups on practice problems, investigations, or rich tasks. Hopefully, they will tire quickly of not being part of the group and it will be enough to make them do their homework.