Wow...that's not surprising at all!

Our third math unit has come and gone, and with it I have noticed a few things:

First, some of the excitement that first accompanied the flipped experience has fizzled out a bit.  I'm sad to say that only half my students are watching the videos at home, and coming to class prepared.  While some of that is due to the fact that the students don't have a computer at home, there are also many who don't have that as an excuse.

Second, the relationship between student and teacher is very very powerful.  I teach two sections of math: my class, and the other 5th grade teacher's class.  We each have 25 students.  Of my 25 students, about 16 of them consistently watch the videos at home.  Of my co-teacher's class, about 9 of her 25 students return to class prepared.  What's interesting is that she sees the opposite when it comes to turning in homework to her (my class turns in far less than hers).  The only real difference here is that my students have a strong relationship with me, whereas hers have a relationship with her.

Third, when the students don't watch the homework videos at home, and therefore have to watch them in class, they don't perform as well on the unit assessment.  I know...duh, right?  What proof do I have, you ask?  That brings me to our unit 3 scores.  Instead of comparing class to class, I decided to compare the students who watched the videos on time (90% of the time) to those that watched the videos less than 90% of the time (usually using class time to view them).  Prepare to be amazed (heavy, heavy sarcasm):
Students who came to class prepared: 93.5% average
Students who came to class having not viewed the videos:  77.5%

Wow, that's not surprising at all.  I haven't totally decided what to do about it.  I have scheduled a time to be "cognitively coached" by my principal on options.  Next week, I hope to post about my plan.