My Vision of Mastery

At the Flipped Class Training I attended recently, I was forced to sit down, and think about what my class is really going to look like in the fall.  I've had all these ideas bouncing around in my head & I haven't gotten a very concrete plan in place.  I've been watching, researching & listening to podcasts on the Flipped Classroom, and there seems to be a variety of opinions of how a class might run.  The three main people I've been listening to are:  Ramsey Musallam, Brian Bennett & Jon Bergmann.  I'll attempt to break down their beliefs (and if I got them wrong...sorry Ramsey, Brian & Jon), but you would probably have better luck checking out their blogs.  All of these Flip Class pioneers believe that we need to evaluate what we do when are kids are with us.  The guiding question of a flipped classroom is: What is the best use of my face-to-face time with the kids?  Do we want them to do the lower level thinking, or higher?  Everyone who is using the flipped class method feel that the higher order thinking should be done in the classroom, when the teacher is there to guide & assist.  There are some other minor differences in how the three gentlemen I mentioned above run their classroom.

Ramsey has the belief that you should have an inquiry that gets the kids interested, but slightly confused, then they watch the videos as needed to help them through the inquiry.  He's not a strong supporter of the mastery concept.

Brian believes in using videos for concepts that you have to repeat over & over again.  He tends to front load his videos (showing them first), then lets the kids work through higher order activities in class.  Brian allows his students to watch the videos & do the work at a time that suits them.  He even goes so far as to let the kids work on other subjects during his class time (assuming they've completed the required coursework for him & have mastered the concept).

Jon definitely believes in the mastery concept.  He sets limits for his students in regards to how many videos they need to finish by a certain time.  His kids go at their own pace...to a certain extent.


Luckily, I had the time to sit down & think things through (with the guidance of flipclass pro Jon Bergmann).  What I've come up with seems (to me) to be a mash-up of Ramsey, Jon & Brian's classrooms.

I intend for my students to work at their own pace (similar to Jon), but within parameters.  For example, they may need to have 2-3 objectives mastered by the end of the week.  When and where they watch the videos is going to be up to them, but I will expect that they have their designated work done by the designated time (similar to Brian).  The beginning of each unit will have some sort of an inquiry project that will hopefully be too hard for them to solve then, but will be totally solvable by the end of the unit.  My hope is that they will get interested in the beginning, want to see the videos to help them answer the problem, then solve the inquiry as the unit progresses (similar to Ramsey).

Other changes in my class revolve around expectations while watching the video, and grading.  While watching the video the students will complete a WSQ...if you're not sure how that will look in my class, click here.  In regards to assessment, I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to grade right now because I don't know if I'll have the flexibility to grade the way I want.  My district works hard to get every kid the same experience, which means we have common assessments.  But here are the plans I'm thinking of in regards to grading.

So what will my typical day look like?  Here's what I'm thinking (I have my students for about 50 minutes a day):

Kids come in & we meet for a couple minutes, just to touch base, then it's off to work!  Kids will be doing one of the following:

• Watching a video
• Having a group WSQ discussion (with me present to help give them a grade)
• Working on practice problems (together or independently)
• Taking a quiz or test on the computer (using Moodle)
• Working on another subject...if they are caught up
• Completing a math lab (that's what I'm going to call my real world application problems)
• Making videos of their own that center around the assigned topic

So as you can see, it is going to be slightly chaotic...but I'm thinking this kind of chaos is going to be awesome!

If anyone reading this has some ideas that might make this run smoothly, I'd love the feedback.

Learning is so invigorating!

This summer I was completely bummed out because I couldn't attend FlipCon 2012 in Chicago.  I did attend virtually, but it's just not the same.  So you can imagine my delight when I found out that Jon Bergmann was going to be giving a 2 day flipped class P.D. in Muskegon (about 45 minutes from my house).  As if that's not awesome enough, it was only $60 AND I get a copy of Jon & Aaron's new book AND I got lunch both days (it's the small things, right?).

So now I am charged with thinking through everything I'm learning. So here we go!

Day 1
Day one was basically an intro to the different methods of flipping.  It also introduced us to some different software that can be used to create videos.  Some software I got to play with was: Snag-it, Camtasia and Screencastomatic.com.  I've used Screencast-o-matic to make my videos this year, so I was familiar with it.  I did find out-that you can add picture in picture on Screencast-o-matic (which I did not know before).  We also got to take a look at several different apps that can be used to make recordings.

I would love to get Camtasia for Mac, but alas, neither my district or I can dish out the cash right now.  I plan on attending EdCampGR next month, so maybe I'll luck out & score a free copy there.  Or maybe the people at Techsmith will take pity on me & just send me one (hint, hint).

Day one didn't leave me too overloaded, as a lot of the information wasn't new to me.  However, I caught Jon on the way out & asked if we could eat together the next day because I needed some guidance on how to get me head around the whole "mastery teaching" thing.

Day 2
We started day 2 watching some sample videos that showed me just how boring mine have been.  They're not terrible, but I know I can do better.  Here are some of the changes I'd like to make to my videos next year:

• I'd like a partner to shoot videos with.  In the examples I saw, the most interesting style was the conversational style.  Basically there were two teachers having a conversation about the topic.
• So here's the problem with that...I'm the only 5th grade math teacher in my building, so what now?  I figure I have a couple of options:
1. Try to buddy up with a 5th grade teacher from another building.  This is a possibility, as one of the other 5th grade teachers is interested.  I'm hoping that I can talk her into it...come on Jodi, you know you want to :)
2. Try to buddy up with a 5th grade teacher from another school/state (this is actually possible: @guster4lovers & @thomasson_engl are creating collaborative videos cross country...it's crazy!)
3. Try to buddy up with a 4th grade teacher...many of our standards are very similar.
• Rather than making videos of every lesson in my math book, I started to find the most essential information.  I turned them into "I can" statements, now I want to make videos of those.  This should equal less video watching time, and more time to apply the knowledge.

We then progressed to talking about moodle.  I have used moodle before, but only to post links, newsletters, etc.  I was introduced to using moodle questions & quizzes...I am going to have a whole post on moodle later, but I'm really excited about what it has to offer.

After moodle, we had lunch.  I had the privelege of eating with Jon, and picking his brain the whole time.  The majority of what we talked about was how to make mastery teaching work in an elementary school.  I'll have another post about that shortly, because I have a lot of ideas running around in my head.

We basically had the rest of the day to spend working on something...anything, really, it just had to be applicable to our training.  Since I have experience making videos, I chose not to do that.  Instead I decided to map out what a unit might look like in mastery teaching.  Below I've embedded a Googledoc that is a rough start to my unit plan.  Please bare in mind it is in rough form, and will be tweaked.

FlipCon Session "Managing the Flipped Classroom Using Google Apps"

I recently watched another session from FlipCon 12.  The presenter for this presentation was Andy Schwen (@mrschwen), a teacher from Minnesota.  He's known as the master of google forms (okay, I don't know if that's true, but he should be).  He uses Google forms to create assessments.  While the assessment creation is pretty sweet, that isn't what was so spectacular about what he did.  He created another form that automatically analyzes your student's quizzes.  I'm not talking just grading them - this form gives you a breakdown by question, by student, by class...and probably a bunch of other things I don't even realize yet!

Below is the video he shows of everything you can do with the Google Form he set up...prepare yourself, it is crazy!



I didn't want to blog about something I hadn't tried, so I decided to follow his step by step instructions.  I did everything he listed, but my class list was not showing up on my "assessment form"...frustration ensued, but I read further & he recommended checking out Audrey McLaren's set of directions, she had a more narrative form, so I trudged on & visited her site to try again.


I deleted everything I had done so far, and started from scratch, and yet again my class list did not show up on my assessment form.  Thank the lord for twitter & awesome people on twitter because I messaged Andy Schwen directly & he replied within 5 minutes.  I am constantly amazed at what an amazing tool twitter is, & it frustrates me more & more that teachers aren't utilizing it!  However, I've veered off topic...as it turns out I was following both sets of directions correctly, but I was inputting one small thing wrong.  This will make no sense to any of you at all (unless you've had the same problem as me), but my issue arose when I cut & pasted my class list url & put it into my assessment form.  The original directions said to cut everything in the url from after the work "key="...however I had to copy everything between the "key=" and the "#" at the end of the url...How in the world Andy knew this I have no idea, but he did & I am grateful because now I have a super sweet assessment tool.


The tutorial on how to create the Google forms he uses are on his website: mrschwen.blogspot.com.

So how am I going to use this?  I've been thinking a lot about assessments lately, and truth be told, I don't like them much (I'm talking pencil/paper assessments - not authentic assessments).  I think they have their place, but I would much rather know that students can apply what they've learned.  I would love to go to more to project based learning (including assessments).  As I said, I think assessments have their place, but I think they need to be used the right way (in case you're not sure the right way - they're supposed to be used to GUIDE instruction).  So here is my thought:

I've been toying with the idea of mastery teaching for the past several months, and I know it's something I want to do, but I haven't figured out how to organize it all.  One thought I've been considering is coming up with some quick quizzes for my students to take after they think they have mastered a content expectation, in order for them to move on.  The thought of creating, then grading, then analyzing all that data is a touch overwhelming.  This is where these google forms come into play. If I can get the quizzes created, then all my students have to do is take them, then google analyzes everything for me...yippi!  Creating all those quizzes sounds like a very daunting task, especially since I want to have more than one for each standard.  But like everything else I've been doing in the flipped class, it's going to be a lot of work at first...but the payoff in the end will be awesome!

Lightbulb Moment

This summer I've been doing a lot of thinking about how my flipped class went last year, and where I want it to go in the future.  As you know, this past school year was my first year flipping, and at the start I was thrilled with how it was going.  The kids were more engaged, and they were out performing last year's class on almost every assessment.  That wasn't the best part, though.  The best part was that I knew my class.  I mean I really knew them.  I could tell you at any given time exactly where each student was, what they did well, and what they needed to continue to work on.

As the year progressed I became less and less content with what I was doing.  I didn't change anything about how my math class ran, which I think became the problem.  I started to see the potential my students had that was being ignored.  At that point, it was so late in the year that I didn't have a lot of opportunity to explore other ways to utilize my in class time.  Buzz words like mastery learning and project-based learning kept running through my head, but I am the first to admit I have zero training in either.  I don't like that feeling of not knowing exactly what I want to do to improve, but knowing I need to make some changes.

So fast-forward to this morning, when I was grocery shopping, and listening to the Flipped Learning Network Podcast (which, by the way, is a wonderful resource for keeping inspired and knowing you're on the right track).  I was listening to week 3, where Troy Cockrum interviewed Ramsey Musallam.  I hadn't been following Ramsey yet, so I didn't know much about him, but I had heard his name dropped by several people during other PD's I've been involved in.  Anyhow, during this particular segment he was talking about how he explains flipped class.  He said (I'm paraphrasing here), think of flipped class like flipping Bloom's Taxonomy.  Typically students would do lower order thinking skills in class (with the lecture), then turn around & do the higher order thinking skills at home.  Flipped class changes that.  Now students are doing the higher order thinking skills at school & the lower level at home.  I hadn't thought about it like that...at all.  But it totally makes sense.  I had a moment, like we love to see in our students, where a light bulb went off & I got it.  Now I have some direction for where I need to take my students in the fall...and I have Blooms to guide me.

So for helping the light bulb go off in my head, I say thank-you, Ramsey!

WSQ for 5th Graders...and other ramblings

Most people who are out there in the "flipping" world...okay, that sounded bad, but you know what I mean...have heard of Crystal Kirch.  She started flipping last year (like me), and both of us have been blogging about the process.  Her blog can be found here.  Crystal teaches High School math & uses something called the W.S.Q. (Watch, Summarize, Question) with her students.  It worked well for her, and did something that I feel is incredibly important but doesn't happen often enough - it incorporates writing into math, two subjects that seem to be opposites.

After following her blog this year, I knew I wanted to try her W.S.Q. method, but I need to tweak it, as I have 5th graders, and she has high schoolers.  Below, I've embedded the prezi I will use to introduce the W.S.Q. to my students in the fall.




A couple of reminders for myself in the fall:
1)  Spend the first unit heavily guiding the students through their WSQ's.
2)  For each unit following the first unit, do the first WSQ together, therefore keeping it fresh in their minds.
3)  Have some variety for their summaries...paragraphs, lists, bulleted items

If you watch the prezi, you can see that I require them to write a sample problem in their summary.  My thought is to use that sample problem when they are done proving their knowledge.  I'd like to get more students involved in the video making process, by recording themselves solving a problem.  The problem from their summary is a great place to start.

Another idea...

I'd love to have my videos with a whole bunch of student created videos all in one location so if a student is stuck and needs to see sample problems, they will have a whole bunch to choose from.  I've recently heard about MentorMob, which I will blog about later, once I know more about it, but I think it might serve this purpose.  Making several sample problem videos is something I would have liked to have done last year, but realistically, there was zero time!  Why should I be doing all that work, put it on the kids...what's that old saying..."If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."

It's time to teach these kids to fish!

FlipCon Session "Past, Present & Future"

The session I'm going to review is called "Using Video Podcasting to Revolutionize the Classroom:  past, present & future".  This presentation is given by Jerry Overmeyer, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado.  He started MAST (Math and Science Teaching Institute).

I want to give Jerry credit for his work, so everything that is in blue is taken directly from his presentation...the rest is my impressions/reflection.

The flipped classroom is NOT:

• about replacing teachers with videos
• Teachers are even more essential in a flipped classroom because now they need to come up with the "hands-on" and application activities for the students when they get to class.  To have an effective flipped classroom, you need to utilize your face time with students.  If you're making the videos, then just sitting back during class & doing no one-on-one time, then you're not doing it right!  Everyone says "there's no right way to do a flipped classroom"  I agree, there are multiple ways to teach in a flipped classroom...BUT...there is a wrong way.  If students are still trying to do the "homework" by themselves, then something is amiss.
• an on-line course
• On-line courses are completely done "on-line".  Face-to-face time with a teacher is non-existent, which I'd argue is the opposite of a flipped classroom.
• about the videos
• Are the videos a component of the flipped classroom?  Yes.  However, the power comes from the time you have with your kids after they've seen the videos...You know, all that one-on-one time I mentioned above.

When you start a flipped classroom, ease into the process:

• You don't have to go all out, all lessons from the get-go.  Maybe start with one unit, see how it goes, learn from, then try another unit later in the year.
• Personally, I went all out, and I'm glad I did (glad now, it was a little crazy this year while making the videos).
• No matter how you start, you will find ways to improve.  Personally, I am hoping to add mastery teaching into my room next year, something I wasn't even thinking about until I started the flipped class.

Flip Con 2012 - Keynote

Since I am unable to attend the FlipCon 2012 conference in person, I have purchased the virtual package...in a way I think this might be better because I get to watch every session, at my leisure, from the comfort of my home...at least that's what I'm telling myself :-)

As a way to keep track of everything I'm learning, I decided...of course...to blog about it!

First up is Brian Bennett (@bennettscience on twitter) giving the keynote.  Brian Bennett is a former chemistry teacher from Evansville, Indiana.  He recently accepted a position at South Bend Career Academy.  I've been following Brian on twitter and his blog for the past 6 months or so.  He's also been an active member of the #flipclass pd on Monday nights.  For those of you who don't know what that is, I think I'm going to have to dedicate a whole other post to the topic because it's been a very powerful tool in my learning this year.

I'm looking forward to his keynote because many of his posts have really intrigued and inspired me.  If you're interested in more about Brian, his blog is here.

Brian talked about a lot of different things during his keynote, and it was incredibly inspirations, here are some of the take aways that I want to be sure to remember:

It's all about the choices we make as an educator...
Brian talked about how nothing will really change in education until we make a mental shift.  Having all the technology in the world isn't going to make us good teachers, it's how we use it that will make the difference.  He voiced his frustration of recognizing that even though he was using the videos, nothing had changed.  This particular part of the presentation really spoke to me because I'm also feeling that frustration.  I've got the videos, the kids are watching them & coming to class & solving problems...but I don't feel like I'm there yet.  So where to go from here, that is one of the things I'm hoping to glean from the conference in the next two days.

What does a good classroom look like...
I think, at least at the elementary level, we do a lot of the group work/collaboration/desk arrangement that he's talking about.  I don's see too many classrooms set up in rows (at least not in my district).  However, it does make it difficult when everything you do isn't group work.  In an elementary we teach everything, and not everything is flipped & group work, so when we need the direct instruction, it does make it a little more challenging.  I guess it all comes down to procedures set in place for when you're doing different types of learning.

What does "class time" really look like...
This is where I want some more guidance.  My focus needs to be how can I best utilize my face-to-face time.  Right now I don't know that I'm using my time as well as I could.  I'm not trying to totally get down on myself, because this year has been an improvement.  However, this improvement and constant reflecting that I've been doing has shown me how much room I still have to grow...which in itself is a pretty amazing reflection.


Menus as assessment = awesome!
Brian talked a bit about using menu's as assessments...more on that later, bc I have some real thinking/planning to do around that.

Overall, a very inspirational start to the conference...now I need to play parent for awhile, more posts to come!