21ThingsBCK Thing 6 Differentiated Instruction

In my classroom, I have added some videos, virtual web manipulatives, and text based resources so that students can use resources that meet their needs to learn better. The videos have helped my students who are quick to understand so that they can check their homework by just skipping to the end of the homework video and those who struggle can go through the entire video step by step to get a fuller understanding before I move onto other content the next day.

I want to work on making “student success sheets” that list the student objectives, required homework, optional choices for homework extensions, and quizzes so students can self check themselves as the direct instruction continues.. I think the notes I have students take in class can be so wordy that some of my students who struggle take too much time taking notes.  Making my notes available on videos and in class in person.

This second semester of the year I want to challenge my students to fill in gaps their learning. I am going to use ixl.com and challenge them to do as many different topics as possible in order to expand their understanding. I want to create a chart that will inspire them by seeing their change in what they know as time goes on in the semester.

Portfolio piece: Thing 6: VozMe text to speech tool

Today I experimented with VozMe. I am not sure I would use it a lot but there are some students who would benefit from hearing the text that is in their textbooks before coming to class but who may not have the reading skills at the level needed to understand the content that is written. They would understand the spoken word however and that would be great for them.

Algebra Manipulatives

Today I was experimenting with some virtual algebra manipulatives. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives has some great resources that I think will benefit some of my students in my Algebra classes.

Look at this Algebra Balance Scales - Negatives that I tried out today.

21ThingsBCK Thing 5 Content Area Tools Reflection

The Thinkfinity site was some great links to content specific tools. As a math teacher, the NCTM Illuminations website was great to get lessons that are useful to helping my students better understand math concepts. Many sites give me lessons but most require adjustments to fit the exact needs that I have for my classroom and my students. Some of the things I would edit would be how to use technology with the plans that are given. I have gotten familiar with geogebra.org to show shapes and translations of them so student understand what is happening as we consider the shapes and things that we have done to them. Another site I love for finding useful content is mentormob.com because other teachers like me make lists of websites and resources that I can search for, use what applies for my students, and make lists for my students. The MORE site through mel.org is great because their lessons are matched up with Michigan standards and are created by  teachers from Michigan

Sustained Thinking

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Voltaire, French writer, historian and philosopher 

Portfolio Piece Thing 4: Communication Tools

I have altered the html code on my blogger site so my twitter widget is front and center with a link to "follow @carlasinspirati" on twitter.  I think it is a great to way to connect with individuals who read the posts on my website.

Revised Psalm 23

Here's the revised Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not flunk. He keeps me from lying down when I should be studying. He leads me beside the vending machine for a break. He restores my faith in study habits for my grade's sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of bordering grades, I will not have a nervous breakdown, for you are with me. You give me answers in moments of blankness. You anoint my head with understanding. My paper runs over with questions I recognize. Surely passing grades and flying colors will follow me all the days of my examination and I shall not have to dwell in this high school forever. Amen.

This one makes me smile.

21ThingsBCK Thing 4 Reflection: Communication Tools

Communication is so important in the classroom.  Skype provides a great way to bring in experts to talk to my students even when they can’t take off a day to visit.  The first thing I would like to do is schedule some alumni to speak with my current seniors about what college is like and what our seniors should consider before starting their first classes in the fall after graduating.

I have enjoyed backchanneling at a couple of educational conferences this summer. It was nice to read what others were thinking as we listened to the same speaker. The backchanneling gave me ideas of how to use the new things that I was learning and helped me to connect with other educators who were thinking the same way I was. On twitter I follow several different math teachers, guidance counselors, and science teachers. I like to use my “favorites” on twitter as new entries into my diigo so I can remember the pithy things that professionals say.

As I consider how to best use skype and twitter, teaching students to use these resources in a way that they will be proud of if a future college admissions officer, future employer, or a grandparent were to read or see their interactions is key. I would really like to have a human resources person give a presentation to my students about the best uses of social media communication tools because my students don’t understand that what they post now could be used for or against them when they apply to college or to a new job. Using twitter would be an excellent teaching tool because it gives students that are afraid to talk an avenue to speak up through the typewritten word. Using skype would allow me to engage students with a experts in different areas and I could potentially meet with a group of students to go over questions on a homework assignment outside of a school day.  

21ThingsBCK Thing 3 Reflection: Collaboration Tools

Thing 3 has been great to increase my productivity. The template I downloaded for comparing cars will be a great tool in a career class where students have to think about which car they will purchase after finishing post secondary education and whether they can truly afford the vehicle. The collaborative aspect of Google Docs has already changed the way my classroom runs because I can comment on items for student to fix in a draft document and help each student create a final product based on collaborative feedback from myself and other students. This has been particularly helpful with some essay writing that students are doing for scholarships and college applications. Google docs has also saved unknown sheets of paper as the drafts don’t have to be printed multiple times in the editing process.I am trying to get my coworkers to get on board with using google docs as a paper saving device.

The other tool I used was Doodle to schedule a meeting where my coworkers would look at student essays to determine two scholarship nominations.  We could have used Google docs to read the essays and then come to the meeting with 3 top essay writers so we could have been prepared to simply discuss who was the best essay writer and vote. Instead, time was taken for my coworkers to read the printed essays, submit who they thought was the best student for the particular scholarship nomination, and then we voted.  Wasted time and wasted paper. Doodle did give my coworkers options on when to meet in person for voting on scholarship winners and Google docs had allowed me to give students feedback on their essays before I printed them for our faculty discussion.  Each step forward helps my coworkers and me become better technology users.

21ThingsBCK Thing 2 Reflection: Web Presence

As I reflect on Thing 2, it reminds me just how important my web presence is to those that I work with and who may some day hire me. I have blogs for teaching math, chemistry, or computers, for school guidance counseling, and for personal creativity. Each of these is connected with the same email address and my real name so if someone searched for me online, I could be found. I use my web presence to connect with people that need the resources and ideas I have to share. My most active educational web presence is digalgebra2.blogspot.com where I share videos and resources for my Algebra 2 and digcounseling.blogspot.com where I share information and resources for school guidance counseling.

An advantage of having a web presence is the ability to point people to a specific resource that I have found so I don’t have to repeat myself as often. It also provides an excellent communication tool in conjunction with the emailing and texting to students and parents that I do.

A disadvantage is that I have to keep pertinent information posted to the blogs otherwise it becomes less useful to the students and parents that I work with. Another disadvantage is the initial time it has taken me to create these web presences. Organizing information in a pleasing way and in a logical manner takes thought and time. Another disadvantage is that I have to really consider how the written words in my blog and the spoken words in my videos are perceived by others. I don’t want to have something posted that I will later regret.

I wouldn’t give up my web presence for anything, but I do consider what I post carefully before it goes live for the world to see.

21ThingsBCK Thing 1 Reflection About Basics

Some of the shortcuts I use the most often are ctrl z for undoing something that had been deleted, ctrl s for saving, and ctrl a for selecting all the text on a particular page. I use these all the time when I edit written work. As I read through the forum about keyboard shortcuts, it reminds me that some other adults have no idea that there is a simpler way. It makes sense to teach some shortcuts first as people become more familiar with using technology.

During the summer of 2011, I began using delicious.com as a way to organize web pages for a careers class I taught.  It was great to organize around different “stacks” that students could access. During the summer of 2012, I was introduced to diigo through twitter. I love diigo even more because it allows me to annotate the web pages so I can remember what was so cool even after significant time has passed. I also like the feature of being able to highlight text and sort through my different tags to find relevant web pages that I can use with my students. I also use an integration between twitter and diigo to save my “favorite” posts from twitter to diigo so I can remember the pithy things people say.

This year I have improved my career class by using diigo with my students’ career projects. Some examples of the assignments and activities would be students bookmarking scholarship opportunities, college, career, and job search information. Diigo will be a great tool to improve their researching skills. Students in my careers group can look at what other students have bookmarked to see if what has been found already might be something they would want as well.

As I consider Marzano’s work, I think that this lesson on social bookmarking makes the best connection with cooperative learning. Those of us in this 21 Things course can share what we find with each other, thereby curating content so others don’t have to spend as much time searching for the elusive webpage or web activity to fill a certain need. With my students I hope they can use diigo to share information about colleges, scholarships, and careers that they find which will help each of them develop a college going attitude.

As I consider the NETS for teachers, I think the one that Thing 1 aligns well with is Standard 3: Model Digital Age Work and Learning. I am showing that I am technologically fluent and can transfer what I already know into a novel situation with a new technology. I am also modeling the emergent use of a tool like diigo to my students so that we can all be lifelong learners and sharers of learning. Locating, analyzing, and evaluating technology is so necessary if I am to use the technology in my classroom. I am doing that more and more each day as I work through these “things”.

Desmos free online graphing calculator

I just tried out this calculator and it is great!  Better than some of the others I have used. I will have to use it with my students today.

https://www.desmos.com/calculator

Articles to read later Oct. 11

http://plpnetwork.com/2012/10/08/flip-love-affair

Articles that I want to read later

http://www.mathwithmccarthy.com/1/post/2012/08/a-new-school-year-is-upon-us.html

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/08/day-3-math-analysis-honors.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FlippingWithKirch/~3/Q7PVLDIz6uQ/flipclass-2012-2013-week-1-reflections.html

Feedback from first 2 weeks

The last couple of days I have been getting some feedback on the videos I am creating for math classes.  One parent walked up to me after school and said, "Thank you for doing the videos.  I am sure it takes a lot more time but I watch my young person stop, rewind, and rewatch the videos on a cell phone and he seems to be less frustrated since what my student needs to know is available when it is needed."  Another parent, "I really like the videos.  I am sure it takes a serious time commitment but I think it helps my young person figure things out."

I also had a note written by a student on a homework assignment.  I think I need to help several of students with this concern - "Don't the teachers talk to each other about the amount of homework they give.  This math assignment has taken me way to long.  I just want to go to bed." I think there are several of my students that leave their math assignments for the very end of the night because it is their tough subject, then it takes them even longer to figure out what is going on because they are tired from other homework they have.

I also talked with my principal yesterday about the quiz that took exceeding long for some students.  In our discussion, we reflected on the fact that with all change students need to adjust to the pace and way of learning.  I also need to overestimate the length of time I think a student will need to complete an assessment.  Timed tests are a way of life, and helping a student develop the skills to complete a timed test well is necessary.

So far so good.

Math Quiz that became a Test - Algebra 2

I just gave a 14 question quiz on graphing parabolas and factoring.  It was mostly multiple choice. 

How can I help these students to be able to attack "novel" math problems without saying "I don 't know how to do this?"

Things that caused student distress:

1. Quiz used fractional rather than whole number coefficients on quadratic equation
2. Quiz didn't have constant added to squared portion of quadratic equation - "What do I do when there isn't a plus one?"
3. "How do I find the middle number we used on the table of values?" aka how do I find the x value for the vertex
4. "What do I do with the x value I just found?" when the student needed to plug the value back into the original equation.
5. "How do I decide if the parabola opens up or down?"
6. "Do I change the sign or don't I?" when given a quadratic in vertex form, usually referring to changing sign of h, but not of the k value.
7. "Do I change the sign or don't I?" when given a quadratic in intercept form and they needed to find the x value of the vertex.
8. "What is a solution of the equation? How do I do that?" when given a quadratic equation that isn't solved for zero.
9. "Aren't both of these answers correct?" when looking at solutions of a quadratic equation that had two positive or two negative values; thinking that the multiplication of them would give positive so it wouldn't make a difference?
10. "How do you factor x^2+20x-96=0? There aren't any factors of -96 that add up to 20." when all that was written down was 2 and -48 for factors; needed to list more factors to find the correct ones.

I have had students check their homework with videos I have done outlining what to do to solve and why.  What ideas would be helpful to help them generalize what they know to a new, similar problem?

Epic Greeting from English Class to Mrs. Belyea

Hail Mrs. Belyea! Educator of many various levels of mathematics. I humbly come to thy class in my noble pursuit of the knowledge that lies in the textbook of pre-calculus that I would most undoubtedly fail to contemplate without thy instruction that thou providest me with. I have been brought here from my home in Climax, where much corn grows, and in the land of the country where many lakes gently lie out night under the stars in their uttermost beauty, to asketh for thy help in the problems of the assignment which though bestoweth upon me. I humbly request that thou grantest me thy divine wisdom in guidance in hopes that I may meet with success in the terrible trials I may face later in this life.

Interruptions of #flipclass videos

Well it is Sunday afternoon.  I spent the last 3 hours recording videos - well after many starts and stops - so today the background noises were the biggest things.  Neighbors are redoing their roof with a power nail gun to attach their shingles - brrrrr, brrrrr, brrrr, goes the nail gun.  Then the saw to cut boards to fix their soffits and fascia - grrrrr, grrrrr, grrrrr goes the saw.  Then since their house is only maybe 8 feet away from mine - the man who is directing all the fixing comes out and is giving loud directions to the men on the roof.  Yeah, don't need yelling in the background of my videos either.  Rerecord.

Then the smoke detector in my house started beeping with its low battery beep.  That one I just recorded right through.

One more section of Algebra 2 completed, even though there were disruptions and the internet upload speed of my computer seems compromised for some reason.  The uploading was so slow today.

Reflections on Wallwisher and google docs as online kwl

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/08/wallwisher-google-docs-as-online-kwl.htm has some great ideas for the first day of school activities using wallwisher

Reflections on Mrs. Kirch's new intro videos

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/08/3-new-intro-videos.html has Mrs. Kirch's beginning of the year videos to help students be successful in her class.  Great ideas for future reference.

Further Graduate Studies: Postsecondary Planning Specialist Certificate Program

Postsecondary Planning Specialist Certificate Program

I am interested in pursuing this advanced counseling certificate to help my students be better prepared for postsecondary educational options.

This is a similar page but with a link to someone to contact http://ep.emich.edu/programs/postsecondary.aspx

http://ep.emich.edu/uploadedFiles/Degrees_programs/Certificates_endorsements/Cert%20Planning%20Specialists.pdf





I need to call 734-487-3400 to talk to the admissions officer.

Reflections on Digital Storytelling Math? Yes Please!

http://mathcoachblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/digital-storytelling-in-math-yes-please/

This article references several great tools to help young people tell math stories.  I want to look into using these with my students.

Reflections on Social Media to Improve Classroom and School Communications

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2012/08/08/using-social-media-to-improve-classroom-and-school-communications/

Looks like a great presentation to help others learn how to use Social Media.

Reflections on Mrs. Kirch's "My favorite things from 6 months of blogging"

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-favorite-things-from-6-months-of.html?showComment=1344272587081#c5950789912975595282

I am trying to keep myself organized with labels for things I have read.  Here is a response that Mrs. Kirch made to a comment I left her about her reflections.

Reflections on "How to use Cell Phones as Learning Tools"

http://www.teachhub.com/how-use-cell-phones-learning-tools

I liked the idea of students working in groups to eliminate the need for all students to have a cell phone.  I want to try having students audio or video record an explanation to a problem.  I could have two students work together to do this and alternate who does the explaining or have both do part of the explanation, even though one student has the phone in hand.

Reflections on QR Codes Explained and Ideas for Classroom Use

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/04/qr-codes-explained-and-ideas-for.html

I like the idea of using QR codes now that I have started using my smart phone.  This is a good resource to use with individuals who aren't familiar with what a QR code is and how they could use it.

Connected Educator Month

http://www.stevehargadon.com/2012/07/connected-educator-month-week-ones.html

Ideas and activities for connected educator month.

State of Now live stream

http://edu2012.stateofnow.com/

#140edu

I have had lots of tweets, I will have to see if I can get them sorted on my blog.  Time to learn something new and make something useful for myself.

Reflections on Connectedness as a Standard

Quote from http://esheninger.blogspot.com/2012/08/connectedness-as-standard.html

"Your PLN will provide you with the seeds of change, but is up to you to plant, take care of, and cultivate them in order to witness their growth and development into transformative culture elements."

This makes me think of the key to spending time getting but then having the time making what I just received reality in my classroom.  Having a maker culture within the people that I work with is very important to me.  There are so many things to make - lessons, problem based learning activities, videos, multi-media, blogs, etc.

Reflections on the Collaborative Lecture Hybrid

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/08/the-collaborative-lecture-hybrid.html

Use media to help kids put information into their own words, not just copying what I think is necessary.

Fair Isn't Always Equal - Grading Practices

http://www.stenhouse.com/html/fiae-videos.htm

Great ideas about grading practices - needs to consider how I grade and what it means.

Annotated Bibliography Tool - Diigo

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/07/grading-made-easy-with-diigo-jing.html

I like the idea of the diigo bookmarlet that this teacher used to helps students create an annotated bibliography.

Reflections on 5 steps to building a social media presence from scratch

I really liked this article 5 steps to building social media presence from scratch

that said "Today’s teachers need to be able to support their students in knowing how to effectively connect, communicate, collaborate, cooperate, and create." This is such a true statement and one of my goals for this year.

Then the author said this as well "The resume is a 20th century relic. Sure, you can have that one dimensional representation of who you are, but what will set you apart from the rest is the online persona you actively create and the connections you make in your network." This I think is very important as I work with students to prepare for success in their life post high school. Who they are online is more important today than it ever was for students and teachers alike.

BYOT series

http://byotnetwork.com/2012/07/29/intro-to-the-first-week-of-byot/
http://byotnetwork.com/2012/07/30/day-1-of-byot/
http://byotnetwork.com/2012/07/31/day-2-of-byot-2/
http://byotnetwork.com/2012/08/01/day-3-of-byot/
http://byotnetwork.com/2012/08/02/day-4-of-byot/
http://byotnetwork.com/2012/08/03/day-5-of-byot/

Activities to get students and parents prepared

College Guidance Counseling Site

http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2012/07/qa-college-guidance-counseling-for-free/

I need to check out www.collegemapper.com and see if it is as useful as it is purported to be.

Web 2.0 Questions for a Technology Leader Reflection

http://blog.web20classroom.org/2012/07/five-questions-for-technology-leader.html

As I read this blog post, it made me think how the 5 questions he posited are really ones that any educator in the 21st century should be asking and finding the answers from with their administrator or technology leader at their school.  Excellent thoughts.

Handwrite search app for Google?

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/07/draw-on-your-phone-or-tablet-to-search.html

Well so far, I have tried to activate it on my Android phone, but I haven't been successful.  I will have to give it a try another day.

Web 2.0 Tools to use with Technology

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2012/07/10-byot-byod-back-to-school-basics.html

A great list of tools to do all the things that a student or teacher would want to do this school year.

Evernote - web clipper, "educational pinterest"?

http://askatechteacher.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/book-review-my-evernote/

I downloaded Evernote, but haven't figured it out yet.  Maybe I should by this book to get myself to use evernote.

Tutorial to Create an Instructional Classroom Website

http://www.myweb4ed.com/blog/myweb4ed-create-an-instructional-classroom-website/

For someone that needs help getting their blogs created, here is a resource to get started.

Reflecting on Favorite Things of Mrs. Kirch

After reading http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-favorite-things-from-6-months-of.html, I had the following response for Mrs. Kirch.

I like the idea of the task board.  What items do you put on that task board to help kids focus?

The "Ask 3, then me" concept is an excellent one. It leads toward developing independent learners.

I think this quote really gets to the crux of independent learning - value for learning something new and making it understandable to themselves.

• Our students these days need so much more than knowledge of the subject.  They have to be taught time management, goal-setting, strong work ethic, value in education, motivation, how to focus, how to ask questions and advocate for themselves...

I think I have talked about Google voice for completing some items. Having the option to do a WSQ via google form or google voice depending on the internet access at home would be great. I have a Google voice account where I was receiving text messages and voice messages of questions for the next day, and it worked out great last year.

Thanks for getting me thinking about the resources that may be available online for the Precalculus with Limits: A Graphing Approach.  I have the sixth edition and it looks like there are some great resources, including videos to go with it.

How to measure learning for a high school transcript?

http://www.competencyworks.org/2012/07/carnegie-unit-conundrum/

As the school guidance counselor, I have struggled with the idea of a Carnegie unit simply measuring time, not necessarily content learned. I think that standards based grading could help us move toward a system that rightfully gives credit for the content learned, rather than simply the seat time in a classroom

Personalized Learning Connections

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/07/72312-flipclass-chat-personalizing.html

Mrs. Kirch included my websites on her list of resources on this page. There are other teachers doing things similar to me.

Teaching Generatoin Text - research on texting in education

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-study-confirms-teaching-generation.html

Pillars of Flipped Classroom Expectations and first day videos

Just read Mrs. Kirch's post about her first day of school video. I liked the pillars of flipped classroom that she posted.

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/07/introducing-flipped-class-to-students.html

http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/2012/07/intro-to-flipclass-for-parents.html

Grade Contract for High School Courses

http://www.myweb4ed.com/blog/grade-contract-why-my-students-excelled-with-it/

I saw a post on twitter - https://twitter.com/MyWeb4Ed/status/228138213238272000 - about a grade contract for middle school math and and algebra. It got me thinking about developing communication with parents and students to get students to spend more time getting better grades and greater understanding. I am going to change it up to go with high school math classes.

Flipclass tips

Tip 5 - Ensure in-class time focuses on authentic hands-on learning experiences, PBL, labs, etc.

#flipclass @poweroficu takes time to get a new culture established where "EVERY STUDENT COMPLETES EVERY ASSIGNMENT" - Think standards tho!  from @drjolly

Written directions for Mr Schwen's CMS

Blog with the written directions on how to use Mr. Schwen's CMS in google forms.  Great tool!

Continuous Feedback Assessment Structure

Nat Banting at Musing Mathematically had a great blog where he talked about Continuous Feedback Assessment Structure and its use in Problem Based Learning.   That continuous feedback is what I want to make sure I implement in my classroom. Students need to know that they are going down the best path all along the journey to their final product in problem based learning. The binders Nat described with a calendar, rubric, daily log, and a group contract. He is also stepping back from technology because it was a distraction to him and his students last year (i.e. class wiki).

Tools for Flipclass

5 Tools for Flipclass

Video Creation Tools - need to experiment with some of them

Need to consider what my students will use for fall.  So far Blogger and Google Docs are the main ones I want to use.  Thinking about Google voice and how students will do phone casting and vodcasting of explanations of math problems.

Implementing Cell Phone Use in Your Classroom?

I posted this question on twitter tonight. It was actually based on what I was thinking about as I was driving home today.

What appropriate training, support and structure have you used to implement cell phone technology in your classroom? #flipclass #edchat

There was actually a great blog about this topic that I found while reading through my twitter feed.  Check out the

The 60-Second Guide To Texting In The Classroom

I think I will be using PollEverywhere and Celly in my classroom this fall to get students interacting in a way that I can keep for a longer term.

Then there was the Is the Cell Phone the New Pencil? which discusses some survey results that "participants valued texting".  That is something that I have seen more and more in both students and their parents.

On July 13, I found this blog from a #pblchat that I think it useful Teaching Students to Schedule Their Time. Given the high school students I work with, I think this teaching them to schedule their time will be an important first step to help them build autonomy in my classroom.  It suggests starting out with a more defined schedule but show them that as each day passes, I will give them more autonomy in choosing the order of their learning. Some of my students really struggle with the power of choice. I need to practice helping them make these choices so they do it well on their own.

On July 13, I found this book in the blog listed above that I think I will get.  Students Taking Charge: Inside the Learner Active, Technology Infused Classroom

Reflections on SimpleK12 Webinar: What's Required for a Flipped Classroom: An Admin Point of View

SimpleK12 Webinar: What's Required for a Flipped Classroom: An Admin Point of View

Presented by: Brian Bennett

Date: Thursday, July 12, 2012

Time: 11:00- 11:30 AM Eastern Time, USA

Join now: http://tinyurl.com/sk12live 

                    ****************Don't forget to tweet with the #sk12****************                       ==================================================================

NOTES FROM WEBINAR

Notes: Flipped Classroom for administrators

bit.ly/adminflip

http://vodcasting.ning.com/

  Flipped Learning: 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LGd88qrTAcharacteristics

  

Community and classroom learning is different in different locations/time of day

Student Centered

Personalized to students: connect with their future careers to current learning

Flexible/collaborative

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huNoGMsvv1ZTfXsDHDUM2VWt_7pfQnW2pTRr8DsU3zM/edit

PBL, Understanding By Design, Inquiry, blended learning, lecture all pulled together to use teh best for the students we have

http://pnaugle.blogspot.com/2011/10/we-hosted-blog-commenting-party.html

wordle from classroom concerns: students! Classroom and teacher

Supporting students is the goal of the classroom - not being a lazy teacher but finding ways to support students

Allow students to find what works for them, even if the initial video or tool the teacher shares doesn't make sense to teh student - be curator of content and creator of content

Flipped responsibility back to the student

Flipped learning does not require homework - give them tools in class and some do it outside of class

Do not dictate when and where they learn; not teacher driven homework

Flipped Learning Works at All levels: elementary middle upper - flipping gives control to students

Collaborative learning is King

Physical Space: Stop facing the front of the room with blue screens in front of everyone.

Show Admin how learning space fits learning needs of students

@bennettscience: 

Time spent in school should be spent meeting your students' needs, not defining learning for them

Where is the data? Greg Green, Clintondale High School - do I continue to support failure or do I do something different? Homework is to find out about the data at CHS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LGd88qrTA

Reba - Greg Green - Clintondale High Schoo - flipped High School - Great Videos

lhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LGd88qrTA

flipteaching.com: more data points by Ramsey -  - Click on "Resources" for all the data he has curated.

@plnaugle (Paula): I have created an Edmodo group called Flipped Class, The code to join is t728f5. There are 100 members there currently.

@plnaugle (Paula): You might also like to join the Flipped Class Ning http://vodcasting.ning.com/.

@plnaugle (Paula): I  will be hosting several parent tech nights to help them learn about the  tech I am using in my classroom. Last year I hosted a blog commenting  party to get the parents comfortable commenting on my students blogs. 

    This seems like a great idea.

    

   @plnaugle (Paula): Here is the flyer about our blog commenting party https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huNoGMsvv1ZTfXsDHDUM2VWt_7pfQnW2pTRr8DsU3zM/edit

   

   

    @plnaugle (Paula): Here is a post I wrote about our commenting party http://pnaugle.blogspot.com/2011/10/we-hosted-blog-commenting-party.html.

    

    Mary: Http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/18/my-view-flipped-classrooms-give-every-student-a-chance-to-succeed/

    

    How to present to teachers without feeling overwhelmed?

    

    flippedlearning.org

    http://flippedlearning.org/ - this works, just typed into browser

        

    flippedclass.org

    

    flippedpd.org  - Kristin Daniels - @kadaniels is the person to contact for flipped pd

    

    How to scale it to large groups without being overwhelmed?

    

    @plnaugle (Paula): Check out this Twitter stream #flipclass https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23flipclass

    

    @cgramatges (Charlie)

    

    @carlasinpirati - Carla Belyea - Math teacher

    

    @bennettscience - Brian Bennett
You can see a snippit of my class philosophy here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E61YKwA6B28&feature=g-user-u

Plan for the rest of the summer to Prepare for 2012-2013

I was reading through Crystal Kirch's Flipping with Kirch blog about her plan for the rest of her summer.  It got me thinking about setting a prioritized list for the rest of my summer.  My first day of teaching students will be August 20. This week is week 7 of my summer vacation. Goes by so fast. I have fewer students but more distinct classes to think about.

Plan
1. Precalculus syllabus (10 students)
2. Algebra 2 syllabus (12 students)
3. Geometry syllabus (10 Students)
4. Algebra 1 syllabus (6 students)
5. Assessments/Assignments for these classes
6. First week of school plan for teaching procedures
7. See if ASSISTments will work for me (I had started looking at it late May)
8. Standards based grading

Reflection on "A Six-Point Checklist for Education Innovators"

I was reading http://www.edutopia.org/blog/checklist-for-education-innovators-suzie-boss and thinking how the six points she lists match up with my actions and thoughts.

First, "Am I action oriented?". Yes, when I want to learn something new, I create a plan to make it happen and then follow through with that plan. Some examples are ACT data, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, and common core assessments - all three of these areas were professional development that I attended last year and that informed my actions and changes to my classroom last year and in the year to come.

Second, "Do I know how to network?" I am not exactly sure what got be first involved with the Flipped Classroom NING, but it definitely got me more involved with networking with like minded educators that are increasing their Personal Learning Network to include other passionate, innovative educators. Now I am using Twitter more to actually "converse" with others who are doing the things I am or want to do. It is great to connect and communicate through networking. I have always enjoyed sharing what I know and gleaning from those around me.

Third, "Am I willing to take risks?" Yes, I have been challenging policies that limit my students abilities to use personal electronic devices to extend their education. I read about new things and then I pilot them in my classes and I use what works to make the new things work for me and my students.

Fourth, "Can I look ahead?" Yes, I think I am able to look at something new and see where it may lead my students and me to be better learners.  I look at the idea of a paperless society by using google docs - now I am probably a year or two behind on adoption of google docs, but now that I am using it, I can definitely see new and interesting ways to implement it.

Fifth, "Can I overcome obstacles?" I think I have done that again and again.  It is the theory I had from college when people looked at my studying of chemistry and math and said "Oh you must be so smart."  My response, "No, probably not, but I am willing to bang my head against the wall a little while longer to figure something out."  I persevered until the obstacle was overcome through reaching out to others if I needed help or just figuring it out myself.

Sixth, "Do I help good ideas grow?" Yes, I think I am an early adopter and I share with others where I can collaborate and feed off of the work that we are all doing to use the good ideas we have. I think blogging and video casting are ways that I can help others get into what I am thinking and doing so good ideas can grow.

I like to innovate in my classroom.  Now to collaborate and share this innovation with others.

Digital Bloom's Taxonomy

I saw this great graphic about a digital bloom's taxonomy that I wish lead back to the original source.  This secondary source actually cites the original source so I am going to link to it so I can consider other ways to use web 2.0 tools to help me build my tool box for this fall. I think these tools can help my students TWIRLS each day.

Rubric Creation Software for Free

This morning I was reading an article about assessment in the flipped classroom.  This article referenced QuizStar which is a free tool for creating quizzes. At the bottom of the page, there were a list of other free tools for educators. The one that caught my attention was RubiStar which is another free tool to educators to create quality rubrics. I know that using rubrics with more problem based learning is the direction want to go this year and I am excited about this new tool to help make that happen.

TWIRLS for student class expectations

1. Think - you will do most of the thinking. As your teacher, I will ask you questions, respond to your questions with follow-up questions, and challenge your depth of knowledge with higher-order questions.
2. Write - you will complete and return written work on time. You will have a Watch, Summarize, and Question assignment almost every day. You will keep notes in your composition notebook with date and time of new learning to log your learning process and to complete an online WSQ assignment.
3. Interact - you must be on time for class and attempt all work. You will not be thinking alone, speaking alone, nor aimlessly listening. You will think, speak, and listen with a purpose of interacting with your peers and teacher during class.
4. Read - you will need to read your WSQ and your classmates WSQs nightly. Also there will be reading assignments from books, magazines, journals, and websites to further enhance your mathematical understanding.
5. Listen - you will listen to yourself and others through audio and video recordings and face to face interactions.
6. Speak - you will practice speaking math daily because as your teacher I am interested in hearing you use correct terminology and vocabulary to communicate mathematical information with others.

Digging Deeper in Understanding

So I have begun working on my pre-calculus lesson plans for 2012-2013.  On Flipping with Mrs. Kirch, she talked about TWIRLS - thinking, writing, interacting, reading, listening, and speaking which she got from SIOP training.  I have never heard of SIOP but it stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol found at http://www.siopinstitute.net/index.html

Could be an interesting professional development institute to attend although most of my students are not English Language learners but focused instruction on TWIRLS make so much sense for classroom expectations.