a plan is hatched!

I had the pleasure of carpooling with the one and only Stacey Schuh yesterday for a training in Clare. For those who don't know her, she is an Instructional Technology Consultant at the Jackson ISD.  She and I were talking about the disconnect that sometimes exists between consultants and teachers because of the difference between the ideal world of educational technology and life in the trenches with 34 freshmen in an algebra class (or really any other class).

So, in an effort to merge those two worlds, Stacey and I are going to pilot a co-written blog that will be shared via Twitter.  Stacey is going to first write a blog that explains an ideal version of technology in the classroom.  This might involve one specific tool or app or multiple apps.  The emphasis will not be on the tool itself, but how this technology will improve student-centered learning in a 1:1 environment.

I then, will implement this technology into one of my courses.  Right now I serve as the math coach, where I pull struggling students out of their math classes.  I also teach a Pre-AP class for freshmen and AP government.  After I have implemented the lesson, I will add to the blog how it went with my students and hopefully a summary of what the students thought about this particular lesson.

Finally, both of us will give it a thumbs up or thumbs down.  This way, we can create a repository of lessons that are instructional-tech and teacher approved!

If anyone wants to join in, let us know!

Something kinda cool happened yesterday

Yesterday was the first day back from break.  You know that type of day...everyone is still on break schedule and anything that was taught before break might as well have been taught last year.  In my current position, I pull struggling students out of their math classes to work with them in smaller groups on the same content.  Yesterday, we started our study of quadratics.  Our classes are pretty traditional in terms of flipping.  Kids watch videos at night and then come in and do problem sets during the day, though many of my students often watch the videos in class. 

Since the students were not assigned a video over break, I decided to introduce quadratics in a different way.  The Common Core is big on the idea of comparing and contrasting different function families.  So, we reviewed linear and exponential growth/decay functions.  Then, I put y=x^2 on the board and asked them to graph it on their graphing calculators (we use the desmos app).  Then I put y=5x^2 and asked them to graph that simultaneously.   Then, something a little crazy happened.  My students (even my first block sleepies!) were super curious.  "What if it was 100x^2?"  "What if it was -5x^2?"  And one of my favorites, "what if it was y=x^3?"  I allowed them to play for a while and within minutes, students were sharing patterns they had discovered.  "So, if it is an even exponent, it looks like a U or upside down U."  "If it is odd, it is kinda like an S."

This led into an interesting conversation about how quadratics are different than linear functions and even how solving them is different. 

Many people think the idea of the Common Core or even problem/project based learning has to be complicated and time-consuming for the teacher.  However, my experiences yesterday show just to the contrary.  Sometimes if you just start students down a path of exploration, they will take off and discover thing that are well beyond Algebra 1 material!  I had never seen this group of students so engaged and excited about math before.  I hope to continue this momentum through our next 9 weeks of quadratics study!

It's about the Journey...

It's been about two years since I started with the flipped classroom and the more I pull my hair out because it is not perfect yet, the more I realize it has been about the journey. 

• A from Sage on the Stage to facilitator of knowledge
•  A journey from learning from only those within my department to learning from people all across the world at any hour on any topic (Thanks Twitter!)
• A journey that includes weekly conversations with educational professionals across the world simply trying to improve student learning (looking at you #flipclass #miched)
• A journey from "sit and get" PD to an edcamp style PD of "choose your own learning adventure"
• A journey from thinking my videos would be the most important part of my Flipped Classroom, to realizing it's all about the relationships and student centered learning.
• A journey to realize it is ok for me as the teacher to say "I don't know, let's learn together."
• A journey to being really sad at the end of an AP government course because I feel like I am losing my "team of learners."
• A journey of being ok with failure from myself, my students, and our administration because failure is not an end, but a means to improvement.

Education is not a profession to get into if you must be perfect.  I always assumed that if I worked as hard as possible, I could achieve that perfection, when really, it's about the journey.