Strips of paper entertained and educated my students for 50 minutes

I have to admit that I pride myself on being a technologically advanced teacher.  I try to incorporate technology into just about everything that I do.  The AP Government test is essentially a vocabulary test, so I have students create quizlet sets, we look at online current events to find vocabulary words, but I still find that students struggle with vocabulary comprehension.  I thought for a long time about how we could use our 1:1 Ipad technology to help with this comprehension, but couldn't come up with anything great.  So, I went old school!

I typed out a list of all of the important vocabulary words we have covered to date, cut them into strips and put them into envelopes for each table group.  Then, we played several games with these vocabulary words. My room was more alive and energetic than ever before.  Students were telling me this was one of the best activities we had done in class and it literally involved no technology at all!  Here are a few of the games variations that I used, feel free to add more!

1. One students from the group tries to describe the word and the others try to guess.  Groups compete to see how many words they can get through.
2. Two students have to describe the word to the others in their group but each student can only say one word at a time.
3. Students have to draw a  visual representation of the word for others to guess
4. students have to act out the representation of the word for others (this was not super successful, but it was fun!)

Evolution of the Flipped Class in Algebra 1 and 2

Yesterday, I read Crystal Kirch's blog post about her evolution of flipped class in Algebra 1 and found that though her and I are on opposite sides of the country, our flipped Algebra classes have seemed to evolve in a similar fashion!  She and I are both regulars on the "#flipclass chat on Monday nights and this sharing of ideas obviously is leading great results, showing that we are truly #bettertogether!

In Charlotte, our evolution started with our Advanced Algebra 2A and 2B teacher.  He knew that much of the first part of Adv Algebra 2A was a review of Algebra 1, so he decided to allow the kids a couple of days to do the chapter review, watch videos and prepare for a "pre-test."  After the standards based pre-test, the students go back through any lessons that they did poorly on.  They are required to watch the videos, do the book work, and ask for help when needed to prepare for the re-take.  As an unintended consequence of this new system, the students worked quickly through the chapters in the first term and he has a good 1-2 weeks for test prep, remediation, or extension activities.

I co-teach an Algebra 1 class and we had flipped the class for the first term, however, we noticed that students were simply not watching the videos at night.  This, of course, broke down the lesson plans for class that day.  We decided to mimic what the Advanced Algebra 2A and 2B teacher did starting in the second term and the results have been great so far.  I will admit though, that having 2 teachers has been extremely helpful in reaching every kid every day! 

We are just about half way through the 2nd term and we have 10 A's, 11 B's, 3 C's, 4 D's, and NO E's (insert happy dance!).  Halfway through the first term we had 10 A's, 6 B's, 1 C, 5 D's, and 2 E's.

I plan to give a student survey today to give student perceptions on this new way of learning, but what I am seeing as a teacher is that students are motivated to do well on the pre-test to be done with some standards.  After the pre-test, they know exactly where they stand and what they need to do to improve.  They also know what the re-take test is going to look like (just like the original test with different numbers).  They know that they don't have to watch specific videos at night if they are busy, but if they choose not to do work at home, they have to work efficiently in class to make up that time. 

Of the students I pull out to work with, two are juniors who have not yet passed algebra 1 and are quite credit deficient.  One of these students received a D the first term, after having to do some credit recovery into the second term.  He is now at a B!  The other had already passed the first term, but is now in the second term because he has failed it several times and is at an A- and well ahead of the class.

Explore-flip-apply in AP gov

Evolution of the Flipped Class

At the 2013 National Flipped Class conference, Jon Bergman and Aaron Sams hammered the idea that there is no such thing as "THE" flipped class.  You cannot simply follow a template because every class is different.  Last year, I followed a pretty traditional flipped class model.  The kids watched videos at home and then came into class ready to complete activities and take part in discussions.  It was quite successful and my AP scores showed that!

However, I still struggled with getting the students to watch the videos each night.  So, I learned about a different type of Flipped Class this year called Explore-Flip-Apply and am giving it a try this year.  Here is a glimpse into what the first week of school looked like in my classroom.  Will it evolve throughout the year?  Of course!!

Day 1: Students watched a video syllabus created on Camtasia and practiced taking notes to this syllabus.  We talked about coming up with questions about the video each night as well.  Then, students were given several resources showing the probable future of social security.  Here is the link to my google powerpoint that shows what resources I gave to students.   Without any direct instruction, students were asked to determine what they could do to affect the future of this program or what the government could/should do about this problem.  After I presented the problem, I walked around to listen to some of the converstions.  It was quite amazing.  Students were talking about the income tax, about Congress vs the President, and many other ideas (some being quite humorous).  

At the end of the block, I informed them that the video for that night would include information that would help them understand how people and linkage institutions affect the policy agenda and what the government actually could do about it. The next day in class, we looked at this problem again, but with all of the information from the video and reading.  Students discussed the role of each branch in solving this problem as well as what linkage institutions were for and against social security. 

Video Syllabus

A New Syllabus!

I recently received a license for Camtasia and wanted to try it out.  So, what I decided to do is to create a video syllabus for my students and parents so that I don't have to bore the students on day 1.  Most of my videos from last year were made on Showme, so I was excited to try out Camtasia.  Here's the link if you want to check it out!

Here are a few items/tips on using Camtasia that I picked up while making my first video!

• Create a powerpoint first (or use an old one!)
• Think about what you want to say on each slide
• If you mess up, just pause, say "take two" and continue on.  This will make it much easier to edit out the mistakes once you are done recording.
• Use features like the zoom and call out features within Camtasia
• Use Twitter!  The first video that I made cut off the top of my head, so I tweeted @camtasia to get help and within 5 minutes I had a fix!  I also asked my PLN to help with what I should focus on in class.  Within 10 minutes I had several response!

My plan is to mail this video out to parents BEFORE the school year starts.  Then, I will show it to students on Day 1 and use it to model how I want them to watch the rest of my content videos.  It is only 10 minutes, so I have the rest of the block to engage students in better Day 1 activities such as a Problem Based Activity on Solving Social Security.

I plan to compile some data on the future of social security and ask students to determine how they could convince the government to make a change and then how the government would actually go about changing this policy.  This will introduce them to the idea of collaboration our classroom as well as the fact that many of the issues we will tackle will NOT have answers!  Plus, it leads into the first video on the public policy making system!

FlipCon13

FlipCon13

#itwasamazing

Through a grant of money from Michigan Virtual High School, I was able to attend the National Flipped Class Conference in Stillwater, Minnesota.  In a word, it was invigorating!

Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams (the fathers of the flipped class) started off the conference  by explaining the evolution of their idea of the flipped class.  It was exciting to see that my evolution throughout the year, matched much of how they evolved throughout the years.  It was clear that they are still evolving and wanted us to help lead that evolution.  They laid out the four pillars of the flipped class, which I think should be repeated for those new to flipping or want to try!

• Flexible Environment: homework is the lower level of Bloom's, in-class work focuses on analyzing, evaluating, etc.
• Learning Culture:Transfer ownership to kids.
• Intentional Content: How can kids interact with you on the  video?
• Professional Educator: find a collaborator!

After the keynote, I attended breakout sessions. I could go into detail about what I learned, but then this could turn into a book!  What I liked the most was how collaborative most sessions were.  It was not a simple sit and listen.  The presenters not only encouraged questions, but asked participants to share what worked or did not work.  I felt as though I was in a community of learners.  There was no person or group that felt that they were the only ones with the knowledge of a perfect flipped class.  You know why?  There is not such thing as a perfect flipped class!!!!!  The flipped class has always been a grassroots movement and seems to be continuing that way!

I picked up many resources, but more importantly, many co-flippers!  I met 5-6 other AP government teachers from across the country who want to collaborate next year!

We were shown this video on how to start a movement.  
I felt like the "lone nut" in this video at the start of last school year, but I thank Becky Carter, Betsy Foster, Teresa Johnson, Kristy Acker, Todd Kleinow, Ryan Sisco, and Tina Vansyckle for being my first followers! 

Here are a few of the resources I plan to use in my classroom this year

• TedEd videos
• Flubaroo to assess within google forms
• Cycles of learning (Explore-Flip-Apply). A new perspective on flipping!
• The Flipped Learning Journal (my goal is to write an article for this!)
• Camtasia (all participants received a free license to this!)

Stillwater is really pretty!  It is right on the St. Croix river and right across the river  from Wisconsin!


 

20% time in the classroom

20% Time: You are a genius, the world expects your contributions!

I am considered by many to be a little bit of a control freak (or a lot of bit of a control freak).  This year, the flipped classroom was my first step away from that "control-freakness."  Though the AP scores have not been released yet to show data on how much the flipped class improved instruction in my classroom, I know for a fact students were taking more control of their own learning.  After the AP test, there are about 4 weeks of school left without much content to cover.  I took a large step outside of my "control" comfort zone and implemented a 20% project or Blank White Sheet project with my kids.

If you have not heard of 20% projects, you are in for a treat!  In 20% classrooms, students are given about 20% of the time to work on anything they want.  This could be one day a week or a block of time every other day or a chunk of time at the end of the year. Students are given time to brainstorm something they want to know more about or something they want to do better.  Depending on the level of students you are working with, you might need to give more or less guidance.  

I started my 20% unit by sharing the rationale behind Google's 20% time.  Google gives their employees 20% of the time to work on any projects they want.  Gmail was actually a 20% brainchild! I asked them to consider something they thought could be made better or simply something they wanted to learn more about.  We brainstormed in small groups and shared out, which led to many a-ha's.

As the instructor, my job was simply to provide resources for students as they decided on what their project would be.  I also spent time helping students brainstorm what they wanted to do and pushing them beyond simple projects that they could do without much effort or risk.  I emphasized that it was ok to FAIL!

Here are a few case studies of what my students decided to do

• Build an app that would help with our freshmen mentoring program.
• Create a blog showing how to make healthy cookies.  Her first batch was a flop, but we shared this with the class as a learning experience for the next batch.
• learning Welsh
• Preparation for the ACT
• Blog of poetry

Want more resources?  Joy Kirr (who I follow on Twitter @Joykirr) collects 20% resources and posts them to this live binder site.

EdcampCHS

Today was our first day back from spring break and we were right in the middle of a unit.  I knew we needed to review, but knew the kids would be a little tired and groggy and I would need to get them up and moving.  I have read about and have been to several Edcamps for professional development and saw a couple of teachers on Twitter that were using them in their classrooms.   If you have not heard of an Edcamp, it is a conference where there is no schedule until the day of the Conference.  Teachers sign up for what they want to talk about that day and then spend time collaborating with other instructors about those topics.  I decided to do this as a review for my AP Gov kids and was really suprised at how well it went.

Summary of the Class: I created "session" titles that encompassed each standard of the unit we had covered so far including one session for review of the entire course.  Students were given handouts that listed each session, which table it was at, and a list of questions that ranged from "basic" (vocabulary, list, identify, etc) to those that were critical questions requiring more thought and discussion.  Students were allowed to go to whichever table they wanted, for as long as they wanted, but I set the timer at 10 minute increments.   I also set up a todaysmeet.com (Note: I have recently started using Go SoapBox, which I like even more) group where students could share what they were learning in their groups.  The feed from this group was projected up to the front board.

Before I started the students on this adventure, I had posted the packet on edmodo with a short teaser of what was to come.  Kids knew they needed to come to class ready to share.  I also gave them a few guidelines for their time in the groups.  I also explained that they could use notes, ipads, brains, textbooks and that there should not be one person dominating the group conversation.  At the end of the class, we held a "smackdown" where students quickly shared important things they learned (which is now posted on edmodo.

*Note: This year, I grew braver and actually allowed the students to develop topics they wanted to talk about.  I think it actually went better because they felt like they could control exactly what they wanted to discuss!  I drew a grid on the board and gave each group post-its to put up on the board for sessions they wanted to facilitate.

Pro's: All kids were participating.  Some were more focused on contributing by posting to todaysmeet, others vocally.  Kids had notes out and were very focused on the questions at hand.  I heard great conversations about topics like the president versus congress and war powers.  THe time went fast and most groups didn't really notice if I was "hovering" around their groups.  We had a great smackdown at the end with some really key take-aways.  

Con's: The today's meet was pretty superficial and more about recruting other kids to their groups rather than actual important pieces of information.  I need to model this better by showing tweets from actual edcamps.  We needed more than 10 minutes per session . I heard some kids say they really wanted to get to every session.  Some kids still looked to me if they couldn't get something right away rather than going to other students or their notes.  

Would I do it again??? YES YES AND YES!!!!!