Tag: reform

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Progressive Learning Approaches in LEGO Terms

My 4 year old and I eagerly opened a crisp new box of LEGO Disney Princess Rapunzel’s Creativity Tower.  As we began, I ran into a series of unexpected choices.

  • Rapunzel TowerShould we use the instruction manual?
  • How important was the picture on the box to my daughter?
  • Should I dump all the bags of materials out at the same time and let her fish them out, or should we go bag by bag?
  • Should I have her go step by step, or should I have her decide whether she wanted to go in order?
  • The box says “Ages 6-12.”  How much stock should I take in that?
  • How much should I intervene in general when she gets frustrated with pushing difficult pieces together, or pulling things apart?

Honestly, it wasn’t long before I started drawing mental parallels to various modern approaches to learning.  Many questions remain unanswered–on both Rapunzel’s LEGO tower, and the varied viewpoints on 21st century learning–but I found that as I organized the latter in LEGO terms, I can begin to better sort out the bottom-line question:

How do you want to build with your students?

Components:

  • Instruction Manuals (curricula)
  • The picture on the box (final outcome(s))
  • Legos (school materials)
  • Construction process (scope and sequence)
  • Age Recommendations (how age is organized)

Traditional Schooling:

  • Instruction Manuals: Teachers of each age group possess the instruction manuals, which are handed down from a variety of organizations.  The sequence of all the steps is usually executed without deviation.
  • The picture on the box: Students who have learned the instruction manual, at least in multiple choice format.
  • The LEGO materials: Teachers regulate when, where, how, and why all materials are used.
  • Construction process: Depending on the step the collective class is on, the teacher photocopies a page from the instruction manual for each student to work on.  They do this for a variety of boxes (subjects) throughout the day, but each box is done during separate times of the day.
  • Age Recommendations: Generally, very strict adherence to age is practiced.

Problem/Project Based Learning:

  • Instruction Manuals: Teachers design projects or questions with specific learning goals in mind, based on the mandated curricula.
  • The picture on the box: Students who can monitor their time and are intrinsically motivated to pursue new ideas.
  • The LEGO materials: Teachers try to provide students with the materials they need to build their learning.  This can be inhibited by limited school budgets.
  • Construction process: Students may spend a day or weeks in investigation.  They typically work in groups with the teacher as the tutor or “guide on the side.”
  • Age Recommendations: Can be applied in any environment, but often done in high school classes.
16483813778_c226204503_o
Bill Ferriter

Flipped Learning:

  • Instruction Manuals: Generally same as in the traditional classroom.
  • The picture on the box: Students who come to class ready for lively discussion, experimentation, and investigation based on the instructional input already received at home for homework.
  • The LEGO materials: Videos–either made by teachers themselves, or found on websites like Khan Academy or LearnZillion–that are assigned as homework.
  • Construction process: Teachers seek to take better advantage of classroom time by removing all lectures to homework via videos.
  • Age Recommendations: Often done in high school settings, but in-class flips are known in elementary classrooms as well.

Sugata Mitra’s SOLE’s, or self-organized learning environment:

  • Instruction Manuals: Mitra has created a SOLE toolkit for educators and parents alike.  This explains how to set up a SOLE, lists examples of “Big questions” the teacher might ask students to research, and cites troubleshooting challenges.  The teacher presents the questions.
  • The picture on the box: Students who can unlock inborn curiosity with collaborative research time–able to find answers to questions without adult instructional input.
  • The LEGO materials: 1 computer per 4 children, paper and pens, and maybe a nametag for the peer helper student.
  • Construction process: The teacher poses a question and then students investigate it in groups of 4.  They can change groups, get ideas from other groups, and move around.  A peer helper manages behavior.
  • Age Recommendations: Ages 8-12 is the current framework for the SOLE toolkit.

Montessori

  • Valilouve
    Valilouve

    Instruction Manuals: Known as “Whole Child Education” in which priority is placed on exploring all learning styles.

  • The picture on the box: Students who have developed values of creativity, self-control, problem solving, social skills, and physical coordination.
  • The LEGO materials: Teachers are trained to carefully set up learning environments that involve work centers by subject.  High priority is placed on aesthetic and order.
  • Construction process: Students are given large blocks of uninterrupted time to experiment with the materials.  Much of the time is self-directed by individual students, although they are also encouraged at times to work in groups.
  • Age Recommendations: Blended ages of young children, often in age groups of 2-3, 3-6, and 6-9.

Sudbury Schooling

  • Instruction Manuals: Teachers are familiar with manuals, but share only when called upon by students.
  • The picture on the box: None–It’s probably been incinerated.
  • The LEGO materials: Available as students and staff vote on school funding according to values on democracy.
  • Construction process: Entirely student-directed at all times.  Visitors often notice the prevalence of play throughout the school.
  • Age Recommendations: None.  14 year olds and 4 year olds may choose to engage in the same activities.

Unschooling

  • Instruction Manuals: None, except those pursued by the learner.
  • The picture on the box: Hopefully, learners who can trust themselves and identify their personal needs to live happy lives.  This is not forced however–if a learner shows no interest in this picture, it will not be forced upon him or her.
  • The LEGO materials: Chosen by each individual learner.
  • Construction process: Students learn at home on his or her own terms.  Parents offer support and encouragement, but do not force any learning on the child.
  • Age Recommendations: None.

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Gender & Education: 4 Crucial Points for Change

“Awareness is the greatest agent for change” (Eckhart Tolle).  That’s why we’re contributing to the dialogue on gender differences in education.

#1: Challenges exist for both genders

Author and literacy advocate Pam Allyn has written several powerful articles that rally the public to recognize educational barriers to girls’ education across the globe, such as this one here, here, here, and here.  She urges us to take action on terribly serious realities, including the fact that two-thirds of those who are illiterate are female.  She has established “LitWorld’s girls’ LitClubs that meet around the world, sometimes in secret, to read together and write together” (“For These are All our Girls”). With all this action on behalf of girls, one might expect that Pam’s work is limited to that sex.  But it’s not.

She has also written Best Books for Boys, in which she highlights several obstacles to boys’ reading, including the following: “the testing mania and the idea in our culture that learning is symbolized by children sitting quietly in their seats has been, in some cases, defeating for active boys” (p. 21). She regularly writes articles about all children, and the stories they have to share (such as this one, or this one).  She even founded the Books for Boys literacy program.

There’s an important pattern here: one of recognition and action for all children.  Those of us involved in children’s education must be willing to acknowledge that academic barriers exist for boys and girls alike.

#2: The challenges for each gender are different

Evidence of the unique educational challenges for both genders is mounting.  We list a few points below.

GIRLS:
  • Girls often receive cultural messages that undermine their self-images as learners, explorers, and thinkers. A recent commercial by Verizon illustrates this:

  • In the developing world in particular, girls are also faced with lower rates of enrollment due to a variety of cultural reasons.  GirlEffect.org released a powerful video highlighting that cycle:

BOYS
  • Boys often receive cultural messages in the classroom that passions and dispositions common to their gender do not belong. A recent video by Prager University summarizes the way this impacts boys’ education:

  • The rates for post-secondary degrees are consistently lower for males than females.  Some of these numbers are shown in the infographic by National Student Clearinghouse below:
National Student ClearingHouse
National Student ClearingHouse

#3:  76% of teachers are female (source)–and that really matters!

Author Leonard Sax extensively researches gender differences, and has cited several ways female teachers might pay closer attention to the differing needs of their male students.  One such difference lies in what’s more visually appealing to females than males.  Says Sax:

“…boys are more likely to draw a scene of action, such as a monster attacking an alien; girls are more likely to draw people, pets, flowers, or trees, with lots of colors. The people in the girls’ pictures usually have faces, eyes, hair, and clothes; the people in the boys’ pictures (if there are any people) often are lacking hair, clothes, often the boys draw mere stick figures in one color. How come? The usual answer “Because that’s what we teach them to do” is unpersuasive, as I explain in Why Gender Matters. On the contrary, many of these boys insist on drawing these pictures not because teachers tell them to draw such pictures, but in spite of the teacher’s repeated pleas, “Why do you have to draw such violent pictures? Why can’t you draw something nice – like what Emily drew?” (source)

Another difference he discusses is hearing, even citing it as a possible contributing factor for the more frequent ADHD diagnoses for boys over girls.  “…the average boy may need the teacher to speak more loudly–roughly 6 to 8 decibels more loudly–if the average boy is to hear the teacher as well as the average girl hears” (source).  Teachers need to be aware of such differences to ensure they do not unintentionally favor their female students.

(For more on the ratio of male teachers to female teachers, check out our post, “Elementary teachers less than 25% male in US”).

Awareness Point #4:  Comparing which gender struggles more is unproductive to progress

As author William S. Wilson wrote:

“Comparisons deplete the actuality of the things compared.” (from “Conveyance: The Story I would Not Want Bill Wilson To Read”)

Articles like Bryce Covert’s “Enough Mansplaining the ‘Boy Crisis’ — Sexism Still Holds Back Women at Work,” offer criticism when concerns are raised for one gender, because they feel the other gender is more victimized.  However, such comparisons undercut our collective efforts for children; we need “all hands on deck” in order to address the educational struggles facing all our youth.  With objectivity and compassion, let us endeavor to understand and improve the state of education for children everywhere.

Featured Image Credit: 

UNICEF Ethiopia

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Closing the Edtech Teacher Gap

The dialogue on “digital divides” is extensive with regards to student learning and accessibility.  But what about digital divides for learning and accessibility among teachers?

No Teacher Left Behind?

When I graduated from college in 2009, I had never heard of concepts like PLN’s, teachers using Twitter professionally, or encouraging elementary students to create digital portfolios with blogs.  When I began teaching at a fairly new school filled with other recently graduated teachers, our video projectors were as high-tech as it got–though most classrooms still had overhead projectors, too.  And when I finally began to explore 21st century educational technology years later (social media in particular), I discovered a rather counterintuitive pattern: despite being raised with the internet, younger teachers as a whole are not the fluent edtech masters one might expect.

Putting the Pieces Together

The more I started to catch up on edtech, the more aware I became of this pattern.  For example, as the Flipped Learning Network has gathered statistics on flipped classrooms, it has shared findings using various Infographics.  The one below states that 85% of teachers flipping their classrooms have at least 7 years of experience; another shows that for 46% of teachers polled, that number jumps up to 16 years!

Source: Flipped Learning Network, retrieved from Edudemic
Source: Flipped Learning Network, retrieved from Edudemic

Additionally, a 2012 report released by the National Association of State Boards of Education points out:

“…the majority of Gen Y teachers grew up using the Internet and technology.  Given this simple fact, it would seem to be only a matter of time before a cohort of tech-savvy, actively tweeting, social media-integrating teachers take over our schools.  The reality, however, is more complicated…being born at this time did not necessarily mean being born into a world of social media…nor did it necessarily mean being educated in a technology-rich learning environment.”

With regards to teacher education, it further states:

“Surprisingly, given that the vast majority of those entering the profession are digital natives, new teachers are no more likely to integrate technology into their practice than their veteran peers.  The research indicates that it is not a lack of access, but primarily lack of knowledge and practice integrating the technology into their instructional pedagogy.”

To an extent, the shortcomings of collegiate teacher prep makes sense.  As a recent Huffington Post article points out, college in 2005 was dramatically different from today (ie, neither MacBook Pros nor Twitter existed yet, and Facebook was still limited to college freshmen).  Even the professors were unfamiliar with rapidly evolving educational technology tools and practices.

Meanwhile, teachers whose careers were already established when such tools debuted became the prime candidates for becoming the digital literates in the field.  Thus, I would contend that older teachers are even more likely than younger ones to integrate technology in their teaching practices and professional development.

Closing the Gap

So how do we close the gap of teachers who do and don’t effectively integrate technology?  The above-mentioned NASBE report cites policy and institution-based solutions such as improving technology instruction at the university level, as well as implementing quality, ongoing professional development and peer mentoring.  While these are sure to help address the issue, we suggest it can also be remedied when teachers take individual action.  With the wealth of free professional development available online (ie, communities of teachers on Twitter that share, discuss, and support), teachers can be quickly brought up to speed on the latest ideas.  Our post on ways to become a 21st century teacher has specific ideas for such action.  Let us endeavor to close any digital divide that arises to strengthen our global community of teachers and learners!

Featured Image Credit:

Earnest C.

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5 Teacher Resources for 21st Century Learning

Whether you’re implementing a BYOD classroom, teaching students to develop PLN’s, or planning a Twitter debate in your class, these 5 tools may help you with some unexpected logistics.

The Importance of Keeping Up

Anyone involved with teaching today is familiar the swift and exponential nature of changes in 21st century education.  This is true to the extent that even if you graduated with your teaching degree within the past few years, your pedagogical training probably did not leave you fully prepared.  We hope that the following 5 resources will be valuable to you as you adapt to modern learning strategies.

#1: Citing Social Media
via TeachBytes
via TeachBytes

We recently published a post designed as a student guide to social media citation.  However, this may prove helpful for you, too, as you guide your students not only toward broader digital literacy, but toward continuing the responsibility of adequately giving credit.

#2: Google Drive Hacks

If you are not already using Google Drive in your classroom, add it to your must-try-asap list!  From elementary school on up, it enables effective digital collaboration.  As an added bonus, it cuts down messy stacks of papers!  Below, we’ve listed a few of our favorite time and sanity-saving tips to maximize your Google Drive usage in the classroom:

  • Teach students to use the “Comments” tool for peer editing and revising.  That way, students can have actual conversations about the feedback they give one another without actually altering others’ work!
  • Self-grading function: If you are currently using or are interested in using Google Forms to quiz students (for free!), make sure you look up how to make it self-grading!  (Check out one tutorial here!)
  • Revision history: Make sure that both you and your students are familiar with this tool in the “File” menu just in case one student accidentally alters or deletes another’s work.
  • Take Advantage of its share-ability: Long-gone are the days of needing to upload each student’s PowerPoint to a flash drive (see our article on Powerpoint alternatives), or even asking them to individually email you their digital project.  Instead, have students create all projects that are compatible with Google Drive in one class Google account that you can easily access and manage.
  • Use Google Spreadsheets for a multi-purpose class roster: Keeping track of missing permission slips, student project groups, or anecdotal notes is a cinch with Google Spreadsheets.  Google Drive’s app makes this especially appealing as you can whip out your phone or tablet to view your notes as you walk through the class!
#3: Digital Classroom Management Tips:

Establishing quality classroom management strategies is a critical skill for every educator.  However, such techniques can quickly get complicated when BYOD is introduced–how do you manage a variety of phones, tablets, and laptops when such devices can already be distracting?  Jennifer Carey, a director of educational technology, shared her top 5 tips for digital classroom management in an Edudemic article, from setting clear expectations, to recognizing that it’s OK to put the technology away at times!

#4: PLP’s Twitter Handbook:

Instrumental for me in discovering the professional usefulness of Twitter was a handbook released by the Powerful Learning Practice Blog. It includes very specific details on how to get started, definitions, and practical uses! Especially if you’re still unaware of Twitter’s usefulness in the classroom, this resource is an absolute must! (We reference it and more in our Twitter’s classroom potential post).

#5: Fluency Poster by Delia Jenkins:

In the 21st century, students need to be less familiar with memorizing specific facts and more familiar with how to manage it all.  Author & educator Eric Jensen states it well in the following image:

via Larry Ferlazzo
via Larry Ferlazzo

One way we can cultivate this shift is to foster digital fluency in our students and ourselves.  One excellent resource as you consider your approach to is Delia Jenkins’ Fluency Poster “Cheat Sheet,” available in PDF format.  Watch for our post on digital fluency coming soon!

Photo Credit:

Sources:

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10 Tips to Become a 21st Century Teacher

Be sure to also stop by our interactive infographic, “21st Century Cheat Sheet” for a great visual!

What does it mean to become a 21st century educator?  Effective technology integration certainly plays its role, but it’s also about accessibility and individual perspective shifts.  Find inspiration in our 10 tips…

Start Small

When we refer to becoming a 21st century teacher, we certainly recognize that technology plays an enormous role in how quality education has evolved.  However, we feel it also reaches into simple attitudes that are shifting.  It’s likely a reciprocal effect: the more technology use and global networking has grown, the more recognition has spread for best practices; the more the recognition for best practices has spread, the more technology has been examined to assist in this innovation.  Still, as adept as many teachers are in adopting 21st century attitudes and strategies, we know many others feel overwhelmed by it all, from first year teachers to veterans nearing retirement.  We feel that starting small, one attitude or strategy at a time, is the best method!

#1: Reject “Content is King!”

A quote from the above video that bears repeating:

“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist . . . using technologies that haven’t been invented . . . in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” ~Karl Fisch

If we allow our teaching to exist mostly as delivering information that students memorize, our job descriptions could be quickly outsourced to Google!  Worse still, our students’ limited skills would also be highly replaceable by search engines and video databases like LearnZillion.  21st Century teachers and learners alike must realize that education is no longer about what we’ve memorized, but about how we learn to evaluate and utilize information!

#2: Recognize that Change is Essential!

Ken Robinson has been a tremendously influential voice when it comes to the need to change our thinking in education.  Some of the primary changes he suggests include the way we think about “human capacity,” collaboration, and the “habits of institutions.”  On a similar track, author and educator Shelly Blake-Plock outlined 21 Things that Will be Obsolete by 2020 (reflection post), including current systems of standardized testing for college admissions and organizing classes by age and grade.

A prominent example of current change is the Common Core (see our CCSS article).  Some parents are frustrated that it does NOT involve a back-to-basics, “finding the answer” approach.  (See one example of a parent who allegedly exclaimed on his child’s homework page that the “real world” would favor faster, simpler vertical subtraction over evaluating misconceptions using a visual number line.  We would point out that a calculator is even faster and simpler, if speed is really the highest priority in “the real world”).  In their fear of education looking different than it did when they were kids, these individuals seem to miss that the emphasis is now on critical thinking, a crucial shift when you think back to our tip #1 in particular.  There is a difference between education and learning, and fortunately, the 21st century is moving more toward the latter.  

#3: Develop a PLN

Retrieved: Clouducation (original creator unknown)
Retrieved: Clouducation (original creator unknown)

A PLN (Personal Learning Network) allows you to maximize your professional development as you use social media and other platforms to learn and collaborate with teachers around the world.  If Shelly Blake-Plock is correct about the way school Professional Development is moving toward teachers taking the lead, PLN’s will prove increasingly important for every educator to have in place.  Our article on PLN’s is a great resource for beginners!

#4: Encourage students to develop PLN’s

Caroline Bucky
Caroline Bucky

The above word cloud took shape when creator Caroline Bucky asked members her own PLN what their individual PLN’s meant to them.  If students were enabled to create such meaningful networks, imagine the ramifications that would have on their ability to contribute to a global society (another major aspect of the 21st century)!

#5: View Time Spent Exploring as an Investment

Hakan Forss LEGO recreations of hand drawn originals with unknown authors
Hakan Forss LEGO recreations of hand drawn originals with unknown authors

The above picture pretty much speaks for itself on this one.  Just remember that every effort you make will not only invest in your own future as a relevant 21st century educator, but in your students’ quality of learning as well.  (See one blogger’s insightful perspective on this investment in relation to building her PLN).

#6: Allow Students to Own Learning

For many decades, ideas from student-centered pedagogy theorists like Jean Piaget have taught the importance of this attitude.  In fact, a wonderful Piaget quote on the topic of student ownership reads:

“The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.” ~Jean Piaget

He said this in 1964. Think of the greater importance for students to “verify, and not accept, everything they are offered” now that the digital world provides them with a constant stream of information!  This kind of ownership for learning does not happen when our expectations are limited to students “repeating what other generations have done”–in other words, limited to the content and understanding we bring to the table.  Evidence that we can improve in this regard exists in examples such as the above screenshot we took today.

#7: Be Vulnerable with Students

A frequent 21st century dialogue in education involves asking, “How do we help our students become fully engaged in learning?”  We feel that a large part of the answer to this question begins with our own levels of engagement and vulnerability as learners with our students.  Brené Brown researches and writes on this very topic.  She created a leadership manifesto that outlines patterns from her research on how we truly connect and engage.  A powerful quote from it:

“When learning and working are dehumanized–when you no longer see us and no longer encourage our daring, or when you only see what we produce or how we perform–we disengage and turn away from the very things that the world needs from us: our talent, our ideas, and our passion.  What we ask is that you engage with us, show up beside us, and learn from us.” ~Brené Brown

In short, to prevent disengagement, we absolutely must stop pretending that we know all the answers or that we do not make mistakes.

#8: Examine Your Why

Gavin Llewellyn
Gavin Llewellyn

In our post on Flipped Learning, we reference Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle of beginning with the Why.  To succeed in the 21st century, becoming a life-long, self-motivated learner is not a nicety–it is a necessity.  Cultivating our own Why as teachers and then keeping that at the forefront of our endeavors is an influential attitude simply because we are modeling it for our students.  It helps them absorb the “point” of learning and to begin cultivating their own Why’s.

#9: Pursue Your Needs!

DonorsChooseHave a low classroom budget?  Is 1:1 technology nonexistent in your school?  Are you in need of high quality mentor texts in your class library?  Thanks to developments here in the 21st century, no longer are your frustrations limited to faculty lounge griping.  Tools like DonorsChoose.org allow teacher empowerment as you shop for items you need and write a simple, mini-grant (or project), asking generous donors for help.  Not only can you enlist your PLN to spread the word of your project through social media, but you can also look for help from programs in your area like Chevron’s Fuel Your School, which works to fund as many DonorsChoose teacher projects as possible during the month of October (be sure to wait to submit your project until October 1st to qualify)!  Additionally, you can work with your administration to implement innovative school programs such as BYOD (see our article on 10 tips for Bring Your Own Device programs) if you’re looking for more technology accessibility in your classroom.

#10: Use Technology to Make Best Use of Time

Anna Vital
Anna Vital

This infographic by Anna Vital gives several examples of creative ways to save time, including using keyboard shortcuts!  We would also suggest other simple strategies, such as keeping your  email inbox cleaned up, turning off phone notifications for everything except the things you truly want to interrupt your life (some phones even allow you to turn off notifications or calls at certain times or locations), and utilizing apps to keep your priorities organized.  Establishing such strategies that work for you can simplify your planning and  classroom time, allowing you to focus on what matters most for you personally and professionally.

Related Reading:

5 Teacher Resources for 21st Century Learning

Building PLN’s: Tips from One Beginner to Another

Photo Credits:

Denise Krebs (featured image)

Håkan  Forss

Caroline Bucky

Anna Vital

Gavin Llewellyn

Sources:

Cherry, K. “Jean Piaget Quotes”.

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Considering Flipped Learning for Your Classroom

You’ve probably heard the buzz around Flipped Learning online or around your school.  If you are contemplating implementing this teaching approach, we would encourage you to carefully consider several areas addressed in this article.

The Gist

When teachers flip their classrooms, they flip around their use of classroom time and homework time.  To sum it up quickly:

  • Traditional class structure:  lessons during school → practice during homework.
  • Flipped classroom structure: practice during school → lessons during homework.
AJ Cann
AJ Cann

Click for an Infographic that gives more details on certain aspects of a flipped classroom: Oer Research Hub Flipped Classroom Infographic

The Reasoning

  • Efficiency and relationships: Proponents frequently submit these as two principal benefits of Flipped Learning. With the lectures transformed into much more efficient, shortened videos, teachers can dedicate class time for more personalized interaction with students.  This in turn can also better enable differentiated instruction (see youtube video below)

  • Revolutionizing Homework Time: Homework critics have long asserted their view that student practice at home without any teacher guidance is an ineffective, frustrating use of students’ time.  Flipped Learning has the potential to address this frustration when that practice time is instead brought to the classroom (source)¹.
  • Data Support:  Formal studies examining the effects of flipped learning have yet to come, but many positive experiences have been shared.  For instance, Clintondale High School reported that when their teachers used three 5-7 minute lessons per week to flip their classes, math and English failure rates dropped from 44% to 13%, and 50% to 19%, respectively.  They also had a sharp decrease in discipline cases. (source)².
  • Actually a Time-Tested, Old Idea?  Others bring up the point that Flipped Learning is just a modern strategy to implement a proven, John Dewey-coined pedagogy: centering the learning more around the learner than the teacher (source)³.

Some (free!) Resources

Homework Side of the Flip:

Teacher-made resources
  • Screenr:   Records a video of what you do on your computer screen (ie, a PowerPoint, Prezi, or Word Document), while simultaneously recording your voice as you explain the content.  Easy to share through Youtube or embedding.
  • Educreations: Records your voice as you draw your lesson.  You can also prepare the slides before you start recording your voice to be more efficient through your lesson.
  • Sophia: Allows you to bring in content such as PDF’s and Google Documents.  You can even attach quizzes to your lessons!
  • Youtube: Great if you want a full-blown video with your face.  Make sure the lighting and sound are high quality, though!
Already-made resources: (for details on each of these, see our article on Common Core-aligned resources for teachers)
  • Khan Academy
  • Better Lesson
  • LearnZillion

Classroom Side of the Flip

  • ExitTicket.org: Particularly if you have a 1:1 mobile devices due to a BYOD or other program (see our post on tips for a BYOD Classroom), you can check for understanding at the beginning of each lesson before proceeding to better enable differentiation.  Click here for an article on how one educator uses this!
  • Respond to questions inspired by homework lessons: Start the lesson with exploring student-raised questions that came up during the homework.  To allow you time to consider and prepare for those questions, you can even include in the homework assignment for students to email you at least one question.
  • Require students to take notes: This approach would be especially appropriate for older grades.  Just make sure you model to them effective note-taking while watching a video (see article addressing this practice).

5 Ways to Encourage Student-Centered Learning in the Flip

1. Understand Flipped Learning’s Direct Instruction Design

The official FLN (Flipped Learning Network) definition of flipped learning says, “”Flipped Learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space…” (source)⁴  In other words, flipped homework videos are intended almost exclusively for direct instruction use.

For this reason, we strongly encourage every educator to be extremely selective in when and how they choose to flip lessons.  If many of your class lessons are already inquiry-based, only use flipped learning on the occasion direct instruction is needed–or perhaps, even after your inquiry lesson to extend and reinforce the big ideas students discovered.  If most of your lessons are currently direct instruction, we feel that flipped learning is just one step in how you can approach your teaching in a way that reaches more learners, and on deeper levels. (see points #2 and 3).

We have seen articles mentioning that one benefit of flipped classrooms is that students who are absent won’t get behind (source)⁵.  However, this perspective suggests that students wouldn’t miss much if they had to skip the classroom inquiry time–that the teacher-centered, direct instructional videos would be sufficient.  However, we maintain that it is critical for teachers to possess the reverse perspective if they are to cultivate a student-centered focus.

2. Don’t Depend on Flipped Learning Alone to Inspire!

To illustrate this point, we would like to reference a few educators that have discussed the topic of Flipped Learning in the context of inquiry-based instruction:

  • In his April 2013 Ted Talk, “3 Rules to Spark Learning,” educator Ramsey Musallam said the following:
    • “Questions and curiosity…are magnets that draw us towards our teachers, and they transcend all technology or buzzwords in education. But if we place these technologies before student inquiry, we can be robbing ourselves of our greatest tool as teachers: our students’ questions. For example, flipping a boring lecture from the classroom to the screen of a mobile device might save instructional time, but if it is the focus of our students’ experience, it’s the same dehumanizing chatter–just wrapped up in fancy clothing. But if instead we have the guts to confuse our students, perplex them, and evoke real questions, through those questions, we as teachers have information that we can use to tailor robust and informed methods of blended instruction.” (source)⁶
  • Edna Sackson, author of blog WhatEdSaid, shared her perspective:
    • “It’s not so much about flipping as about rethinking altogether. [emphasis added]. Learning isn’t linear. It’s not a step by step, one size fits all process. It doesn’t go in a sequence from remembering to understanding to analysing… and finish with creating. And it doesn’t necessarily have to go in the reverse order either. It depends on the learner and on the situation.” (source)⁷
  • Many individuals discussing flipped learning promote the idea of moving lower-level Bloom’s Taxonomy skills (remembering, understanding) to the homework lessons, and higher-level skills (creating, evaluating) to the classroom (source)⁸.  However, educator Shelley Wright suggests flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy as well!  She writes, “Here’s what I propose. In the 21st century, we flip Bloom’s taxonomy. Rather than starting with knowledge, we start with creating, and eventually discern the knowledge that we need from it.”  (source)⁹

3. Start With the Why

Gavin Llewellyn
Gavin Llewellyn

Author Simon Sinek gave a TED Talk a few years ago about what motivates people, stemming from his “Golden Circle” model.  He explains that what has always set apart innovative and inspiring leaders, such as the Wright Brothers, is that they they focused on their beliefs or their Why, rather than the How or What.

This concept absolutely applies to how we approach learning.  Think about your Why as a teacher:  is your end goal for students to just pass your class and move on in the system, memorizing your content just long enough to pass your tests?  Or do you hope for their sights to be raised in wonder and possibility, taking their learning further by building upon it throughout their lives?  If we focus only on results, then all of our most carefully-constructed worksheets, projects, and activities will stem from the How and What, and will likely lead to very little.  However, if we focus on the Why first, we will find increased levels of student ownership and engagement as they set their own visions higher.  (check out Edna Sackson’s post on Differentiating Learning for additional ideas for raising our own sights in this approach!)

4. Design Homework Videos to be Accessible & Useful to Students

Particularly in higher education levels, we have seen examples of teachers and professors approaching the homework side of the flip in ways that can be overburdensome and/or ineffective for students.  For example, creating videos that are especially lengthy may work in isolation for your class; however, if a student has multiple instructors who have flipped their classrooms, it may be prove overwhelming for students. Additionally, one benefit of flipped classrooms is students’ ability to pause, rewind, and replay the videos as needed to better absorb the information.  Therefore, if your 1-hour video is one among several assigned in an evening, students will be less likely to thoroughly engage, regardless of their age  Jonathan Bergmann, a pioneer in flipped learning, recommends no more than 1 ½ minutes per grade level (source)⁸.  On the other hand, instructors should also take care that the content of their video adequately covers the concepts to be practiced in class.  Finding the balance between these two ideas will come with trial and error, so be sure to seek student feedback as you do so!

As you consider how to make your videos as practical and engaging as possible, don’t forget about accessibility, either!  Many students prefer to access flipped homework videos via smartphones, so make sure the platform you’re using is available on both desktops and mobile devices!

5. Have a Realistic Troubleshooting Gameplan

  • No internet, computers, or mobile devices at home?  This is becoming a less frequent problem all the time, but it still exists!  While we have come across several potential solutions to this problem, (including burning videos to DVD’s or flashdrives, using the public library, using the school computer lab after school, or watching with a friend or borrowed device), not every idea will be practical at your school.  To guide your search, seek your students’ input to find out not only what they would prefer, but for how many of them this is an issue.  Consider factors such as your own time constraints for burning DVD’s or how many computers are even available for students at your school.  You may need to take an alternative route altogether and watch the videos during class.  See the video below to see how this works:

  • Some students don’t watch the homework videos?  Establish a formative assessment each day to check for understanding, whether it’s ExitTickets.org, emailed questions, or note-taking.  If you have computers in your classroom, you may decide that students who missed it can watch the video in class, but make sure you still have measures in place to encourage accountability (ie, the students would then have an extra assignment based on the practice they missed).

Photo Credit:

Dan Spencer (featured image)

AJ Cann

Gavin Llewellyn

 Sources:

1. Goodwin, Bryan & Miller, Kirsten. (March 2013). Evidence on Flipped Classrooms Is Still Coming In.

2. Knewton. Flipped Classroom Infographic.

3. Hertz, Mary Beth. (July 2012). The Flipped Classroom: Pro & Con.

4. Flipped Learning Network (FLN). (2014) The Four Pillars of F-L-I-P™

5. Bergmann, J, Overmyer, J., & Willie, B. (2013). The Flipped Class: What it Is & What it Is Not.

6. Musallam, R. (2013). 3 Rules to Spark Learning.

7. Sackson, E. (2012). Learning Isn’t Linear.

8. Raths, D. (2013). 9 Video Tips for a Better Flipped Classroom.

9. Wright. S. (2012). Flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy.