Professional Reading in the Summer

If you are an educator, there is no better time than the summer to do some professional reading.  What I mean by professional reading is to read articles or books that pertain to your professional practice.  The reason the summer is the best time to do this type of reading is that you have TIME to read in the summer and you have TIME to think critically about what you teach, how you teach it and how you assess it. 

Some people would say, "Why would you read books about educational practice in the summer? I just want to read for fun and read something totally unrelated to my work."  While I agree that reading for fun is a must in the summer (I read for fun all year long as well), I find that reading books and articles related to one's teaching is a great way to learn new things, reinforce the great things you are already doing in your classroom and to get excited about the next school year.  Almost every summer when I read books on educational practices I get excited about what I have learned and cannot wait to try those things with my students in September and talk about my new learning with my colleagues.  The other thing that summer reading helps me with is to plan my personal, professional growth plan for the upcoming school year.  What I have learned and plan to try in my classroom in the fall becomes the basis of my growth plan.  I am not dreaming up things to do so I can put them in my growth plan.  My growth plan just becomes a written record of the changes I plan to make in teaching and assessment practices.

Some people say they find it hard to get motivated to read in the summer.  To help you with this, I will outline what I do.  Once I have picked an educational book to read and it has arrived 2 days later from Amazon, I then set a goal of reading one chapter per day of this educational book.  Most educational books have chapters that are 15-30 pages long.  This usually takes me less than one hour per day to read a chapter.  Do I always read one chapter per day?  No!  Other things get in the way, like a trip to the beach, a round of golf, visiting with friends and family or going fishing.  If I miss a day I do not sweat it, I just try to read a chapter the next day.  Usually, I start reading my book in early July and I have finished reading this educational book by the third week of July.  I also read for fun as many days as I can in the summer.  Those fun reads are relaxing and help me enjoy the beautiful days outside just lounging in a chair.  Where does a person find the time to read in the summer?  You might enjoy reading in the morning while enjoying that first cup of coffee, it may be a middle of the day practice that you do in the afternoon or it may happen after supper as a way to work into an evening of relaxing.  Find a time that works for you and you will form the habit of reading daily.

So, I would like to encourage all of my educator friends and colleagues to read at least one educational book this summer.  I hope you take up this challenge and enjoy it as much as I do.  It is a great way to refresh myself professionally and to get me excited about the upcoming school year.

If you are looking for some educational books to read her are three I have or am currently in the process of reading.  The first two pertain to any teacher while the third one is specifically for Gr.5-12 Mathematics teachers.

Response to Education Minister's Message

Here is my response to the the message that the Education Minister sent out to Alberta teachers today.


"As a high school teacher and academic counsellor I thank you for sending out your message today.  While I agree that we all need to work together to transform education, I am disappointed about actions you have taken in the past few weeks.

1.  Floating the idea of Merit Pay for teachers is nuts!!!  There is so much research out there that indicates Merit Pay does not work why would you even suggest the idea??

2.  Asking school boards their opinion on legislating teachers contracts is even more crazy!!!

These two items have gone a long way to eroding teachers belief and trust in you as the Education Minister.  When you first became Education Minister I was refreshed by your message and your vision.  However, it feels like you have done a complete 180 degree turn.  This is greatly disappointing to me.

It really appears that you have become a puppet for the Conservative party.  I thought you were better than that.

It is time for yourself, Genia Leskiw, Dave Hancock and others to stand up to the Caucus and do what is right for Education.  If Inspiring Education is to be implemented in its true vision, then we cannot use old school politics to run a 21st Century Education Dept.

It is time for you and others to do what is right for Education.  The education of our children and the future of Alberta depends on it!!"

Let me know if I got it right.

Message from the Alberta Minister of Education

So, today, in my email, I received the following message from our Alberta Minister of Education:

"Good afternoon! I'm personally reaching out to as many teachers as possible to let you know how much the Premier and I appreciate all you do. As I travel the province and meet with teachers, I am encouraged to hear how many of you are implementing the vision of Inspiring Education. Thank you.

Recently, I met with a group of teachers in a staff room in Lac La Biche. We had an excellent conversation and I promised to look into some issues they raised with me. That conversation made me realize that we need to have a more open and transparent way to communicate.

I also know that in order for you to be innovative and creative, you need a less prescriptive curriculum; you need time and space; and you want to ensure kids have equity in terms of access to opportunities and resources. These things will be a priority for me in the coming year because at the end of the day the kids have to come first.

I know we have more work to do. We want to move even more toward the Inspiring Education vision and develop changes in curriculum and assessment. We will also have to address the province’s fiscal challenges and the ATA contract negotiations.  I know many of you would also like to talk about the changing role of the teacher in the 21st century – something that came up often during our two years of Inspiring Education consultations. All of this means we need to have open communication and ensure you have access to accurate information. 

Especially now. It's my goal to make sure that as we move through this difficult budget time we are investing our limited dollars in the programs that are critical to ensuring the success of our kids, that we are protecting class sizes and inclusion funding as well as jobs for teachers to the greatest extent possible. You have told me that’s what is important to you and I am listening.

You will be hearing from me on a regular basis. But, please contact me anytime at education.minister@gov.ab.ca. Please share this information with your colleagues. I know my current list may not be comprehensive and I want to reach as many teachers as possible. So, if you received this from a colleague, it means you aren't on our list. Please email me or go to our existing engagement tools on the web at Engage. A new Teachers' link will help us connect with even more of you. Eventually, this is where we will post ideas for us to share.

I hope you will participate in this dialogue with me.

Talk to you soon.

Jeff 

Jeff Johnson
Minister of Education
MLA, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater"

 Interesting that he took the time to send this message out to teachers AFTER he floated the ideas of "Merit Pay" and legislating teacher contracts.

Two items that teachers are vehemently opposed to.

Why didn't the Minister consult with teachers on these issues?

 Does he realize what kind of a hornets nest he has created amongst teachers and now is he trying to settle things down?

While I appreciate that he wants to hear from teachers, he is going to get quite an ear full after discussing implementing Merit Pay and legislating teacher contracts. Let me know how you feel about the Minister's message.

Reflections on a Semester of the Flipped Classroom

I have now spent an entire semester teaching my Math 20-1 students using the Flipped Classroom Model. I have learned a lot using this model. Some of it good and some of it not so good. This post is going to outline the good, the bad and the ugly. I distributed an end of semester evaluation this week and had my students reflect on their semester in the flipped classroom as well.

The Good:
1. I now have every lesson in the course in video format.
2. About half of my class really likes the Flipped Classroom model. If I was to guess, these were the students that are doing well in the course.
3. The Flipped Model allowed students to progress at their own pace. Some sped through the video lesson. Some watched it twice.
4. The Flipped Model allowed me to spend a lot of time with those students that were struggling.
5. The Flipped Model transformed me from a lecturer into a facilitator.
6. I had lots of students and teachers in many different locations use my videos to supplement their learning and they thanked me for it.

The Bad and Ugly:
1. About half of my class did not like learning under the Flipped Model. One student said, "I don't learn this way!". Interesting comment. I need to reflect on it.
2. I feel like I have lost or have not been able to use a number of good teaching practices I have employed in the past.
3. The facilitation part of my role was mostly just answering questions that the students could not solve.
4. Almost everyday in my classroom felt the same. Not nearly as much variety as in the past.
5. A couple of students dropped the class because of the Flipped Model.

I realize that this is only one semester of implementing the Flipped Model. However, I am really thinking hard about whether or not this model is worth continuing. It definitely needs revising.

The following questions are running through my head:
1. If half of my students do not like the Flipped Model is this model meeting ALL of the students needs?
2. If my students continue with the Flipped model in their next Math class will they adapt to it more?
3. If I stop using the Flipped model am I doing so to the detriment of the students that say this model works for them?
4. Could I run a hybrid flipped and non-flipped model in the same classroom?

So, as I reflect back on an entire semester of using the Flipped Model, I have lots to consider. In the coming weeks I will decide if I will continue with the Flipped model or not. Right now it is 50-50. Your feedback might help me make my decision.

LEGO - My New Hobby

In June 2010 myself and Jared Nichol had the privilege of attending ISTE in Denver, Colorado. While at ISTE we took a shopping trip to a mall and hit the LEGO store. I had never been to a LEGO store before but it was amazing. LEGO has come a long way since I was a kid back in the 70's. After the visit to the LEGO store, I thought I would look into purchasing a few kits for myself and start a LEGO collection. Well, 2010 came and went and I still had not bought any LEGO.

In the Fall of 2011 I was looking at the curriculum for the Workplace and Apprenticeship Math course (Math 20-3) here in Alberta. Lots of curriculum outcomes on scale factor, 2D and 3D diagrams etc.. While reading the curricular outcomes I thought that LEGO would be a good tool to use with my students in learning these curricular outcomes. That triggered the idea that I wanted to start my own LEGO collection.

So, I said to my wife this fall, "I want some LEGO for Christmas!!!" She looked at me kind of funny but after I explained the multitude of kits available she kind of understood my request. I asked for Star Wars LEGO for Christmas.

Christmas 2011 has come and gone and I DID NOT receive any LEGO. I was kind of upset. I asked my wife why I did not receive any LEGO for Christmas. She explained that when she went in search of Star Wars LEGO she found kits from $20 - $300. She had no idea what I would want. She instructed me to, "Go out and buy whatever LEGO you like." She did not want to buy something I would not like so she felt it was best if I bought my own.

This past week we headed to Edmonton and Red Deer for some post Christmas shopping and to visit my brother-in-law. While in Red Deer, I hit the Toys R Us store and headed straight for the LEGO section. When I started looking at the Star Wars LEGO I was having trouble deciding what my first purchase should be. Most of the Star Wars LEGO I liked was over $100. I thought that might be a bit pricy for my first purchase. So, I started looking at the rest of the LEGO. I discovered a number of Transformers LEGO kits and they were on sale for $35 each. I was sold. I would make my first LEGO collection Transformers. There were 6 different kits that I saw and I decided to buy Megatron for my first kit. Why? My oldest daughter's name is Megan and her nickname at school is Megatron.

I have spent a few hours working on the Megatron kit and here is the Megatron Truck!!!


I will keep the truck around for a week or two. Then I have to tear it apart to build the actual Megatron Transformer character. Stay tuned for more posts about my LEGO collection. I have a birthday coming up in January and hope to receive another Transformers LEGO kit to add to my collection.

Yahoo!!! University of Alberta Changes Admission Requirements for Nursing

My good friend John Scammell tweeted the following today.



Here is the email announcement with details. It is good news for students trying to enter Nursing!!!

Subject: Admission Requirement Change - University of Alberta - Nursing
Importance: High

Good Afternoon Counsellors!

Please note the following important change to admission criteria for our BSc Nursing program.
Nursing will be accepting either Math 30-1 or Math 30-2 for admission to the BSc Nursing Collaborative and Bilingual programs (for Sask, BC, Manitoba, please see equivalents below). This change will impact students applying for Fall 2013, as we are currently only accepting Pure Math 30 or Math 31 for Fall 2012.

BSc Nursing

English Language Arts (ELA) 30-1
Biology 30
Choose one of Chemistry 30 or Science 30
Choose one of Pure Mathematics 30 or Mathematics 30-1; Mathematics 30-2; Mathematics 31
Choose one of Chemistry 30; Science 30; Pure Mathematics 30 or Mathematics 30-1; Mathematics 31; Physics 30; Computer Science- Advanced Level CTS (5 credits); Social Studies 30-1; 30-level language; Fine Arts Course

BSc Nursing Bilingual

English Language Arts (ELA) 30-1
One of French 30, French 30 (9-year), French 31, Français 30, 30-1, 30-2; French Language Arts 30, 30-1, 30-2
Chemistry 30/Chimie 30 or Science 30
Biology 30/Biologie 30
One of Pure Mathematics 30/Mathématiques Pures 30 or Mathematics 30-1/Mathematiques 30-1; Mathematics 30-2/Mathematiques 30-2; Mathematics 31/Mathématiques

Observations About Students Thinking

Over the past month and a half I have had the opportunity to scribe for one of our Pure Math 30 students. They recently had surgery and they are unable to write. So, when it is time for an exam in Block 2 Pure Math 30 this student asks me to scribe for them. I have a prep at that time and am more than glad to scribe for this student.

Scribing for this student has been an eye opening experience for me. As a scribe, you cannot assist the student in any way. All you do is write down what the student tells you. I have been amazed at how much I can observe about a student's thought processes as they talk through what they are thinking. They have to tell you everything to write down, everything to label etc.. Because this student is unable to write on their own, they have to tell me all of the work they wish to do but they need me to write down for them.

Just by listening to the student think out loud I am able to really tell if a student understands a problem, process or a concept. The light bulb has really gone off in my head. I need to find time to sit with all of my students and scribe for them. Listen to their thinking and observe what they know and do not know.

In terms of assessment, scribing for a student can be very informational to me as their teacher. I also need to think about how I can document my observations in some sort of Google Form or check list.

I love it when I come across great ways of seeing into the minds of my students!!!!

Slurpee Adventure

Yesterday, Roland Dargis (a colleague of mine in the math dept. at Cold Lake HS) and I set out to create a Dan Meyer style video for the Gr.12 unit on Permuations and Combinations. Our idea was that we could videotape ourselves filling up slurpee cups and then have our students try to determine how many possible different combinations of slurpees could be created.

Here is our final product


If you look at the end of the video, you will see that we have a shot of all of the possible choices of slurpee flavors , cup sizes and prices. This allows for a lot of extension activities.

Click here to download the video and all of the other files we have compiled.

Is the Flipped Class for Every Course?

I had a discussion about this with my wife, who is also a teacher. Her training is in teaching elementary school. She made some valid points about whether or not Language Arts or English and Social Studies would work with a flipped class model. These courses lend themselves much more to a "seminar" type environment where the class has a whole as a lot of discussions and debates.

So, I went to school and had a discussion about the flipped classroom with two of my colleagues in the Social Studies department. They pretty much confirmed my wife's thoughts. In Social Studies, they have a lot of group discussion about things such as liberalism, economics, etc.. They thought that my way of using the flipped classroom in Mathematics was brilliant. Both of them wished they had the flipped classroom when they studied math in high school.

The other thing to consider is that if a student in high school takes 4 courses per day and ALL of these were flipped they may have to watch between 1.5 and 2 hours of videos per night. Is that realistic to expect them to watch that much video? I suppose they may be doing that much "homework" each night.

Some interesting things to think about!!! Please comment on this post and give your thoughts.

Another Week in the Books

Another week has come and gone in my flipped math classroom. A few students are still not watching the videos on a regular basis and they paid for it on their unit exam this week. One of these students said, "I do not like the flipped classroom!" When I asked him why he said, "Because I cannot get away with doing nothing!!!". You bet. That is one of the awesome things about the flipped classroom. It places the responsibility for learning on the student. They have to OWN their learning. I love that. When I used to lecture, the students put the responsibility for their learning on me. That was the absolutely wrong place.

I had a parent from Yellowknife, NWT email me this week and ask if he could use my class wiki to help his son with his Math 20-1 studies. I said, "Of course, that is why I post my video lessons online.". Glad to see that I am able to help students in other parts of Canada.

Today, a teacher from Saskatchewan, tweeted me and asked if my video lessons correspond to the Saskatchewan curriculum. I informed him that they do indeed correspond. He asked for the URL to my wiki and checked out what I am doing in my flipped classroom.

If you are just reading about my journey for the first time, you can access my wiki here. Feel free to look at the wiki and use anything that is of value to you.

The thing that surprised me the most, today, was the number of students that were "voluntarily" making corrections on their unit exams. Even though some of them did very well, they wanted to know how to do every single question on the exam. This kind of self-motivation and concern for their own learning is what I want all students to be doing. It is never about the mark, but about understanding the math. My flipped classroom students really seem to be getting this.

The Journey in my Flipped Classroom

This coming week will mark an entire month in my "flipped" math classroom. This week has been very interesting. I have had all kinds of teachers at my own school (Cold Lake HS) come up to me and ask me to explain what this "flipped" classroom thing is that I am doing. This is a good sign. If other staff are asking questions then maybe they will try the same thing. Apparently the students are talking about it a lot with their other teachers.

When I am out and about in Cold Lake I have had parents and former students approach me in public to discuss the flipped classroom. The parents love it!!! The former students are asking me why I did not do this when I taught them. They believe they would have learned better. I am starting to think that I have created a really good thing here. If people are approaching me in public and raving about the "flipped" classroom that has to be positive. In the past most people just said hello and kept walking.

The really strange thing occurred last Saturday. I was out working in the yard at my house. I had stopped, for a moment, to talk with the neighbour. The house across the street is for sale and a realtor was showing the house to a prospective buyer. She stopped showing the house, left her customers and walked over to me and said, "Are you the math teacher from the high school?". I replied, "Yes". I was bracing myself for an abusive comment. She said, "I recognize your voice from the videos my son watches each night. Great stuff!!". I thanked her and she returned to showing the house. Apparently I have become somewhat of a celebrity. Watch out Khan Academy here comes Mr. Kaminski!!!

This past week I started implementing formative assessments at the beginning of each class. I wanted to see if the students really understood what they "supposedly" learned the previous day. I place a couple of questions on the board and have my students use mini-whiteboards to work in partners to obtain a solution. I have the students show me their solution. Most of them are kicking butt. However, the few that had some misunderstandings, I get a chance to clear up the issues. This formative assessment will continue to be a daily part of our routine.

Another benefit of the videos is showing up. The beginning of October is prime moose hunting season in northern Alberta. I have students that are going to miss an entire week of school to go moose hunting. Every single one of them has asked me for a list of the videos they need to watch so they can work ahead before they go hunting. I am smiling!!! They get it!!! It does not matter that they will miss class. They have a way of keeping up with their studies. The only problem has been that video production has had to kick into high gear. I am usually about 1 week ahead of the class. Now I have to get 2 weeks ahead so that these students can benefit from watching the videos before they go hunting. Oh well. I do not mind this kind of problem. It is for the benefit of my students.

Stay tuned next week for an update on the adventures in my "flipped" math classroom.

Week #2 in the Flipped Math Class

Week #2 came and went very much like week number one. The kids watched the videos each night, came to class and they worked on their practice exercises in class with assistance from myself or their fellow classmates. However, the flipped classroom idea is spreading like wild fire amongst other teachers.

I spent 3 hours on Sunday meeting with two other math teachers at another high school in Cold Lake. They really are interested in flipping their class and wanted to discuss how it all would work. I explained the entire process to them but cautioned them that they need to lay a little ground work with their students, parents and admin before beginning the process. I advised them to take the next week to lay this ground work and then start flipping their class near the end of September. They were pumped about the whole idea when I left them!!! The chemistry teacher at this same high school is also interested in possibly flipping his class. I will have to meet with him in the future.

On Friday, we had our first unit exam. For me, this was going to be a really good indication of how well my students had faired in the first unit of flipping the classroom. Overall, the exam went very well. The results on the exam did not surprise me in any way. With all of the walking around I did each class and all of the assistance I was providing students I had a pretty good idea of which students were grasping the content well and which ones were struggling. I was glad to see that my impressions were fairly accurate.

A couple of students did surprise me, in a good way. A couple of students that I thought were struggling actually performed quite well on the exam. These are the kinds of surprises I like!!!

I did not receive any negative feedback from the students regarding the exam or their grade.

I am operating my classroom in a way that the students will have the opportunity to reassess on certain outcomes on the unit exam. The students will analyze their exam using the exam blueprint I provide them and then determine which of the outcomes they would like to reassess on. They will have to complete some additional practice on these outcomes to "qualify" to write the reassessment. For some students, this helps take the sting out of the fact that they may not have done as well as they wanted on the first unit exam.

So, everything keeps rolling along in my "flipped" classroom. After having used this model for approximately 2 weeks I would say that I would not go back to the "old" way of doing things. The "flipped" classroom just has so many advantages over the way I used to do things.

First Full Week of Flipping My Math Class

It has been a GREAT week!!! My students in my Math 20-1 class have been watching the videos religiously each night. A few of them are still having some technical issues accessing the videos I have created but we quickly worked around this by providing them the videos on a memory stick. If you would like to check out my videos you can access the location where they are posted here. The great thing is that when they have been having difficulty watching the videos at home they come to class "begging" to use a laptop to watch the videos in class. They are taking ownership for their learning. I am not chasing after them and hounding them they are doing this all on their own. I love it!!!

My classrooms looks and feels SO different. I have been able to be a true facilitator of learning. My time is NOT taken up each class "lecturing" but I now get to walk around, help students, clarify misunderstandings and truly see my students owning their learning. I am SO happy about this. I no longer feel like I am the hardest working person in the room. In the past, the students would come to class, I would teach the lesson, they would have some time to work on their practice and they would head home. However, everyone came back the next day with at least one question in the practice that they could not solve. In fact, many students came back very stressed and frustrated because they struggled with the practice. I always felt pressured to "get through the material" during class time. Now, there is no pressure on me. My job is to "help" the students. In fact, I have way more time to do this. I have the entire class to "help". This is a really satisfying feeling. I can honestly say that I get to talk with every single student in my class every day. This never happened in the "old" non-flipped classroom. The students are far less stressed and frustrated because they get help on their practice when they need it.

The students are really enjoying the "flipped" classroom. The only thing they have to do each night is watch the videos and write their notes. This is very low stress for them. Some of them are unable to watch the videos because of work commitments, sports etc.. They come to class, grab a laptop (I have a cart of 30 laptops in my classroom) and watch the video in class. I very rarely have to "kick a kid's butt". They know the routine and they make it happen.

I have really struggled in the past with differentiating instruction in my math classroom. However, I can honestly say that I have differentiated more in one week this semester than I probably have in one month in the past. The videos allow the students to differentiate for themselves. They can pause the video, rewind the video, rewatch parts of the video. Their instruction is differentiated every day. In class, I am able to treat every student as an individual and assist them where needed.

My classroom is noisier than in the past. But, it is a "good" noise. The students are discussing the notes from the night before. They are helping each other complete the practice. They are teaching each other. I am SO happy. I would have to say that, so far, flipping my classroom has been the single best thing I have ever done in my teaching career.

I want to talk a little bit about the technology. It is truly being integrated. The "flipped" classroom is NOT about the technology. The technology allows the flipped classroom to happen. The ease of creating video lessons and hosting them online is made possible by the technology we have today. The computers and the Internet are the "tools" that help me flip my classroom. The technology is necessary to flip the classroom. The technology is not forced it just fits in like a textbook, paper and pencils.

The curriculum states that teachers need to facilitate "learning through problems solving" or LTPS. This means presenting the students with problems and letting them wrestle with them to find a solution. The students work on the skills of reasoning, communicating, connections and visualization. It is really hard to address these skills without having the students work on real problems. These are situations where the students DO NOT know the answers but have the knowledge and perseverance to find the answers. In the old days I would have had trouble finding "time" to do this in class. Now, there is lots of time for this. We have already completed two problem solving activities in this unit. They were Coffee Cups and Bucky the Badger.

After school yesterday, some of the staff got together at the local watering hole. We socialized and enjoyed everyone's company. Some of them asked me, "What are you doing in your math class? The kids are talking about it." This was exciting. I know it is a good sign when kids are telling other teachers about what is happening in our "flipped" classroom. I described to my colleagues what I was doing. They think it is pretty cool. Some of them even think they should try it!!!!

The videos that I have created are not only helping my students in my classroom. I have had students from another Math 20-1 class ask for the URL for my website so they can watch the videos. My oldest daughter attends another high school in town. She is also studying Math 20-1 . She sometimes watches my videos to help herself out. She has given the URL for my website to some of her classmates. This kind of thing is humbling.

Stay tuned for further adventures in the "flipped" math classroom. I believe that the flipped classroom is the future of education.

Arithmetic Series - Bucky the Badger

As part of "flipping" my classroom I will be using my class time to have my students do some "Learning Through Problem Solving" (LTPS)

We have not yet studied arithmetic series. So, the following activity is a LTPS activity because the students have not yet learned any of the formulas associated with arithmetic sequences.

I will be using John Scammell's 7 step Learning Through Problem Solving approach.

The following activity was originally created by Dan Meyer.

Step 1: Show video Bucky the Badger


Step 2: Ask the students- What question do they want to explore?
Hopefully the students want to know how many push-ups will do during the entire game

Step 3: Elicit student guesses: Have the students make guesses about how many push-ups they think Bucky will do. As a class, agree on a range of reasonable answers.

Step 4: Ask the students what further information they need to answer their question. They will need to know the scoring summary for Wisconsin for the game. Show them the following data to provide them with the necessary information.

 
Step 5: Allow students to work on the problem. Students who finish could be given an extension like, "Does it matter where in the sequence the field goals are kicked?" “Where should the field goals be kicked to have Bucky do the least number of push-ups?”

Step 6:Share student solutions. Have students share solutions with other students, or with the whole class using a document camera or chart paper.

Step 7: Show the answer video.

The Flipped Classroom After 2 Days

On day 2 in my flipped classroom we watched the first instructional "videos" together. I wanted to help guide my students. I wanted to give them hints and suggestions of how to watch the videos and take notes. Remind them that if they are having trouble keeping up with the video they can, stop the video, rewind the video, fast forward the video etc... I did not want to just send them home to watch the video lessons without some guidance.

The good news. Not one student or parent has confronted me about hating this method. All the students like flipping the classroom, so far.

Next week we really get into the true flip. Every night they will have to watch a video lesson at home. Then come to class, work on their assignment and participate in some TRUE problem solving activities.

The only glitch I ran into this week is that the iTuneU server that is hosting my videos was down today. Hope this is not a regular occurence!!! Otherwise, I will have to host the videos somewhere else. My students need to be able to access those video lessons 24/7.

I hope next week goes as well as this week.

Coffee Cups Activity

As part of "flipping" my classroom I will be using my class time to have my students do some "Learning Through Problem Solving" (LTPS)

We have not yet studied arithmetic sequences. So, the following activity is a LTPS activity because the students have not yet learned any of the formulas associated with arithmetic sequences.

I will be using John Scammell's 7 step Learning Through Problem Solving approach.

Step 1: Show video Coffee Cups- Act1

Coffee cups--Act one from Jahan Khah on Vimeo.

Step 2: Ask the students- What question do they want to explore?
Hopefully the students want to know how many cups will they be able to stack on the shelf.

Step 3: Elicit student guesses: Have the students make guesses about how many cups they think will be able to be stacked on the shelf. As a class, agree on a range of reasonable answers.

Step 4: Ask the students what further information they need to answer their question. Show them Coffee Cups - Act2 to provide them with the necessary information.

Coffee cups--Act two from Jahan Khah on Vimeo.

Step 5: Allow students to work on the problem. Students who finish could be given an extension like, "Develop a formula to determine how many cups you could stack on a shelf of any height."

Step 6:Share student solutions. Have students share solutions with other students, or with the whole class using a document camera or chart paper.

Step 7: Show the answer video.

Coffee cups--Act three from Jahan Khah on Vimeo.

Finally, summarize what has been learned.

Day One of the Flipped Classroom

So, I survived my first day of classes of the 2011-12 school year. In fact, I would have to say that today went pretty well.

So far, my fears of introducing the "flipped" class to my Math 20-1's have been unfounded. They were not scared of the "flipped" classroom. Some said they thought it was a good idea.

I sent home a letter explaining the "flipped" classroom concept. This way the parents get the same message as the kids.

I used the following presentation to help explain the "flipped" classroom. In my letter to parents, I guided them to a link on the class wiki that will take them to this presentation. Hopefully, those that have questions and are unsure of things watch the presentation.

I hope that most parents are as receptive as the students were. We will see tomorrow. I may receive a tsunami of phone calls and e-mails asking about the "flipped" classroom.

Let the "Flipped" Classroom Begin!!!

Tomorrow is the first day for students at Cold Lake HS (CLHS). Teachers will be excited. Students will be excited. The 2011-12 school year will get underway. I will be rolling out the "flipped" classroom model in my Math 20-1 class. For those of you who do not know what the "flipped" classroom is here is a short explanation.

• Lectures/Direct instruction ars recorded in a video format and delivered on demand via the Internet
• Each night the students “homework” is to watch the video lesson for the next topic to be studied and take notes.
• Class time is reserved for student questions, guided practice, or group activities designed to help students more deeply understand the math they are learning.
• Because the instructor is not tied up with lecture, he/she can assist students in mastering content.
• This arrangement "flips" the traditional model by assigning lectures as homework and doing practice exercises in class.

I am excited about implementing this model in my Math 20-1 class but I am also nervous. How will the students react to this new way of running my Math class? How will parents react? Will "flipped" classroom work or will it fail?

Luckily, I have the full support of my administration. My fellow Math dept. colleagues are curious to see how this method works. They are intrigued. However, they are willing to let me be the guinea pig. None of them are joining me in "flipping" their math class.

Stay tuned. I will be blogging about my journey in "flipping" my math classroom.

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

How to Have Students E-Mail Assignments to Folder in Box.net

Thanks to Wes Fryer @wfryer for tweeting out that students can e-mail assignments to folders in box.net. This feature will make a lot of teachers lives easier.

Here is how it works:
1. Sign up for an account on Box.net.
2. Create a folder in Box.net that you want your students to e-mail there assignments to.

3. Find the folder you want your students to e-mail their assignment to. You now need to open the "Options" menu. This is located to the right of the word "Share" which is located to the right of the folder.

4. Select "Upload to This Folder" and then in the sub menu select "Email Files to this Folder"


A window then opens that gives you an e-mail address to use to e-mail files to that folder. Share this e-mail address with your students and they can then e-mail you their assignments.

Online Tutorial and Collaboration

Recently I came across an awesome site called BigMarker. It is a lot like Elluminate but it is FREE. You can create a virtual room, upload files to share and view with others. View each other using your webcam. Share your desktop. And the best part of all for me, write on the screen. Being a high school Math teacher I need to be able to write when I discuss problems with my students.

After finding BigMarker and playing around with it, I had an idea. It is the end of the semester for my students and they are beginning to prepare for final exams. I can help answer my students questions while they are at school but when they go home they are really on their own.

So, I created an "Online Tutorial and Collaboration Room" for my students. I will be online in the room in the evening to help them with any questions they have and students can also enter the room and help each other.

I am really excited about the possibilities for this virtual room. I hope my students are as excited when I tell them about it tomorrow!!!