Flipped Classroom

I just got back from a school visit at Lake Elmo Elementary School in the Stillwater Area School District. We had the opportunity to hear about their pilot program, and go into classrooms and see what a flipped classroom could look like. I loved it. Kids applying what they have learned, and teachers acting as facilitators. An active, engaged classroom. A room I would want my kids in!!

When you hear about flipping a classroom technology immediately comes to mind, but after seeing the classrooms in action the technology is just a tool. Flipped classrooms are about instruction, plain and simple. By flipping the classroom and having a majority of the direct instruction outside the classroom the teacher is actually creating more time to work directly with students in the classroom.

To make use of the additional time teachers need to effectively use formative assessment to be able to group their students according to need. To me, formative assessment is what drives any classroom, but especially the flipped classroom. Teachers may still do some whole group instruction, but it will be very targeted depending on the formative assessments.

Flipped classrooms also give students the opportunity to move ahead, or go back and review. They have the direct instruction at their finger tips for when ever they want to access it.

I have introduced the concept of the flipped classroom to our staff by doing some flipped staff development around technology. We have screencasted some videos for staff to look on using Twitter, and creating Smart lessons. We then set aside time for teachers to come in and work on lessons or play with Twitter with people to support them while they are using what they have learned. Teachers appreciate this help, why wouldn't students???

How Can Gamification Help Improve Instruction?

This is a great Ted Talk by Gabe Zichermann.  Gamification brings together game mechanics (game thinking)and marketing to create engagement and solve problems.  I had a change to list to Zichermann speak at the TIES conference in Minneapolis, MN in Dec.  I truly believe a lot of what he speaks to can be used to increase student engagement, and we know if we increase engagement we can increase learning.  The first video is only 16 minutes and to the point.

The second video is a little longer and goes into more detail.  Both are worth a look!!

Our students today are not the same as the students schools had 10-15 year ago.  They way they learn and want to be engaged is different.  My goal is to continue to learn more about digital learns and find ways to use their strengths to help them achieve.

Homework and Grading for Learning

While following #edchat last night on Twitter there was a lot of discussion around homework.  So it got me thinking about some of the things I have read and how it has impacted my view on the use and effectiveness of homework.

First of all I want to touch on the impact that homework has on student learning.  Marzano's research showes that homework has a much greater impact at the secondary level than at the elementary level.  The biggest benefit of homework at the elementary level is that it develops good study habits and can reinforce the idea that learning can take place outside of school.  If that is true do we really need to have students complete 50 math problems, or spend hours on homework - I would say NO!!  Just because parents want to see homework does not mean we should be send stuff home.  We need to get out of this mindset for our students sake.

Homework should be practice around content that students already have a high familiarity with, not skills they can not do on their own, or it should extend learning that has already taken place in the classroom.  In either case a teacher should not send work home if they are not positive the student can do it without assistance.  If parents need to help their students with their math homework it should not have gone home.  In general if homework goes home I prescribe to the less is better mentality.

I believe if we are truly grading for learning we should not include homework as part of the grading process.  Homework in essence is practice, and students should not be penalized for practice.  We don't penalize a basketball player for shots they miss when practicing, nor do we penalize the musician who misses a note while practicing.  Homework is a formative assessment, and should be used to guide instruction.  Students should be encouraged to challenge themselves, and if their only goal is to accumulate points they won't do that.  NO PENALTIES FOR PRACTICE!!  Coaches and music directors learned this a long time ago.  We need to apply the same principles to the classroom.

Extra credit is another way to accumulate points.  It is very rarely about student learning.  More work should result in a higher level of achievement, not just more points.  Students should all have the opportunity to show they can achieve at a high level.

Ed Leadership's November issue has some great articles about effective grading practices.  Another great resource is the book A Repair Kit for Grading - 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O'Connor.  I would contend that they way we grade students negatively impacts a majority their learning.