tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097793575365037722024-02-19T14:29:00.992-05:00Wilson's Flipped LabDocumenting my experiments, successes and failures with the flipped classroom. Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-8973180807217442682021-07-12T16:50:00.002-04:002021-07-12T16:52:00.888-04:00Build Your Own Adventure: A brief introduction to Majors and Minors in an 8th Grade Life Science Course<p>In my self paced 8th grade life science class, I set up a system in which students completed selective units, called minors and majors, after completing prerequisite and required units. For example, at the end of the Genetics & Inheritance unit, students spent one week completing a mini-unit about genetic modification, cancer or cloning. After the Evolution unit in the spring, students spent the entire fourth quarter completing a major about evolution, inheritance, evolutionary genetics, immunology or the human body. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9dM6zgo1UMByKMHxbNceK48qvavdHMDOB4LsEi4Zh95duHiw3yqjegQxkU_sj3BEaaojp4ykhiThsmsNt7UCwPPH6WO6-2BFgXXPmYeqPd8Y-L7mGiBTgVblYUPpUdgFuSK1EQIoBeIl/s1636/Screen+Shot+2021-07-12+at+4.29.44+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="1636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9dM6zgo1UMByKMHxbNceK48qvavdHMDOB4LsEi4Zh95duHiw3yqjegQxkU_sj3BEaaojp4ykhiThsmsNt7UCwPPH6WO6-2BFgXXPmYeqPd8Y-L7mGiBTgVblYUPpUdgFuSK1EQIoBeIl/s320/Screen+Shot+2021-07-12+at+4.29.44+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8th grade course overview with minors & majors</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>The primary motivation for this system was the experience I had with self paced courses. The high achieving students who worked through my required content before the end of the year had the opportunity to select and choose topics to investigate. They reported loving this opportunity because, according to them, their teachers rarely allowed them to learn about topics of their interest and choosing. They said occasionally they could select a project topic but my course allowed them to spend a good chunk of time learning in a structured way. A number of other factors (including what I learned about <a href="https://www.weareteachers.com/what-is-genius-hour/" target="_blank">20 Time or Genius Hour</a>) led me to the conclusion that all students should experience this opportunity to learn about content of their choosing.</p><p>I created learning cycles for all minors (one cycle per minor) and majors (4-5 cycles per major). I used a variation of the 5E learning cycle, so all units (required and selective) were similar. So even though students worked on different content, the similar structure of each unit helped students build routines and allowed me to organize the chaos within my class. </p><p>To find out more about my major & minors system, check out these resources:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>An <a href="https://youtu.be/S81_Mk2zX5E">Introduction</a></li><li>Useful <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BEsA36BndA&list=PLO27xmNDnDleeh7mc3ctj2LbeLI3XmkXa&index=6" target="_blank">strategies</a> for implementation</li></ul><p></p>Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-82618118443791436422021-06-28T09:42:00.001-04:002021-06-28T09:42:12.229-04:00The Perusall Experience<p>Throughout my journey in flipped and mastery based learning, I’ve come across many apps, websites and tech tools. I routinely joined the Early Adopter crowds for a lot of wonderful tools. Nowadays, I rarely add a new tool. I much rather mimic the behavior within my LMS or Google Drive ecosystems - even if performed in an inferior way. <a href="https://perusall.com" target="_blank">Perusall</a> may have broken through my apprehension. </p><p>I’ve been aware of Perusall for a couple of years or so. It is a social annotation tool that began with giving teachers the ability to assign texts and embedding questions and discussions withi the text. Students can add and respond to these annotations. Had I been an English teacher, I probably would have dove right into that early adopter pool. But since the majority of the content in my class is covered through flipped videos, there was only limited value added from that tool. </p><p>Even when Perusall began to <a href="https://support.perusall.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051145213-How-do-I-use-video-in-Perusall-" target="_blank">include videos into their platform</a>, I remained hesitant to embrace this tool. Yes, my students could benefit from greater interactivity in my videos. It is surely better than relying exclusively on basic checks for understanding through EdPuzzle or the post-video discussion forums or Google Forms assessments. But I’ve remained skeptical on just how MUCH better is the Perusall way of handling videos. </p><p>Two recent experiences have caused me to reconsider. During the pandemic, I’ve really been much more mindful of how I spend my face to face time. With the changes caused by remote learning, this time is scarce and more precious than ever. I’ve leaned more into student collaboration and discussion. I’ve also turned over class time for more student presentations this year. Student presentations are tough for me as a flipped teacher because I rarely use synchronous time to lecture anymore, so it stands to reason that using precious face to face time for student lectures is also problematic. But, presenting is an important skill, so I press on. I’ll come back to this idea later.</p><p>The second experience is the recent asynchronous conference: <a href="https://perusall.com/exchange" target="_blank">The Perusall Exchange</a>. This was a two week conference about Perusall hosted on the Perusall platform. As far as I can tell, the presenters were all college professors who use Perusall to support student learning. On the first day, I “attended” two presentations. These presentations were actually flipped videos created by the professors and posted within a course hosted on Perusall. The presenters posted questions and discussion starters, while audience members responded and participated. Audience members also asked questions to presenters, who were able to respond mostly asynchronously. Perusall allows for comment tagging and also lets you know who else is watching the same video. This was truly an innovative and interesting professional development experience. I was able to learn at times convenient for me. But I’ve also been able to interact with the presenters, evidenced by a response to a comment I left at 5am on the first day. </p><p>One idea I’m excited about is offloading the student presentations to videos. This is not a new idea. I’ve done this before with limited success because student peers had limited engagement with student created videos. The logistics were tough to figure out. How can I encourage legitimate engagement with student created videos and hold students accountable? How can I help student presenters encourage engagement with their content? If my student presenters post their videos to a class on Perusall, then I can help presenters create engaging questions and prompts throughout the video, give peer audience members guidance about how to engage and hold the audience accountable for their level of engagement. When students create presentations, I’m not as interested in whether peers can answer factual content questions, as they would with my videos. Rather, I’m interested in peers being engaged with the provocative questions and issues presented by other students. <i>(To be clear, I am also interested in students engaging with my videos in this way as well, but the entire learning cycle of activities are designed to elicit this deep and rich application of the content I present. I don’t have the luxury or even desire to create these post video activities aligned with student presentations. Rather, I need a quick yet powerful mechanism for students to engage with their presentations of their peers.)</i> Perusall appears to address this need. </p><p>The beauty and unintended consequences of this approach is now it would absolutely make sense to make the most of Perusall. Prior to using Perusall for engagement with student created content, using Perusall for the ocasional article or text within my class did not seem worth the hassle. Adding this function with Perusall now makes a lot of sense and I'm looking forward to testing this in the new school year. </p><p><br /></p>Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-39596652311219864922020-06-17T15:21:00.002-04:002020-06-22T12:41:30.990-04:00Keeping Track in a Mastery Based Class<div>After wrestling for years with different systems for keeping track of student progress and interventions for struggling students within an asynchronous course, I finally arrived at a solution that works for me. Learning Management Systems that I have used don't appear to offer helpful internal structures for self paced learning, so I had to develop my own tools. Before diving into the nitty gritty, here's the gist: I set up a suggested pacing calendar that represented the slowest pace allowed in the course. Once the suggested pacing calendar was created, I made a Google tracking Spreadsheet with all of my students in one place, then used the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl4Di8dVrVQ" target="_blank">Import Range</a> formula to automatically update progress in personalized spreadsheets shared with students (and parents and/or tutors as needed.) Within these spreadsheets were predetermined check-in times which also served as triggers for contacting parents or advisors. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The course calendar was the slowest pace allowed in the course. Since the course was self-paced <i>within reason</i>, I no longer distinguished between class and homework. I only shared my expectation for what work needed to be completed by the end of each lesson. The standing homework was to complete whatever did not get done during class. I did not check where students were at the end of each class, unless they needed that support; I was only concerned about their progress at the end of each 8 day cycle (my school has an 8-day schedule) but I recognize a weekly or even shorter cycle might be more helpful for other schools, divisions, etc. <br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKPW1lTHibotkbGJUaHiunXiHt3f1EMq_1BcdzDJklm7L1uGYiCBPlLM8ZbTiuRMmpte8YBzTZGx-EvvyLviqa5DJ45LsPUexDJu_W0qh3cvYIHciJz6YLucGr1ODJ_gWD9t2TC_AuHKlP/s1792/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.41.25+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1792" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKPW1lTHibotkbGJUaHiunXiHt3f1EMq_1BcdzDJklm7L1uGYiCBPlLM8ZbTiuRMmpte8YBzTZGx-EvvyLviqa5DJ45LsPUexDJu_W0qh3cvYIHciJz6YLucGr1ODJ_gWD9t2TC_AuHKlP/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.41.25+PM.png" width="496" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suggested Pacing Calendar<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Students were highly encouraged to show me their work after completing each assignment in order to prevent bottlenecks on Day 8 check-ins. Whenever a student satisfactorily completed an assignment, I updated the master copy of the pacing calendar spreadsheet shown below. <i>Note: in the past, I asked students to update their own progress but found that the students who most needed this type of support were also unreliable in updating their own tracking sheet. </i><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's some useful information to help read the spreadsheet: <br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The left column has names of students in each section and the top row has the name of the assignments. <br /></li><li>The cells in green with an "X" indicates a student has completed the assignment, while cells highlighted red with "no" are missing or incomplete assignments. (Note: a slightly different system could have grades rather than the binary "Yes/No" system described above.)</li><li>The black columns represent a check-in time at the end of every 8 day cycle. <br /></li></ul></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2enhyphenhyphenIuhQhfEhpAGenh4rpZ-FKaX8wo5LARQJ5nZRIrusGaGrAAJIDwPyps-fkx2BsmrIJsqV9oDKYeX5I5fnRRr-5JHJNiqcrJyq1FVz__V8w9yh0MxPoji6jscVMg3gjy9YfTeblhx/s1562/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.23.14+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="1562" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2enhyphenhyphenIuhQhfEhpAGenh4rpZ-FKaX8wo5LARQJ5nZRIrusGaGrAAJIDwPyps-fkx2BsmrIJsqV9oDKYeX5I5fnRRr-5JHJNiqcrJyq1FVz__V8w9yh0MxPoji6jscVMg3gjy9YfTeblhx/w545-h478/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.23.14+PM.png" width="545" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master Spreadsheet<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>If a student did not have all green cells at the designated check in time, then on a second tab shown below, I colored the cell red to indicate "behind" the suggested pacing within the course. I blind copied students who were behind after each cycle with a warning email. For students who I knew there were other significant issues, I sent individualized emails and copied their advisors. For students who were behind two cycles in a role, I sent home an Academic Notification to parents. In our school, these interventions are sent for a number of reasons, including failing an exam or missing several assignments. As the year progressed, I lifted these
notification rules for some students; Eventually by the 4th
quarter, I did not have to do the check-ins for most students. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4fsIkSDckcVcQ0ciqrItih1kV9Yt-vGr3MhzVcC9aAfXEnFa120-8mIaX5amdBiTQoCrMVtVbjNRcYL_UWHMHoLzZUh8LzH_N0xZHEPBMrtuuiinjoKNq43dInZSPCSubRt62XEQLMXZ/s1254/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.19.58+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="1254" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4fsIkSDckcVcQ0ciqrItih1kV9Yt-vGr3MhzVcC9aAfXEnFa120-8mIaX5amdBiTQoCrMVtVbjNRcYL_UWHMHoLzZUh8LzH_N0xZHEPBMrtuuiinjoKNq43dInZSPCSubRt62XEQLMXZ/w500-h483/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.19.58+PM.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cycle Check-in Tab<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>After using this system for a few weeks, students wanted me to post or share access to my master spreadsheet because it helped them keep track of their own progress. Since I did not want students to have access to their peer's data, I used the Import Range formula to link my master spreadsheet to individual student spreadsheets. Shown below is an example of one student's spreadsheet. By using the Import Range formula, I was able to copy a particular segment of my master spreadsheet and place it in an individual student's spreadsheet. Whenever I edited the master spreadsheet, the individual student's spreadsheet also updated. <br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhplb_vtQV1VEyhqjr84WIf3n0x73twqvdlyjzQpnIQCFtH8_MkzPvugSA3hhj35Y5eRDDmtgTkiflGuXR-grWjiRjz3kGmw8wTsMFFCbH0nABOPRRC4Hkh6pbO-pTBy1BKwKKQVv2FTjVk/s2220/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.48.53+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="2220" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhplb_vtQV1VEyhqjr84WIf3n0x73twqvdlyjzQpnIQCFtH8_MkzPvugSA3hhj35Y5eRDDmtgTkiflGuXR-grWjiRjz3kGmw8wTsMFFCbH0nABOPRRC4Hkh6pbO-pTBy1BKwKKQVv2FTjVk/w512-h141/Screen+Shot+2020-06-17+at+2.48.53+PM.png" width="512" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Individual Sheet<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>An added benefit of individualized spreadsheets was being able to share it with
parents, advisor, learning specialist, and/or tutor. If I
wanted certain students to skip an assignment, it was easy to update
the spreadsheet with that information as well. If there were optional
enrichment assignments or particular assignments for different groups of
students, this system also accommodated for that as well. </div><div><br /></div>Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-68817149868775724242016-08-20T11:50:00.000-04:002016-08-20T11:51:16.792-04:00Recent Course Updates and Future Plans<b id="docs-internal-guid-f305834f-a8a2-0450-336d-dfd48a92d489" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f305834f-a8a2-0450-336d-dfd48a92d489" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been awhile since I wrote an article to my blog. I’m unsure if it was due to lack of inspiration, distraction, complacency or some combination of different reasons. My class has continued to evolve and I made important changes to the course. I hope to continue to improve my course and reflect about it online. </span></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f305834f-a8a2-0450-336d-dfd48a92d489" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the last blog post, these are the changes I’ve made to the course:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SBG improvements</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: science process standards that span between units as part of my SBG focus</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flirtation with gamification</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: <b>leader-board</b> and other graphics showing the number of level 4s and mastery projects completed by individuals and classes.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More voice & choice</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: robust offerings of optional units and mastery projects.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Differentiation in content delivery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: iBook that accompanies most of the videos.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lab report improvements</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Less focus on formal lab report writing and greater emphasis on flexible formatted lab write ups.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More flexible hot seats</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: students decided how to show they understood the standards rather than answering questions from me. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Upcoming this year:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personalized learning continuum</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: as I continue to work on voice & choice and differentiation, there will be entire learning cycles that all students will be able to choose. Rather than only offering this choice to students who finish the course earlier than others, there will be two stopping points where all students will have to select a learning cycle from a menu of topics. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Claim Evidence Reasoning: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as I moved away from the traditional format of lab reports, I was proud to see improvements in overall quality, yet many students needed more direction. I will use the technique of Argument Driven Inquiry, also known as Claim-Evidence-Reasoning for lab assignments. As a department, we agreed to adopt Claim-Evidence-Reasoning for lab reports because it helps to focus the students on the important elements of experiment analysis. </span></div>
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</b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-1369555484190739882016-01-08T10:34:00.000-05:002016-02-01T08:36:46.289-05:00Straddling the Asynchronous - Synchronous Line<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Perhaps the greatest sense of pedagogical innovation and challenge of my course is the desire to offer differentiated pacing. The last few years, my flipped course has been asynchronous. </span><br />
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<b>One on hand...</b></div>
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It's been a great experience. Students have learned to become more responsible for their learning and self-directed. Asynchrony has also allowed students to slow down when they struggle with the content and speed up during other times. This has given me an opportunity to work with individual students on their particular needs. Excelling students can learn content beyond the scope of my course if they finish the course or particular units quickly. Struggling students no longer have to worry that their questions or misconceptions are slowing down the rest of the class.</div>
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<b>On the other hand...</b></div>
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I've found in past years that the majority of students who work from behind are due to time management and motivational issues, rather than profound challenges with the content. The reason for moving to an asynchronous class is to allow students to learn at the speed which helps them learn most effectively. Unfortunately, while asynchrony has benefited the excelling and struggling students achieve this goal, it has been a struggle for some of the middle students with executive functioning and motivational issues. In essence, I've given these students the opportunity to slack off. In a synchronous class, these students would have been forced to learn more. </div>
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Another issue is when students are learning and struggling together, it bonds them in an inspiring way. It creates a class culture that is hard to recreate in an asynchronous class. </div>
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Last year I made a conscious effort to recreate some of the synchronous experiences in the asynchronous setting. Students responded to warm up and exit ticket prompts in their journals at the beginning and ending of lessons. We played formative assessment games and did peer instruction at the beginning of other lessons. Students planned out their week at the beginning of Mondays and reflected about their week last thing on Fridays. These were helpful strategies to develop student metacognition. But I've found this year's cohort do not require the same level of reflection and for the most part can handle the content with ease. Therefore, these ideas are not as helpful. </div>
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This year, I've made some changes that I hope will better serve these students. Rather than giving away complete autonomy of pacing, my suggested course calendar represents the slowest speed allowable. Students have permission to move ahead but cannot fall behind. After students fall behind beyond a time frame (every 8 days), I send home academic notifications. When it becomes obvious that a student is in jeopardy of falling behind, I try to send a warning email to the student prior to sending home a notification. Since students are no longer required to map out their week, I do not start Monday's with the planning activity. In fact, I try to give the students as much asynchronous time as possible since I'm holding them more accountable to work at a certain pace. This also means doing away with the journaling. Instead, I've been more strategic about how to use synchronous times in class. </div>
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So far, I've kept the formative assessment games and peer instruction when it appears necessary based on how well the students are grasping the material. In addition, I've reinstituted the Socratic seminar discussions. Perhaps I hastily gave up the seminar discussions last year - they are a true joy. They breathe a life into the class that was missing last year. Students report enjoying the discussions because they find the articles and controversial issues interesting. They also enjoy switching to full class activities once in awhile. To facilitate optimal engagement, I give students a heads up of the scheduled date for the seminar and encourage students to be ready to talk by that date.</div>
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The final synchronous exercises I've reinstituted is the full class exam and common due dates for lab reports/write ups. As I predicted in a previous blog article, these deadlines have helped keep students accountable for pushing through the curriculum at a reasonable pace. The biggest deadline is also at the end of quarters; students must earn level 3 on specific "I can" statements by the end of the quarter. </div>
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I'm hoping the suggested pacing calendars and the synchronous scaffolds of quarter, semi-weekly, test, lab report, and full class discussion deadlines will provide enough structure and accountability in my asynchronous course to help students who need traditional elements of schooling. I also hope that these attempts of support will still allow students to learn at their own pace instead of being rushed through the curriculum. In essence, I hope I'm successfully straddling the synchronous-asynchronous line. </div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-17601942953911506622015-11-13T19:12:00.001-05:002015-12-01T23:05:18.414-05:00From Paper to Paperless to Paper?I r<span style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">emember a time when educators on Twitter and other social media cheerleading </span><span style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">paperless classes. I've been paperless for years without it being an explicit goal. Don't get me wrong, it does have some advantages. No longer do I have to worry about loosing a student's assignment or carrying a stack of papers during winter break. I'm even more grateful that I don't have to make photocopies before class or print out extras for students who loose their first copy. Similar to the "real world," students can gather more materials on demand without needing a mediator. In many ways, going paperless has shifted responsibility over to students - missing a note sheet or handout, go online and get it yourself! </span><div><div><div style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><div><br></div><div>I do worry about potential issues. If students can get more copies of handouts on their own, then what encourages them to keep track of the first version? When I was a student, I had to organize my papers and when I failed to be responsible, then I would have to face my teacher's disapproving expression. I wonder to what extent I'm enabling the students who could otherwise be organized.</div><div><br></div><div>The other issue is related to learning. The research is clear: students learn more effectively when they are writing on paper, rather than typing on a screen, and reading from paper than from a screen. The move to paperless is counter to the current data on memory and learning. I suppose the appropriate response is the sum total of human collective knowledge is readily accessible via mobile devices, at lighting fast speeds; therefore, education should shift from memorizing facts to higher order tasks - a fair response indeed. But I can't imagine these advocates would argue against students memorizing any facts. The question, rather, is how many facts ought to be memorized.</div><div><br></div><div>I tried this year to move back across the aisle to using paper. At the beginning of the year, I told students they had to print the video note sheets and hand write their notes. We also briefly talked about the research that supports this mandate. I also provided binders, free of cost, to students who wanted them. I have to admit that I haven't been enforcing this mandate. I have no idea how many students are taking handwritten notes. Guess it's time to find out. </div></div></div></div>Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-66446200312921649122015-07-23T12:00:00.000-04:002015-07-24T10:07:05.438-04:00Challenging Assumptions: A Post Flipcon15 Reflection<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWCZU66sAQtHzD9BbEjiRG9KHBGU8cgyNrgSSc2lDWa5doD9o_Dv_2Ob5oZ4pkyhfvKYn-QlWPowpsqoKG1znaVCWWp5zcvV_cmpncfBpKc1bx8R4hfRDraR1wCZD3kFQPf9PJeXG9Whd/s1600/2591181606_4a9e2a4632_o+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWCZU66sAQtHzD9BbEjiRG9KHBGU8cgyNrgSSc2lDWa5doD9o_Dv_2Ob5oZ4pkyhfvKYn-QlWPowpsqoKG1znaVCWWp5zcvV_cmpncfBpKc1bx8R4hfRDraR1wCZD3kFQPf9PJeXG9Whd/s320/2591181606_4a9e2a4632_o+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Armato // Flickr</td></tr>
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The last few years of teaching has forced me to challenge normal assumptions about teaching and learning. I’ve done a great deal to test these assumptions, whether through my work on flipped learning and standards based grading. This year’s FlipCon showed me that there is still much work to be done. <br>
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The great <a href="https://twitter.com/paulandersen" target="_blank">Paul Andersen</a> of <a href="http://www.bozemanscience.com/" target="_blank">Bozeman</a> Science gave a wonderful keynote and workshop on the first day. I must digress for an interesting observation; Paul Andersen’s Blended Learning Cycles are similar to my Mastery Learning Cycles. At first, I thought I may have unconsciously borrowed from something I read or watched about his course. But I soon realized that we had similar inspiration. We were both inspired by the mastery flip class movement, as well as <a href="https://twitter.com/ramusallam" target="_blank">Ramsey</a> Musallam’s criticism of mastery. Ramsey, another flipped educators, argued that inquiry should play a large role in science instruction; therefore, exploration should happen before direct instruction from video - hence the creation of flipped learning cycles. A second similarity between our models is the mandated small group or one-on-one discussions with students after the first year of experimenting with our flipped learning cycles. Both Paul and I experienced a disconnect from the learning of our students when we incorporated asynchronous learning in our respective courses. We both saw the need to fix our courses by putting us back into our courses. <br>
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This is where Paul’s insights have helped me going forward. He advocated the use of design thinking in education. He bluntly, and correctly, argued that teachers need to accept responsibility for fixing issues in our courses. If the class is not working, it is most likely the teacher who is the issue. Just as Paul and I identified and responded to a major issue after year one of our flipped learning cycle, teachers need to redesign their courses to address problems. Whenever something is not working in my course in the future, I will remember Paul’ challenge to use design thinking to fix it.<br>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/KtBkr4" target="_blank">Kate Baker</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/lindsaybcole" target="_blank">Lindsay Cole</a> led an engaging discussion about grading practices during their presentation. It dovetailed with my presentation with <a href="https://twitter.com/AlynnMeyer" target="_blank">Amanda Meyer</a> about standard based grading. Both sessions touched on assumptions about grading practices. I was pleased to see that there is an appetite in the flipped learning community to rethink what we grade, how we grade and the purpose of grading. In the polls conducted by Lindsay and Kate, a majority of the teachers were in favor of flexible due dates and allowing students to redo work. Even though I consider myself progressive about grading, I am still trying to figure out how to discourage students from taking advantage of my willingness to make accommodations. Specifically, <a href="https://twitter.com/chemicalsams" target="_blank">Aaron Sams</a> raised the question of making students feel the sting of procrastination without contaminating the grade, which should reflect learning. <br>
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The final workshop I attended was also led by Lindsay Cole. She discussed the use of student generated content. She advocated letting students teach other students through the creation of content. Lindsay made an important distinction between student projects and content. Projects typically cover content already covered and are typically made for the benefit of the teacher to evaluate the learning. On the other hand, student generated content is generated for the purpose of teaching other classmates. Of course, projects are typically shared with classmates during presentations but student generated content is intended to actually teach or cover the content of the course. This topic is of great interest to me. Some of my students who strive for level 4 on some learning targets create similar projects that I use for remediation for other students. Lindsay’s presentation showed me that I haven’t pushed the envelope enough. Rather than relegating the student mastery artifacts to the remediation library, these projects can be the main vehicle for teaching the content. I do wonder if students, especially middle school ones, will be able to internalize the content while creating the projects and whether the audience will effectively learn the content. The final obstacle is Lindsay's structure seems more consistent with synchronous rather than asynchronous courses. However, I am encouraged by Paul Andersen’s challenge, I’ll have to redesign the course such that student generated content is a viable option - moving to synchronous learning for certain units and having student groups initially learn from learning cycles before teaching to other students are ideas that come to mind. Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-84654008325301862182015-07-08T18:00:00.002-04:002015-07-08T18:01:25.127-04:00Looking Back on My Second Year of Asynchronous Learning<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
Due to specific issues in asynchronous learning last year, I started the year by scaffolding mastery. The scaffolding seemed to help students learn the organization of the course before attempting the challenge of asynchronous learning. This year, students were closer together at the end of the year, than in the previous year. While most students were successful, the students who lacked motivation and follow-through continued to struggle.</div>
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The most frequent piece of advice my students left for next year's students have to do with keeping up in an asynchronous class. To help students stay afloat, I will mandate cumulative exams. I hope the exams will act as deadlines without completely taking away independence, which many of my students valued. The added benefits of cumulative exams is preparation for final exams and it provides more data for me to evaluate student progress on learning targets.</div>
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I tried differentiating the final exam with three versions based on percent of the content covered: 90%, 97% and 100%. After some protests from students, I let students choose which final to take rather than mandating the version. The overwhelming majority opted for the most difficult exam and averaged a "B+." Unfortunately, the students who opted for the lower exams performed poorly, with only one student earning a respectable "B." Aside from a few marginal passes and the lone "B", the handful of students who opted for the less rigorous finals failed. I wonder if announcing there will be different finals altered the study ritual for struggling students. In addition, all but one of the struggling students worked from behind and used a lot of effort in the final weeks to play catch up, rather than prepare for the final. Another confounder is these students also failed other final exams.</div>
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Earlier in the year, I missed the synchronous discussions of past years like Socratic Seminars. Perhaps along the way, I got use to doing without them but I no longer see them as a great loss. If I'm being completely honest with myself, these discussions weren't as transformative and powerful as I know they are in some other courses. At this point, offloading these discussions to online forums in the engagement segment at the beginning of learning cycles, seem to be an appropriate decision.</div>
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I do, however, need to refocus on offering some synchronous activities like formative assessments to build a sense of community and maximize opportunities for students to collaborate and help peers. In an asynchronous class, group member choice is limited to the students working on the same step. Including more of these synchronous assessments and learning opportunities, students can collaborate with new group members.</div>
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The asynchronous debate is still the biggest source of concern and pride. In the exit surveys, many students cited the independence as their favorite part of the course, while roughly the same number cited it as the most challenging aspect of the course. Right now, I plan to continue running an asynchronous course, not only for reasons cited in previous blog posts but because so many students never have to opportunity to learn how to work independently, set priorities and manage their time. These skills are needed by adults but are infrequently developed in primary and secondary schools. I'll continue to fight the good fight...</div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-10218336807859704182015-06-24T10:40:00.000-04:002015-06-24T10:42:22.592-04:00Looking Back on my First Year of Standards Based Grading<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
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The move to standards based grading solved many issues from last year. Conversations shifted away from percentages to learning. When a student struggled, we talked about specific learning targets rather than scores or whether an assignment was turned in or not. Equally as significant was the shift in my role. I wrote at the end of last year's reflection blog <a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/06/looking-back-on-my-first-full-year-of.html" target="_blank">post</a>, I felt like a study hall monitor, spending the bulk of my time checking off assignments. This year, I'm proud to report I spent most of my time answering questions, giving feedback and challenging students as they tried to convince me they understood learning targets. </div>
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I had a better clue about what my students knew and did not know. I was better able to communicate the progress of each student and many students had a much clearer idea of what they needed to work on. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Admittedly, a number of my students shared they didn't pay attention to the "I can" statements. I believe a solution is to change the hot seat discussions; students will decide how they want to prove to me they understand an "I can" statement before gaining permission to take a summative quiz. </span></div>
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The tracking system and grade book were clear and helpful. All activities were aligned to learning targets. In previous years, students argued they could learn without completing certain assignments - this was not as much a criticism this year. Even if some students did not pay attention to the "I can" statements, students were aware of what they needed to do and why they needed to complete certain assignments.</div>
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Most important was the buy-in of my students to revise and redo assignments. Many of my students appeared to have or develop a growth mindset regarding science class - or at least, this particular science class. Of course, some students didn't want to do quiz error forms and the obstacles I put in place for permissions to redo quizzes, but they all wanted the redos. </div>
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Given that some students paid very little attention to the standards, it's no surprise that only a handful of students opted for mastery level on the standards. Some students shared reluctance in completing the projects because they were fearful of falling behind. Students also questioned my prohibition of using class time for these projects - a decision made to encourage students to move forward and not fall behind, which I am currently rethinking. </div>
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There are other tweaks that come to mind. I wonder if I should require students to earn a perfect score on the quizzes to earn proficient, instead of 80%. The argument makes sense. If students really understand the concept, they should be able to answer 5 out of 5 application level questions. This would require expanding my question bank and opening quiz attempts to five, instead of three. I would have to adjust my retake policy to account for the increased attempts. Alternatively, the most recent, not the highest, score on a summative assessment will stand. If a student retakes a quiz and earns a lower score, then that score will be used to evaluate the student. Again, if a student truly understands a concept, they should be able to pass a similar assessment a few days after a previous attempt. If they earn a lower score after a subsequent attempt, then arguably, the student did not really understand the learning target.</div>
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The most important adjustment I need to make is crafting the learning targets that span over several units. This year, I focused on the content standards specific to certain units. This was a decision of convenience. Unfortunately, the result was inconsistent and informal tracking and assessment of the important science process skills like organizing and analyzing data and using evidence to support claims. </div>
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Even though I'm rethinking some of the finer details and execution of standards based grading, I have enough evidence that the model works. I look forward to a second year of standards based grading. </div>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-urgent-need-for-standards-based.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/noimg_28_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-urgent-need-for-standards-based.html" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Urgent Need for Standards Based Grading</a></li>
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</div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-70418674414824058352015-06-17T20:14:00.003-04:002015-06-17T20:16:16.478-04:00Questions and Answers about Flipped Learning<span style="font-weight: normal;">Today, I presented about flipped learning at my school. As part of the planning process, I sent a survey to find out what the participants wanted to know about flipped learning. As I began to plan, I realized I would be unable to answer the range of questions within the constraints of the workshop. Below is a copy of the document I crafted to answer some of those questions.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. What was your and/or your students' biggest challenge at the beginning of introducing the concept of a flipped classroom?</span></b></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was some resistance and some scapegoating. If a student struggled in my course, it was because “of the flipped thing.” I’ve found students who struggle in my class, struggle in several courses. </span></b></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other challenge was organizational. I moved early to an asynchronous course so managing the organization of the materials, videos and keeping track of students was tough. Students were genuinely confused. </span></b></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, making enough videos to be ahead of the students was hard. Ideally, the first unit of videos should be made during the summer. I wanted perfection, so I spent several hours making just one video. I no longer strive for perfection because there are diminishing returns on making great videos. The videos are to convey information or demonstrate something, so they don’t need to be perfect -- just good enough to make the point. </span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Is the flipped classroom something for a certain age-range, type of learning? Is it applicable to any kind of subject?</span></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-dac7774d-03f8-8f46-e158-e82981359c72" style="font-weight: normal;">
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The easiest answer is to say that flipped learning is appropriate for all disciplines and age ranges because there are teachers from different grade levels and disciplines flipping their courses with success. The movement started with science teachers in high school and it has spread to all disciplines and age ranges. There is a social network where you can connect with other teachers in your discipline and division - </span><a href="http://flippedclassroom.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://flippedclassroom.org/</span></a></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The difficult answer is to say that a teacher needs to be aware of what works best for their students. You may not want to assign any homework or your course may not benefit from offloading direct instruction to video. </span></div>
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<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Have the students' performances improved, since the inclusion of flipped learning? </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, see more info here </span><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-results-of-semester-of-flip-class.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-results-of-semester-of-flip-class.html</span></a></div>
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</ul>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Are teachers doing a lot more work outside of school preparing lessons than you once did? What are the downsides? </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the beginning (first school year of flipping), there was a lot of work. But there isn’t as much prep time anymore. In fact, there is less prep work now than before flipping. I show up to class to help students, not to put on a performance. My stress levels are way down! </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More important, I take home significantly less grading. I give students feedback mostly in class, which result in better products. These better products are easier to grade. </span></div>
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<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. How does it flow? How do you organize it especially since it's asynchronous? Are there times where you need the entire class to be at a certain time in terms of their understanding and how do you get them to be there? What hasn't worked so well and why? </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve written a lot about asynchronous or mastery learning on my blog - here is the link that has all of the articles tagged with asynchronous learning - </span><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/search/label/Asynchronous" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/search/label/Asynchronous</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am working on a 2nd year of asynchronous learning blog post, so check my blog later in the week for the most up to date post - wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. How can I introduce self-paced learning without making it too hard on students who have little motivation, don't function well independently, or those who just produce little output?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I still struggle with this part of the course. It is the single biggest source of struggle for me. I did a better job this year. I scaffolded asynchronous learning. The first unit was synchronous. In the second unit, I shared a suggested timeline. By the third unit, I let students work asynchronously but mandated a plan for each week outlining the homework and classwork for each day. A detailed blog post about the process I used to help students with asynchronous learning - </span><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/10/scaffolding-asynchronous-learning.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/10/scaffolding-asynchronous-learning.html</span></a></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7. If you are not creating your own videos, where are the best places to find streaming media to use?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Youtube, teachertube, </span><a href="http://ed.ted.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://ed.ted.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Vimeo, and Showme.com<b> </b>are sites that come to mind. There is also Khan Academy but the videos aren't particularly engaging. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8. How can videos help me teach grammar and pronunciation for US language classes?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few ideas...</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any direct instruction that you currently do in class about grammar and pronunciation can be offloaded to video. Have the students watch it and complete a quick accountability check as homework. Even have kids prepare questions before class. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can ask students to create videos where they record their own lessons, pronounce words, etc. Have students collaborate to make videos, perhaps recording a conversation in the language or performing a skit. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The biggest benefit is if students watch your videos for homework, then class time can be saved for more application. Students can spend more time reading, writing and conversing in the language during class where you can support them and give “in the moment” feedback. </span></div>
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</ol>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9. Are there ways of doing flipped learning that are not too demanding of teacher preparation time?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using pre-made videos made by others can save tons of time. See question 4. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10. I have heard some students say that they do not always learn the material as well when they're doing it on their own because they're not able to ask questions when content is introduced. What have people who have incorporated flipped learning experienced?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve heard the same from some of my students when I first started. (See question 1). However, I don’t hear that concern anymore. It is especially not a concern anymore because students are allowed to watch videos in class. But even as I have made that change, I don’t get many questions from students during video viewing in class. </span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11. I understand the filming yourself lessons as HW part, but I'm more curious as to what class time is used for then.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The simplest answer is to just flip what you normally assign as homework becomes class work. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But that would make class boring if every lesson was just classwork. My question to you is, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“what are the things you would do if more time was added to your course?” I would start by incorporating those activities into the class time. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some immediate ideas come to mind: </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">more discussions</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">more projects</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">students creation of content like videos, posters & presentations</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hands on activities</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">one on one conferences with students</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">portfolio work</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">collaborative-group work</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">more writing, blogging</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">peer evaluation</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reflection</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">games</span></div>
</li>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12. Techniques & technology to make the videos as visual appealing and accessible as possible. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s attractive to worry about making excellent videos but my experience is making excellent videos takes a lot of time and effort - probably more so than what they are worth. Think about your experience with making PowerPoint presentations. There is always room for improvement but there are diminishing returns when making the “perfect” presentation, if such a thing exists. Rather, the focus should be on making “good enough” videos. There are best practices for making videos, some of which we will briefly discuss during the workshop. However, students don’t ultimately learn the content exclusively through the video or even a live lecture/presentation. It is during the struggle to apply the content that students begin to learn. I would focus more energy and time on making effective assignments, learning opportunities and assessments. </span></div>
</b>Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-88416459313852479702015-06-10T15:24:00.001-04:002015-06-29T15:34:15.014-04:00Teacher's Survivor Guide to Flipped Learning<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">As a follow up to suggestions for students to excel in a flipped class, I offer some assistance for teachers who wish to convert from traditional to flipped courses. </span><br />
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<ol>
<li>Know why you're making the switch, the reason(s) must go beyond the cool factor or a way to mix things up. Identify and communicate what you're trying to accomplish by flipping. Flipping is most useful when it is used to solve a problem or enhance or maximize features within a course, rather than merely following a trend. For example, will flipping allow for more differentiation, problem based learning, projects, writers workshops, student centered learning, discussions or labs? If you're not immediately sure how you will recuperate class time, then perhaps you're not ready to flip your class.</li>
<li>Keep data on student progress. Parents and administrators will want to know if the switch to flipped learning has been successful. Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your class and continue to make improvements. </li>
<li>Connect to other flipped teachers and look for opportunities to collaborate. You will get tons of ideas about implementation, as well as warnings about common pitfalls. Consider joining Twitter and Google Plus, there is a robust #flipclass community which discuss issues in flipped classes. </li>
<li>There are tons of variants of flipped classes; you will have important decisions to make. Will your course be synchronous or asynchronous? Will you offer anticipatory work before students watch videos? What will you use to create, host and share videos?</li>
<li>Make own videos, if you can. Perhaps in the beginning, you will not have an extensive library of your own videos, so you may need to have a combination of your videos and videos found online. Since you are not giving direct instruction in class anymore, students will be somewhat removed from you. Having your own voice and perhaps even face on videos can bridge some of that gap. </li>
<li>Keep videos short. It's better to have two videos rather than one long video. Students can get intimidated from having to sit through one long video. By splitting the video into shorter ones, students can get positive reinforcement and a sense of accomplishment when they complete the videos. On a similar note, try to limit each video to only one core idea or concept. Not only will this help to keep videos short but it will help students rewatch only the videos they need. Consider making separate videos for concept introduction and demonstration of examples. Students who don't need to see multiple examples won't have to sit through needless video footage. </li>
<li>Hold students accountable for watching the videos. Think about what you will do if students do not watch the video. Create a post-video assignment to ensure students understood the content. It doesn't have to be long and exhausting but it should hold students accountable for watching the videos. Have students take notes and submit questions they'd like to have answered. There are some sites like <a href="https://educanon.com/" target="_blank">educannon</a> or <a href="https://www.zaption.com/" target="_blank">zaption</a> that can embed questions into videos and pause the videos until students have answered the questions; they also provide embed codes in order to store and share these interactive videos on your website or learning management system.</li>
<li>Make a commitment to avoid reteaching the content in class; otherwise, students will learn videos are not required. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Consider providing a guided note sheet to help students pinpoint the important information from the videos. You can always wean students off note sheets as the school year goes on.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ask for student feedback. Make appropriate adjustments. </span> </li>
<li>Respect the learning curve. Be open to students being confused and even resistant to change. Be patient even when you're setting consistent expectations. Give yourself the same patience. You won't get it right the first time, the second time or even subsequent times. If you are a veteran, then you have learned to be effective in different ways. It will take time be effective in this new way. </li>
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What suggestions have I missed? <a href="https://twitter.com/Mr_Driscoll" target="_blank">Tom Driscoll</a>, a fellow flipped educator, offers some other tips in his video embedded below.</div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-30759225772716149722015-05-29T15:03:00.004-04:002015-05-29T15:04:20.578-04:00Student Survivor Guide to Flipped Learning<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWmehBFdxgh8iPUU0QQKYrCr5s_rQsxXjjgFEE3dei73Z1SncaGbKWyFhG95DBQca7Jl3u8sIwZOpD7tev6Y3YqV8p6a7_KS1W61zIB3XyCxmRmhukY5RTJgXWlvQEUAh8Kv5DaAxNV8n/s1600/apocalyptic-158627_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWmehBFdxgh8iPUU0QQKYrCr5s_rQsxXjjgFEE3dei73Z1SncaGbKWyFhG95DBQca7Jl3u8sIwZOpD7tev6Y3YqV8p6a7_KS1W61zIB3XyCxmRmhukY5RTJgXWlvQEUAh8Kv5DaAxNV8n/s320/apocalyptic-158627_1280.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>OpenClips // pixabay</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">This post is dedicated to my former and current students who have helped me tweak my flipped class. This post is in service to future students, containing suggestions from former and current students in order to successfully navigate flip class. </span><br />
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<b>Suggestions:</b></div>
<ol>
<li>Focus on work in class. There are plenty of opportunities for collaboration but don't get distracted by your peers or devices. </li>
<li>Assign yourself homework on a nearly nightly basis. If you miss an evening, increase your future plans accordingly. </li>
<li>Plan ahead, think about your after school commitments and adjust plans when new ones arise without falling behind. </li>
<li>Be willing to work with others and change your groups as often as needed in order to work to your best ability. This may mean avoiding working with your best friends. Put pressure on peers to stay focused and be open to pressure from peers to get work done. </li>
<li>Ask for help but also avoid relying on the teacher. </li>
<li>Promptly revise and redo work after feedback. </li>
<li>Stay organized - keep course content in one place. </li>
<li>Be tech savvy. Know how to use the Learning Management System, do online research, create videos and send and share electronic documents. You should feel comfortable using Google Drive, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.apple.com/apps/imovie/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="IMovie">iMovie</a>, Notability, Apps that can take screen shots and record screen casts, and create presentations. </li>
<li>Be flexible - adjust to changes in the course. </li>
<li>Read all instructions.</li>
<li>Actively, not passively, watch videos. Use pause and rewind as often as needed. When the videos ask questions, pause and attempt to answer the questions. </li>
</ol>
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In general, you should be an active problem solver and take ownership / responsibility of learning - schedule appointments, follow through on plans, adjust plans. If you follow these guidelines, you should have success in the class. </div>
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Did I miss something? </div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-20813021586412607132015-05-15T09:38:00.000-04:002015-05-29T15:05:11.400-04:00Natural Selection Meets Flipped Mastery<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 10px 10px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;">
<i><b>The following article was featured in Carolina Tips in the spring of
2015, the online newsletter by Carolina Biological - a vendor that
sells lab supplies and equipment to science teachers. </b></i> </div>
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The benefit of mastery learning has been known since Benjamin Bloom's research<sup style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;">1</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the 1980s, as he sought to find a teaching method as effective as individual tutorial in the group setting. At the time, mastery learning was impractical because it entailed students working at their own pace and the teacher administering multiple individualized assessments. With today's technology (online quizzes with randomized questions, free video hosting sites, and learning management systems, to name a few), mastery learning is now possible.</div>
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<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" />Mastery and flipped learning complementary</h3>
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The unit on natural selection in my 8th grade Introductory Biology course has been revamped by mastery and flipped learning. Mastery and flipped learning complement each other. Offloading lectures to videos allows students to work at their own pace students because they can watch or re-watch a lecture when they are ready.</div>
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The natural selection unit starts with an exploration, the Chips Are Down lab, where students simulate natural selection and are challenged by using this experience to hypothesize how populations evolve. After an initial hypothesis, students take notes from a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQFoyWUE-Oc&feature=youtu.be" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; color: #416e9b; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_blank">video</a><b style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>outlining Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Using the principles of natural selection learned in the video and experienced in the exploration, students complete a problem set to practice generating hypotheses about different populations’ adaptations.</div>
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Students are then assigned differentiated case studies based on level of difficulty. For example, advanced students may have to analyze contradictory and incomplete data to hypothesize why humans evolved different skin colors. Struggling students analyze straightforward data to hypothesize why clovers have stripes and produce cyanide in some environments and not in others. These case studies, and tons of others related to biology, can be found on the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; color: #416e9b; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_blank">National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Web site.</div>
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<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" />Unit assessment</h3>
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After students apply their understanding of natural selection to different scenarios through the problem set and case studies, they are asked to revise their initial hypothesis from the exploration about how populations, in general, evolve. After a one-on-one or small group discussion with me, students receive permission to sit for the unit assessment. If students are denied permission or under-perform on the unit assessment, they are required to make corrections and complete remediation activities aligned to the deficiencies or misconceptions uncovered during our talk or unit assessment. Students who wish to demonstrate learning or explore the topic at a deeper level can tackle optional projects.</div>
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<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" />Tailored to students' needs and abilities</h3>
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Combining both flipped and mastery in the natural selection unit has allowed me to strategically provide targeted intervention and differentiate content and assessments. In the past, advanced and struggling students had to complete the same assignments on the same days. The advanced students, who understood the concepts the first time they heard them from me, had to wait until the course caught up to their pace. Struggling students had to move on to the next lesson, whether they understood it or not. With flipped and mastery learning, students who are struggling, advanced, or in between all experience an education tailored to their needs and abilities.<br />
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<sup style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;">1</sup><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Bloom, B. 1984. “The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;">Educational Researcher</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>13, 6: 4–16.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://web.mit.edu/5.95/readings/bloom-two-sigma.pdf" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #416e9b; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;" target="_blank">http://web.mit.edu/5.95/readings/bloom-two-sigma.pdf</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">.</span> </div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-35935347537405481562015-05-08T09:10:00.000-04:002015-05-08T09:10:18.756-04:00Art of Teaching Lecture<div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1FxAGXQVR7w1ENDwI9vARD6yrpqOjZalz9MmtMeXF3XTCY-7uN_DoBHhxhlLg-kbp6WfgItuSpfEAHGTM77RwGhIV2xuQZeQ1bRCbRM6To7ed5egohQVO_I4NbjBpDTSLLqBXgZI0hCx/s1600/AOT+lecture.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1FxAGXQVR7w1ENDwI9vARD6yrpqOjZalz9MmtMeXF3XTCY-7uN_DoBHhxhlLg-kbp6WfgItuSpfEAHGTM77RwGhIV2xuQZeQ1bRCbRM6To7ed5egohQVO_I4NbjBpDTSLLqBXgZI0hCx/s1600/AOT+lecture.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had the distinct privilege of being honored along with two other colleagues with the Art of Teaching Award. As part of this wonderful distinction, we presented a summary of the work we do with students at an evening lecture at our school. <span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">A summary of the evening can be found on the school <a href="http://www.friendsseminary.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&nid=975847&rc=0" target="_blank">website</a> and the slides from my portion of the lecture are below along with pictures. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoo1cg4AEqZgRspTdfbS2n-No6AqtYq-yyulEKJGhJhs5fF39Dp26a1GpBk_ROHqLKoGyUwKVlXaH7NjZcXQxyg_5ZPiu-UhthQQ6iG40hJvm_rGsKrawLU2Lk2Qx03nPXyNbsA2YU8Yj/s1600/042015-Art-of-Teaching-SFK-18-L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoo1cg4AEqZgRspTdfbS2n-No6AqtYq-yyulEKJGhJhs5fF39Dp26a1GpBk_ROHqLKoGyUwKVlXaH7NjZcXQxyg_5ZPiu-UhthQQ6iG40hJvm_rGsKrawLU2Lk2Qx03nPXyNbsA2YU8Yj/s1600/042015-Art-of-Teaching-SFK-18-L.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GpRnIwxhoC7IErk9xfQy2-Ip3ICu08y8MoEqiXD35RG3rZGYYO8kZNO7kcgZc0krJHMYYqUsnDnvwWc_ORQstQ6wuOHM8OjWduUUuQkERFwM1MzKx8Ol9KejFY372DzorQYvhMvgXLs4/s1600/042015-Art-of-Teaching-SFK-23-L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GpRnIwxhoC7IErk9xfQy2-Ip3ICu08y8MoEqiXD35RG3rZGYYO8kZNO7kcgZc0krJHMYYqUsnDnvwWc_ORQstQ6wuOHM8OjWduUUuQkERFwM1MzKx8Ol9KejFY372DzorQYvhMvgXLs4/s1600/042015-Art-of-Teaching-SFK-23-L.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">During my portion of the lecture, I tried to convey how offloading direct instruction to video has ironically allowed for greater personalization. When I began this journey, I wouldn't have anticipated the opportunity to offer this level of personalization. I have been experimenting with allowing students to work at their own pace and the freedom to make choices about what they learn and how to show they have learned the material. I continue to attempt to maximize the extent at which I can differentiate and plan to offer more choice in content and demonstration of learning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="389" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YcPFQuvfp0waeSoKUDgQhsu2iV6KVSMBlzZn67VYFcg/embed?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="480"></iframe></span>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-86137330028759370262015-04-27T20:34:00.001-04:002015-04-29T09:28:38.682-04:00How Homework has Evolved in My Class<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_MZMoH7VyuHZpJBDxCCSg1IkTVkG5RI5nZTH5boiiEt9RcWGUyhjjSrPzLWhLNfz7qb_q6ElUy5vATVq1L3HiuH_2NPvefVKenOkpzKIU-PJHoxVJlKd04MojeIIrCGS_VbnSFdrzlbeO/s1600/hw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_MZMoH7VyuHZpJBDxCCSg1IkTVkG5RI5nZTH5boiiEt9RcWGUyhjjSrPzLWhLNfz7qb_q6ElUy5vATVq1L3HiuH_2NPvefVKenOkpzKIU-PJHoxVJlKd04MojeIIrCGS_VbnSFdrzlbeO/s1600/hw.png" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russavia // wikipedia</td></tr>
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After offloading direct instruction to flipped videos, the idea of homework has changed greatly. In my earlier teaching years, I would save the most difficult thinking for homework because there wasn't enough time to do it in class.<br />
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When I first started to flip, the videos and associated Google form and guided notes became homework. The Google form grew from accountability understanding-level questions to having students submit questions and evaluate the videos. </div>
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As my class became asynchronous, homework almost faded into obscurity. Homework and class work blends into each other. Basically, students map out their week on Monday and decide what they need to get done in class and out of class each day. Perhaps they have a long night away from home on Tuesday and need to make up for it Wednesday night. Perhaps they slacked off in class on Friday and need to add some work for the weekend. Maybe they failed a quiz and need to complete the remediation activities only required after a poor showing on a quiz, as well as study for the retake. As Spider-Man warns, with great power comes great responsibility. </div>
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Along with this change, came the philosophy that not all students need the same amount of work or practice. For problem sets, students complete the handful of mandatory problems that I have denoted as important. They won't ever have to complete the additional problems, unless they feel the need or fail a quiz. The idea is not all sizes fit but "poor" decisions are not rewarded. Once interventions become necessary, then students loose some of that delicious freedom! </div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-7146290142076084882015-03-28T16:30:00.004-04:002015-04-21T20:23:30.188-04:00Metacognition<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5575/14887464025_31b809421a_h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5575/14887464025_31b809421a_h.jpg" width="311"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Flickr // mrsdkreb</i></td></tr>
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One of my goals this year has been to focus on metacognition. Overall, I see a positive change; my students show more awareness of their learning and progress in the course. I still have more work to do; specifically, my students haven't demonstrated that they know how to maximize their own learning and they haven't expressed the importance of Metacognition.<br>
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<b>What I've done so far:</b></div>
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The bulk of Metacognition has taken place through electronic journal entries and feedback forms. Students keep a journal in the Notability app on the iPads. I appreciate that Notability offers students the chance to organize their documents into folders. In addition to typing, students can draw or insert images, and even record their voices. PDF versions can be emailed to me. Typically, I ask students to reflect in their journal during the first and last few minutes of class, respectively called warm ups & exit tickets. While these tasks also include content based activities like Peer Instruction and review games, the majority of the time, students set goals, reflect about what they know and don't know, as well as evaluate their effort and group dynamics. An example of the first prompt of each week is below. <br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KXO8y2Qg4VT6tpn9YQyK-QnsNhu2nbQqzDtfmu3-sBQinxL3uS8Jd1YGpLwRVmC_OxMzZkQAx89kVjmskipwI3ZrsyfEb86Zqbu2c6XGDlZJnmQyC3cbPnP-KWrpqQ8VTYhnlsdNYlCC/s1600/week+plan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KXO8y2Qg4VT6tpn9YQyK-QnsNhu2nbQqzDtfmu3-sBQinxL3uS8Jd1YGpLwRVmC_OxMzZkQAx89kVjmskipwI3ZrsyfEb86Zqbu2c6XGDlZJnmQyC3cbPnP-KWrpqQ8VTYhnlsdNYlCC/s1600/week+plan.png" height="132" width="320"></a></div>
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Notice the first warm up of each week starts with students continuing their work before mapping out their week's goals. I made this shift after reading some research. Primacy & recency theory tells us that people remember the first and last things they witness; therefore, <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">the first and last few minutes of each class are crucial. </span>Rather than spending the first few minutes of Monday's class doing housekeeping, they should engage in the material. Whenever a warm up is not directly related to content, I instruct students to work on content then complete the warm up.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAniuj0OEBWE1f85qM7WNgM6L9tEG1yiMUOYbwUVBpTdhjJ-CozaLE4005085clJQCbUiDZwgIfEj1p3USNvDR1DNAq1IongeNz2JQP0GSVUGj1mkES4lWrrHKz7TAZKHA1HZXdMZntIhq/s1600/exittic1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAniuj0OEBWE1f85qM7WNgM6L9tEG1yiMUOYbwUVBpTdhjJ-CozaLE4005085clJQCbUiDZwgIfEj1p3USNvDR1DNAq1IongeNz2JQP0GSVUGj1mkES4lWrrHKz7TAZKHA1HZXdMZntIhq/s1600/exittic1.png" height="183" width="320"></a> </div>
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The exit tickets are almost always reflections on content or their progress in the course. I want students to remember if they need to work a little harder or work in a different group. For this reason, I want to provide choices in reflection because each prompt might be more relevant after a different lesson. </div>
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<b>What I still need to do:</b><br>
There is still much work to be done and many unanswered questions to tackle. For example, I'm unsure if it's better to reflect for just a few minutes each period or for a more substantial amount of time just once per week. Currently, the reflections are only a couple of sentences long but I wonder if students will benefit more from blogging once per week. Student blogs could cover more ground. In addition, I've heard from teachers that students tend to write more effectively for an authentic audience when publishing their work on blogs. </div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The second issue I'm wrestling with is how do I get students to buy into reflection. What can I do to show students the value of exit tickets or blogging? I can, of course, ask them to reglect about reflecting. The other thing is I can do is work on more effective prompts. </div>
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<br><div>Finally, I need to improve the accountability system. In my current "email me your journal" system, it's possible for students to fall through the cracks. Next year, I'll add a standard about Metacognition. This will not only help with forcing students to demonstrate skills of reflection but also force me to hold students accountable. </div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-14443880346674036982015-02-26T13:11:00.000-05:002015-03-01T13:09:12.530-05:00Formative assessment<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">A few weeks ago, I led a professional development workshop on <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formative_assessment" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Formative assessment">formative assessment</a>. As we move to extended periods next year, there will be more opportunities for formative assessment. In addition to the presentation below, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uUj68p7RHznHrQtENKjaeATUMDjP2F4DCXSeM4shARA/pub" target="_blank">notes</a> from the workshop are also published. </span><br>
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Ideally, the results of formative assessment are not calculated into a final grade. Rather, formative assessment helps the teacher design intervention for struggling students and enrichment for excelling students. In addition, I hope the feedback informs my students what they know and don't know; armed with this information, students can decide how to spend class and homework time. </div>
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What ideas do you have regarding formative assessment? </div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-64494704111562546202015-02-23T13:05:00.002-05:002015-02-23T13:06:54.035-05:00Google Add-ons and Formulas<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
During this year's <a href="http://neit.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">Teaching with Technology</a> conference , I presented about some nifty Add-ons and other enhancements to Google forms and sheets. Even though I no longer use these tools because our school shifted to a new LMS that can do many of the functions, I wanted to spread the word. These scripts saved me so much time last year, below is a copy of the <a href="http://prezi.com/lh3leoa7oaih/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share" target="_blank">presentation</a>.</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://prezi.com/embed/lh3leoa7oaih/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0#" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="550"></iframe>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-3298191644070434942015-01-30T09:44:00.003-05:002015-01-30T09:46:47.540-05:00Flipclass Resolutions in 2015<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>http://christmasstockimages.com/</i></td></tr>
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I usually avoid making resolutions in my personal life because they rarely come to fruition. However, I followed my professional resolutions last year. They really catapulted my course and held me accountable. For that reason, I offer professional resolutions for 2015 below:<br />
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1. Continue to explore differentiated learning. In particular, offer alternative ways for students to acquire and process content.<br />
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2. Investigate project based learning in an asynchronous course.<br />
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3. Similar to number 2, enhance the role of data analysis and inquiry throughout the course. Even though all labs are student-designed and data-rich, I wish to incorporate these principles during non-lab opportunities. Some ways to accomplish this task is to increase the role of inquiry through case studies, assignments, POGILs, problem sets and projects. </div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-36731284460806108122015-01-23T09:45:00.000-05:002015-01-23T09:45:03.331-05:00Baby Steps to Standards Based Grading & Differentiation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flickr : radhika_bhagwat</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Susan Reslewic, a colleague of mine, and I recently discussed making a transition to standards based grading in her course. Susan agreed that I could share the contents of her email:</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: x-small;">Getting the feeling that standards-based-grading goes hand in hand with differentiation...I think it [standards based grading] could really support my efforts to better differentiate. When I looked at the physics tests today (all over the map: some failing grades, some perfect scores plus), I just felt like I wish the kids who "did poorly" could say "oh, I know a and b, but not x, y and z". It frustrates me that some kids are going to get their test back and see a score in the 70s and then go to the place of "I did poorly. I don't understand physics. I hate physics. I hate science!" I wish instead...the grade communication focused on what the kid can and cannot do (yet). As I write this I think maybe a first step is for me to provide detailed comments on the test next to the grade.... Basically saying here's where you are excelling and here are things you need to work on."</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Susan makes some of the most compelling arguments for Standards Based grading (SBG): helps teachers differentiate and lets students know what they know and don't know. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As I read Susan's email, I was reminded how overwhelmed and excited I felt about the idea of SBG. I responded with some thoughts included below about taking baby steps to SBG. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Transitioning to Standards Based Grading: </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to try baby steps to standards based grading, the easy way is to start reorganizing your tests, quizzes and other assessments. Label each test question with the idea being tested - maybe even grouping those questions together. For example, perhaps questions 1-5 are about calculating velocity and 6-15 are about applying Newton's Three Laws. Don't report a final total percentage on the test, instead report percentages on each group of questions: 80% or 4/5 on balancing equations, 70% or <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">7/10</a> on calculating K. Then, make students retake only portions of tests and quizzes that fall below a certain percentage. For example, you may tell student "X", you "mastered" balancing equations but have to retake a quiz on calculating K. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In addition, make the benchmark quizzes about only one idea; if they pass the quiz, then they mastered the idea. Just like the tests, students only retake failing quizzes. Of course, you will need multiple versions of comparable tests and quizzes. It may take years to build a robust question bank but perhaps start with 2 or 3 versions of each test or quiz. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Another quick thing is to label the problem set and homework questions with the specific idea being practiced. You could even identify the basic and challenge questions within each subset of questions. Certain questions can be mandatory for all and excelling students can attempt the challenge questions. Over time, you can build a library of remedial activities and other resources to help students with particular skills or topics. If they fail a part of a test or a quiz, then you can point students to specific activities and resources that target their deficiency.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These are some baby steps that will not take much tweaking to course structure. These steps should help gain some of the benefits of a SBG course but keep in mind that these are temporary fixes. Not only does it take major structural changes to implement SBG but a comparable shift in mindset must also occur. </span></span></span></div>
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-9449746514817761272015-01-09T12:07:00.004-05:002015-01-09T12:08:32.386-05:00Flipping the Chips are Down Lab<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 10px 10px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;">
<i><b>The following article was featured in Carolina Tips in the fall of 2014, the online newsletter by Carolina Biological - a vendor that sells lab supplies and equipment to science teachers. </b></i></div>
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For science teachers considering flipping their class, a great way to test the waters is by flipping the lab. Instead of using class time to lecture about and demonstrate steps in a lab procedure, consider creating short videos known as labcasts. Students can view these labcasts prior to the experiment. Watching the steps and seeing the equipment can help minimize confusion and provide clarification. Additionally, the use of labcasts can save precious class time for the actual experimentation and post-experimental analysis.</div>
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Teaching natural selection with the Chips Are Down lab</h3>
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In the evolution unit, the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/ns.chips.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; color: #416e9b; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_blank">Chips Are Down lab</a><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></strong>(which is a student favorite) does a wonderful job simulating natural selection. In this lab, students experience how populations change and generate a wealth of data to analyze (Fig. 1.).</div>
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Students play the role of predators and exert a selection pressure on a population of butterflies made of differently colored construction paper. The prey are placed on a multi-colored cloth background (Fig. 2); some of these butterflies naturally camouflage on the background, while others are easily spotted. The student predators take turns eating the prey by picking up the first butterfly they see. The predators eat a certain number of prey, then the game is paused to allow the prey to reproduce. Rounds of predation are followed by recovery of prey. After a few rounds, you see certain colored prey going extinct, while others increase in frequency (Fig. 1). The students witness natural selection in action and frequently cite this lab as the activity that helped them to understand this abstract concept.</div>
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The problem is the written instructions are somewhat confusing, no matter how many times they have been revised. Merely reading the steps does not clarify the procedure; students actually need to see it in action to fully understand it. In the past, I've typically done a round of predation and recovery with the entire class in order to help students visualize the steps. While this demonstration has been helpful, it is time consuming and limits the amount of class time available for repeating trials, troubleshooting, and data analysis. In addition, the post-lab discussion typically must wait until the next lesson.</div>
<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><center style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;">
<img height="251" src="http://www.carolina.com/images/teacher-resources/activities/frequency-of-different-colored-prey.jpg" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" width="406" /><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" />Figure 1 Frequency of different colored prey after generations of predation.</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><img height="251" src="http://www.carolina.com/images/teacher-resources/activities/multi-colored-background.jpg" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" width="406" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" /><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;">Figure 2 Image of a multi-colored background.</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;" /></center>
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I've solved these problems by creating<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjvFJKtrqHM&feature=youtu.be" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased !important; border: none; color: #416e9b; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_blank">a labcast demonstrating the Chips Are Down lab</a>. In this short video, I explain and demonstrate the procedure and address the commonly asked questions. Students are required to watch the labcast prior to the lesson. I set aside only a few minutes at the beginning of the lesson to answer questions; this time is much shorter than the demonstration and Q&A sessions of previous years. After the change, students were able to execute several rounds of predation, perform calculations, and discuss the conclusions, all within the same lesson. With the saved class time, students were even able to test and compare data generated from different backgrounds. All of these changes, made available through the labcast, only helped to improve student understanding of natural selection.</div>
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The relative ease and low cost of making videos, coupled with the potential gains of leveraging this technology, make a compelling case for flipped learning. Labcasts allow you to smoothly transition to flipped learning in your science classes. These videos can clarify lab procedures, save precious class time, and improve student learning.</div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-37437170459957224172015-01-05T11:00:00.003-05:002015-01-05T11:01:17.057-05:00Collaboration vs. Individual Accountability<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Wikinews_collaboration_logo_2.svg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Wikinews_collaboration_logo_2.svg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Masur // Wikipedia</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Recently, our department members have discussed balancing collaboration with individual accountability in flipped classes. A concern was raised that there is potential for students to become too reliant on the teacher for help. It is a fair question to raise; whenever students are allowed or asked to collaborate, there's the risk of group-think, as well as some students using group members, or in this case, the teacher to do the lion's share of thinking. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would be remiss if I failed to point out that the concerns about individual accountability are not uniquely tied to flipped classes. It's really a question about individual accountability wherever there is collaboration. I have a handful of students, against my desire, who choose to do most or all assignments alone. There are others on the opposite end of that spectrum and need my probing eyes to ensure that they are not allowing their group members to do the heavy lifting. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With that being said, it's important to be mindful of individual accountability. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last year, I struggled with some students moving through activities but not having a sense of what they should've learned. I think two major changes have helped with this problem. One change is moving toward a <a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-plunge-into-standards-based-grading.html" target="_blank">standards based grading</a> format and away from assignment completion has emphasized learning. There is little incentive to race through or copy assignments. Students will only have to redo assignments and/or complete remediation activities if they struggle on assessments. Perhaps I shouldn't broadcast that I don't even see some assignments (like notes, problem sets or practice quizzes) unless there is an issue. Copying work from problem sets won't improve student grades at all, especially since answer keys are published. Their grades are solely based on what they demonstrated on summative assessments - not how many solutions they may have copied. The second change is the hot seat discussion. Before taking a quiz, students have to demonstrate learning on an individual basis. If I detect issues, then I can intervene. Again, there's little incentive to move on without understanding the content because the hot seat tends to, but not always, reveal issues. </span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some other ideas that come to mind: </span></span></b></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">mandate some of the assignments as individual only.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">set aside time each period or week as individual work time.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">mandate one-on-one check-in conversations with the teacher.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">encourage students, through journals and other reflective activities, to be mindful of how they complete assignments and their contribution to groups.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">in group activities, assign roles and make use of jigsaw activities. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">cap group size to pairs (or triplets) depending on the workload.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">collect data (eg Google form) from students about group dynamics and intervene when appropriate.</span></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Interestingly, I've heard rumblings of groups being dissatisfied with some of their members on the current project on Genetic Disorders. In this project, students are arranged in pairs with individual roles; it will be obvious which person didn't hold their weight. Perhaps since the focus in this case is completing the assignment/artifact, rather than demonstrating learning, some students don't feel the crunch of individual accountability. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm unsure if it's possible to eliminate any chance that students will rely too heavily on others. There are adults who take advantage of group members. At the very least, if we're diligent, we can minimize that chance and de-incentivize relying on others. </span></span></div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-49924922918644570002014-12-05T09:50:00.001-05:002014-12-05T09:51:04.336-05:00DIfferentiation is Good Teaching: A Review of "Differentiation From Planning to Practice"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuxtt_tdoSzmI2UpsMTEWEnk68SibG5_04ytZh_MvRPhI5r_GM-m2E3Bmgkiatpx98NIiTMozLHAsnPJ_qw0eTT_CrzpNvUssMs_fW-V8R1WboR8ayxVY8oc_7iIclFpdKj3N1lDZm_yy_/s1600/wormeli+book.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuxtt_tdoSzmI2UpsMTEWEnk68SibG5_04ytZh_MvRPhI5r_GM-m2E3Bmgkiatpx98NIiTMozLHAsnPJ_qw0eTT_CrzpNvUssMs_fW-V8R1WboR8ayxVY8oc_7iIclFpdKj3N1lDZm_yy_/s1600/wormeli+book.png" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
After learning some frameworks and theories about differentiation from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Ann_Tomlinson" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Carol Ann Tomlinson">Carol Ann Tomlinson</a>'s “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Differentiate-Instruction-Mixed-Ability-Classrooms/dp/0871205122%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzem-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0871205122" rel="amazon" target="_blank" title="How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms">How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms</a>", I yearned for more practical strategies. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Wormeli" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Rick Wormeli">Rick Wormeli</a>'s “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Differentiation-Planning-Practice-Grades-6-12/dp/1571107088/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417790145&sr=1-1&keywords=Differentiation+From+Planning+to+Practice" target="_blank">Differentiation From Planning to Practice</a>" did not disappoint. Rather than summarizing the book, I'll list what I learned, both things I already do that are consistent with the research and things I want to do in order to be more consistent. <br /><u><b></b></u><br />
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<u><b>Helpful Research</b></u><br />
<br />1) <b>Differentiated Processing</b>: One piece that was new to me is differentiating processing activities. Currently, I use the same processing activities after a video lesson - practice quiz, guided notes, and posting and responding to online discussion forums. It's now clear to me that students process the material in different ways and ought to have options for processing the content. What I'll plan to do is give students more options of processing after a lesson - perhaps they can use their journals to choose from the following: <br />
<ul>
<li>summary paragraph</li>
<li>Creative RAFT, poem or story </li>
<li>Complete or create a graphic organizer </li>
<li>Compare & contrast assignment </li>
<li>Frayer method </li>
<li>Play a game with a twist - like charades, pictionary, charades or taboo </li>
</ul>
The processing activities can be organized in think dots, cubing, think tac toe or choice boards. This approach could work with my current system because the processing activities can be seen as level 1 out of 4 in my standards based grading world. <br /><br />2) <b>Building background</b> or give experience to get background: I already accomplish this through the exploration activities prior to lessons. Even if students don’t possess the optimal priming experiences, they will gain this experience through the exploration.<br /><br />3) <b><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_%28psychology%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Priming (psychology)">Priming</a></b>- I prime student brains by offering guided notes, a list of the "I can statements” they will learn about, a unit overview and potential agenda for each lesson. <br /><br />4) <b>Primacy-Recency theory</b>: we remember the first and last things we learned in a chunk of time. This means the first and last minutes of class are crucial. I have to do a better job designing warm up activities that engage students fully in content. I have to move away from the housekeeping activities at the beginning of class. The same thing can be said for exit tickets; they should be as closely related to content as possible. Housekeeping and non-content related metacognitive activities can be done at other times in the lesson. <br /><br />5) <b>Explore similarities & differences</b>: Students learn more effectively when they are asked if asked about similarities and differences. This is consistent with the idea of schema and brains wanting to make connections between preexisting schemata. In some processing activities, I need to ask how things are examples or non-examples of a concept. The tricky thing is the brain is ineffective at remembering distinctions if learned at the same time. If possible, I need to teach similar ideas days apart. <br /><br />6) <b>Novelty</b>: While it’s important to prime the brain, it’s also important to switch things up and break from the routine. Brains are effective at picking up contrast and important moments. I need to encourage more divergent thinking by asking for arguments against what they learned, describe concepts without using certain words, etc. <br /><br />7) <b>Memory</b>: Middle school students are typically limited to memorizing 5 unrelated facts. <br /><br />8) <b>Socializing</b>: I already structure my course to be as social as possible. Most assignments and tasks can be completed in groups or as individuals. Students can pick and choose to what extent they wish to be social and with whom. <br /><br />What’s clear to me is the heart of differentiation is just good teaching research-based practices. Providing choice and alternative routines and assignments are also important but meeting the needs of all students has to start with solid pedagogy. <br />
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Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-44805527474574730432014-11-24T08:44:00.002-05:002014-11-24T08:45:57.369-05:00Standards Based Quiz Spotlight: the Anatomy of Mastery Learning Cycles<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Roughly there is one quiz per "I can statement." Students receive permission to take the quiz once they have completed the one-on-one conversation with me about the "I can" statement, called the "</span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Hot Seat." Typically each quiz consists of</span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"> five questions, designed at the application level on <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Bloom's Taxonomy">Blooms Taxonomy</a>. Most of the questions are problems that assume the understanding of concepts and integrate the vocabulary and are similar to problem set questions. </span><br />
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The quizzes are online and hosted on <a class="zem_slink" href="https://moodle.org/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Moodle">Moodle</a>. Moodle is a powerful <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Learning management system">LMS</a> because it supports randomized questions pulled from a question bank. This is important in an asynchronous class because the quiz questions are different on each attempt - whether a new student or the same student on a subsequent attempt. This reshuffling of questions allows for retakes and keeps academic integrity between the first or the last student to take the quiz on the same topic. </div>
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Students must earn 4/5 or 80% to pass the quiz. This score is consistent with the school culture & my expectations. Once they pass the quiz, they earn level three out of four, which is meeting expectations. Most of the questions are multiple choice or calculation questions. I typically don't prefer to use multiple choice questions but use them when I'm able to input every possible choice as answers. For example, when figuring the probability in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnett_square" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Punnett square">Punnett Square</a> problems, the only possible answers are 0, 25, 50, 75 or 100. I also add a choice "there's not enough information to determine." With these types of problems, multiple choice can effectively gauge understanding - assuming there have been other assessments in the learning cycle. Some "I can" statements can't be quizzed at the application level w/ MC questions or calculations. In those cases, there are alternatives - building a model, writing a lab report, completing a lab or a case study. </div>
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If students fail a quiz, there are certain tasks they have to complete, which differ based on the number of times they have taken the quiz. For every failed attempt, students have to make corrections and fill out a form describing their errors.<br />
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<b> Students also have to do the following: </b><br />
<ul>
<li>after the first attempt: students complete any skipped problems from the Learning cycle problem set. Earlier in the cycle, students solved mandatory problems and as many optional problems as they felt the need to complete. After failing a quiz, the optional problems become mandatory. The hope is practicing more problems will help students review and prepare for a second attempt. </li>
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<li>after the second attempt: students complete at least one remediation activity. The remediation activities for a learning cycle may include online readings, simulations, extra problems and/or student made videos and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_set" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Problem set">problem sets</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>after the third attempt: students have to create their own set of problems and include solutions. In many ways, this last option is similar to the mastery projects in the next phase of the learning cycle. </li>
</ul>
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Once students pass the standards based quiz, they are able to move on to the next learning cycle. If they wish to further explore the same topic and/or show a higher level of understanding, they can complete mastery projects before moving on to the next learning cycle. </div>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2013/08/m-moodle-quizzes-in-mastery-course.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/190421282_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2013/08/m-moodle-quizzes-in-mastery-course.html" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">M&M - Moodle Quizzes in a Mastery Course</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-write-calculated-questions-in.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/216809006_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-write-calculated-questions-in.html" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How to Write Calculated Questions in Moodle Quizzes</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109779357536503772.post-59744655050393744332014-11-16T14:05:00.003-05:002014-11-16T16:11:28.660-05:00Quarter One ReflectionsAfter a quarter into the school year, I have a solid grasp of the effects of the changes I've made. Here are the chief thoughts I have about quarter one.<br>
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<b>Standards Based Grading</b></div>
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The transition to standards based grading has been mostly smooth. This year, I have a much better handle of what my students know and do not know. The SBG Grade book on <a href="http://www.haikulearning.com/" target="_blank">Haiku</a> is easy to use. The color codes make it easy to see which standards each student or class section is still working on. This has helped me identify which students need targeted intervention.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiKY13nPqaHRK0On2omfqVWL0CKi-hL_xJBybD0jl776_o9Ue_NgxcSFd3w85_ZKWZDm7C47YP8ax5ABc4oSqU7lVmcF1DHHKMh3LxUXe3A9ZB9BQX0nAopiEyKWDXaOzBma451Z2ETkX/s1600/sbg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiKY13nPqaHRK0On2omfqVWL0CKi-hL_xJBybD0jl776_o9Ue_NgxcSFd3w85_ZKWZDm7C47YP8ax5ABc4oSqU7lVmcF1DHHKMh3LxUXe3A9ZB9BQX0nAopiEyKWDXaOzBma451Z2ETkX/s1600/sbg.png" height="188" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Standards Based Gradebook on Haiku</td></tr>
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At first, it took students some time to understand the concept of "I can" statements and my particular system for showing learning. They seem to have figured out the system. </div><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The most noticeable difference is the quality of my reports. I've always struggled with writing first quarter reports because I barely feel like I know my students well enough by that time in the school year. This time around, I had plenty to say. Rather than including the general fluff, my reports focused on what my students knew and were able to do and the ideas and skills they still found troubling. Adding this component to my comments about performance on major assignments, my general impressions and suggestions moving forward, the reports are much more informative. </div>
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<b>Haiku LMS</b></div>
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The new learning management system is quite effective. The layout is beautiful and the interface is intuitive. I have consolidated many of my online tasks within Haiku - recording and sharing grades, assigning and collecting student work, repository of resources and interactive components like polls, practice quizzes and discussions. In the past, many of these roles would have been offloaded to separate resources. I'd like to move my actual quizzes to Haiku but it does not support randomized questions from a test bank, so I still need <a class="zem_slink" href="http://moodle.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Moodle">Moodle</a> for that purpose. </div>
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Haiku can be a bit buggy though. There is a limit to how many objects can be embedded on one page. Some students complained of notoriously long loading times. A student suggested that I make more usage of subpages. Now each step of the learning cycle is housed on its own page. This has significantly increased loading speeds.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsn3K1HdYpuwGRnmkYAr4OXzSqA60wFqzlTSH8bpHQkKYStEO4qQXZeDoJLhSfDUldbvA1yxlm9IfCB3t-tgWrzQAeA6UY8JcAnci2JzLNfSUlOmjm5eJl6B-QNG_xpeL_3jkz-D2gm_qw/s1600/subpages.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsn3K1HdYpuwGRnmkYAr4OXzSqA60wFqzlTSH8bpHQkKYStEO4qQXZeDoJLhSfDUldbvA1yxlm9IfCB3t-tgWrzQAeA6UY8JcAnci2JzLNfSUlOmjm5eJl6B-QNG_xpeL_3jkz-D2gm_qw/s1600/subpages.png" height="320" width="204"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Subpages on Haiku</td></tr>
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<b>Asynchronous learning</b></div>
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As mentioned in a previous blog <a href="http://wilsonsflippedlab.blogspot.com/2014/10/scaffolding-asynchronous-learning.html" target="_blank">post</a>, asynchronous learning continues to allow students to submit their best work and internalize a growth mindset. Most students are keeping to a reasonable rate, even though there are students who I believe can work faster. I've made some changes this year, which hopefully will help students adjust to the responsibility of setting their own pace. The most important change, at the request of a student, was allowing students to create their own weekly plans.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BZ8t41_gWjtc2R2Row4BB1Fx5lCYubltAPG_97GkrD2KBbPEr0DiZKhyphenhyphenpvwHJuZvI3C6M3MLofQEO1hT03jd9BjWo0MWEY20ZlrohxaFcOk1DmlJdkxugOHxgoRMUxQ141XIUitbBYWa/s1600/student+plan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BZ8t41_gWjtc2R2Row4BB1Fx5lCYubltAPG_97GkrD2KBbPEr0DiZKhyphenhyphenpvwHJuZvI3C6M3MLofQEO1hT03jd9BjWo0MWEY20ZlrohxaFcOk1DmlJdkxugOHxgoRMUxQ141XIUitbBYWa/s1600/student+plan.png" height="188" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A student's week plan</td></tr>
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Creating the plans take a lot of time so I've been trying to encourage students to send their plans to me during the weekend - with varying degrees of success. At the very least, students are using less class time to create their plans and becoming better at working while waiting for my indication that their plans are satisfactory. For students who show difficulty with this task, I've started to collaborate with them to create pacing calendars for a few weeks, rather than letting them work alone on their weekly plans. </div>
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<b>Mastery projects</b></div>
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A handful of students have elected to complete the mastery projects. In most cases, these projects have been good enough to help other students learn the content. My library of student made teaching materials is growing and some students have already taken advantage of this library to prep for a quiz. I recently added a leader-board to acknowledge students who have completed mastery projects- in hopes of motivating a few more projects.<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7MNYJJHCDUuUV1eSlkdYJA3OuZeKFfAdPvMP6tmh4Um0U_mNqgnQaLfRxb10fqeVdn2_OearUug9kKYMU67YirneavVheRsmpWgBz_q0W2Wgqv1s_r4LpKUYjtKJA93ChNhsCVI_W172/s1600/mastery+board.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7MNYJJHCDUuUV1eSlkdYJA3OuZeKFfAdPvMP6tmh4Um0U_mNqgnQaLfRxb10fqeVdn2_OearUug9kKYMU67YirneavVheRsmpWgBz_q0W2Wgqv1s_r4LpKUYjtKJA93ChNhsCVI_W172/s1600/mastery+board.png" height="178" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mastery Project Leader-board </td></tr>
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<b>Quiz retakes </b></div>
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This year, I have a better handle on whether students are ready to take quizzes or retake quizzes. The hot seats have been a nice addition. The only problem I've seen with the hot seats is when students opt to take the quiz a few days after completing the hot seat discussion. </div>
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After the first batch of quizzes, I've added a few layers of permissions for quiz retakes. In addition to submitting quiz corrections and explainations of the mistakes, students have to do one more thing for permission for a retake. Making the students go through a few obstacles seems to help students take each attempt more seriously. </div>
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<b>Labs </b></div>
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The switch to inquiry based labs has proved to be most effective with asynchronous learning. Last year, I tried a combination of inquiry and full class labs. I struggled with students who got to the labs first and figuring out whether they should use last year's data. It became confusing for students to know whether they were using this year's or last year's data sets. This also prevented me from adjusting procedures. </div><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">For the full class synchronous labs, students working at a slower pace had to rush through content or temporarily skip steps in order to be "ready" for labs. Now that students design most of their own labs, there is no confusion about what data to use and no need to worry about skipping or rushing through steps - students do labs when they are ready.<br>
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So far, I've managed to keep up with the demand for lab materials. I place small lab kits around the edge of the counter space on labeled lunch trays. Since different students perform different labs, I only need to make a small amount of materials available for one particular lab. The trick is to have several labs prepared simultaneously and to anticipate when students will be ready for future labs. Below you can see how I organize lab materials.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN1wGQ24WWsGtEXszYRfKnh7GX4EHBq8KB_uEqwhOn8jE2nQqfkiik1vhMu11SDSlrGMlSOf_Nh7hyLYGyTHTLrkIQKzcURmI-M7Ph7hQQh9TNpxQPUC4UfBOAAMnlmCyYOdLQ5ENd-A9W/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN1wGQ24WWsGtEXszYRfKnh7GX4EHBq8KB_uEqwhOn8jE2nQqfkiik1vhMu11SDSlrGMlSOf_Nh7hyLYGyTHTLrkIQKzcURmI-M7Ph7hQQh9TNpxQPUC4UfBOAAMnlmCyYOdLQ5ENd-A9W/s1600/image1.JPG" height="240" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DNA extraction lab materials</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJP-biYMJ8vNSkMGwDYYzLpQv2UmfronXeytUH0NjjDdlQKfzrf6F9jLCKpYXagxttT0O8UDtXFsdSggRz6qaEXoF4ee4p-PV-yXDLZyNBC1aszSNftc-IrTrgvxIj1Nd4q4Ecm4qV115r/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJP-biYMJ8vNSkMGwDYYzLpQv2UmfronXeytUH0NjjDdlQKfzrf6F9jLCKpYXagxttT0O8UDtXFsdSggRz6qaEXoF4ee4p-PV-yXDLZyNBC1aszSNftc-IrTrgvxIj1Nd4q4Ecm4qV115r/s1600/image2.JPG" height="240" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UV bacteria lab materials</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLO2bqz_uVfDilt4u_N8sAlhqYopWcP9aqQrq-JIrpQb55wOVQEputg4ZKJ9ZTIqzAWGfGrNhpo59u-7NfEuuyAFSt6UDglaCKlzmwh8ZXBJnQdpyOXKPaZuWuLXHZkPy9aBdmI3CTHDQ8/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLO2bqz_uVfDilt4u_N8sAlhqYopWcP9aqQrq-JIrpQb55wOVQEputg4ZKJ9ZTIqzAWGfGrNhpo59u-7NfEuuyAFSt6UDglaCKlzmwh8ZXBJnQdpyOXKPaZuWuLXHZkPy9aBdmI3CTHDQ8/s1600/image3.JPG" height="240" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protein Synthesis model exploration materials</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Upcoming changes</b></div>
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In the upcoming quarters, I'd like to incorporate some synchronous projects to help me experiment and think through PBL and 20Time in future years. I also want to offer optional content and let students who work ahead design their own parts of the course. </div>
Hassan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01227318083284691111noreply@blogger.com0