Student Voice and Choice

CC Courtesy of Crossroads by Carsten Tolkmit on Flickr

I've been sitting on this post for a year and now that I'm ready to implement differentiated instruction, I thought it prudent to share this post.

Last year throughout FlipCon 13, I heard the expression student "voice & choice" on many occasions. The expression is a hip way to tout differentiation.

One of the most informative workshops was Ellen Dill's "Offering Student Choice." (See her playlist below.) She's a flipped french teacher who gives her students a variety of project alternatives to demonstrate learning for each unit. Students have created songs, fashion shows, puppet shows, just to name a few. It became clear that these projects are far more rigorous than standard exams. 

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Partly inspired by Dill, I made the plunge into differentiation as well. I've known of the benefits of voice and choice but didn't have the means to do so, until now. The flipped classroom gives students and teachers this wonderful treat of differentiation. I designed a choice board of projects aligned to unit objectives. To ensure comparable rigor, those projects are aligned to the Analysis, Evaluation and Creation levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. I've also made projects that cover the same Blooms levels and unit objectives but varied them according to Gardner's multiple intelligences. I hoping this strategic alignment to Gardner's work will provide enough variety to meet all of the needs of my students. 

Draft of the complex inheritance choice board

Also consistent with this flexible model, I also let my students choose which objectives to demonstrate "mastery" level. Mastery, in my course, is demonstrated at the analysis, evaluation and creation levels. All students must meet application level on all objectives but can choose which objectives to master. I envision students meeting application level on some objectives and going on to master the objectives they wish to further investigate. So students will only complete projects on the objectives that "speak to them." 

Other Resources:  Dare to Differentiate Wiki

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• Mastery Learning Cycles: a Mash Up of Mastery Learning & Explore-Flip-Apply
• Onto my Second Iteration of Flipped Learning: A Post FlipCon14 reflection

Onto my Second Iteration of Flipped Learning: A Post FlipCon14 reflection

If my personal lessons learned from FlipCon13 were about the logistics of video making and setting up a flipped class, then this year's lessons were all about the "second iteration" (as Troy Crockum frequently mentions) or tweaks to my flipped class and connecting with the community of flipped educators.

Last year during FlipCon 13, so many flipped veterans said over and over again that flipped learning is not about the videos but it was a message that a baby flipper, like myself, could not internalize. But now that I have a YouTube library of good but not great videos and I'm primed to tackle more important questions of inquiry, project based learning, standards based grading, student blogging and 20 percent time, I really have internalized that mantra.

This year during FlipCon 14, I strategically selected sessions that would help me improve my second iteration of flipping. This meant that most sessions were part of the "Beyond Flip class" strand. Some of my thoughts and take-home lessons regarding a few sessions are below.

Keynote: "Living in Beta" with Molly Schroeder
This was a wonderful keynote that challenged me to further promote working in beta, or experimentation and revision in my class. Since I use a mastery model, I feel pretty confident that my students are usually working in beta. They're encouraged and even mandated to revise their work until proficiency. The real lesson I took away from Molly's session is that I need to be comfortable with allowing myself to work in beta. If companies like Google can fail with tons of unpolished products and still be seen as a successful company, then surely I can dare to fail as well.

Flipping DI with Lee Dewitt
This was a timely session for me since one of next year's goals is to differentiate instruction. The pre work and the session gave me some neat ideas about how to differentiate instruction. Although I'm happy with the Mastery Choice boards as my main vehicle to offer student choices, I can see the benefit of mixing things up. Perhaps some learning cycles will work best with choice boards, a 2-5-8 menu, a RAFT assignment, tiering or cubing. I'll play around with these options during the summer.
The most exciting thing I learned from Lee's session is how she scaffolds mastery in her course. My 8th graders struggled with staying on track and I'm hoping a better transition to self paced learning will minimize these issues.

Making the Grade with Jennifer Haze
This session was advertised primarily about standards based grading, although I learned some neat tricks about formative assessment as well. I really like her peer to peer techniques in formative assessment like "quiz, quiz, trade" and "find the matching answer." Adding these techniques to peer instruction will enhance the synchronous offerings in my asynchronous course.

Engaging videos with Jonathan Thomas-Palmer
My videos are serviceable and usually get good ratings in terms of learning. However, my videos are not particularly engaging. I do use the engaging design techniques Jonathan mentioned in his session, like changing the screen every few seconds, use transitions sparingly, purchase an external microphone or limit background light for the picture in picture feature. After the first few videos, I even included questions throughout the video to encourage students to pause and think. The most important thing Jonathan said that I needed to hear was that I need to enjoy myself in the videos, like I usually did during live direct instruction in the past. I'm too formal in my videos and need to make sure I'm having fun when I record the videos. I don't see videos as the most important aspect of my class and will most likely avoid redoing most on my videos; however, I will use that important piece of advice to make new videos.

Innovative Pedagogies with Julie Schell
I've been looking forward to Julie's presentation since I missed her during FlipCon 13. I already incorporate peer instruction into my class at least once per learning cycle. It has been successful and most students rated this strategy favorable, even more so than flipping. In this presentation, Julie explained and demonstrated how Just in Time Teaching and Peer Instruction work together. The Just in Time Teaching (JITT) technique requires students to answer two conceptual questions and submit one feedback question (e.g. what they found most difficult or what they still wonder about) regarding a concept they learned in a coverage assignment outside of class (e.g. flipped video or a reading.) The teacher reviews these responses prior to class and uses the responses to generate ConcepTests to be used for peer instruction. The hardest part about Peer Instruction is generating the higher order engaging questions. JITT can help me generate more of these questions.

In addition to these wonderful sessions, I met great people whom I already follow on twitter. What a wonderful community of welcoming educators. I look forward to further connecting and learning with my PLN and incorporating lessons learned from FlipCon14 into my class.

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The Versatility of Videos in a Flipped Class - a Post Flipped Learning Course Reflection

CC Courtesy of Choices by Derek Bruff on Flickr

There are so many take home messages from FlipCon13 and the Flipped Learning course that I couldn't possibly document them all. In addition, deciphering whether these revelations came from the conference and/or the course is unlikely. But I am sure that seeing the final projects of my classmates was simultaneously humbling and empowering. We were tasked to create a video as part of a flipped lesson. The quality and diversity of video projects were staggering. One major revelation: videos can have many uses in a flipped class. When I made my video and lesson (summarized in a previous post), I assumed it would have to teach content. But after seeing the work of my classmates, I'm reminded of the Choices image to the left because a teacher has so many choices of how to use videos in a flipped class:

1) introduce the course to students, administration and parents;

2) explain a project with instructions and expectations;

3) give feedback on a paper or project;

4) act as hook to a unit or activity;

5) act as a trailer to summarize and highlight a unit or a project;

6) document a process; and

7) demonstrate how to use software or equipment.

Aside from being overwhelmed by these choices, I am excited by the possibility of offloading content and the housekeeping of the class. Housekeeping and content combined have dominated most of the class time. And now as a flipped teacher, I'm excited that this time can be reclaimed for mastery, inquiry, standards based grading, and student voice & choice.

I am grateful for the many lessons learned in this course from classmates. I almost feel guilty that I couldn't write a more profound reflection and promise to continue blogging about the lessons learned. Nevertheless, this is where I am today: digesting feedback about my first Camtasia video and figuring out how I'm going to get the first few units done by September. There will be time for deeper thought and analysis. I'm just happy that I've had the opportunity to learn and share. I thank Kristin Daniels for leading me through this journey and all of my classmates, whom I hope will be part of my PLN moving forward. 

Flipping is really not about the videos: a post FlipCon13 reflection

CC courtesy of No videos on Flickr, Please
by Muhammad Ghouri on Flickr

As a baby flipper, I was intrigued by the “it’s not about the videos” talk during FlipCon 13. In protest, I thought “it’s easy for you to say; you already know how to make videos!” I still have remnants of that protest feeling, especially after realizing I’ll have some important edits to my first Camtasia video. But after FlipCon 13, making my first Camtasia video, associated MentorMob playlist and observing that the video was only one in twenty steps of the playlist, I’m convinced that flipping the class is definitely not about the videos!


Demonstration:
Below is a video I made about Punnett Squares. It is about 11 minutes long.

As a novice, this video took me days to create and edit and it still has some important flaws that need to be reworked. I expect the editing time to decrease as I gain more experience. This 11 minute video is the only time that I provide planned direct instruction. It is the bulk of the Flip phase of the mastery learning cycle of Punnett Squares. The students also have to record guided notes from a template handout. After watching the video, they have to complete a google form, which contain understanding-level questions and allow students to pose questions. All of the responses get sent to me prior to class, which can help me plan accordingly. Students see the answer key for the video questions by submitting their responses in the google form. So even within the Flip phase of the learning cycle, the video is accompanied with guided notes and google form questions.

The Flip phase only makes up a part of the learning cycle. In fact, the learning cycle begins with an engage and explore phase, which are conveniently combined into the Explore phase imaged in the learning cycles below.

Mastery Learning Cycles - inspired by @Ramsey Musallam 

In the exploration phase, students are first met with the mastery objectives for the unit. Students are expected to keep track of which objectives they have "met" and which level of mastery they reached. They are also responsible for providing evidence for their perceived level of mastery. After seeing the objectives, they are engaged with a controversial question about designing babies. They complete a poll and participate in a virtual discussion online. The second half of the exploration phase is an activity in which they simulate making babies with a classmate. They use their traits, which were inventoried in a previous lab, to make deductions about their genetic makeup. Once they have ascertained their genetic makeup, they "reproduce" with a partner and make predictions about their offspring using the rules of genetics introduced in the baby making activity. After making two offspring, they answer questions which culminate with an application task to make statistical predictions about future offspring. I expect that some students will be able to derive a way to tackle this application question but most will have some difficulty. This is where the flipped video comes into play. They'll learn about Punnett Squares while reinforcing and introducing vocabulary and seeing a sample problem solved in the video. 

After watching the video and completing the other requirements of the Flip phase, students enter the Apply phase. They apply what they learned from the video (and explore phase) to complete different activities. There are several choices (a problem set and two online simulations) but they all require creating and solving Punnett Square problems. Students get instant feedback. They then return to the application questions from the baby making activity. At this point, they should easily be able to make generalized predictions about their offspring. 

Once students finish the Apply phase, they can demonstrate different levels of mastery. In my current version of this learning cycle, they can choose assignments aligned with the higher order thinking levels of the revised Blooms taxonomy: analyze, evaluate, create. Completion of the mastery task allow students to take a Moodle quiz, which gives each student a different version each time. Students who are unsuccessful on the quiz, can enter a remediation phase. Once students successfully complete the quiz, they complete a mini project where they research a genetic disorder and create a presentation, which must include a genetics problem incorporating the disorder.

All of the steps of the learning cycle are captured in the MentorMob playlist below. Hopefully, through this demonstration, you'll be convinced of one of my major understandings from FlipCon13: flipping is not just about the videos!"

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Climbing Pyramid Bloom's with the FLIP Pillars: Understanding

CC Image courtesy of New Blooms Pyramid by Andrea Hernandez on Flickr

For the understanding demonstration, I submit a copy of my conference session notes organized by the four pillars. I argue that this is a great way to demonstrate understanding because the presenters  organized their presentations based on their own constructs and experiences. As far as I can tell, none of the sessions were intentionally (or at least, overtly) organized by the four pillars. So reorganizing content based on the FLIP construct demonstrate understanding of both the content and the construct.

Below are my session notes. I deleted images since they are copyrighted. I've highlighted my thoughts and questions wherever possible.

Tuesday, June 18

9 am Session Title	Keynote
Presenter	Jon and Aaron
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Pre-Flip Flip Space - Focus on front (central location/ whiteboard Pedagogy - “one size fits all”, one person delivering the content and one method of teaching Assessment - one test on one day Space - Change chairs and tables into groups & stations. Chairs & tables moved when needed, no focal point of room (hard to do when limited by architecture, may have huge tables and may share room.) Pedagogy - time-shift videos to maximize time in class, flip blooms taxonomy and use class to focus on Hot (high order thinking) tasks Assessment - informal formative, projects, student choice, can still take tests multiple times or decide on another option. (need a large test bank and a lot of choices)
Learning Culture	Transfer ownership of learning from teacher to kids, let go of control (need a high threshold for change, # to a counselor?!) Change conversation about what should happen Standard based grading....learning objectives with rubrics (even with exams). Focus on meeting objectives rather than grades (are teachers trained to use SBG?) Teacher becomes the Curator and filters the content
Intentional Content	Move to Learning Objects - include Videos, phet simulations, podcasts, websites, readings. Make learning objects interactive by using google forms - students can summarize, answer questions, ask questions Think about what's the best tool for the goal, is it your learning object Teacher becomes the Curator and filters the content - actively evaluate learning objects (a lot of content online to choose, a lot of work, a lot of time evaluating and finding)
Professional Educator	Don't do it alone! Find a partner, even if in a different school (will my students go for that?) Be reflective Blogging, Ning, twitter Ask yourself what will you do in the next 5-5-5-5 (Days, weeks, months, years) to solidify learning?

10:45am Session Title	Flip or Flop - Moodle
Presenter	Chris Luker
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Students can finish the course early - provide extension opportunities Even let kids work on other courses if demonstrated mastery Moodle - LMS perfect for mastery Can create unique tests/quizzes in moodle on same topic - keep assessment integrity & allows for retakes Randomized questions, choices within MC questions, even plug in different numbers for calculated questions Need large question bank -  ExamView or Google XML view to import pre-existing questions into moodle (need to learn about examview) perform item analysis, password protected, time stamps
Learning Culture	Mastery stems from Bloom and Keller research Data: 1 standard deviation higher in mastery environment but was overwhelming to implement. All students should be forced to learn, which questions the idea of the bell curve distribution. Bell curve based on a random sample but our students are not a random sample. Should have benefited from our instruction, should lean towards high performance. With mastery, kids held to high standard. Can’t move on if not mastered Now we can implement mastery by leveraging current technology Chris’s model (better to be standards based but live in a grade world) 1. Moodle Quiz then mastery check (paper and pen--2 to 5 questions) Mastery check focus on about processes, lab based, should be short and graded on the spot. Instantaneous feedback 2. Exams two questions but brings concepts together Shift in focus--need to set a Mastery benchmark. what score? 80? 85? Could depend on the Expectations of your community Need to communicate expectations: Mastery checklist - tell order of assignments expected timeframe*  (hadn’t considered this--good tip) objectives Give video and book (with time in video) and associated book pages
Intentional Content	Assignments only 3-10 questions, just factual info, post keys, Use of pogils (love these!!!)
Professional Educator	* Check out book  by Kelly Morgan - Mastery Learning in Science Classroom

1:15pm Session Title	Offering student choice
Presenter	Ellen Dill (website)
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Is standardizing really fair? Same task for every kid really fair? Choice board & tic-tac-toe for project based learning (I found a great site with templates & examples) Use choice board to differentiate by Blooms & Learning styles (But I asked Ellen, how do we ensure each project/choice is equally rigorous? didn’t really get an answer I found satisfactory) Can set up choices in deliberate way to ensure certain tasks/skills are mastered Cartoon from Ellen’s ppt sums up rationale for student choice (Hilarious but so true, this is standardized testing!)
Learning Culture	Choice allows for shifting of teacher at center and puts child in the center--based on student skills and interests Kids are more motivated
Intentional Content	Can set up choices in deliberate way to ensure certain tasks/skills are mastered especially with tic-tac-toe board:  eg, every task in top row can be a verbal or writing component. Just set up rules to allow for controlled choices. (three choices for tic tac toe seems like a lot. how many ways do we need students to demonstrate learning?) * Ellen’s model: Beginning of class is a modified do now, then complete flipped hw, then work on project.
Professional Educator	In preparation for Back to School Night: Have parents complete a flipped lesson, give feedback and answer questions.

2:30pm Session Title	George of the Jungle
Presenter	Kathryn Lanier & Dena Leggett
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Video decisions - others? Yours? Choices? Mandatory?
Learning Culture	Teacher No longer the king of the jungle,  Let go of control ( similar to a blog post by Terie Engelbrecht about making it less about me and more about students. Shift kids in class from listening to doing Role of videos: -Do not reteach, only clarify/answer qs -Student Questions about videos in email, blog, form, etc - Creative chaos -Video - exposure While Class - practice -Issues with watching - DVDs, library, before or after school, etc
Intentional Content	Video Yours or other? Make sure cover goals- understanding not mastery Right length - not too long but long enough to convey key info Prepare kids for class Make them serviceable but not perfect Chunking  - aid in future edits (and processing of info) Google form to ask qs video for exposure Copying hw happens - do you want copying lower level or high level
Professional Educator	Flip Chat on Mondays! twitter #flipclass or #flipsci. (Time?) Plc and pln Multiple year flip Parents Communicate - parent night flier, video Explain the why (link to opposite argument) - this blog post argues the opposite, telling folks makes your course stand out and people are resistant to change. if kids don’t succeed, it’s because of the flip- so don’t make a bog deal about it. ---Not sure what I think.

e

Wednesday, June 19

8:30 am Session Title	Spotlight on science
Presenter	Chelsea Campbell and Sharon Geyer
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Someone shared the free Canvas LMS Sexy interface and free!!! Quick reflection appears to be a pretty version of moodle Could be useful - won’t have to worry about taking my course with me if I leave my current school *Erin- teaches in CT, has flipped for a few years with another colleague.  Her model is a blend of  mastery and traditional flip. Her units have a deadline but students are self paced within the unit (I’ve tried this with some success but I wonder if I forced the slower kids to go too fast. maybe accept that not all kids will go through the entire curriculum)
Learning Culture	* Erin - uses learning stations with student unit folders. Exchanged contact info. Need to see samples. *Dan - uses EFA (Explore-Flip-Apply) Exchanged contact info        “Grades should measure learning.” Quote of the day!!!!
Intentional Content	*April - uses Problem Based Learning - she revised case studies from U. Buff site and removes some content to transform into a problem.
Professional Educator	Dan Lipin - created a site showcasing teachers who flip in the tri state area

9:45 am Session Title	Embracing failure - Flipped project based learning
Presenter	Andy Pathan and Matt Weyers
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Allowed kids to come up with own project as an option. (hard to know if their choice is a good one.)
Learning Culture	Highly engaging projects - Ultimate Frisbee player ranking and draft project to learn stats Scratch project (Want to learn how to use that program. I dream of having kids create their own simulation demonstrating natural selection instead of just using one.) Moved away from the textbook. Easier to do because the stats course was an elective - states standards to worry about.
Intentional Content	My group had some technical difficulties and didn’t finish the frisbee project on time. Had a teachable moment:  Be careful about setting time restrictions. When in time crunch, groups tend to rely on one person - that’s what we did! Scratch project- kids figured out how to use.
Professional Educator	Took Andy’s card. Will pick his brain about projects.

11:00 am Session Title	Keynote
Presenter	Ramsey Musallam
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Students have different intrinsic motivation/focus - need to provide a hook for all students
Learning Culture	Explore-Flip-Apply - Student centered - inquiry model based on reduced 3 E model (which stems from the 5E model) Explore - hands on, hook, generate need to know = “I need some tools” Flip - video with lower bloom’s content = “Here are the tools” Apply - HOT task, applications = “Use the tools” Analogous to a Walk around Blooms - start with HOT task, generate Q’s - Create dissonance, let students struggle slide down to lower tasks (FLIP - video) = just in time teaching now that they have the tools, apply & move up blooms
Intentional Content	Cognitive load theory -  but what about unmotivated, unfocused kids? Need a hook to bring attention to and motivate Create dissonance, let students struggle Intentional withholding of info - create a  “need to know” during explore  phase
Professional Educator	Be open to criticism Anonymous surveys - google form Cycles of learning blog - very useful site, he also shares his google drive folders under the tools, resources tabs on the site. Also has a research page.

1:15 pm Session Title	Explore Flip Apply in Social Studies (Even though I’m a science teacher, I attended because I wanted to hear more about EFA)
Presenter	Ramsey Musallam and George Phillip
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Could assign project but have some choice within the model Students can skip “flip” part if ready for application Also possible to flip without videos
Learning Culture	Ramsey shared link to video hooks for explore phase (I shared during session that I can make a hook but how do I do it in a way in which students actually need and want my/a video without contriving the situation?) Students at the center of George’s class - debate & role play
Intentional Content	The flip video = just in time teaching, intentionally withheld info Students can skip “flip” part if ready for application
Professional Educator	George found Ramsey online and asked about the EFA method

2:30 pm Session Title	Implementing a flipped mastery
Presenter	Lisa Karpovich and Laura Shifflett
Flexible Environment (Pedagogy, Assessment, Space)	Optional assignments, alternative assignments, indiv. pacing Kids like flipped mastery because they don't have to stop everyone's lesson in order to ask a question. Own unit pace but set test dates Space redesign (jealous - love them
Learning Culture	21st century skills - communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking Comfy learning spaces (jealous!!) Asking questions - better connected Gave up control to kids Own unit pace but set test dates Student started to abuse quiz retakes but then set 2 quiz limit then alternative assessment
Intentional Content	Learning opportunities
Professional Educator	Plan, do, study and act as a reflective practice Why do I have unsuccessful students? Look at data. Item analysis, what am I doing wrong? Ning, twitter, PLC, PLN, seek help of instructional coach, was connected to Bennett who also struggled flipping during same time Apply for learning grant Invited admin into discussions epitomizes professional educator, what a role model