Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Elementary Flip

Ok, so I finally got in touch with the inestimable Rick Mccleary, who wanted to talk about some ideas around flipping middle school LA. An hour and forty minutes later, well, we had touched on the LA thing (but we're both kinda stumped, especially when it comes to vocab and grammar) but we had talked about many more issues we have found in our classrooms, including education innovation, flip and the daily grind.  


It was truly illuminating, and further proof that connected teachers who are passionate about changing their practises need the time to interact with each other.


And truth be told, I am a little in awe of this guy. A great teacher, just check out what he's done on his site if you don't believe me.


Anyways, back to the 'Aha' moment of our conversation. Rick asked about the Canflip conference, and while I told him it was awesome (it was - seriously, sign up for Canflip 13, June 20, 21 in Kelowna) but I was inhibited by the lack of other lower middle school and elementary teachers there. Then he said something which he later tweeted

 In my exp this is the 1st grassroots change in Ed 2come down from HS. Weneed 2 share how it applies 2 yongr grs


Which kind of blew me away. I had never thought about it that way, but everywhere I look there seems to be an abundance of High School Flippers, but relatively few Elementary Flippers. And the problem seems  to be a perceptual one.

See, I've never felt that as a Flip Teacher I need to rely on video lectures for my students. I've always believed the technology was a way to leverage my class time to ensure students met the goals of mastering curricular outcomes, developing independent work habits and developing their strengths (which I guess is actually a blending of Inquiry with Flip goals).


But most teachers out there, rightly or wrongly, believe that Flip begins with video lecture. This is anathema to most elementary teachers, who rightly recognise lecture as an ineffective way to get information across to their students. Which means most elementary teachers would have little interest in pursuing Flip.


As I say, this is a perceptual problem, since the majority of Flip teachers would argue that it is not about video. But the problem remains, especially in regards to Flipping Elementary.


I don't have the solution at hand, but I think it begins with an intensive discussion among elementary teachers about how to meet the goals of elementary teaching (basic skills and the development of such), while still developing critical thinkers who are able to work independently.


And I think those Flip leaders who have spent so much time developing such excellent thinking around Flip in the HS setting need to seriously examine how to implement Flip in the elementary classroom. 


Just imagine if the students you had arriving at your high school were not already pre-trained in playing school (read a piece of paper, regurgitate info on another piece and grub for marks) but were independent learners who complain to those teachers who are not willing to let them go further and deeper into curricular material than a 45 minute lecture would allow! 


I can envision a legion of students turning learning on its head, not becuase we lead them but because they demanded it.  And I think the solution lies somewhere south of grade 6.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Flipping Without Video

I see one of the most common questions about Flip being "can it be done without video" a la Dean Shareski's tweet today:
So, as a non-video-creating flipper, I figured I should write about what I do to make my classroom flipped.


First, why don't I make videos? Vanity and practicality. I don't like my voice on video (let alone my ugly mug! kidding, I'm actually devilish handsome!) and I don't see my students having success trying to take notes from a video. Grade 6 is simply too young to take notes as a learning method, at least without some serious training, which defeats the purpose of flipping, imo.


So, what do I do? Well, I set up the structure of my class like a college class, with each unit being given in advance, syllabus style. I post my "I can" statements for the class, explain each of them and then let the kids know they will be able to explain all of these to me by the end of the term. And, then I let them know they get to approach whichever outcomes they want, in whatever order they want, in any way they want. This means my students who are physically oriented could make dances or models, kids who are musically oriented can make songs, boys (often) can make Minecraft representations to support what they are doing. 

And for each of these outcomes, I am available to help with as much or as little as they need. I provide all the resources, all the classtime (and lunchtimes if desired/needed) and all the encouragement they need. Then I can ask them to adapt or change what they have done if they do not head in the right direction (part of this is that the kids have certain outcomes they must meet for provincial testing). Plus, the goal is that for each outcome they meet, I can provide a assessment so they know how they are doing against the provincial requirements.


I feel it is the right balance of freedom and structure which my students need as pre-teens and for the parents who send their children to my school for high achievement.


You can check out my (pre-refurbished) flipclass for the unit I did for Air & Aerodynamics here

Update

There has been a sea change where I work. I am now in a position where I can reasonably hope some of the dreams that died last year will be re-imagined.

I am excited.