Flipped Classrooms!

What is a flipped classroom?  
A flipped classroom literally flips the dynamic of instruction and assessment.  In a flipped classroom, we are delivering instruction outside of the classroom and moving "homework" into the classroom.  In a traditional classroom, students often sit and listen to lectures to learn content based knowledge, and then are assigned homework to practice the learned material. In a traditional classroom, the teachers role is the Sage on the Side. In a flipped classroom, the students complete an activity in class and their assignment is to go home and watch their lectures online.  Students watch the lectures at home at their own pace, and can communicate with teachers or peers through online discussions.  When the students arrive in class, they are to complete assignments with more concept engagement as well as with the help of the instructor.   The teachers role in the flipped classroom is to be the guide on the side (knewton).   


What are the benefits of a flipped classroom?  A flipped classroom provides more opportunity for learning through activity rather than students listening to a lecture.  This changes the learning environment, making ti more engaging and fun for students.  Students are able to learn the content at their own pace.  Since students are learning the material outside of the classroom, instructors make use of class time for collaborative work and students learn through concept mastery exercises (knewton).  There are all different kinds of learners in our classrooms, the traditional "one-size-fits-all" model of instruction doesn't work anymore.

A flipped classroom enables mastery learning.  In mastery learning, students are taking responsibility for their won learning, which is extremely important.  Students take control of their own learning.  They learn at their own pace and at their own devotion. Through a flipped classroom, students receive instant feedback.  Since the students are learning at home, when they come to class, teachers have more time to help explain difficult concepts to struggling students.  There is no point in teaching something to your class, and having them go home and do the assignment completely wrong.  IT IS A WASTE OF TIME.  In a flipped environment, students receive guidance throughout their activities or labs, and if lost, they can refer to the lessons online whenever they need to.

How does it work?  Teachers create at least three videos a week, whether through WEB-EX, PowerPoint, pod-casts; through any technological resource.  Students watch the videos at home or in class.  When the students return to class the next day, the class time was spent completing labs or interactive activities to illustrate concepts.


What if your student doesn't have access to a computer or the Internet at home?  If your students don't have technology or Internet access, you have the time in class to guide them.  This creates more time for one on one instruction.


What do you think?  Personally, I think that a flipped classroom is great.  I wish that I was able to have a flipped classroom while I was in school.  I think of school, and I remember sitting in class in daze; confused about what we were talking about, and why we were learning it.  I remember getting anxiety if I missed one thing the teacher said, because the rest of the lecture wouldn't make sense.  If I were able to have a flipped classroom I believe I would have been academically more successful, without all of the frustration and anxiety because I would have been able to learn the content on my own time, at my own pace, ans with the luxury of being able to learn it as many times as I needed to.  



References:

Nazarali, R. (n.d.). The Flipped Classroom Engages Students and Challenges Teachers | Kiwi Commons. Kiwi Commons. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://kiwicommons.com/index.php?p=7957&tag=the-flipped-classroom-engages-students-and-challenges-teachers

Overmyer, J. (n.d.). Educational Vodcasting - Flipping the Classroom. Educational Vodcasting - Flipping the Classroom. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.flippedclassroom.com/index.php

Sophia :: Closed for maintenance. (n.d.). Sophia :: Closed for maintenance. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.sophia.org/flipped-classroom?cid=GoogleFlipClass&gclid=CKe95uuKwbICFcHe4Aodbg8Adg

Formative Assessment Module Goals

As a teacher, there are many goals that I would like to set for myself while instructing my students using formative assessments.  My first goal that I would like to set for myself is to really understand the process and purpose of formative assessment, and ways to implement it in the classroom.  Based on the self-reflection that we took to rate our levels of expertise, there were a few areas that stood out to me that I needed to work on.  One of theses things that I need to work on is to provide more opportunities for formative assessments in my future class.  I would like there to be a more general focus on the importance of formative assessments rather than summative assessments. Creating more opportunities for formative assessments will strengthen my students knowledge of the content; better preparing them for a summative assessment. One way to achieve this goal is to provide my students with more opportunities to give their feedback to their peers.  I can guide my students while they discuss and explain their opinions or perceptions of another students work; providing a basis for their feedback.  My overall goal is to create ways to use formative assessments, in a way that is most efficient, engaging, and beneficial for my students.

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Here is a summary of two new episodes that I listened too! 

Episode 315 GG Possessives : They aren't just for possession.

This episode addresses the common mistakes people make with possessives.  People often wonder where or whether they should use an apostrophe or not.   People misunderstand and think that anything in the possessive case is only for something capable of possessing such as "mine" and "our"; in relation to the adjective possession. Possessive cases in which ownership is not involved, these can be called relational possessives.  This episode makes a valid point that people who think that inanimate objects can't have things is silly.

"To see how illogical the complaint about inanimate possessives is, forget about noun cases, and look at the verb “have.” If you truly believe that inanimate objects can’t possess things, then you should also have a problem with sentences like “A triangle has three sides.” Triangles are inanimate, so they can’t “have” anything!"

This is a great example because obviously triangles do have three sides. This episode is helpful in the classroom because it describes the history of the possessive case and identifies the common misinterpretations people have about the possessive case.  This episode provides plenty examples of scenarios where the possessive case does make sense, even if the noun is not able to actually possess something because its an inanimate object. This blog is great for auditory learners who understand concepts better while listening.  

Episode 310 GG Stationary, Stationery:

Memory Tricks!

This blog discusses the common misunderstandings of the words Stationary, Stationery, Complement, and Compliment.  The episode provides definitions and memory tricks to help you remember the difference between the words.  First, stationery is what you would use to write a letter on.  For the memory trick, it said to think of the "e" in it as in writing an email. I thought this was very clever because it relates to the real world, and students will definitely remember this because they are growing up writing emails rather than writing letters now a days.

Stationary with an "a' means not moving, fixed in one place, still.  A memory trick to remember this is that when you are stationary, you are often standing, and standing also have an "a" in it.  I think this podcast is very beneficial to the classroom because it simplifies grammar concepts and gives understanding to common grammar confusion and misconceptions.

Check out Grammar Girls Website here for more Quick and Dirty Tips!

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is also another podcast's that is similar to the Math Dude, but it gives helpful tips for writing. One podcast I was able to listen to was one about the difference between first, second, and third person. It gave good examples of what first person, second person, and third person is. It defines what possessiveness is, and the different uses of it is. This was a great episode because it tells you when its appropriate to use each tense, showing how knowledge of these tenses is applicable and useful in real life. Another episode I listened to was about how to write a better complaint letter. It gave examples of how you should not address someone in a complaint letter and stresses how manners are very important. It explains how being polite but getting your point across will most likely get you what you are looking to achieve from writing the complaint letter. Each episode is great and relate able to the real world. It shows how having these basic skills and having basic knowledge of grammar can benefit you in your real life.

The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips to Make Math Easier

One of the podcast's I chose to follow was The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips to Math Easier. One of the episodes I listened to taught its listeners how to raise an exponent to a power. It went over the most important facts about exponents. Such as defining exponents and the general properties of exponents. Such as adding and multiplying the exponents. I also listened to a podcast about altering your holiday recipes. The podcast's talked about how you can double or cut your holiday recipes in half. It talked about how we can alter fractions within recipes. This was interesting because it showed students how fractions and math is applicable in their real lives. I also listened to an episode about how to multiply and divide negative numbers. The podcast was very informative and lays out in a simple way, how to multiply a positive number and a negative number. The Math Dude is a helpful podcast that provides simple and easy tips to remember while doing math.