Keynote: Paul Andersen (@paulandersen):
I was fairly excited to hear Paul speak, having watched his flipped class lesson TED talk. He's a science teacher (although, he teaches biology, but we can't all be perfect), so his particular insights are of interest to me. So often I find that I am not able to translate the ideas of non-science teachers into my own context, which is frustrating, because clearly, there are some amazing things going on in classrooms around the globe, and I want to be able to apply them to my own teaching. Paul's experiences somewhat mirror my own, and he struggled (albeit several years ago) with the same things I am currently reflecting on.
Paul's presentation was a retrospective of sorts about his own journey with flipping. He is a masterful speaker, injecting humor, and asking the right questions. His major themes focused on the heart of the flipped learning model - it's about the students and how you design your classroom should best serve them. Until today, I hadn't really thought about my classroom in terms of design (or, at least, I didn't internally use that language). Designing my class (not the physical space, but the way in which my students journey toward mastery) is something I've been trying to articulate in my head, and now, having some more concrete tools and language for that opens up a world of possibility. Although, as with nearly every conference I attend, there is so much to think about that I feel as though my head may explode with it all.
I had already planned to attend Paul's other presentation about blended learning and mastery in his lab-based classroom (right up my alley), but after the keynote, I was definitely sold. I'm hoping to gain some insight on how to implement a true mastery model in my own classes. I'm expecting this might work better in the Honors Chemistry and/or AP Chemistry classrooms, but I'm excited to see the possibilities. I began the summer thinking that I was done making videos, but now I suspect that there is more video production in my future, if I want to make things work the way I'm hoping they'll work.
The Blended Learning Cycle: Paul Andersen (@paulandersen)
Paul didn't disappoint with what seemed like a follow-up to his morning keynote address. The idea of designing the curriculum to fit a mastery model is exciting, but daunting. Fortunately, it seems like the College Board has helped with this (at least for AP Chem), with its recent re-design of the AP Chemistry course. Using the Big Ideas through the lens of the Science Practices seems like a great place to start the redesign. And if it's good enough for AP, why not Honors? It's more about the approach than the specific content.
I liked Paul's QUIVERS approach to topics (QUestion, Investigation/Inquiry, Video, Elaboration, Review) as a way of leading students toward mastery. I think that starting a topic with a question preserves the essential part of what makes science fun to learn - the question. I'm not sure how well this model would fit with what I've been doing currently, but I'm excited to work on that somewhat (in the few weeks I have left this summer).
Mastery Learning 1-0-Fun: Michael Brust, Tim Kelly, Corey Sullivan (@TheAlgebros)
While the idea of having an entire program at the mastery level is fantastic and wonderful, the reality is that I don't have that kind of flexibility. I also feel that due dates are important, especially for the sophomores. This past year taught me that I still need to follow a schedule, and that there still need to be some due dates for student work. This is probably more my issue than the students', but it is a reality for my teaching.
What I believe I'll take away from this presentation is the idea of very short, immediately graded mastery checks (although, I'll probably still call them quizzes). Nearly every teacher who was talking about mastery still gave traditional 'tests' (whether they were called Unit Summative Assessments or whatever - they were still tests), so I think that I may continue to do that. What we have been calling quizzes in regular Chemistry are really tests anyway, so I don't think I'll need to change much there.
Science Job Alike Networking
I did attend the science job alike, which was something of a discussion group for science teachers. We had some good discussion about cheating and how to prevent it. I was lucky enough to meet Marc Seigel (@daretochem), someone who I have followed for a while on Twitter. It was a little like meeting a celebrity - this guy knows how to teach chemistry, and is a true innovator. It's inspiring to meet some of these folks who have already influenced my teaching in so many ways. Not much else to report about this session - it was useful, but not very exciting.
Flipped Mastery: Nicole Avon (@AvonPhysics)
By now, you may have gotten the idea that mastery learning was a focus of mine at this conference. Nicole's session was extremely informative, with a lot of good ideas. Since I began to flip my classes, my biggest frustration lay in the lack of information from science teachers who were actually doing this. It's wonderful to hear inspiring stories from an innovative social studies teacher who has flipped their classrooms, but I had a hard time relating what they were saying to what I wanted to do. As I find more science teachers doing what I want to do, I become more confident and comfortable in the flip.
Nicole's flipped mastery physics classes have a lot of the the attributes I'm looking for in my classes. I still have some technology hurdles to figure out (the most important of these, in my eyes, is online assessments that work well), but the organization of her material, and especially the idea of optional, additional assignments for students who want more practice, or who finish with the required material early, really got me thinking. I think that, between her and Paul Andersen, I ought to be able to steal what I need to improve my classes and my students' success this coming year.
Some things I'm thinking would work for me:
- Building in an extra day or two around summative test day for retakes
- Requiring a minimum passing grade (I'm thinking 80% for Honors, 70% for regular) before they can move on
- Minimum re-test requirements - being sure that the students have done at least 80% of the required material before they're allowed to re-take a test.
- Keeping things scheduled
Keynote: Jon Bergmann & Aaron Sams (@jonbergmann & @chemicalsams)
Talk about celebrities! I have to admit that I'm still a little star-struck when I listen to these two talk about flipping. The passion for what they do is evident in their presentations - I mean, these are the guys that started this whole thing! Are you kidding me?
Listening to their ideas had me excited to get back to work and to try some of this. The main messages of their keynote that resonated with me were, "less tech, more teach" and "teachers change what they do when they talk to other teachers who are innovating" (I'm paraphrasing, of course).
Having spent a full year with Chromebooks in my classroom, I realize now that I used them FAR too much. Yes, the paperless goal was, and is, a good one, and I intend to still be as paperless as possible, but I have to work on definitive times when the students are using tech, and times when screens are closed. Since all of my assignments are online, I see this as being a challenge, but I'm going to work on it some more this year. I want to make sure that I'm playing an active role in the class, and while I don't want to be the center of the class, I do want to be the active "driver" of the curriculum. It's a balance I hope I can strike this year.
The importance of reaching my colleagues and helping them to see the benefits of flipping really resonates with me. I'm tired of being worried about talking about what I'm doing with the people I work with. I want them to try some of this. I want to change the culture of learning that currently exists at my school. I think I have some ideas on how to proceed, but I think it really has to start with me and other innovators at my school.
Flip the Flop: Kate Baker & Christina Roy (@KtBkr4 & @smallbutfeisty)
Kate and Christina's session was one of the most useful for me, in the context of my issue with talking to my colleagues. We used a processing technique or protocol where I was the one presenting the "problem" and the group (about 8 of us) helped come up with solutions. It was some of the most productive discussion I've had about education, and it left me with several very good ideas about how to change the learning culture of the school at which I teach. I cannot wait to get back to school in August to try to implement some of these ideas. I realize I have a long way to go, but I'm excited to begin.
Formative Assessments On The Fly: Crystal Kirch (@crystalkirch)
If you don't know who Crystal Kirch is, and you're a teacher (especially a math teacher), then you're missing out on one of the most innovative young teachers out there. Crystal's ideas really helped me take the plunge into flipping in 2014, and I still use many of her ideas today. This session introduced seven tools that can be used for formative assessments. While I had seen many of them (and currently use several), I was still excited to learn about a few more. One, in particular, Formative, has me very excited to see what I can do with it. I'm looking forward to trying some of these with my students this year.
Final Thoughts
This conference was exactly what I needed this summer. It truly helped me resolve some frustrations I had been having, and helped me to figure out an approach to solving some of the problems I had with flipping my classes this year. I am excited about moving toward a mastery approach, and I think I have some good tools to help me do this. I can't wait for next year's FlipCon (deep in the heart of Texas!).
No comments:
Post a Comment