Flipping the High School Classroom

We're working on it. 

You can say that we're thinking outside the box, we are exploring possibilities, or that we just want to do something different. But really, what we're hoping to do is transform our approach to education by introducing the flipped classroom. For further understanding, also check out The Flipped Class: Myth vs. Reality.

If you look at the first text link above (go ahead), it's obvious the effect it can have. At our school, we continuously have our students moving towards this, the flipped classroom. Technology begins in first grade. We don't neglect the traditional. We supplement it. If you fast forward to our middle school, however, you'll see the definitive tools we implement to reach this goal: Google Apps for Education, constructive projects, blogging, integration of powerful 2.0 tools, ePortfolios, and global collaboration. Students progress decisively towards a personalized learning experience--one in which they learn cooperative teamwork, a necessary skill for the job market. 

But there's more to it than that.

We now are approaching a time when we have to consider the new high school and how we'll continue on this path. Have you looked at Khan Academy and YouTube lately? Several years ago I made my own instructional videos, and it was very time consuming. Why would we make our own now when there is an endless supply of tremendous instructional videos on hand? These are videos that are more polished than any I would make, they deliver the same message I would deliver (and better), and they are available simply by embedding or sharing the link. Resources are not a problem for a flipped classroom and they are largely free. 

Let's consider costs. Textbooks are not necessary; technology is. The building we're in is already wired, so no extras there. We can do away with paper, notebooks, binders, pencils, erasers, and markers for the most part (mathematics will require some tweaking). Our preference is to use tablets, not laptops, and this is the main cost we must consider. By next fall, the costs of current tablets should be lower and reasonable. When you consider that this is the main tool a student will need, it's actually a cheaper route than the traditional. 

And let's consider size. We will be a small high school and this works in our favor. Teachers can be trained effectively to use this model and there will be continued support, either f2f or through our portal. Students will receive more one-on-one in their curriculum applications, which is the most effective instruction. They will be engaged, develop their online presence, and create a personalized learning experience to last a lifetime.

Individuality and responsibility are the main components to the model. Student ePortfolios will be created for all four years and can be used for college application, which is the future projection. Consider how effective this could be: fill out a university application and provide links to your growth as a student, your personal experience in learning. It's sure to make an impression and set you apart as an applicant. 

We're working on it. And it becomes more enticing as the new year rolls around.

Thoughts on Training Effective Teachers

My husband and I had an interesting conversation on the way home from our annual Thanksgiving trip, a five-hour drive through Kansas and Missouri. We had visited some old friends with our daughter, a Teach For America alumni who fulfilled her corps program in an inner-city Dallas school and has continued to teach after her obligation ended. A couple of times during our visit the need for changes in education were discussed. All of this stayed in the back of my mind and as we drove home, I brought them back up.

You know what I'd change first about teacher preparedness? Universities need to adapt the strategies TFA uses. I'd put student teachers through a 5-week boot camp in a difficult, challenging environment. It would be sink or swim and they'd learn classroom management and lesson planning through constant feedback in a real environment. My daughter learned more about classroom management and lesson planning in her TFA boot-camp weeks than I did in my focused undergraduate courses. Their model is simple: recruit natural leaders to a profession that tests their skills and provide them resources to better equip students for college and career by using teaching as leadership strategies. The same model of preparedness is true for the KIPP organization.

Next change I'd make is the school year. Students do not need 2 months off in the summer and teachers don't either. There's too much enticement in a job that provides such a vacation. Lengthening the school year would filter out anyone from choosing a career for its vacation time. Hit the curriculum hard for 6-8 weeks, then have a breather to re-organize and re-think planning and collaboration for the next unit of learning. Learning is tremendous when the time is used effectively. When the time in class is used for deeper understanding, student achievement is distinct, as noted by the National Center on Time and Learning.

Both of these changes require passion and dedication. We have too many teachers that haven't developed a passion for their career. I have aspiring teachers that visit my classroom periodically, and I can spot the dispassionate ones immediately. I'm unable to draw them out when I discuss their interest in education. Lack of enthusiasm and inquiry from a student about the profession is a red flag. This is always very worrisome to me. The classroom is no place for timid leaders. No teacher is perfect, but we should always strive to become better at what we do on a daily basis, and curiosity on how that occurs should be natural for someone passionate to the career.

Finally, I would require all teachers to become competent at teaching students to use technology to personalize their learning. Personalize the tool while it's in the hands of the student. Technology best serves the learner when the learner uses it, not the teacher. Instructors must understand the tool, of course, but understand it also from the student's perspective as a constructive and necessary element in the curriculum. Without using tools of construction and collaboration, we cannot provide students the preparation they need for careers that demand technology skills, which nowadays means most careers. 

Replacing Textbooks via Google Apps

You may have read in my previous posts that we've adopted GAFE at our school and how it's affecting my language curriculum for 6th-8th graders. As we study units to address mechanical/grammar issues while blogging, I create a presentation and then continuously add to the presentation (assignments) as we move along. The students add their work as well. Once we do a group-edit of each individual's work on the presentation, the student can make changes to the same work on their website and I assess it from there. This got me to thinking...


I really should be videotaping my introductions of the individual lessons, the group-edit discussion, and then embedding them into the Google Doc so students can reflect on the lesson and what was learned. Once the unit's complete, I will have a recording of the topic, our work on the topic, and the reflection we made. All in all, a great way to teach a lesson by example, and a perfect way to catch a student up when they're absent. It will also give me feedback on my own teaching skill and issues I may need to fix before opening the topic next year.


But the real need falls under the preparation for our goal of not purchasing textbooks in the future. We've discussed having only laptops and tablets for high school students next year. I imagine there will be trickle down with middle school students. What will replace textbooks if we don't prepare now? The Google Docs will document all of the lesson if I will take the time to embed videos of our progress. Now, to find the tripod...

A Learning Activity for Editing

Reference my previous blog Google Apps for Education to better understand how we're using Google Doc presentations.

We made our presentation "fat" when each student added to it the sentence they'd constructed about serial commas.
 Posted was Maya Angelou's and my example:

His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age. 

--Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

Hector's room smelled of gym socks, Ranch Doritos, and lies. 

--Mrs. Johnson (2011)

I then asked them to follow this model, which was written on the presentation:

 (Place) smells like ______, ______, and _____." 
Please make the smells distinctly different. Cite as shown (Your name, 2011)

A handful of students got it perfectly--they noticed the difference in the examples and the model, changed "smelled" to "smells," used a place, and wrote a list of distinct smells. Another handful didn't focus on the model but got the place and distinct smells. And there were some that didn't use a place but a thing that was not a place, or they didn't use distinctively different aromas. 

I pulled the presentation up and we critiqued each one in a very nice, constructive way, verbally high-fiving those that got it perfectly. I wasn't trying to trick them; I wanted them to learn to focus on what was asked of them. Was this an eye-opener? Of course. 

But here's the kicker and I didn't expect this: by the third or fourth slightly incorrect sentence, students immediately volunteered what was wrong with the sentence they'd written as soon as it was read aloud, without my calling on them. They wanted to address it first, they wanted to show they understood what had happened. Now, you may think this was a cruel way to introduce them to writing for an audience. But they were all engaged, and not one student was distracted from the activity. We applauded the sentences that followed the model and enjoyed the huge variety of literal and figurative smells. I then asked them to make changes to these same sentences they had posted on their individual web pages to receive full credit.

The ensuing discussion got lively as some that followed the model claimed their due, while some woefully admitted they had rushed through the assignment. It looked like a very simple writing task, but they'd gotten it a bit wrong. I reminded them that this happens to everyone, but that they had to sharpen their focus when writing for an audience. I explained that as self-editors we have to be the first to notice our flaws, we have to continuously work on our writing skills and reflect on them after completion. 

I can remember writing essays for undergraduate courses on the old onion-skin paper that some professors insisted upon. Inevitably, three-fourths towards the bottom of a typed page, I would make a typo, and have to yank it out and start over. Students today do not have to do this, and they should be happy that technology has evolved as it has. But that doesn't mean they can't continue to reflect on their writing, nor does it mean they should read through their finished product once and be done with it. Blogging allows us to save, make changes, preview, and come back again later to write or change some more. Should we have higher expectations for students because of technology? I think we should. There are so many tools built in that help: spell-check, grammar assistance, thesaurus, dictionary, and so on. We can ask them to be thorough. We don't have to be ruthless, but we must ask them to examine once, reflect, and examine again until they develop the intrinsic motivation to write well for an audience or just for themselves. Digital tools offer them the ability to examine deeply, alter their work when needed, and make the best of their efforts in a painless fashion.

And now I welcome your thoughts on this activity. Was it too cruel? Was it definitive college/career preparation? What do you think?

Google Apps for Education

Ready for tremendous success for both students and teacher? Where should I start?

I'll start with me, as it has changed the way I approach my language course for 6th-8th grade.  Using three different resources--Everyday Editing and Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson and The Grammar Plan Book by Constance Weaver--I plan to attack the grammar within writing, mainly directed at student blogging. Using Google in our domain lets me send students presentations of topics. This week it's the study and practice of serial commas. I made a presentation doc and shared it with the students so they could add their practice sentences and cited example sentences from literature. Now they can add to the presentation when it's convenient, it can be pulled up for discussion, and we can learn from each other. I like this, as it makes the students collaborators to the curriculum. I can also send them extra practice documents (old-fashioned worksheets in digital form) via email if they need supplemental practice.

For the students, Google Apps is a fantastic opportunity to use digital tools for communication. Writing blogs and emails helps them focus on writing standards. They've been developing webpages with Sites and writing blogs. Next, I'll ask them to comment on classmates' publications, which will hopefully reinforce what we've discussed for writing: encourage conversation (comments) from readers.

Today I received an email from a middle school student, requesting that I open up the restrictions on our email domain for a brief time so she could email photos from her phone to insert on her Google Site. Students motivated to work on a Saturday evening? I'm all for that! And note: she's already got her own digital tool to use. Google Apps costs nothing yet adds so much to the learning process.

Another exciting feature of Sites is the ease of use. Students can insert links, images and videos with hardly any help. Once they discover the simplicity, they madly support their topics with interesting outside sources. The impact they can add is tremendous. I'm letting them explore topics they enjoy--personalized learning opportunities create lifelong learners and if that's what they become, I've done my job.

Next up will be the collaborative elements of Google. Teams will be formed for project-based learning. When our global contests research begins, they'll be prepared for teamwork. Google Docs gives them forms/surveys for collecting data on the fly, and they can then graph the results.

Are you considering Google Apps for Education at your school? Don't wait any longer--the engagement factor and simplicity makes the learning curve seem negligible. It can act as an ongoing e-portfolio, so unlike papers thrust forgotten into folders or worse yet, into the trash can. Invest the time for the digital literacy your students need.

Integrating QR Codes

At our previous monthly staff meeting, the principal asked us to brainstorm three topics, and one of those was ideas for school improvement. Our early childhood director noted that her church used sticker codes for young child pickup by parent. The child was "stickered" upon arrival to church and the parent given a matching sticker, placed in the appropriate class for the church service, and then picked up as the sticker was matched by the parent. She wondered if we could also do this at our school. As an early childhood worker, she doesn't know all of the students that come to our after-school care, and this sometimes concerns her as to what allergies the child might have or if all adults picking up the child were approved ones. She definitely has a wonderful idea that we can implement using current technology at no cost.


QR (quick response) codes use smart phone technology. Here's a Common Craft video explaining them. Lee Kolbert shares this and other ideas on her blog about QR codes in education. I've brainstormed how I'm going to use them in the classroom which I'll share in a later writing.


For application to the early childhood director's concerns, QR codes will allow teachers on-the-fly access to pertinent student information. And while it sounds all Big Brother, the goal is to protect the student by giving teachers in charge of unfamiliar students access to important data. If we have a student with life-threatening allergy to a food or insect, the adult in charge that day can find out instantly with a phone snap to the child's code. 


I tried out some resources to creating a code for a student. qrstuff.com provides elements in a wide range of formats. We can implement QR's by making a table of student codes on either a web page or a printout sheet in a folder. The after-school care provider can then access the code of any child she is unfamiliar with for instant information. As our school grows, this gives us an additional safety feature to protect children from unwarranted pickups and access to emergency contacts without stringing through time-negating activities. All that is needed is a smart phone with a QR code reader application and codes made from free resources. 


Mary Beth Hertz at Edutopia has some more ideas about how QR codes can be used in the classroom. Read more here.


How will you use QR codes? How will my students use them? I'm picturing all kinds of ways we can implement these in education, but it necessitates smart phones in the classroom, which is another idea whose time has come.


The QR at the top of this post is a link to my blog. Try it out for yourself!

First Week of School Reflection

It's done. The first week of school tells me a lot about how the school year will unfold: which students already need more guidance / 1:1, which students have matured tremendously over the summer and are motivated to learn, and which students I can influence.

We have many new students this year that have transferred in from other schools. I've noticed a particular distinction for many of them. They really care about their education and they want to please. Because they attend a private school, their parents pay tuition. That's an investment. These students may have transferred because they had to deal with bullying issues. They may be undergoing a shift in their families (i.e. a new parent union, new home or a divorce). I want them to have an easy transition and I don't want them to worry about pleasing me too much. Overall, I want to nurture their fresh start, and that means making them comfortable in an unfamiliar setting. One of my first jobs is to make them understand it's okay to question authority. I really don't mind having it pointed out I made a typo on a document or that the date something is due was changed and then I forgot I changed it. Forgetfulness is a bit of my makeup because I try to do too much, especially the first week. My human flaws are okay to notice as long as they learn how to do it with either #1: humor or #2: respect. This is a teaching moment not covered in textbooks, but so important in human relationships.

We got a lot accomplished this first week. My 5th-8th graders developed their Google email accounts by adding their classmates to their contacts. They learned email etiquette. They learned about passwords and privacy. They created a Google site from a template and tweaked it so that it's theirs. This alone is valuable because Sites makes it necessary to understand the different components and where to find them: navigation, layout, linking, sharing, and adding pages to the navigation menu. When we began writing code for contests, they will understand site layout much better because they've spent some time under the hood of the engine.

We started blogging and learned much about the art of reflection. This is more than a standard technology task--it's a writing task that necessitates outlining their thoughts. There are so many standards addressed from blogging and this is a great opportunity for me to really know how they feel. It also helps me understand how they can improve their writing and I develop my language lessons to meet the weaknesses that are apparent.

Team caption applications were returned all week from students that want to be leaders in technology learning. They love helping. I've promised them a sponsorship when they go to high school: if they are my helpers now, I will write recommendations to organizations when they leave our school or when they apply for a job. I encourage them to enter the field of education. They are my special students for which I have the most fond of memories because they often come back and help tutor my students once they need high school service hours. I love getting to watch them develop their teaching skills and having the opportunity to talk with them from that standpoint.

Has it been a good week? Yes, most definitely. I love my job and it continues to make me grow both as a teacher and as a person. Perfection may not be possible, but progress always is.