Jon Bergmann is a leader in the Flipped Classroom. You just spent last month reading his book Flip Your Classroom - Reach Every Student In Every Classroom Every Day
Spend some time on his blog and find a post that connects with you and gives you some pieces to implement or consider.
Turning Learning on its Head
http://jonbergmann.com/
Blog
http://jonbergmann.com/blog/
1. Choose one of his posts from the last 12 months and respond to it.
a. What was the post about and give a short summary
b. What are your thoughts about the topic?
March 17, 2014
ReplyDeleteWow, I just finished reading the No Wonder Nobody Wants To Come post and it really painted today’s schools in a negative light. This is an excerpt, “Serious question. If students want to learn in isolation; if they want to sit at a desk and work on their own stuff, occasionally checking in with an “expert,” they have no reason to come to school. They can do a lot better at home, or at their local coffee shop, or even the public library, where both the coffee and the WiFi connection will be better.” I would like to think that this only applies to a minute percent of schools in the country, especially public schools where 21st century skills are stressed. I do not know of many rooms where the teachers think of themselves as the expert and only check-in with students. Classrooms I observe are a lot more interactive than that! This blog post made it seem as though the teacher did not want anything to do with the students, and it was a bother to have them in class. I know I got into education because I actually LIKE students. I cannot imagine ignoring them as the post suggests! Don’t think I want to check this Blog out again! :(
I read Jon's post called "Time to Reconsider How to Implement the Common Core." This post was about using the Flipped Classroom to better implement the new standards. Jon argues that many teacher feel unprepared for this huge shift in thinking and learning and flipping could help that work. He argues we are greatly shifting our methodologies and many people are not receiving enough guidance on how to deal with this shift.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jon that our methodologies are changing in a way many of us, I included, don't feel ready for. I am so excited by the fact that we are going to dig deeper with our students instead of teaching "skills and facts," but I am terrified that I don't know exactly how to accomplish it. After reading Flip Your Classroom I feel more knowledgeable about "flipping," but I am still struggling with how to do it in a 4th grade classroom. I know that flipping can mean so many different things, but I feel like Jon is saying that without flipping I can't do Common Core as well. My desire is there, but I would love more ideas from him about how to do this successfully in an elementary classroom. I feel a little bit like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, desperately trying to find things to grasp onto. Jon advocates for a framework and so do I! There is so much to think about and consider, all this post showed me was that everyone else feels the same way I do, even experts like Jon (that was refreshing).
I listened to the "Flip Side radio" interview Jon did with a fourth grade teacher from California. She described how she chose to flip her classroom. She didn't flip everyday or even always every week. She liked using problem-based lessons. For example, she had students work on a project about where their drinking water came from. This problem arose based on a comment that a student made one day in class. She used flipping for some of the tasks that weren't the "hard parts'. If she needed them to have some background knowledge in order to complete a certain part of the tasks, she recorded a video for them to watch. One of the tasks they needed to complete was to make a Google survey. Instead of spending 30 class minutes teaching how to use the form, she used the time discussing what types of questions would be good survey questions. Then she sent the students home with instructions to watch a video on how to make a survey. Any time there were repetitive questions, she made a video of the question/answer and had students watch it.
ReplyDeleteIn summary, she used flipping for background knowledge, repetitive questions, and "how to..." tutorials. She used class time for the "hard stuff" that students needed to complete and have someone knowledgeable nearby.