Ok, so this summer I am trying to create dynamic mastery quizzes. I have access to ExamView 7.5, Moodle and a Weebly site under construction. I have a few very small test banks, but none for my course texts that my computer can open and need to figure this whole thing out soon. There is so much information out there, but not really all in one place. Ideally, my vision is that the various lesson pages on my Weebly site would each link to a dynamic (ie. different for each student) Moodle test. I would like my chapter tests to be online via Moodle as well and also be dynamic. I would like to figure out how to create my own questions so that when we go to common assessments, my tests are common with the rest of my department.
This is a big chore and I am trying to at least figure out the basics in the next week or so. I have figured out how to import test banks into ExamView, but still have a long way to go with even doing anything in Moodle. Why can't this all be seamless and easy to do. Thankfully I am not put off with all the coding necessary, but it is time-consuming. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas out there?
Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
My First Year of Flipping
I am nearly done with my first year of flipping the classroom. What a ride! I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and my students. I am so excited to sit down, reflect and make things even better next year.
To recap: reflecting after the first semester left me with lots of questions about the method. Even though I had plenty of students enjoying the flipped experience, I also had students not watching videos, not learning, frustrated, trying to leave my classes. Something had to change. So, I decided more personal accountability might help. I also let go of a lot of control...we went asynchronous (with boundaries). Since I was flipping for the first year, I hadn't made all the videos yet, so students could only go as fast as I could make videos/unit learning guides. But, my more advanced students loved being able to go at their own speed and the students who struggle still got my attention and didn't feel pressured to learn so fast. We had a test date still, but no grades were final until that day. However, I tried desperately to enter grades (thanks to my iPad) as they finished lessons.
I made unit learning guides for each unit in both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2. It worked like a charm. Each lesson had a set of guided notes with example problems that corresponded to each video. When students watch the video, they get a "CZECHOWSKI" stamp on the front checklist. When they complete their practice, another stamp. They LOVED filling up their checklist with stamps and seeing the gradebook fill up with good grades. I am seeing students take much more responsibility for their own learning as they realize that even if they get behind, all is not lost. It is truly up to them to earn their grade. That's right...I did away with deadlines and late work. I always hated the accounting of late work anyway and I hate to see my students stressed about math. Learning it is nearly always so stressful anyway for them.
I still flipped my Stats class, at their request, but fell off that wagon for the last two units, as I hit the proverbial wall for burnout in mid-April. Keep in mind, I was finishing my MAT during that time as well.
Where do I go from here? Current issues...now students copy each others' notes instead of watching the videos. Do I mind? I am not sure. Students do this whenever they lose their unit learning guide, which I definitely don't mind. However, I want them to mentally process things. After listening to Ramsay Musallem's latest TED video, I realized I need more excitement in my class. Since we are asynchronous and nearly mastery-based, I would also like to take it to complete mastery-based (with time limits). The Algebro's in Germany inspired me towards that. However, I want more projects so kids can see how we actually use this math. I am thinking of using projects as a way to show mastery, if students are ahead of schedule, instead of tests. I would also like to test out having students either explain topics to me, a "hot seat" approach, courtesy of Graham Johnson, or even make their own videos of themselves explaining things that we can add to the website for the class. I want them to get excited about learning and showing off what they know to others. I want to see them exhibit pride in their work.
Another thing I want to see from my students is more higher level thinking. It is better than last year, but they could do so much more of this. I think that as they gain confidence in their math skills this will happen, but I want to prod them towards this more intentionally as well.
I have to work within boundaries, though. My school wants common assessments soon. That may hamper my project ideas. They also want us to end each semester on the same exact lesson. This is not such a big deal for my more advanced students, but it is for my struggling students. We shall see where we can take this next year.
This summer? I will let these ideas "gel" for a while and then sit down to make the nuts and bolts of the magic happen...I will keep you posted!
To recap: reflecting after the first semester left me with lots of questions about the method. Even though I had plenty of students enjoying the flipped experience, I also had students not watching videos, not learning, frustrated, trying to leave my classes. Something had to change. So, I decided more personal accountability might help. I also let go of a lot of control...we went asynchronous (with boundaries). Since I was flipping for the first year, I hadn't made all the videos yet, so students could only go as fast as I could make videos/unit learning guides. But, my more advanced students loved being able to go at their own speed and the students who struggle still got my attention and didn't feel pressured to learn so fast. We had a test date still, but no grades were final until that day. However, I tried desperately to enter grades (thanks to my iPad) as they finished lessons.
I made unit learning guides for each unit in both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2. It worked like a charm. Each lesson had a set of guided notes with example problems that corresponded to each video. When students watch the video, they get a "CZECHOWSKI" stamp on the front checklist. When they complete their practice, another stamp. They LOVED filling up their checklist with stamps and seeing the gradebook fill up with good grades. I am seeing students take much more responsibility for their own learning as they realize that even if they get behind, all is not lost. It is truly up to them to earn their grade. That's right...I did away with deadlines and late work. I always hated the accounting of late work anyway and I hate to see my students stressed about math. Learning it is nearly always so stressful anyway for them.
I still flipped my Stats class, at their request, but fell off that wagon for the last two units, as I hit the proverbial wall for burnout in mid-April. Keep in mind, I was finishing my MAT during that time as well.
Where do I go from here? Current issues...now students copy each others' notes instead of watching the videos. Do I mind? I am not sure. Students do this whenever they lose their unit learning guide, which I definitely don't mind. However, I want them to mentally process things. After listening to Ramsay Musallem's latest TED video, I realized I need more excitement in my class. Since we are asynchronous and nearly mastery-based, I would also like to take it to complete mastery-based (with time limits). The Algebro's in Germany inspired me towards that. However, I want more projects so kids can see how we actually use this math. I am thinking of using projects as a way to show mastery, if students are ahead of schedule, instead of tests. I would also like to test out having students either explain topics to me, a "hot seat" approach, courtesy of Graham Johnson, or even make their own videos of themselves explaining things that we can add to the website for the class. I want them to get excited about learning and showing off what they know to others. I want to see them exhibit pride in their work.
Another thing I want to see from my students is more higher level thinking. It is better than last year, but they could do so much more of this. I think that as they gain confidence in their math skills this will happen, but I want to prod them towards this more intentionally as well.
I have to work within boundaries, though. My school wants common assessments soon. That may hamper my project ideas. They also want us to end each semester on the same exact lesson. This is not such a big deal for my more advanced students, but it is for my struggling students. We shall see where we can take this next year.
This summer? I will let these ideas "gel" for a while and then sit down to make the nuts and bolts of the magic happen...I will keep you posted!
Friday, October 19, 2012
Flipping Part 2 From Yesterday and Today
I had several interesting experiences yesterday in the course of my flipping. Firstly, Edmodo didn't allow the students to watch their video, so I had to resort to the "old" way of teaching. It was back to the old way of people not paying attention, talking to each other, and generally not being interested. While I could take offense to that, I am generally certain people/teens usually enjoy listening to my lectures. I can often get students involved in the lectures. However, yesterday, they were not listening. We were talking about "Inverses" and it is a difficult topic. I understood that students would not be interested and generally tend to be less interested the more difficult the topic is, it was jarring to see my normally (since flipping) good classes go downhill so fast. I was motivated to teach, but they were not motivated to learn.
Then, in 4th block, two students, upon learning we would be doing things the "old" way, asked if they could take some computers into the hallway to attempt to watch the video again and learn on their own. Because I know they would have been nothing but trouble in the classroom (back to their "old" ways), I consented. They kept periodically coming back into the classroom to ask questions. They found other videos to watch and took detailed notes on that video. They asked intelligent questions about the video and compared it to what I was asking of them on the videos. It was remarkable and exactly what I would like to see with all of my students.
Then, today, following my second unit of flipping with my Algebra 1 class, I decided to see how THEY thought things were going and was pleasantly surprised. I administered a survey and had a good long chat with them about some things they thought about Khan. They liked being able to learn at their own pace. They liked having help from the website to figure things out on their own and only needing to ask me when they simply couldn't understand. They said they had learned more in two units with this class than they had learned all last year. They said that math didn't seem so difficult with Khan. They said that they had regained confidence in math that they lost in middle school. They said that while Khan was not "fun", it did keep them wanting to do the math and was way better than doing on a piece of paper. The comments in favor of keeping the Khan Academy in the classroom was overwhelming.
My main struggle now, is convincing my colleagues that this is a good idea for my other Algebra 1 class to begin. I have options, but the kids in my flipped classes are so much more engaged and learning a lot more than the kids in my other classes. I wonder now, how that will translate to long-term learning on their part and, eventually, enhanced performance in math.
I have been getting comments about how hard I push kids in math. Some colleagues think that I ask too much of them and that they should take things a little slower. However, the community and school board want higher ACT scores from these kids. How am I going to do that if we don't push them to learn more and learn it better. If I can use things like Khan to engage them so THEY want to learn more and it is easier for them to learn more, why not?! If I don't have engaged students, then students aren't learning. My students are engaged in my flipped classes...I have no questions about that. Even though they may not always watch the videos, they are even more engaged in my non-Khan flipped class than my regular class. Evidence of this was when I couldn't flip for a day. They were lost and frustrated and showed it by not paying attention to me. Hence, they did not learn.
What do I want from my classes? I want them all to be as engaged as those two students yesterday. I want them to want to learn and seek out things to help them learn from wherever they need to. I want to have students enjoy the work in my class and have that translate to them learning more from all their hard work.
Then, in 4th block, two students, upon learning we would be doing things the "old" way, asked if they could take some computers into the hallway to attempt to watch the video again and learn on their own. Because I know they would have been nothing but trouble in the classroom (back to their "old" ways), I consented. They kept periodically coming back into the classroom to ask questions. They found other videos to watch and took detailed notes on that video. They asked intelligent questions about the video and compared it to what I was asking of them on the videos. It was remarkable and exactly what I would like to see with all of my students.
Then, today, following my second unit of flipping with my Algebra 1 class, I decided to see how THEY thought things were going and was pleasantly surprised. I administered a survey and had a good long chat with them about some things they thought about Khan. They liked being able to learn at their own pace. They liked having help from the website to figure things out on their own and only needing to ask me when they simply couldn't understand. They said they had learned more in two units with this class than they had learned all last year. They said that math didn't seem so difficult with Khan. They said that they had regained confidence in math that they lost in middle school. They said that while Khan was not "fun", it did keep them wanting to do the math and was way better than doing on a piece of paper. The comments in favor of keeping the Khan Academy in the classroom was overwhelming.
My main struggle now, is convincing my colleagues that this is a good idea for my other Algebra 1 class to begin. I have options, but the kids in my flipped classes are so much more engaged and learning a lot more than the kids in my other classes. I wonder now, how that will translate to long-term learning on their part and, eventually, enhanced performance in math.
I have been getting comments about how hard I push kids in math. Some colleagues think that I ask too much of them and that they should take things a little slower. However, the community and school board want higher ACT scores from these kids. How am I going to do that if we don't push them to learn more and learn it better. If I can use things like Khan to engage them so THEY want to learn more and it is easier for them to learn more, why not?! If I don't have engaged students, then students aren't learning. My students are engaged in my flipped classes...I have no questions about that. Even though they may not always watch the videos, they are even more engaged in my non-Khan flipped class than my regular class. Evidence of this was when I couldn't flip for a day. They were lost and frustrated and showed it by not paying attention to me. Hence, they did not learn.
What do I want from my classes? I want them all to be as engaged as those two students yesterday. I want them to want to learn and seek out things to help them learn from wherever they need to. I want to have students enjoy the work in my class and have that translate to them learning more from all their hard work.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The Fog and Friction of Flipping
So, my students couldn't access the video for some weird reason. However, it was widespread. So, I resorted to teaching the "unflipped" way. Engagement was WAY down. Way, Way Down...I was very frustrated with how little they seemed to want to pay attention. Students that typically have problems with math were talking amongst themselves and paying very little attention to the lesson, thereby compounding their problems but providing a temporary "out" to the situation.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Flipping...end of the 2nd Algebra 1 Unit
So, I got my results back from the 2nd unit of flipped Algebra 1 and the corresponding control group. After inputting, I discovered a tempered result as compared to the first unit. However, the experimental group still learned an average of about 5% more than the control group. Keep in mind the scores on the pretest for both sections were fairly high. However, this aids me in seeing that the flipping is really helping students. I look forward to seeing how my Algebra 2 students do with flipping.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Sometimes Things Don't Work as You Planned...
So things were going as swimmingly as could be expected with my Algebra 2 classes. My flipped class without Khan went pretty well. The flipped class with Khan was a different story. I had tried a couple problems in the section for the day on Khan, but not the whole thing. The exercise was so incredibly difficult I didn't have the heart to give it to them. So, I gave them the worksheet from my other classes. That was difficult enough. I actually made it more difficult to give them practice with Algebra concepts (multiplying variables, monomials, binomials, etc). They do not remember what little they learned of that in Algebra 1.
So...I will always try the sections of Khan from now on...
I had a girl complain that she didn't like the "flipped" format today. She wanted to switch to a different section. Another girl told her to watch the videos a couple of times and take notes while doing it and she wouldn't be having so many problems. She hadn't watched the videos at all and was really struggling.
I saw many students helping each other, sometimes with varying degrees of success, but they were all busy in the classes. I was very pleased with them. I started my flipped classes with a little refresher on the video after our quiz and then went straight to the worksheet. I had 6 students come in for help during seminar. They were very motivated to get the concepts understood and the worksheet completed.
So...I will always try the sections of Khan from now on...
I had a girl complain that she didn't like the "flipped" format today. She wanted to switch to a different section. Another girl told her to watch the videos a couple of times and take notes while doing it and she wouldn't be having so many problems. She hadn't watched the videos at all and was really struggling.
I saw many students helping each other, sometimes with varying degrees of success, but they were all busy in the classes. I was very pleased with them. I started my flipped classes with a little refresher on the video after our quiz and then went straight to the worksheet. I had 6 students come in for help during seminar. They were very motivated to get the concepts understood and the worksheet completed.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Flipping this week...
I'm flipping so many classes, it's difficult to keep things straight. I do notice that students come to class with a lot of questions after the videos. Sometimes they complain that they just don't understand the videos. I need to work on making them more interactive and getting the students to actually contemplate what they are watching instead of just letting it speed by them. I've noticed some teachers who flip have different formats that they require their students to fill out that force them to process the videos and think through things they are supposed to be learning. I end up giving a lot of mini lectures in class over material they should have processed more overnight. I also get a lot of complaints like "I just don't understand ANY of this".
On the flip side, students who engage fully in the process seem to be grasping things a lot better in my Khan-flipped Algebra 2 class. I was able to get at least two students fully proficient in domain and range. That is more than my other Algebra 2 classes, in which no students got fully proficient in either domain or range.
The problem is with the Algebra 2 curriculum. Students are not proficient enough with Algebra 1 concepts to be in Algebra 2. They don't know how to factor, multiply binomials or other basic skills because the courses do not get to these topics in Algebra 1. Then, the Algebra 2 book assumes they have learned these concepts and presents topics that build on them. The students, rightfully, are confused, frustrated and ready to quit. Most of these students are not model or stellar students. They are just trying to graduate high school. The last time they truly used Algebra 1 was a year and a half ago and the concepts have to be retaught/reinforced at the very least.
I digress...I used Khan with my Statistics class today. It was a good challenge for them, but they truly learned not only how to calculate standard deviation, but learned to calculate it for both populations and samples (and learned how to differentiate between the two). They then learned about variance. It was a great experience for them. I am glad to see them doing so well with it. I want to teach them to do this on excel as well, but figured a day doing it by hand would help them learn to use Excel more efficiently. We shall see.
My non-flipped control class was really struggling yesterday. I ended up spending a lot of time with all my classes doing roving one-on-one teaching as they worked on assignments in class. They simply do not know enough to be able to do the work on their own. It is frustrating to wonder if this unit is even keeping the methodologies clean enough to count as data.
On the flip side, students who engage fully in the process seem to be grasping things a lot better in my Khan-flipped Algebra 2 class. I was able to get at least two students fully proficient in domain and range. That is more than my other Algebra 2 classes, in which no students got fully proficient in either domain or range.
The problem is with the Algebra 2 curriculum. Students are not proficient enough with Algebra 1 concepts to be in Algebra 2. They don't know how to factor, multiply binomials or other basic skills because the courses do not get to these topics in Algebra 1. Then, the Algebra 2 book assumes they have learned these concepts and presents topics that build on them. The students, rightfully, are confused, frustrated and ready to quit. Most of these students are not model or stellar students. They are just trying to graduate high school. The last time they truly used Algebra 1 was a year and a half ago and the concepts have to be retaught/reinforced at the very least.
I digress...I used Khan with my Statistics class today. It was a good challenge for them, but they truly learned not only how to calculate standard deviation, but learned to calculate it for both populations and samples (and learned how to differentiate between the two). They then learned about variance. It was a great experience for them. I am glad to see them doing so well with it. I want to teach them to do this on excel as well, but figured a day doing it by hand would help them learn to use Excel more efficiently. We shall see.
My non-flipped control class was really struggling yesterday. I ended up spending a lot of time with all my classes doing roving one-on-one teaching as they worked on assignments in class. They simply do not know enough to be able to do the work on their own. It is frustrating to wonder if this unit is even keeping the methodologies clean enough to count as data.
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