Starting to Flip Out

I am looking at changing my teaching in a huge way. I have been teaching for 15 years (or so) and recently had my eyes opened to how ineffective I have been. Well, that is actually too strong. I am actually a good teacher. I work with analogy and can usually guide the students to a decent understanding of the material. But I have recently learned about Reverse Teaching (I am sure it has many names...and that may not even be one of them). I am very green at this, but the idea seems to be that the traditional classroom in which I am center stage giving a lecture is transformed to one in which the students are guiding their own learning with my assistance. Unfortunately, I am not sure how to make the transition. For every idea I have, I have 10 questions (or alternate ideas). I am going to try to use this blog to guide my own process and (I hope) serve as a template for others who may venture this way in the future.

I came across the concept that I will build my class upon through a Ning called Teacher's Vodcasting Network. A couple of very enthusiastic teachers there, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, seem to be a driving force behind this idea, at least in terms of Chemsitry. Being a Science teacher, I find their efforts VERY inspirational. So here I am finally getting my feet wet in what I will call Flipping My Classroom.

The concept: If students can have lectures as homework, we will have more time in class to:

• Explore the topics we study through hands-on work (labs, activities)
• Work on gaps some students may have in their understanding
• Do projects or research that relates to our classwork
• Work through problems
• My guess is there is a bunch more that I can do and can't wait to see what comes to pass.

The Lectures:

I have to admit that this has been a bit of an obstacle for me. I am very technology literate and excited about creating some vodcasts (video podcasts) to bring my ideas, style and classes to life. However, I have been struggling to find the right combination of technology and programs to get rolling. So, I finally decided to take advantage of the work of others. Right now I am going to lean on sources like Khan Academy and YouTube (careful screening, of course) to fill the gap until I can get my own ideas off the ground. (I am leaning towards a set of lectures that plays out a bit like the Common Craft videos. Simple and effective.) One very cool thing is that I posted a couple videos on my class wiki and before I even pointed them out, I had a student comment on the cool, helpful video (Khan Academy's Cell Parts Video). It seems that they will respond to the information presented until I can get my ideas off the ground.

The Activities (aka Class Time):

At first, this seems to be a an easy one: do more hands-on learning and investigation. Labs related to the topic du jour, worksheets in which students practice skills, larger scale projects, review. Again, I am a bit intimidated by the ramifications of all this extra class time. How much needs to be prepared ahead of time and how much can we do "on the fly"? How will the students react to the change in class dynamics? (In my early attempts to work in this fashion, students did NOT like it. Yikes.) Where the heck am I going to come up with all of this material? Hmmmm, still working on that one.

The Evaluation (theirs, not mine):

At this point, their overall evaluation (grades) will be based on fairly traditional quizzes, worksheets/practice, tests and lab projects. I think different methods of evaluation will benefit me in the long run, but I am OK putting that off for now. Funny, it seems like much is getting "put off," but I figure the worst Flipped Class will be as effective as my traditional class if I believe Carl Wieman...and I definitely lean that way. I am, after all, still helping students build their understanding of Biology and Chemistry.

Obviously, I have a ways to go, but I feel good that I am moving. As I gain some momentum, I am hopeful that I will be able to fill in the gaps that I have at the moment.