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Tuesday, June 5th and Wednesday, June 6th, we have a great opportunity to see the planet Venus travel across the face of the sun. This event is called a

transit and it is significant because of the timeframe between each event. It is over 100 years between each transit, but they come in pairs eight years apart. The most recent transit occurred in 2004, so tomorrow’s event is the second of the pair. If you miss it this time around, unfortunately, you won’t be able to see it happen again until December 2117.

I’m sure you’ve heard of this in the news, but if you are interested in watching it for yourself, here are some resources to help you plan.

1. When is the best time to view the transit? – This depends on your geographical location. Luckily, the majority of the continental United States will be able to see a portion of the transit at sunset on June 5th. Because this is so rare, there are parties and events popping up all over the country where you can watch the transit with others in your area.
2. How can I watch the transit? – Never, never, never look directly at the sun. Ever. Unless, of course, you want permanent damage to your retina to occur. So, to safely view the transit, you’ll need to do some basic DIY using household materials. A great website, Transit of Venus has a list of six ways to see the transit safely.

Personally, I will be using a pair of binoculars mounted on a tripod projecting on a white space. Here’s a great video on how to set up your binoculars if you want to do the same.

3. What causes the transit? – It’s always good to learn something, so this website does a great job of explaining what causes the Earth and Venus to line up every 120 years or so.

I wrote an article with Aaron Sams regarding common perceptions and misconceptions surrounding the flipped classroom in an effort to move the discussion forward.

You can read the article on the eSchoolNews website.

I asked my students on the last day of school to write letters to next year’s students, whoever they are. I took all of those responses, removed the common words, and then pasted all of the letters into Wordle.

The assignment was: “Write a letter explaining how a future student can be successful in a flipped classroom.”

So, are videos still the most important part?

I sat outside this morning drinking coffee and watching a bumblebee flop its way through a camellia, hunting for nectar. With each foray, her hairy body was saturated with pollen to be distributed to the next flower. All of the plant’s energy had gone into a gamble that an insect would visit and take some of the pollen and donate some to another lucky flower.

The Indiana state biology standards do not have a place for pollination, or even basic plant and animal anatomy, unless you count identifying the differences between their cells, and even that has significant room for improvement. Kids do not care about the differences in the cells unless they can see how it makes a difference in their world.

Without bees, there would be no new flowers each season. Without the flowers, bees would not have a source of nutrition. Cells, when added up, make a difference.

Every day spent with students is an opportunity to question, observe, debate, explain, and create. Unfortunately, we are under the impression that our hands are tied. I chose to believe in standards, rather than observation and questioning, and I regret the opportunities I missed with my students.

Does the bee realize the opportunity it is providing each flower with each stop? I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter. Be aware of the moment and let learning opportunities happen. Do what is right for your kids and the rest will sort itself out.

In response to some emails and tweets I received on my last post, I decided to write three short examples of flipping that can happen at varying levels and content areas. Keep in mind, my experience is in high school science, and I am not, in any way, intending these to be used straight from this post in the classroom. You do not need to ask permission to modify, change, or use any of these examples in your class.

Elementary Math – Building Bridges

Students are given time in class by the teacher to identify different shapes in the classroom. They can make a chart of the properties of the shapes in comparison to one another (ex. triangle vs. circle). Then, have them look for different shapes in bridges. How can they show the differences between two different shapes? How are the bridges different?

Give students time in class to draw a bridge comparison. Talk about what shapes are the most common. Why are they common? What makes them good for building? Can they design and build their own structure using those shapes?

Give students options to begin building a bridge using the shape they think is best. Which one holds the most weight? Take pictures of their bridge with the weight and explain why it works.

Essential Questions

– How can we describe different shapes?

– What shapes are similar or different from one another?

– What shapes are used in bridges based on observation? Why do you think those are used?

– If you designed a bridge, what shape would you make it? Why?

Technology Applications

– Models of different shapes to describe

– Photos of different bridges (i.e. suspension vs. iron lattice)

– Camera for students to photograph or film bridges with

Middle School English – Hero Analysis

Students choose a short story/novella/novel to read based on their interest. Concurrently, they are working on hero and villain character sketches, describing different attributes of protagonists and antagonists. Students produce a book trailer for the piece they read and they are shared with the class as a whole.

Students are grouped (you decide how) and they have a discussion about the heroes and villains in their books. Try to fit each character into the model developed from literary history. Do contemporary heroes and villains fit in that model? Are there outliers? Why?

Students swap heroes and villains and they re-write a book trailer, mashing the new characters into their book’s storyline. Does the book end the same way? Is the plot the same, or does it change based on the traits of the new hero?

Essential Questions

– What are the attributes of heroes and villains?

– Do attributes of heroes and villains cross between stories?

– Are heroes and villains interchangeable within a storyline, or is a story specific to that hero?

Technology Applications

– Book availability

– Computers for video editing (either local or web-based editing)

– Internet connectivity

High School Language – Interviewing a Native Speaker

Rather than teaching culture from an American perspective, have students find a native speaker to speak to about food, culture, their city, or life as a student in their country. If possible, have students record their interview (either with a screencast or as audio only) for review and sharing with peers. In the same interview, if possible, reverse the rolls and have your students practice English with their interview partner.

As a follow-up, write monthly letters or emails in the language you are learning as a way to practice the written grammar and conventions.

Essential Questions

– How is American perspective of a foreign culture accurate or inaccurate?

– How is American culture accurate or inaccurate from an outsider’s perspective?

– What current events are similar in our societies?

Technology Applications

– Internet connection

– Web chatting application (Skype, Google+, FaceTime, etc…)

– Email account for follow up

– Collaborative blog (for correspondance or co-blogging with a pen-pal)

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Notice, the common denominator in each of these applications is choice and a redesign of the learning time in class. Video is not the center of a flipped class, it is the experience and interaction that happens with peers and teachers during the school day.

A comment I hear frequently after a visit is, “That looked nothing like what I thought it would.” It’s a good place to start a discussion about the total redesign a flipped classroom brings.

A major criticism of the flipped classroom is that lecture is given as homework, and homework becomes the new class work. This view is too simplistic and leads to a labyrinth of other misconceptions. The main part of this argument assumes a flipped classroom simply injects video into a traditional teaching format. Assignments are not modified and class expectations do not change.

I think of this like adding more salt to saltines. It may increase the flavor a little, but you are not doing anything revolutionary to that cracker. Inevitably, the saltine tastes the same.

In order to leverage the power of video, either as instruction or as extension, you have to rethink what class looks like.

I do not have a preference where my students learn chemistry. I have a group that watches the videos the night before and then uses class time (extremely effectively, I might add) to work through challenge problems, labs, quizzes, and projects. In the same class, I have two students that work 30-35 hours each week outside of school. They use the class time to watch the videos together and then move forward. They rarely do chemistry at home, which is fine with me. Yet a third group does most of their chemistry at home, checks with me in class, and then moves on to geometry for the rest of the period. Each group is totally different than the others, but they are still learning.

I had to re-think what class looks like when information is available anywhere, any time.

Learning about and moving to a flipped classroom requires that you shift your thinking about class time in general. Your role, as the teacher, changes entirely. You have to be okay with students using class to learn chemistry, or using it to learn english, or math, or history. Part of the beauty in a flipped classroom is that it is no longer limited to my content. I can learn alongside students every day. (Did you know, frogs blink their eyes to help them swallow? So. Cool.)

At this point, you may be thinking, “This sounds like something that could easily end up in anarchy.” I want to reassure you, that although this sounds uncoordinated and chaotic, it is a good, fulfilling chaos. Students are engaged in their learning. They are coaching one another through hard questions. Groups form spontaneously, based on self-identified needs. There is freedom to be wrong, free from a fear of failure or negative consequence. Since the class is student time, the “noise” is really hypothesis, creation, and critique in their purest forms. Also bear in mind, this change does not happen overnight. This movement requires a shift that has to occur in both the student’s, as well as the teacher’s, perception of school and the learning process. This requires a healthy investment of time and energy.

Don’t simply salt your class with video and call it a flipped classroom. Many teachers begin by adding some of the new with the old, but that approach will rapidly stagnate and your class will not feel any different than when you started. Challenge yourself to think outside the box about the time in class. Ask students for their opinions. You could even go so far as to implement an iteration of Google’s now-famous 20% time initiatives. By simply allowing for flexibility, your class dynamic can change dramatically.

Time spent in school should be spent meeting your student’s learning needs, not defining learning for them. We seem to have lost that vision in the age of industrialized education.

A true flip is not in when or where videos are assigned…it is time to go deeper. Flip your thinking about where learning happens and work with students on making the change. Working together, you will all land on your feet.

At the start of teacher appreciation week, I feel selfish.

“I’m a teacher and I deserve to be recognized. Yes, I’ll take a PTA lunch. Thank you for the cards and candy. I’m awesome.”

Then I remember that I’m only a teacher because of the people around me. How much more meaningful would this week be if we take time to appreciate what it means to be a teacher?

I spent an entire class period this year talking with a student about a bad breakup. What did that mean to her? What does it mean when I stay at school to five or six o’clock with a club? What does it mean when I go to the school play or musical?

I wouldn’t get to have those experiences or relationships if I wasn’t a teacher.

I appreciate students and the hard work of learning. I appreciate my administrators and colleagues.

I love a fist bump in the hallway as a student walks by. I love laughing and crying with students. I love jokes and serious conversations and everything in between.

I’m blessed to be a teacher.

We learn by emulating or imitating. To begin our frog dissections this week, I demonstrated proper cutting procedures on a frog. Students watched and then imitated my cuts. Soon, they were off on their own with a new skill under their belt.

“Mr. Bennett, to get through the muscle, I made a pinch cut again”

“I cut to the jaw instead of the larynx because it gave me more room to work. I pinched and then cut laterally to the jawbone hinge.”

Independent.

The same goes for teachers. We learn by watching other teachers and we can then imitate or emulate the tool or style in our own classes. This is especially true of first-year teachers, fresh out of watching and practicing with a seasoned teacher for a full semester. As far as preparation for a career, I think teaching has the best method (no comment on styles of teaching right now, simply the practice of watching and learning).

As we learn new practices and skills, we need to remember to put our own spin on what we do. I can tell you right now, a lesson copied from someone else will not be successful. We can see this even between classes. One method of instruction may work for one group of my students, but fail completely with another. I need to adapt my approach to meet the needs of each group.

This comes up a lot with the flipped classroom. I see ads for “solutions to flipping” and “use service ____ to unlock your flipped classroom!” I am getting more and more questions from people asking, in a step-by-step instruction manual, how to flip. There is no answer to that question, there is no service that you can use and magically change your teaching.

The best I can do is show you what I do, and then you can take what you like and leave the rest. My class is not your class. My student’s needs are different from your student’s needs. Do not go searching for the “perfect” flipped class to copy because it does not exist.

Repeated copying ends up diluting the sharp contrast and color of a beautiful original. Be original in what you do because you and your students are one of a kind.

I cannot believe the year is ending in just over two weeks. We are down to 13 days here in Evansville, and the crunch is definitely starting. This week, we are enjoying the End of Course Assessments, courtesy of the Indiana DOE. Then, we will spend the last eight days of school doing frog dissections and putting together dissection guides for future biology students.

Just as my school schedule is bursting at the seams, my summer schedule is just as busy. I will be travelling to multiple conferences to share the flipped classroom with as many people as I can and (hopefully) to run into many people I speak with on Twitter for the first time. My current schedule is below…I would love to hear in the comments if our travels will overlap at any point so we can try to meet one another.

Right now, I do not have any dates in July, but if you are looking for someone to speak on technology in education or on the flipped classroom (full training), please feel free to contact me and we can speak about specifics.

June

(May 31) – 1: W. Leyden High School, Chicago IL

9 – 11: Strelka University, Moscow, Russia

18 – 20: Flipped Class Conference, Chicago, IL

23 – 27: ISTE, San Diego, CA

Finally, this year, my wife and I will be transitioning to South Bend, Indiana. It has been a good year in Evansville, but due to changing family circumstances and opportunities coming my way, South Bend is the next step in our path. I want to thank everyone for the support you have shown me this year and for all the growth opportunities you have provided.

I have not written for almost two weeks now. Half of the reason is because of writer’s block, another half because school is crazy, and a third half because of some family issues that came up unexpectedly. I opened up my blog a few times with intention to write, but I could not get anything to form. But that’s okay. It gave me time to reflect on other’s posts and thoughts while trying to get all of mine to fit in my head.

There has been a lot happening with the Flipped Classroom recently…almost too much to list. For example:

• The Flipped Classroom book by Jon and Aaron being published by ISTE had its release date moved up a month because of high demand.
• Ted-Ed launched.
• The Flipped Learning Network began.
• The Flipped Class Network NING passed 4000 registered members.
• The #flipclass hashtag on Twitter is exploding with links, articles, and connections.

Plus, dozens of articles on the flipped classroom.

As I have been reading and following articles and discussions, one thing stood out: the prevailing description of the flipped classroom is “videos at home, ‘homework’ in school.” And this bothers me.

The biggest complaint I hear from flipped class skeptics is that it still relies on homework and technology use. Any ideology that relies on any one tool is doomed. If your class relies on textbooks and kids do not bring their book, what will you do with no redundancy built in?

What is missed in so many articles on the flipped classroom is the fact that it does not rely on homework or video. That is simply one iteration of a larger process.

I have a flipped classroom, but I do not assign homework nor do I require students to watch lecture videos. What I do expect students to do is drive their own learning rather than relying on someone else (me) to crack the whip behind them. That is what the flipped classroom is about…reversing the learning roles. Not the video. Not the technology.

If you are a flipper, I want to encourage you to change the discussion focus from video to how we can better support student learning in a flipped classroom. What works well for you? What did not work well for you? How has your teaching changed since flipping? I do realize that video is a great tool in flipping, but it really is the smallest part of the puzzle and does not accurately represent the whole picture. If we want to move forward, we need to start having more deeper, connective conversations with other educators, just like we try to with our students.

Unfortunately, we are entrenched in an age of education that wants to be “pretty.” Students are all reaching “mastery” in every subject and they all move at the same pace through every class every year. Like all utopian societies, this is not attainable. True learning is ugly (to outsiders), and we need to embrace that thought before we can move forward in education.

When I am asked about what things should be done to flip a class successfully, I always respond with good pedagogy, collaboration, and reflection. If we are not reflecting, we are not growing. If we are reflecting properly, student voice will also be a major player in decisions as classes move forward.

I like to think of class adaptations like I think about Facebook changes. The outward appearance changes and people lose their minds about how terrible the new design is and how they want to go back to the old, familiar way of doing things (status quo). Teaching is no different. When a teacher flips for the first time, students are put under the microscope and they hate it…at least in my experience. They have to unlearn how they have been [STRIKEOUT:learning] playing school up until your class. Needless to say, student surveys usually do not go well the first time they are asked about the new style.

Second, grades are imperfect. Students that play the school game well get good grades…that is just the way it is. Learning is messy. It requires failure, and in today’s grading atmosphere, that usually means a lower class average. Do not define your teaching by the grades of your students. Talk to other people (parents, students, administrators, colleagues) about why true learning is so ugly in the grade book…it is not rewarded by the traditional school model. Do not sacrifice what you know is right for your students because of a number on paper.

I want to encourage you, if you are flipping for the first time, to look at your survey results as reflex reactions to a new environment, and not necessarily as a success or failure in your book. You will never have 100% satisfaction or love from students, so do not expect it. If it is your first time, I would expect your results to be split 50-50. The first few weeks will be hard, and we do not talk about that enough. But, take heart…it does get better.

Listen to your students and work with them. Find ways to compromise on expectations or methods. Take their advice on how to improve instruction. Reward failure and look at the big picture being painted. Watching students learn is beautiful, and we need to begin to recognize the process, not snapshot performances. You, the teacher, know what is best for their learning, so keep doing what is right.

Final exams and standardized testing are right around the corner for us. My students have the obligation to sit in a large room and take multiple choice questions that (supposedly) tell us (them?) how much they have learned this year about biology. Naturally, the discussion about study guides comes up more and more frequently from students. Below are my suggestions as you prepare study guides.

• Prepare early. Starting thinking about the guides from day one of school. Work to develop and understanding of what the completed guide will look like in the end. Be ready to change directions.
• Do not focus on content. Our guides do not need more factoids or bullet points. Rather, focus on critical thinking and analytical questions to guide the learning.
• Allow for flexibility. If we want guides that are multi-purpose, do not create them one-size-fits-all. Push for multiple uses and applications with each guide you are working on.
• Encourage mistakes. Some of the best review happens when we realize (or identify) misconceptions and then correct them.
• Allow for collaboration. Do not assign a grade for the guide, but recognize and praise the effort that goes into its production and use. These simple steps helped me prepare over 100 study guides this year. Hopefully, they can help you, too.

I wrote the following essay as a response to the ISTE Community Point/Counterpoint question: “To Flip, or Not to Flip?” You can see the discussion on the ISTE Community Forum.

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The Flipped Classroom has enjoyed a boost in popularity recently. Unfortunately, the focus has been on the distorted idea that students spend all their time listening to web-based lectures and completing worksheets.

A true flipped classroom is centered on the idea that technology can help us deliver quality teaching when and where the students are ready for it. Teaching methodology must be pedagogically sound in order for a flipped classroom to be effective, but that is no different than any other method being explored by teachers.

Having said that, the flipped classroom is an extremely effective way to A) reduce the cognitive load of learning new content (Musallam 2010), B) open up time with students for differentiation and personalized learning, and C) be a powerful tool in a teacher’s arsenal of teaching strategies.

There are multiple articles (Musallam 2010, Overmyer 2011) published that show that a flipped classroom (or even using video as a teaching tool) can help students learn difficult content at an appropriate pace. Not all material can or should be taught using constructivist or inquiry approaches, and it is a well-known fact that people learn at different rates. Rather than forcing pupils to learn on a set timetable, the flipped classroom allows students to learn in a variable, scaled environment. Students that work quickly through content can be pushed to higher levels of reasoning while students that work slower can be nurtured and guided by the teacher. The time I would spend talking to a group of passive listeners is now spent engaging every student every day at a level appropriate for their individual learning needs.

The flipped classroom does not claim to be 100% constructivist, nor is it exclusively based on direct instruction. Rather, it is a blend of tools used when and where they are appropriate. When direct instruction is appropriate, it can be recorded as a video. When inquiry is appropriate, I can use inquiry in class and then offer the opportunity of reinforcement through a short video tutorial. I do not require students to watch my videos, but they are an available resource for learning. Many times, students end up curating and sharing their own discoveries in their learning.

Finally, technology limitations are often a cited reason to avoid a flipped classroom at all costs. Again, there are workarounds to this problem. Many times, students can use a flash drive to share the content with one another. Sometimes, teachers are even taking a portion of their classroom budget to buy the drives for students lacking their own resources. DVD’s can also be burned (although on a limited basis for rare access situations) with the chapter’s videos for students to watch at home. In these cases, parents begin to learn with their students each night at home. With the optimal video length ranging from 8 – 15 minutes, there is usually a significant decrease in “homework” time listening to the material the first time through. Flipping can also be done without assigning homework at all. Particularly for me, there are students that choose to listen to videos in class in small, collaborative work groups (self-assigned groups). The groups then support one another through the material.

All in all, the flipped classroom is not a panacea, nor does it claim to be. It is unfair to relegate it to the section of “completely hopeless” education ideas. There is a growing number of educators, myself included, who are working to remove the time variable in schools by developing and supporting students in flipped classrooms, and that endeavor alone is a step in the right direction.

I have written a couple of posts lately on risk-taking being an essential component of change in a system. Much of this stems from the risks that I have taken this year (and also from of the ones I have not taken). Each time I write or talk about risk taking, I wonder why more teachers do not take the plunge into trying to change a habit.

The answer, I think, is that relationships are required, and that introduces the possibility of failure. When we are isolated from others, the possibility of failure is eliminated.

Allow me to elaborate.

Say you are planning a date for that certain someone. This is not a normal date…you want to surprise them. You have two choices:

1. Do something you have both enjoyed in the past.
2. Try something new.

Option 1 is safe. We have prior experience with the activity and the outcome, and we know that while it may not be as exciting, it is predictable and therefore, comfortable. Option 2, on the other hand, requires significant risk. Your date could be amazing, or it could flop completely and end in total failure. The reason this choice matters is because of the relationship that is involved in the choice.

Conversely, if you were trying to decide what to do alone, there is no risk of failure because there is no relationship associated with your choice. You can do something you have done before, or you can try something new. There is no one to let down if it does not work out the way you imagined.

Schools are exactly the same way. We have done things the same way for so long because they are predictable and “safe.” We continue to carry out routines that have been established since the early 1900’s. Unfortunately, there are so many relationships at stake with risk-taking in schools that we often shrug our idea off for the “If only I could…” file that gathers dust in our imaginations.

While taking a risk is hindered because of relationships, it also works the other way. Risks taken in relationship with others can be extremely rewarding, even in failure. Work with a PLC in your building or collaborate with others across the globe. There are people just like you trying to do the same thing, many of them reaching for support.

As a disclaimer, I do recognize that many people are not in a position to even attempt small, calculated change because of school climate, oversight, or other reasons. I am not advocating that we begin jumping off cliffs in the near future. What I am suggesting is that we begin to identify what relationship we are afraid of damaging to then take preventative steps to make sure it stays strong in success as well as failure. This often requires compromise and collaboration, which takes time to build. Keep the collaboration local if you can and work toward improving your community at the same time. Encourage administrators or parents to join you in your ideas.

If you find yourself as an island in school, look to Twitter for help and community. I want to encourage you to make sure you have a group of people, digital connections or in your school, that you can turn to when things get difficult.

Do not let relationships scare you out of taking a risk that will improve your teaching. Use your relationships as a support network to move forward.

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In an attempt to build community, I would ask that you use #Edrisk to share your stories, successes, and failures. Let’s learn together in this.

I saw a tweet come through the feed this morning from Brad Campbell and Vanessa Alander regarding the practice of “implementing” a flipped classroom without appropriate support for students.

Re: #flippedclassroom is it just teachers expected Ss to self direct w/o providing adequate support? #edcampme

—Vanessa Alander (@vjalander1) March 31, 2012

These are important discussions to have because, and I cannot emphasize this enough, good pedagogy must come before technology use. A flipped classroom is not successful because of the videos being used, but because of the interactions teachers can have with students.

Some things to consider as you plan on flipping your class:

1. Build a support network for yourself – Anything worth doing is always better with companions. Whether it is in your building or online, a support network is imperative as you begin something new. Colleagues will be there to give feedback on your methods as well as support in failure. When working alone, it is too easy to give up when faced with setbacks. Having people to work with will significantly ease the burden of the transition you are making.

2. Do not focus on the videos – This may sound counter-intuitive, considering many flipped classrooms use video to deliver instruction. The best technology use comes when sound pedagogy is maintained. Remember, students may need to be taught how to learn from the internet. I have written before that the internet needs to be a resource, not a destination. Do not introduce videos as the only way to learn the material. The videos are a resource being provided to students. Pigeonholed ideas will rarely be successful.

3. Prepare extensions – Sitting and listening to content is not sufficient in building deep understanding. If you want students to be great at reciting information, then stop at the lecture notes. If you want students to be critical, creative thinkers in the context of the content, then there must be extension and application. Design these before introducing the content. Much like writing assessments before teaching a chapter, have your extensions in place before beginning to help lay the course of the unit.

4. Model and scaffold – Again, remember that students are students. Independent learning may or may not be an intuitive action. They will have a very difficult time navigating content if it is not modeled for them. Take time in class to discuss the power of videos in delivering content. Show them how to access the material. Show them how to use any print materials you are providing with the video. Give a daily list of goals (when first starting) for students to work toward. Assess (formatively) frequently to get an idea of where students are in their learning. Take time to work as a whole class to address common strengths and weaknesses. As you repeat this cycle, students will gradually become more independent in their learning.

5. Reflect – Ownership of learning is a key to improvement. Reflection must be part of the learning cycle for both the teacher and the student. Discussion and cooperation is a powerful catalyst in building a student-centered class. As the teacher, reflect on what went well from a standpoint of implementation. As students, have them reflect on what helped them learn the best. Collaborate on the two and move forward as partners.

Flipped classrooms can accentuate good teaching just as well as it can accentuate bad teaching. The guide laid out can be helpful, but it is by no means comprehensive. Find what works best for you and your students and run with it.

I got to speak with a group of preservice teachers this morning at the University of Evansville. Heading into the class, I was thinking about what things I would share to start them off on the right foot. This is what I came up with:

1. Join Twitter – If you are not involved in some sort of professional learning network, you need to find one. Now. I joined Twitter in my second year of teaching, and the last year of learning has been incredible. I want young teachers to have that network built before they start working in schools. Preparation should be relevant, and Twitter is the best way to stay up-to-date.
2. Start Blogging – Reflection is key to improvement. If there is no reflection in the learning process, growth cannot occur. Unfortunately, reflection usually comes when graded papers are returned. We cannot equate reflection with evaluation. Strong programs are preparing our young teachers to be writing for the sake of writing, rather than for the sake of evaluation. I was fortunate enough to have a cooperating teacher during my student teaching that understood, and instilled, the value of reflection in me and my teaching. I want to be able to do the same.
3. Organize Information – My first year of teaching was a whirlwind of curation. I did not have a good library built up from college (plus, it was all on paper), so I spent a great deal of time hunting for resources. Now, with tools like Diigo, Pinterest, and Scoop.it, students can curate and share information faster than ever. College students should be building this library as they plan lessons and begin practicum placements, not when they begin their first job. Sharing the information they find is also key, and each of those communities can foster that process as well.

I know one student from this morning signed up for a Twitter account. I am looking forward to going back and working with another group next semester.

Last night, I read the science questions for the Indiana Academic Bowl our school hosted. The city schools all sent teams of students to participate in an evening of trivia and brain-power boxing. It was fun and it was great to see some of our own students putting their heads together to answer science questions.

I have a small problem with the name “Academic Bowl.” We all love our little bits of trivia, but labeling a trivia night as “academic” seems a little off to me. Academics should be pushing real-life problem solving and innovative thinking, and no question came close to that. Sure, our students can determine the initial velocity of an object with lightning speed, but what good is that in life? What are they going to do with that object once it is thrown?

Or better yet, why are they throwing that object at all?

I think we are sending a mixed message. We ask for creative and original thought in class, but when it “matters” (i.e. “tests”), we are still only asking for basic, rote-memorization, recall. This must change.

My Academic Bowl would look much more like Science Olympiad (do they still do that?). Teams are given a problem prior to the competition. Instead of drilling physics equations, they spend the time leading up to the event problem solving, planning, testing, and designing a solution. It could be something as simple as:

Design a system to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 50 feet.”

Or, something more complex:

“Design, sketch, and propose a location for a new power station in your city. Include resources needed, civic impacts, environmental concerns, and other pertinent information.

We need to remember that everything we expose our learners to sends a message and leaves some mark on their life.

Maybe I am feeling a little snarky this morning, but I do not want to let my kids think that “academics” equals “trivia.”

I have learned more this year than ever before and I keep coming back to one inescapable truth: If I want education to change, it is up to me to change it.

I am not arguing that I am the savior of American schools. I am saying if we want local, committed, and relevant change in our schools, we need people – teachers, administrators, board members, and students – to make some tough decisions. In terms of function, school has not changed for almost 100 years. Students come, teachers teach, administrators oversee, wash, rinse, repeat. How long will we continue to wait for someone to come along and change school for us?

One thing I try to teach my students every single day is that they are responsible for the outcome of their learning. I cannot learn for them. I will provide opportunities for growth, but they need to meet me in the middle. Think back over the last week or two of teaching. How many opportunities for positive change did you meet? I know I met some head on and there was a step forward for myself and my students. I am also well aware that I miss some completely when they come. I think this happens for one of two reasons: A) I am not interested in changing a particular aspect of my teaching, or B) I am too afraid to take the risk in front of me.

Positive change in education will not come if we sit around and wait for our neighbor to do it for us.

Change is hard, and people will resist. But that is not an excuse to disregard opportunities for growth. Timeliness is important, but if you are not searching out opportunities to become a better teacher, you are doing a disservice to your students and your school. I have written about taking calculated risks in the past and I want to reiterate my points there: change requires risk. The two are intertwined and you cannot remove one from the other.

Risks can be as small or as large as you are willing to take. Some schools encourage risk-taking, while others might not be so receptive. This is why we are each responsible for positive growth. My risks may not be appropriate in your school, and vice versa. You are responsible for taking that risk and leading change.

Here is another practical example of taking a risk. A colleague of mine was absolutely buried by grading. He was taking up nearly every worksheet, reading, article response, and assignment he used with his kids. He felt that if he graded everything, the students would be more motivated to do the work and they would be successful. I saw how stressed he was, and I encouraged him to not grade so much for a multitude of reasons, but mainly to save his sanity.

Taking a risk is sometimes as small as grading one less assignment per week. But for some people, that is a major risk.

What risk are you still waiting to take? After all, it is up to you.

—-

This has been the best collaborative year of my life. I joined Twitter almost one year ago (to the day, actually), and as I write, I am thinking back to all the people I have been blessed to meet and of even more that I am hoping to meet some day in the future (ISTE, anyone?). I have learned innumerable lessons through writing, tweeting, and teaching. I am blessed to be able to share these things and I want to thank my entire PLN, new and old, for pushing me forward. I only hope that I have helped do the same for you.

Monday, March 5 was the inaugural #flipclass chat event. We promoted the chat on Twitter, Google+, and various blogs to push a great first session. After crunching some data collected in the archive, it was bigger than I had anticipated. In the hour-long chat, there were:

• 95 individual tweeters
• 888 total tweets, 869 of them being unique
• 77 links shared
• hundreds of connections made

The first topic chosen for the chat was “What are some problems you’ve faced since flipping your class?” I knew there were some common areas that would be discussed, but the collaboration last night went above and beyond my expectations.

Rather than lamenting our problems, proactive and encouraging tweets began to flood my TweetDeck column.

Some of the notable tweets from the chat:

Biggest problem staying ahead of kids & getting everything ready before they are ready to move on. Sts move faster than me #flipclass

—Doug Hinkle (@doughink) March 6, 2012

Allowing my 2nd graders more ownership through flipped lessons has create positive outcomes through application. #flipclass

—Chad Grandon (@CGrandon) March 6, 2012

Biggest realization is that #flipclass is fluid and mst change w/the situation..no rt or wrng if geting desired reslts–meaningful clsstime

—Trista Hennebry (@HennebryDMS) March 6, 2012

The most important part of #flipclass is the time you devote to planning meaningful and engaging activities that expand upon video topics.

—Luke Yaklich (@CoachYak) March 6, 2012

Other favorites included discussion about the role of red Solo cups and alien abductions in a flipped classroom.

In the end, the most encouraging thing was to be able to witness an amazing group of educators find new contacts or encouragement, all through the power of social media. People chatting from across continents and in different countries were able to find common ground to push their own classes to new levels.

The #flipclass chat will continue to be on Monday evenings at 8 PM EST. [STRIKEOUT:Polls and archives are all linked from the] Flipclass Chat [STRIKEOUT:page on this blog.] I want to encourage you to connect with some of the people participating in the chats and we all look forward to having you join us next time!

I had a severe case of the “Mondays” today for some reason. My patience was thin and kids seemed to be a little bit more opinionated about their assignments than normal. Needless to say, it led to some rough edges for me and some of my students. Those days are unavoidable and I really hate it when they come around.

Days like today are when my PLN come to my rescue. I sent this tweet around lunchtime:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/bennettscience/status/176721427557388288″]

Lindsay Cole sent this tweet back:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/lindsaybcole/status/176747447773696002″]

For me, this is always the longest part of the year. We have a big stretch with few breaks and we are working through the heaviest part of the curriculum. Edges are frayed and brains are fried. When the going gets tough, remember, there is a room full of students that need us to make the choice to be present and be at our best, even if we do not feel like it.

Whether they know it or not, your students are reaching out for you. Will you reach back?