tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post5607323445798289962..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Homework and FlippingPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-41503186596480064202015-12-23T07:13:51.978-05:002015-12-23T07:13:51.978-05:00Don't feel bad about getting taken by consulta...Don't feel bad about getting taken by consultants. That's what they do. Also, you didn't waste part of your life making the videos if they have been viewed thousands of times. Some people, apparently in Saudi Arabia, learned something from you. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07228908566250306699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-61212793568496161892015-12-19T17:57:42.777-05:002015-12-19T17:57:42.777-05:00I am a former flipper. I bought the whole package...I am a former flipper. I bought the whole package hook, line and sinker really early in the movement, back when almost nobody knew what flipping was. It made such sense to do the lecture (which I hated and they mostly weren't listening to) as a video that could be consumed on-demand and at times when the incredible social distractions of the classroom would be absent. This would free up my class time to help students with practice exercises and have discussions and other learning activities. Kids could work at their own pace and understanding would increase. Brilliant! <br /><br />So I went to a seminar taught by Aaron Sams and Jon Bergmann, arguably the founders of the flipped classroom, and learned from the best. Then I spent about a month's salary on equipment and basically devoted every spare minute of the next two years from 5 am to 1 am the next morning recording, annotating, editing, rendering and uploading about 250 science videos that my students almost never watched. When it became apparent that they weren't watching the videos (it's really tough to have a discussion about a topic only one person in the room has ever heard of before), I tried to introduce a whole sequence of accountability measures that the kids systematically defeated in almost no time. Because of the enormous time investment I had made in creating the videos, it took me a couple of years of desperately trying to make it work before I just had to abandon the whole idea.<br /><br />The flaw in my plan was assuming that my students weren't doing their homework because they didn't know how to do it and needed my help. In fact, they weren't doing their homework because they didn't want to do anything outside of school, including watching videos. <br /><br />I felt like a real failure, because Sams and Bergmann raved about how much their kids loved the flipped classroom and how much more they all were learning. In retrospect, I think what these guys were really trying to do was create a movement, so there would be enough perplexed newbies to support two expert consultants and get them out of the classroom, which ultimately did happen.<br /> <br />The videos have now been viewed many thousands of times, mostly, it appears, by people in Saudi Arabia and I have completely abandoned them as a tool for my own students. It was an utter waste of two years of my life. I would have been much better off if I had simply recognized that I would have to lower my expectations and rely only on the time I had them in class for their learning.Dave Eckstromhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13521336850803352134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-43196820324990524542015-12-17T03:37:46.577-05:002015-12-17T03:37:46.577-05:00I often wonder about those ISTE standards. Are the...I often wonder about those ISTE standards. Are these ISTE people in the classroom anymore if ever? Sometimes I think their only audience is graduate students and tech conference attendees. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09380476471804767943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-7620071050259434692015-12-16T20:24:58.947-05:002015-12-16T20:24:58.947-05:00But if we don't "re-engineer our district...But if we don't "re-engineer our districts, schools and classrooms for the digital age," how can we ever prepare our students for "a future we cannot yet imagine"? <br />(Has no one ever yet imagined a dystopia?) <br />(quotes taken from ISTE "standards" page)Snavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00791842506865658394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-13275507509648878022015-12-16T17:26:29.375-05:002015-12-16T17:26:29.375-05:00I completely agree with letting teachers do what w...I completely agree with letting teachers do what works for them and their students in their subject matter and with the available resources. Each teacher as strengths and weaknesses and different students respond differently to different approaches. There simply is no one best way to teach. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07228908566250306699noreply@blogger.com