The time finally arrived this week - I transitioned to my new position at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College as a Faculty Development Consultant, thus leaving the classroom behind. While my first week was exciting and I am joining an amazing team, I quickly realized I have a lot to learn about the Technical College structure and business plan. While my time was filled with many meetings and planning opportunities, I was able to attend a Flipped Class session for Professional Development of faculty at NWTC.
Whether you are currently flipping, or even considering flipping your class at ANY LEVEL, it's vitally important to remember that flipping a class IS NOT about the video lesson. While the video does need to be filled with content rich material, flipping is more about your ability as a teacher to create unique learning opportunities with your students during class time. Through creating unique learning opportunities, you are creating a learning environment that is open and welcoming to students.
Flipping allows teachers to dedicate more face time to students and help them develop deeper thinking skills, collaboration, and analyzation - three skills necessary in any job. While flipping may not be for every class session or topic, it can be utilized to pre-teach material and test student knowledge when they arrive to class. Many of the flipping principles I've outlined on this blog for middle school math can still be used in any flipped lesson.
Take the WSQ Video worksheet for example. This worksheet can still be a guiding force behind student collaboration and discussion of a specific topic. This note taking format can be an excellent guide for students to follow that are new to flipped learning. Likewise, TWIRL discussion groups can help guide the discussion once a video lesson has been watched.
If creating a video lesson is "freaking" you out - don't be scared! Remember, students want you to create meaningful learning experiences for them. Focus on what you can do in your classroom once students have watched your video lesson. The video itself needs to be straight forward and to the point! Provide time in class for students to ask questions and analyze the information presented together. I bet you'll be amazed by the discussion that will now take place.
Good Luck!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Building Relationships
Last week I was able to sub for our elementary physical education teacher that was on our 8th Grade class field trip to Washington DC. Since I wasn't able to chaperon the trip, I was asked to sub for him and jumped at the opportunity. Now, let me be the first to tell you that elementary phy ed is no walk in the park.
My body was not ready for the continuous games of tag, stretching, and plain old fun. Not to mention the constant tattling, bickering, and rules infractions. While it was all quite an adjustment, I did notice a common trend through out the week - the better I was able to establish a rapport/relationship with these students, the better the students behaved and followed rules.
That's when it truly hit me - being a teacher is less about course content and more about building relationships with students. As teachers, we often fulfill many roles in the lives of our students; teacher, counselor, parent, friend, coach, and role model. While most teachers never signed on for all of these roles, the greatest teachers embrace them and understand the importance they play in educating our children.
While we all chose our field for specific reasons, we sometimes have to sit back and remember that not everyone is as passionate as we are about the subject. I came to the realization a long time ago that many of the math skills I teach students they will probably never use directly in their career (solving rational expressions or Pythagorean Theorem aren't necessities in most jobs.) Instead, I use math as a tool to help students build skills that will make them successful in whatever line of field they choose.
All students need to learn accountability, hence we have daily assignments and tasks in math. All students need to be good at critical thinking, which is why I include challenge problems in math. All students need perseverance to stick with difficult situations, which is why I give students Enrichment tasks during each chapter. The sooner I realized that the math wasn't the important skill for students, the sooner students and I were able to develop a relationship that was based on looking out for their best interests.
With out doubt, I encounter problems on a daily basis. However, because I have built a relationship with students, I am able to handle every situation in my class on an individual basis. My students know I have their success in life on the forefront of every decision I make. My students trust me and give me their trust and respect on a daily basis.
More often than not, my end of the year surveys come back with students stating "I've never learned so much math in one year", "This was the best math experience I can remember", and "Thanks for making math fun!" As I read these statements, it often chills me that students had negative experiences in math because teachers were too worried about the content rather than the student. For those reading this, I urge you to put your rational thinking aside for a moment and ask how you've built a relationship with your students. What can you do differently next year to help students see their full potential and help them build skills for their future!
My body was not ready for the continuous games of tag, stretching, and plain old fun. Not to mention the constant tattling, bickering, and rules infractions. While it was all quite an adjustment, I did notice a common trend through out the week - the better I was able to establish a rapport/relationship with these students, the better the students behaved and followed rules.
That's when it truly hit me - being a teacher is less about course content and more about building relationships with students. As teachers, we often fulfill many roles in the lives of our students; teacher, counselor, parent, friend, coach, and role model. While most teachers never signed on for all of these roles, the greatest teachers embrace them and understand the importance they play in educating our children.
While we all chose our field for specific reasons, we sometimes have to sit back and remember that not everyone is as passionate as we are about the subject. I came to the realization a long time ago that many of the math skills I teach students they will probably never use directly in their career (solving rational expressions or Pythagorean Theorem aren't necessities in most jobs.) Instead, I use math as a tool to help students build skills that will make them successful in whatever line of field they choose.
All students need to learn accountability, hence we have daily assignments and tasks in math. All students need to be good at critical thinking, which is why I include challenge problems in math. All students need perseverance to stick with difficult situations, which is why I give students Enrichment tasks during each chapter. The sooner I realized that the math wasn't the important skill for students, the sooner students and I were able to develop a relationship that was based on looking out for their best interests.
With out doubt, I encounter problems on a daily basis. However, because I have built a relationship with students, I am able to handle every situation in my class on an individual basis. My students know I have their success in life on the forefront of every decision I make. My students trust me and give me their trust and respect on a daily basis.
More often than not, my end of the year surveys come back with students stating "I've never learned so much math in one year", "This was the best math experience I can remember", and "Thanks for making math fun!" As I read these statements, it often chills me that students had negative experiences in math because teachers were too worried about the content rather than the student. For those reading this, I urge you to put your rational thinking aside for a moment and ask how you've built a relationship with your students. What can you do differently next year to help students see their full potential and help them build skills for their future!
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