tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11220403817190986942024-03-06T20:33:41.300-07:00The Flipped Class BlogThe blog of Jonathan Bergmann who along with Aaron Sams pioneered the Flipped Class Model of EducationJonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-34554759302914292312011-12-20T15:46:00.004-07:002013-10-10T06:28:03.455-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I have decided to have my own dedicated blog website with more options.This Blog has moved: It is now located at </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://flipped-learning.com/">http://j</a>onbergmann.com </span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-72809928619011421792011-12-07T06:38:00.001-07:002011-12-07T06:40:58.787-07:00The Flipped Class Revisited<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(37, 35, 36); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Lately, there has been a lot of interest and controversy about the flipped classroom. For those of you who are still trying to get your mind around what the flipped classroom is, most people are currently defining the flipped classroom as a class in which the lectures are watched at home and the class time is used to work on what used to be assigned as homework. But this version of the flipped class, is only one iteration of the flipped classroom. To understand more, I would encourage you to read Aaron Sam’s post: “<span class="Apple-style-span" ><b><a href="http://chemicalsams.blogspot.com/2011/10/there-is-no-such-thing-as-flipped-class.html">There is No Such Thing as THE Flipped Class</a></b></span>.” His main point is that the flipped class is not a narrow methodology, but rather a philosophy, which has many different applications and modifications.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(37, 35, 36); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Let me share some more about the interest in the concept of the flipped classroom. Clearly, there is a growing interest in this idea. Below are some things I am noticing about the increased interest in the flipped classroom.</p><ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 30px; list-style-type: none; list-style-position: inside; color: rgb(37, 35, 36); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">Over a year ago, <span class="Apple-style-span" ><b><a href="http://techsmith.com">Techsmith</a></b></span> visited Woodland Park High School where Aaron Sams and I taught and made two videos about the flipped class. One of those videos has received over 100,000 views on youtube. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc"> <span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc</b></span></a></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">People are blogging about the flip with increasing frequency.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">Educational conference sessions are being conducted (I write this from the Dallas Convention Center where I will be speaking to science teachers about the flip).</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">Research is being done about the effectiveness of the flip.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">Grants have been acquired to fund the expansion of the flip.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">The flip has it’s own twitter hashtag (#flipclass) and people are posting on a daily basis</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">We will have our second Flipped Class Conference in the summer of 2012 (In the Chicago area)</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">The increased number of people who are joining the Flipped Class Network: As of this writing we are approaching 2500 educators discussing the flipped class and how they are implementing it. <span class="Apple-style-span" ><b><a href="http://flippedclass.com">http://flippedclass.com</a></b></span></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; ">Aaron and I have written a book (published by ISTE.org and available June 2012) and we have a second book in the works.</li></ul><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(37, 35, 36); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">So, there is a great deal of interest in the idea of the flipped class. Is the flipped class the future of education? Does it have serious flaws? Let me now address some of the controversy surrounding the flipped class. Most of what I am going to say has been said elsewhere, and probably more eloquently, by others, but I want to put in my thoughts.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(37, 35, 36); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6; ">As I see it, there are several misconceptions, which contribute to the controversy:</p><ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 30px; list-style-type: none; list-style-position: inside; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; ">Fear that the flipped class would lead to less engaged students who simply look at videos:</strong> This is actually the opposite of what I experienced as a teacher and what others who employ the flip experience. We are discovering that what actually happens is that student engagement and student-teacher interaction increases. I feel this is one of the greatest strengths of the flip.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; ">The flipped class will lead to huge classes with little engagement:</strong> The thinking here is that you could have many more students in a class if the video was doing the direct instruction. This would make education cheaper because you would be able to hire fewer teachers. One thing I say whenever I share the story of the flip with people is that I talk to every kid in every class every day. One of the hallmarks of how I have flipped my classes is this statement. But, if I had class sizes which were too large, even this methodology will fail. The key to the flipped class is actually not the videos, it is the freedom those videos give the teacher to have engaging class activities and interaction with their students.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; ">The flipped class is just bad lecture on video: </strong>The assumption by some is that if ALL we do is move the lecture online, we are only using technology for bad pedagogy. Their argument is that we need less lecture and more hands on, problem based, student generated, and inquiry learning. And I agree with these folks. However, I see the flip as a stepping stone for teachers who have lectured for all of their career. For them the idea of moving to an inquiry, problem based learning model would be very difficult. But the idea of simply recording what they already do and then move that to outside of the class is not a huge step.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: square; "><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; ">The flipped class hurts students who have limited access to technology:</strong> I am surprised at how often I continue to see this objection. When Aaron and I started the flip in 2007 we had a number of students without both computers and access to high speed internet. We HAD to solve this problem. We simply took 4-6 videos and burned them onto a DVD and handed the DVD’s out to students. Some students who had a computer at home but not high speed internet brought in flash drives and took home the videos that way. If you really want to see an example of how the flip is working with a school with low SES, watch this video of Greg Green’s school on the outskirts of Detroit.</li></ul></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(37, 35, 36); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I still believe in the flip. It not only can, but has changed the lives of many students. When implemented well, and in a huge variety of ways, it is helping students all over the world become better learners and preparing them for their futures.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-27072170765904228012011-11-27T19:04:00.003-07:002011-11-27T19:07:19.221-07:00What Happens When You Give Students the Control? 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unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">I wanted to follow up on one of the stories I told in the last post. When I gave a group of 4<sup>th</sup> graders the freedom to learn about anything they wanted, they chose to purse the answer to the question: What is it about the human brain which causes it to make the decisions that it does? This question continues to floor me that it came out of the mouth’s of ten year old children. When they realized that they couldn’t google the answer, they looked for more sources. They then came up with the idea to ask a “super smart scientist.” They sought out scientists who study the brain. I emailed them, and Dr. David Wingate from MIT graciously agreed to spend 30 min with these amazing fourth graders. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I was very proud of our kids for both their questions for Dr. Wingate, and for the way they interacted with him. Below is a few excerpts of our skype conversation with him this past Monday.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>As I ponder how these students both formulated their question, and how they went about trying to find the answer, I am struck with two things:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"></p><ul><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; "><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><i>This was their problem.</i> They wanted to know the answer to this question. When we give students the power to decide what they want to learn, they will go above and beyond the “classroom.”</li></ul><div><br /></div><ul><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; "><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span>Passion Driven Learning is more a mirror of how we all learn now. When I want to learn about something, I just go and learn it. I don’t usually take a class, I simply go out on the web, or find people to help me, and hunker down and learn. This is exactly what these students did (and are still doing). </li></ul><div><br /></div><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/novj1CjB6g4?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Times;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Times;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-21661161049252826962011-11-18T12:25:00.001-07:002011-11-18T12:28:35.514-07:00What Happens When You Give Students the Control?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Recently I had the privilege of sitting in on a workshop
conducted by Ewan McIntosh (http://www.notosh.com) who took us through a process where he helped us
(the students) become better “problem finders.”
He then challenged us to go out and help our students become better
“problem finders.” Giving up control is
often hard, especially for educators, but I realized I wanted to move this
way. Thus, I thought of a group of forth graders I
was going to work with the following week.
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These forth graders come to see me twice a week for
enrichment and I decided to see what would happen. So on our first visit, I copied Ewan and took
these ten year olds through an exercise to help them learn whatever they wanted
to learn about. The only stipulation I
gave them was that they had to choose a science related topic, since this was
my field of expertise. After two thirty-minute
sessions with these students they came up with two very good problems to be
solved. </div>
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They fell into two distinct groups and they came up with two
VERY different questions: The first
group wanted to figure out how to solve the problem of groundwater
pollution. Once they settled on their
topic, they realized they didn’t really know very much about groundwater
pollution. In fact, their understanding
of what groundwater pollution is was incorrect.
I allowed this misconception to persist and encouraged them to learn all
that they could about groundwater pollution.
Once they understood what groundwater was, they realized that the best
way to “solve” the problem of groundwater pollution was to prevent it. As of this post, these students have decided
to make a 2-3 min video where they are going to educate people about the
dangers of groundwater pollution. They
hope to put it on youtube and educate the world.</div>
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The other group came up with the question: What is it about the human brain that causes
it to make the decisions that it makes?
This question was truly advanced for a bunch of forth graders. As they began their research they had a
daunting task. After about four
sessions, they turned to me and said that this answer is not out their on
google. They knew some things, but they
needed help. One young man told me we
needed to ask a “super smart scientist.”
So I told him we should do that.
He then replied, “Who would want to talk to a group of ten year olds?” And I told him you might be surprised. </div>
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So I encouraged them to reach out on the web and look for
some neuroscientists to skype in and help them.
And you can probably predict what happened. They are now looking forward to skypeing in
with a professor of cognitive neurology from MIT this coming Monday. </div>
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My take-away’s from these two events is that we do need to
give up the control of the learning to our students. They will pursue things with passion if we
only give them the chance. </div>
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</div>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-31129712328181435382011-05-05T15:45:00.000-06:002011-05-05T15:45:58.337-06:00The History of the Flipped Class<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><strong>How the Flipped Class Was Born</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
Tomorrow I am skyping into the Insight and Innovation for Technology Leaders Conference in Chicago. Scott Meech and Dan Rezac are leading a session entitled Flipping the Classroom. Dan has been asking me via email today about where the whole idea of the flipped classroom came from. I enjoyed sharing with him where all of this came from and realized many of my readers have not heard the story and the chronology before. So if you are interested on where the Flipped Classroom came from, here is my attempt at the history of it. Note that this is how we see this happening. There may be others who also came up with the same or a similar idea about the flipped class. This is only how I have see this develop.<br />
<br />
In the spring of 2007 Aaron was thumbing through a technology magazine and showed me an article about some software that would record a PowerPoint slideshow including voice and any annotations, and then it converted the recording into a video file that could be easily distributed online. As we discussed the potential of such software we realized this might be a way for our students who missed class to not miss out on learning. Thus, we began to record our live lessons using screen capture software. We posted our lectures online so our students could access them. When we did this, YouTube was just getting started and the world of online video was just in its infancy. <br />
<br />
In all honesty, we recorded our lessons out of selfishness. We were spending inordinate amounts of time re-teaching lessons to students who missed class, and the recorded lectures became our first line of defense. <br />
<br />
Our absent students loved the recorded lectures. Students who missed class were able to learn what they missed. Some students who were in class and heard the live lecture began to re-watch the videos. Some would watch them when reviewing for exams. And we loved it because we didn’t have to spend hours after school, at lunch, or during our planning time getting kids caught up. <br />
<br />
However, we never could have expected the side-effects of posting our lessons online: the emails began. Since our videos were posted online, students and teachers from all over the world began thanking us for our videos. Students, just like ours, who had struggled with Chemistry found our videos and started using them to help them learn. We participate in several online science teacher forums and we began to share the links to the recorded lectures, and teachers from all over the country began to take notice. Chemistry teachers began to use our video lectures as sub plans and some new teachers used them to learn chemistry content so they could teach it to their students. All in all, it was amazing to see what we were doing in our small town being noticed across the country. <br />
<br />
As we began this journey we had no idea that what we were doing was going to spread beyond our four walls. Then, out of the blue, we got an email from a neighboring school district wanting us to come and share with them about the Flipped model. They even offered to pay us! So we packed our bags and spent a day in Canon City, CO. Most of you have sat in staff development training where your principal or superintendent has brought in some “expert:” someone from out of town with a slide-show. Well, we were those “experts.” When we started most of the teachers were sitting there with a glazed expression, as if they were daring these two yahoos to capture their attention. <br />
<br />
As we shared our story, their slumped bodies began to become straighter. Soon the teachers in the audience were asking questions and seemed genuinely interested in the Flipped model. And then as we broke them into groups to begin practicing how to make their own videos, we realized we had stumbled upon something which was much bigger than ourselves. One seasoned teacher told us that in twenty-six years of teaching, our presentation and workshop was the most valuable professional development day he had ever attended. I do not know if his comment had as much to do with our presentation skills as it did with the simplicity and reproducibility of the model we presented. <br />
<br />
A few weeks later our assistant principal came into our rooms and asked us if we were expecting anybody from Channel 11? Much to our surprise, the education reporter from one of the news stations had heard about us and just showed up on our doorstep. They made a short news-clip about what we were doing, and as they say...the rest is history. We got invited to speak at conferences, invited to train schools, districts, and even colleges. We have spoken in Canada, Georgia, Texas, Washington DC, South Dakota, North Carolina, Chicago, and right here in Colorado.<br />
<br />
Channel 11 Video Clip (From 2007)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-y9vR7YTak?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<strong>So What Did We Call This?</strong><br />
<br />
When we started out we didn’t call it the Flipped Class Model. We were trying to figure out what to call our model. We first called it the Pre-Vodcasting model. Since our videos were first being distributed as podcasts, but video podcasts, we called them vodcasts. However as we have shared our story we realized many teachers who are afraid of technology see the word podcast or vodcast and think they could never do what we are doing. <br />
<br />
During this time frame we scoured the internet to see if anybody else had thought the flip. We didn’t find anybody and even went as far as considering copyrighting the idea. We contacted my cousin, a lawyer, and he told us how difficult the idea was and since we really wanted to see this change education, we never pursued it. <br />
<br />
As we continued to struggle with what to call our new teaching methodology, we decided to begin calling it Reverse Instruction. This term stuck for quite some time, but in the Fall of 2010, Karl Fink wrote a blog about the Flipped Classroom and that term has stuck. Dan Pink wrote a blog and used the term the Flipped Class and that term has stuck like glue. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/7996379/Daniel-Pinks-Think-Tank-Flip-thinking-the-new-buzz-word-sweeping-the-US.html<br />
<br />
Dan Pink credited the flipped class to Karl Fisch from Arapahoe HS (He is the guy who made the viral video Shift Happens) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U) but Karl had found out about the reverse classroom from one of his teachers who had attended one of our workshops and then he (Karl) started reversing his classroom. The good news about Karl is he is a very humble guy. When people started calling it the Fisch Flip he told people to not call it that and since he got the idea from a couple of guys in Woodland Park.<br />
<br />
And of course this is just the beginning of the story. Our story has become the story of so many other educators across the world who have either experimented with the flip, have fully flipped, or who are still thinking of flipping. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-48229080916427964762011-03-15T18:17:00.001-06:002011-03-15T18:30:33.730-06:00The State of the Flipped Class Model.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Recently, the Flipped Classroom has gotten a lot of attention. Sal Khan of the Khan Academy gave a TED talk (<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html</a> ) where he talked about his vision for the future of education. He received a standing ovation from the audience after he spoke. During his TED-talk he referred repeatedly to the Flipped Model. He spoke about utilizing videos so students could work at their own pace and how teachers could have more time to work individually with students in the classroom. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Aaron and I watched with rapt attention as he wowed the audience. He perfectly described the model of instruction we use in our classrooms and demonstrated some amazing student-progress tracking software his team had developed. He spoke of students taking responsibility for their own learning, students really learning the key concepts of our classes, teachers roving around the room helping kids who struggle. It was exciting to see the Flipped Class model shared with such a large audience.</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I watched this I thought of Melissa. Melissa is struggling in my Chemistry class right now. It may be one of the hardest classes she has ever taken. I spent 15 min with her individually during one block this past week. I was able to identify her need to understand some basic algebra skills so that she can really learn the chemistry topics she is struggling with. I thought of my own daughter who is getting ahead in her flipped class so that she will have more time to prepare for her lead role in the spring play. I could go on and on about kids who are learning and benefiting from the flipped class and how we are seeing it changing students lives. </div><div class="MsoNormal">We have also been humbled as we have seen what started in a small school in the mountains of Colorado explode. People are blogging about the Flipped Model, tweeting about it (#flipclass), and talking about it. This past two years we have had many educators want to visit our classrooms and see the flipped model in action. We had so many requests we finally decided to host one open house per month. We have lost count as to how many educators have visited our classrooms, but in the past year it has probably been around 200 individuals. We even had two teachers fly out from San Francisco to spend four hours with us. This has been a humbling experience for us. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This past week Aaron and I had an interesting discussion about the Flipped Classroom Model in light of how it fits into the education reform movement. Especially now that Sal Khan has exposed the model to a non-educator audience. Our conclusion is that the Flipped Model is NOT a magic bullet that will fix today’s schools. We believe education’s only magic bullet is the recruiting, training and supporting of quality teachers. Our biggest fear is that the Flipped Model will result in teachers thinking that the model will solve their classroom issues and they will become apathetic. We fear that some will choose to use other teachers’ videos (which is fine, and we encourage this in our upcoming book), but they will not adequately engage with the students and will bore their students to death with video. We have seen this happen over the years with many technologies in the classroom: death by filmstrip, death by PowerPoint, death by VHS, death by DVD, death by online video, death by inquiry, death by any other instructional practice! Good instructional models are never an excuse for bad teaching, and by teaching we do not mean direct instruction. Bad teaching while using a good instructional model comes in thinking that the model will do the work for you. Good teaching always has been, and always will be the gathering of constant feedback of students and modifying instruction to meet their individual needs. Technology simply makes that possible. The same is true with the Flipped Model. If the Flipped Model is not carried out effectively, it will not work. We know the most important ingredient in student success is not the teaching methodology, but rather the teacher. That said, we believe the Flipped Model makes GOOD teachers BETTER and makes GREAT teachers SHINE. But under no circumstances will it “fix” a burned-out or disinterested teacher.</div><div class="MsoNormal">We believe strongly in the proper implementation of the Flipped Model because it has so many benefits which speak to the heart of education reform. The Flipped Model allows for:</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Students Taking Responsibility for their own learning</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Students who truly learn topics</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>Students who are engaged in their own learning</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>More time for teachers to help out students who struggle.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>True Differention in Class</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>And so many more benefits</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">So what is the future of the Flipped Model? <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">We see the Flipped Model growing exponentially in the coming years. Educators and policy makers are seeing the value of the Flipped Model and we are again humbled to be some of the leaders in this movement. This is best illustrated by our packed speaking schedule. We have been asked to speak at a large variety of conferences and districts this summer. We have gotten to the point where we can’t do them all! This year we will have a pre-conference at our annual Flipped Class Conference where we will train six educators on how to conduct their own Flipped Conference. We are thankful to the Morgridge Family Foundation for funding our pre-conference and getting behind this movement. Here is the link to the flipped class pre-conference. <span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEtfOFVFSWtoTm9hZC1BZzhKVVBYeUE6MQ&ndplr=1">https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEtfOFVFSWtoTm9hZC1BZzhKVVBYeUE6MQ&ndplr=1</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Other thoughts as to the future of the Flipped Model<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>We feel fortunate that ISTE (<a href="http://iste.org/">http://iste.org</a>) is going to publish our book on the topic and hope this book will continue the conversation about how to best use technology in the classroom.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>We continue to see better and better assessment systems being developed which will help teachers truly identify which objectives students don’t understand and which will really help kids learn deeply. We are not computer programmers, and we encourage enterprising individuals to develop systems that will streamline this process.</li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span>We are encouraged by the amount of research that is starting on the Flipped Model. I was recently asked by an Education Professor if there is any research demonstrating the validity of the Flipped Model. We have several people who have done either their master’s thesis or their doctoral dissertation on the Flipped Model. Some have completed their work and many more are in the process of conducting research.</li>
<li>To summarize: We are excited where the Flipped Model is heading. It will make good teachers better and make great teachers shine. </li>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>More Information: </b>If you are interested in learning more about the Flipped Model here are a few links for you to explore:</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Come to the Flipped Class Conference: <a href="http://vodcasting.ning.com/events/mastery-learning-the-flipped">http://vodcasting.ning.com/events/mastery-learning-the-flipped</a></li>
<li>The Flipped NING: <a href="http://vodcasting.ning.com/">http://vodcasting.ning.com</a> </li>
<li>Our YouTube Channel: <a href="http://youtube.com/learning4mastery">http://youtube.com/learning4mastery</a></li>
<li>Twitter: @jonbergmann, @chemicalsams or follow the #flipclass hashtag</li>
</ul><br />
</div>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-44757744561883172332011-03-06T19:57:00.002-07:002011-03-06T20:05:49.683-07:00Less Us, More Them!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had the privilege of listening to Gary Stager online at the TEDX NY this weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is an engaging speaker and he finished his talk with four words:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Less Us, More Them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Profound words:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Words we educators need to heed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too often we as educators spend too much time “teaching” and don’t allow enough time in our classes for LEARNINING.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our students need t ime,support and coaches, not lecturers, expositors, and experts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this globally connected world, students need to see us guiding their learning, but not scripting everything in their lives.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In our upcoming book on the Flipped Classroom, Aaron Sams and I talk about how we had to give up the control of the learning to our students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was hard for us, but when students are in charge of their own learning, they actually learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We even went as far as telling our readers (we shall see if this makes it into the book once the editors get at it) that control freaks need not apply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we meant is that the Flipped Classroom by its very nature is chaotic and those teachers who want total control of their classes won’t be very successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We argue however, students WILL, and DO learn better when they are given the control.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thanks again Gary for your sage words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You said in four words what I believe about education.</span><br />
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</div>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-84161475365297343732011-02-06T12:32:00.001-07:002011-02-07T09:32:14.074-07:00Why I am no longer a classroom teacher.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 13px;">For twenty-five years I have been called a classroom teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been proud of that title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When people ask me what I do I tell them I am a teacher, a classroom teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today I quit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will no longer be a classroom teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t get me wrong, I will still be in my “room” every day, but I will no longer be a classroom teacher.</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">This past weekend I had the privilege of virtually sitting in on a conference being held in Philadelphia (Educon:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://educon23.org/">http://educon23.org/</a>)<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What struck me most was a change in vocabulary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henceforth:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not refer to my room as a classroom, but rather, as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">learning space</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">The word “classroom” has a lot of baggage and, at least in my mind, emphasizes the teacher at the center of the classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word classroom conjures up images of a teacher in the front the classroom with chalk in hand disseminating knowledge to the masses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a classroom, the teacher talks and the students listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a classroom the teacher “teaches” and hopes the students learn.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">No longer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of the teacher being the center of the classroom, the students should be the center:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or more specifically, learning should. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, I am now officially going to start calling my “classroom” a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">learning space.</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">I propose we educators begin to change the way we talk about our “rooms.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we start calling them learning spaces it will force us to change the way we think about what happens in our rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we communicate this name change to our students they will realize the point of school is to learn, not to be taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as they realize the power of learning for the sake of learning, our schools will become learning spaces.</span></div></div>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-31562368553122418092011-01-28T16:43:00.001-07:002011-01-28T16:47:09.198-07:00Video Games & the Flipped-Mastery Classroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><p$1>This past week I had a student do something amazing. To explain this I need to tell you of a philosophical change Aaron and I went through this summer when we spoke at a conference in British Columbia this past summer. At the conference (Touch-n-Go <a href="http://touchngo.sd79.bc.ca/confupdate.html">http://touchngo.sd79.bc.ca/confupdate.html</a> we were introduced to Universal Design in Learning (UDL). UDL has three major tenants:</p$1><p$1>• Provide multiple and flexible methods of presentation to give students with diverse learning styles various ways of acquiring information and knowledge.<br />
<p$1>• Provide multiple and flexible means of expression to provide diverse students with alternatives for demonstrating what they have learned, and<br />
<p$1>• Provide multiple and flexible means of engagement to tap into diverse learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn.<br />
<p$1>In our Flipped-Mastery model we have required students to prove mastery of objectives by passing a test with a minimum score of 75%. Bullet #2 above speaks to giving students choices in how to demonstrate learning. So this year Aaron and I decided to allow students choice in how to prove mastery. Most students still take our exams, but a few have taken us up on proving their understanding in other ways.<br />
<p$1>This past week I got a text from Nic asking me if he could make a video game to prove his mastery. I told him yes and now you can see him explaining his assessment to Aaron. It was quite a “wow” moment. I now have some students asking if they can take his test (the video) game, instead of my computer generated exam. See the video below to see Nic explaining his video game. </p$1><br />
<p$1><p$1><p$1></p$1></p$1></p$1></p$1></p$1></p$1></p$1><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/VH7Iof19vJw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-83588313242330382782010-11-27T17:25:00.000-07:002010-11-27T17:25:38.842-07:00Book Excerpt: Video Q/A: A Magical TimeAaron Sams and I are writing a book about the flipped classroom. We are going to share a few of our ideas here and see what folks think. It is still in the draft mode, but here is a passage where we talk about how we check if students have watched the videos. Though we didn't know it when we started it has quickly become one of our most rewarding teacher moments. Please share your feedback.<br />
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When we check whether or not they have watched a video, one requirement is they ask us interesting questions. This especially works in our freshmen course of Earth and Space Science. For credit, we tell each student they must ask us an interesting question from the video. The question must be related to the video and must be a question for which they do not know the answer. These interactions with the students are some of the richest times we experience in our classrooms. Students either ask questions individually, or in small groups. Every student must ask at least one question per video. Often during these question and answer times, students ask us questions we don’t know the answer to and thus we work on finding the answer. Also the questions students ask often tell us what we have not taught clearly, or in some cases their questions tell us they are misunderstaning a key point. This then give us time to clarify and clean up their misunderstandings. These interactions are truly one of the magical moments we experinece every day with our students. <br />
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Every student must ask at least one question about each video. This is especially valualble for students who do not generally interact with their teachers. In the sit and get model, often just a few students will be the ones asking questions. Those students are more outgoing and confident. The more quiet, introspective students often have the same questions, but rarely voice those in the traditional model. In the flipped-mastery model ALL students MUST ask these questions. We have received more and better questions in our courses than we ever did in a traditional model and the discussions have been richer and frankly more rewarding as a teacher. We have found students are really very curious, and in this non-threatning format, all students can demonstrate their curiosity and learn. <br />
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Another thing we have noticed druing these question and answer times is how our quiet students come out of their shells a bit. Sadly, some of our students rarely have adults listen to them. Their parents are too busy, their teachers are talking to them, and thus the only people who will listen to them are their peers. These conversational times has opened up our chance to get to know our students on a more personal level which has paid dividends in helping troubled teens through difficult times.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-6594602461782836032010-11-03T13:28:00.001-06:002010-11-03T13:29:29.860-06:00<strong>Not All Instructional Vodcasts are Created Equal</strong><br />
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I got an interesting question from Deb Wolf, mastery coordinator in the Sioux Falls School District today and it is something that Aaron and I have ruminated on for quite some time. It turns out that there are varying qualities of instructional video podcasts. Since lots of teachers are making these, she asked for a rubric by which we could assess the quality of an instructional video podcast. Aaron and I are in the process of finding a publisher for a book about flipping the classroom and as we made our outline, we decided to devote a chapter to this very topic. So here are what we think are keys to making a quality vodcast.<br />
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1. <strong>Keep it short.</strong> We are teaching the youtube generation and they want things in bite-sized pieces. If you are teaching the quadric formula, just do the quadratic formula. Don’t try and add anything else.<br />
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2. <strong>Animate your voice.</strong> When you are doing these videos you are most likely using some sort of presentation software (powerpoint, prezi, keynote, smart notebook, etc). The only thing you have besides your slides is your pen and your voice. Change the inflection of your voice. This keeps kids engaged. We don’t want to kill kids with videos. Make them exciting.<br />
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3. Better yet: <strong>Do the vodcast with another teacher.</strong> There is something powerful about having two people having a discussion instead of one teacher talking at you. Our students have told us they prefer it when Aaron and I have a conversation. They learn more too. Usually one of us takes on the role of the student learning the material and asks questions while the other is the expert.<br />
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4. <strong>Add humor:</strong> Aaron and I usually have some sort of a running joke in some of our vodcasts. We usually do this for the first two minutes of each vodcast. Students either love these or not. Since they know they will be the first two minutes, those who like our weird sense of humor tune in and those who don’t just fast forward. This leads me to the next rule<br />
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5. <strong>Don’t waste kid’s time:</strong> I have watched vodcasts where teachers talk about their favorite football team for five minutes. Since students are watching this on their own time, this discussion wastes their time. Keep to your topic.<br />
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6. <strong>Add annotations:</strong> Think of your screen as a whiteboard with cool pictures. Use annotation equipment to add pen markups. We use a Wacom bamboo tablet, but there are so many other ways to annotate the video. Other options are interactive white boards (Smartboards, Promethian Boards, etc), wireless tablets, or tablet PC’s. <br />
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7. <strong>Add video clips:</strong> Aaron and I insert videos of us and or kids doing cool experiments in class. This takes more time, but it allows students to see the science in action. We bring a video camera with us wherever we go and try and think of a way to make a good video. When we were in Washington DC at a recent conference we shot some video in front of the Hope Diamond. We used that video to explain the chemistry of diamonds. When I was in Peru this summer my son took some video of me explaining the geology of the Andes Mountains. You can also insert other clips from places such as youtube. And in a similar vein…<br />
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8. <strong>Picture in Picture:</strong> Since we started using Camtasia Studio it has a nice picture in picture feature. We have a webcam in the bottom of our presentation. We wondered if this was distracting and so we asked our students. They told us that they were better able to relate to our us as people when they saw the videos.<br />
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9. <strong>Add Callouts and Zooms:</strong> In Camtasia Studio we a fair amount of post-editing. In that editing process we can add callouts that are usually text boxes that highlight key concepts. Again we asked our students if these were distracting. They told us no: it helped them highlight key concepts. Also in the editing process we can add zooms. This zooms to the important part of our screen. For example when we do a mathematical problem we zoom into the screen of our onscreen calculator. This shows students how to use their graphing calculator.<br />
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10.<strong> Keep it copyright friendly:</strong> Since many of these will be posted online make sure that you follow all appropriate copyright laws.<br />
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We put together a sampling of some of our podcasts. Maybe this will give you an idea of what we think goes into the making of a good instructional video podcast.<br />
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<embed wmode="opaque" src="http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?v=201011012144" FlashVars="config=http%3A%2F%2Fvodcasting.ning.com%2Fvideo%2Fvideo%2FshowPlayerConfig%3Fid%3D4973855%253AVideo%253A433%26ck%3D-&video_smoothing=on&autoplay=off&hideShareLink=1&isEmbedCode=1" width="456" height="344" bgColor="#EED990" scale="noscale" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"> </embed> <br />
<small><a href="http://vodcasting.ning.com/video/video">Find more videos like this on <em>Teacher Vodcasting Network</em></a></small>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-24620622521295450312010-09-21T07:32:00.001-06:002010-09-21T08:18:55.287-06:00Bringing the World into Your Classroom-Connecting through twitterWith the advent of free video conferencing software (Skype) it is amazing how easy it is to get experts into your classroom. One of my goals this year was to bring experts in who can discuss what they do. Today I had the privilege of having Lillie Croft, a volcanologist skype into my freshmen classes. She shared with us a powerpoint about why volcanoes are important to the health of the world. She talked about how volcanoes are both destructive and constructive. It was a great experience for my students to hear from a “real” scientist who did research on the things that we have been learning about. <br />
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So how do you get world-class speakers “into” your classroom. For me I have begun to use twitter to connect with people all over the world. If you are unfamiliar with twitter, it is a micro blogging site that allows people to post small (limit 140 characters) micro-blogs. You might wonder how anything important can be shared in 140 characters. Usually what people post is a small teaser and then have a link to a website that gets you more information. <br />
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The other thing you can do is use what are called hashtags. Hashtags were developed as a means to create "groupings" on Twitter, without having to change the basic service. Essentially you put the “#” symbol in front of a string of text, do a search for that hashtag and then even people who don’t “follow” you, but who are interested in the same types of things you are will see your post. They then may respond to your post. Several hashtags that I use are: #edchat, #scichat, #scido. When you search these people will talk about education, science, or how to do science in the classroom. <br />
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So how did I connect with Dr. Croft? I simply put out on my twitter feed that I was looking for a volcanologist to skype into my classroom. I put it out on the #scichat search list and voila, I got a response from somebody who knew her. I then emailed her and she graciously agreed to talk to my kids. <br />
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Truly in today’s connected world, we have the opportunity,<strong> and dare I say responsibility</strong>, to bring the world into our classroom. So get with it and connect to people who can connect to our kids.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-24335749010466037992010-09-09T11:18:00.005-06:002010-09-09T14:02:12.093-06:00Assessing in Mastery Learning: What we Have Learned<strong><span><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=jkbergmann&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002Y27P3M" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span>Assessing in Mastery Learning: What we Have Learned</strong><br />
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This is my third year of doing mastery learning and the more I teach this way the more I like it. Many of our followers have asked for advice from Aaron and I. What have we learned so that they don’t have to make the same mistakes that we have made. Today I want to talk about how we have changed up our assessment s.<br />
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This year in our Chemistry classes we have changed a bit how we assess our students. In the past we would check every single assignment that students assigned. We would then put that in the grade book. This year we looked at objectives and instead of a student trying to “get work” done they are now focused in on the objectives that might have several learning activities. This chunking of our activities into objectives. <br />
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Below are the old and the new checklists: Note how the old system is very busy and the new one is not very busy. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWEPPPe8jXulprJoHgALN5zgsLNOO_Xc7VasC4D1Kv958LFLJ2Zg5H_kNIuG6RPpFSf9dnOgsNg3TFRvSQM2ZlfBXkzAJ5DrD3-2pumX9wLcOnbiFqWo1j_fmYbbAq0If5IKsy16JHauY/s1600/objold.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWEPPPe8jXulprJoHgALN5zgsLNOO_Xc7VasC4D1Kv958LFLJ2Zg5H_kNIuG6RPpFSf9dnOgsNg3TFRvSQM2ZlfBXkzAJ5DrD3-2pumX9wLcOnbiFqWo1j_fmYbbAq0If5IKsy16JHauY/s640/objold.png" width="502" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdw4Zti05ykOo9Vu6FygPD4TUrtHDLLEsEimplgtbb6IqQERBxfU3E_oyOkbgKmoIAn2fCTl14GgbyqPBPrqVQtR5yg-0sYHhfh4PXD-ePztZlTgZIKZZXtc69hzURuKcxsu5oQRMRaDE/s1600/ObjNew.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdw4Zti05ykOo9Vu6FygPD4TUrtHDLLEsEimplgtbb6IqQERBxfU3E_oyOkbgKmoIAn2fCTl14GgbyqPBPrqVQtR5yg-0sYHhfh4PXD-ePztZlTgZIKZZXtc69hzURuKcxsu5oQRMRaDE/s320/ObjNew.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Clearly: the second chart makes it easier for students to see what it is they need to know and be able to do. Thus far this has fostered a greater amount of learning. <br />
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We have even changed the way that we talk to students. Instead of: did you get that assignment done? It is now, “What objective are you struggling with today and how can I help.” This has created a more collaborative learning environment for all students and I am seeing greater gains in learning already.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-21712162954694804552010-08-22T21:30:00.002-06:002010-08-30T07:43:46.331-06:00Thoughts As I Begin My 25th Year of TeachingTomorrow marks the first day of my 25th year teaching. Have I gotten that old? . I am blessed to have been in a profession that I love for such a long time. The energy I get from teenagers must keep me young. <br />
I want to share two thoughts with you: They probably should be two separate blogs. One amazing video and some things I want to do differently as I move into this year of learning.<br />
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<b>Amazing Video:</b><br />
Students today are looking for an interactive experience in school where they don’t have to “dumb down” and “turn off” when they come to school. Unfortunately too often our schools do just that. Check out this video clip that demonstrates how our students want to interact with <span style="color: cyan;"><span style="color: black;">content</span>.</span><br />
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<strong>How My Class Will Look Different This Year</strong><br />
<b>1. VoiceThread.com:</b> This past weekend I have been in Canada speaking at a technology conference (Touch-N-Go <a href="http://touchngo.sd.bc.ca/">http://touchngo.sd.bc.ca/</a>). There I was introduced to Voice Thread (<a href="http://voicethread.com/">http://voicethread.com/</a>). Voice Thread has a unique way for folks to interact with content. We want to test uploading some of our podcasts to Voice-Thread and see how the students interact with this medium. We already have some great video podcasts, but to have the ability for them to be interacted on this level could add a whole new level of interactivity. We even anticipate others from around the world interacting with the videos online. Potentially our students will be watching these videos with students from around the world. <br />
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<b>2. Multiple Means of Assessment:</b> One of the hallmarks of our program is that every student has to complete each unit of study by achieving at least 75% on each exit assessment. We were introduced to a teaching methodology out of Harvard University called Universal Design in Learning (UDL) and one of the things that it asserts that all students need is the opportunity to be assessed in multiple ways. So this year we are going to provide opportunities for our students who want to demonstrate mastery through some method other than the exams. We are simply going to produce the list of objectives for each unit and have students show us how they know this content. They will be able to do this via any method that they choose. We are thinking along the lines of student produced videos, making up their own exams, or frankly any creative method that works best for each student. We will see how this open ended assessment strategy works. <br />
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<b>3. More Engaging Activities</b> For the past few years we have been so focused on making high quality videos that we have not given as much attention to making our activities more engaging for students. At this past conference one of the teachers told us she liked our teaching methodology (the reverse classroom) but she was wondering what she would do with the kids during her class if she didn’t lecture to them. Her moment of honesty was telling. We have things for our kids to do in class, but they can always be better and more engaging. I am hoping to team up with some of the other teachers in our building, and in my greater PLN community, to come up with better activities that will better connect students to the content.<br />
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<b>4. Student Choice:</b> Speaking of activities: We would like to have more than one activity that can get to the same objectives. Students really enjoy having control of their own learning. What if we gave them more than one type of activity that gets at the same objectives? That way, students who learn differently will be able to learn the way they learn best. This will be quite a process to make this happen—and maybe a logistical nightmare. I am thinking that this will start after the first unit. As I sit here on the airplane headed home I don’t see this happening for unit 1 when kids arrive Wednesday morning. <br />
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<b>Class Visits and Further Trainings:</b><br />
Last year Aaron and I had about one hundred educators visit our classroom. Know that each of you are encouraged to come and visit our blended 21st Century classroom. Feel free to contact me about setting up a time for you to come and visit. We try and have larger groups on set days so that we don’t go crazy. There is also some power in having more people observing what is going on.<br />
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Aaron and I have two engagements coming up.<br />
1. September 15th: ISTE Webinar: Go to <a href="http://iste.org/">http://iste.org/</a> to sign up.<br />
2. September 23-24th: Bib County Schools, Near Macon GA. We will be spending two days training their staff in the blended classroom and 21st Century Learning. If any of the folks on the east coast are interested in attending I can contact them and see if other folks would be allowed to come. <br />
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<b>Last Thoughts: </b><br />
If you have made it this far in the blog then congratulations. I hope you see my excitement as I move into the new year with my students. For the second year in a row I will have my daughter in class and last year it was good to see what I was putting students through with my program. She can be brutally honest so I am happy to have someone testing out our crazy ideas.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-82678169958518318612010-07-21T15:55:00.002-06:002010-07-21T15:55:58.167-06:00Summer Projects and Some Future Plans:<br />
I have purposely not spent much of the past week worrying about school or thinking too much about education. It has been the week for home projects and time with my kids. I have:<br />
1. Gotten five cords of wood with my two lovely daughters.<br />
2. Spent a day with my girls at the YMCA<br />
3. A wonderful hike with the same girls.<br />
4. Celebrated two of our family birthdays (My son turned 17 and my wife, well she is one year older)<br />
5. Began a relatively large deck project. The railing on my deck has been in need of a replacement for quite some time so I have decided to put TREX down.<br />
6. And then for the past two days I have had to deal with a flooded garage. It is quite disconcerting to go in your garage and find 1 ½ feet of water in it. I think Noah’s flood hit us and it overwhelmed our culvert in our mountain community and all of the road water and dirt and rock and silt made its way into our garage. Not once, but twice. Hopefully I have remedied this problem for the future thanks to a friend with big muscles. <br />
The big project on the horizon educationally is to begin a website that categories all of the best vodcasts out there for education. The start of this project is to upload all of our videos to youtube. Then we will develop a webpage that will categorize all of the best educational videos out there. The page will simply be links to good videos. We are working on how to most effectively categorize the videos, but I think it will help a lot of both teachers and students out. Our youtube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/user/Learning4Mastery but our main page will be http://learningformastery.com . <br />
I would appreciate any feedback you might have on how to categorize each topic. As of right now we are thinking of having a page for each discipline: One for Chemistry, Algebra, Calculus, Astronomy, etc. But the beauty of the web is that we could even categorize them in lots of different ways. <br />
All for now: <br />
Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-28075140308461716912010-06-29T10:06:00.000-06:002010-06-29T10:06:00.231-06:00I went to school in Singapore but grew up on the internetI just attended a keynote at <a href="http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/2010/">ISTE 2010 in Denver</a> and Shawn Koh from Singapore was on a panel. He wowed the audience with some great quotes.<br />
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“I went to school in Singapore but grew up on the internet.”<br />
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Shawn is indicative of the students that we are teaching today. They are so digitally connected and they are literally growing up on the internet. That is a very profound statement from a 20 year old college student. We as educators need to embrace this and set up schools that help these students learn.<br />
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Another quote from Shawn when asked: What do you wish you had learned in school: “I wish I had learned how to learn.”<br />
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Shawn took classes and focused in on what was being taught, but he never learned how to learn. We need to actively teach our students how to learn and not be so married to our content. I think we can use the vehicle of our content, but if we ignore the learning process we have grossly shortchanged our students. <br />
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Short blog post, but profound. Thanks Shawn.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-43783448878921094452010-06-18T10:04:00.001-06:002010-06-18T10:05:34.053-06:00Aaron wins the Presidential AwardThis just in: Aaron Sams just won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. Aaron has tirelessly worked to become a better teacher. Much of his application had to do with mastery learning and video podcasting. It is great to see others acknowledge him for such amazing work.<br />
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<strong>Below are some Links:</strong><br />
From the White House: <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-math-and-science-teachers-award-release/">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-math-and-science-teachers-award-release/</a><br />
Article in a local Colorado Paper: <a href="http://www.gazette.com/articles/teacher-100182-science-park.html">http://www.gazette.com/articles/teacher-100182-science-park.html</a><br />
Aaron's Hometown Paper: <a href="http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2010/06/14/news/today/news04.txt">http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2010/06/14/news/today/news04.txt</a>Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-34215300959618331412010-06-09T18:27:00.000-06:002010-06-09T18:27:28.586-06:00The South Dakota ExperimentThe South Dakota Experiment<br />
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This week I am not doing any mastery classes or trainings, so I have some time to reflect on last week. In fact right now I am on my way to the <a href="http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/">Hy-Vee triathlon</a> with my wife and a friend. We are going to be selling our triathlon clothing (My wife runs an online triathlon clothing store –<a href="http://tristuff4less.com/">http://tristuff4less.com/</a>, and I will be competing in the race this Sunday June 12th. Thus I will chat about our amazing visit to South Dakota last week. <br />
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While in South Dakota, Aaron and I had the chance to train a cadre of teacher in the <a href="http://www.sf.k12.sd.us/SFSchoolDistrict/default.aspx">Sioux Falls School District.</a> These 40 folks won a grant to implement mastery learning in their math and science classes. Frankly Aaron and I are humbled. Their experiment started out with them coming out to Colorado to both see our class and then attend one of our workshops. Since then they have gone full bore into the mastery/video podcasting model. <br />
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In their grant they are going to pay their 40 teachers to develop the program. They didn’t get too much “stuff” except for some copies of Camtasia to make the podcasts. As we pondered this, we realized that this is just what is needed. The key to setting up a mastery classroom is to have time to develop all the components. You need:<br />
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1. To have a library of podcasts<br />
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2. A way to assess students in a way that is not too cumbersome on the teachers. The students need to be assessed multiple times if they don’t achieve mastery. <br />
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I know this full well since this past year I embarked on doing this with our freshmen Earth/Space class that we teach at our high school. Since Aaron was not teaching this course, I did this solo. I made an untold number of podcasts and utilized moodle to make up so many questions to help assess student learning. It was a hard year of work, but I felt that my freshmen group (about 100 kids) learned more than any group I have ever taught. When all was said and done, I had only two students fail the course and most of them were quite successful in mastering the content. <br />
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Anyways: Kudos to South Dakota: They are going to reward the teachers for all of the extra hard work it is to set up a mastery course. And Aaron and I are excited to see what will happen to all those kids in all of those classes.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-48166866924665018852010-06-04T16:40:00.001-06:002010-06-06T07:00:13.568-06:00What is Best for Students?-- The Question We Should Always Ask.America’s schools today face many challenges. Preparing our students to compete in a global economy, bridging the achievement gap, bringing classrooms into 21st Century Learning, and keeping quality teachers in the classroom are complex issues with no easy solutions. <br />
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I recently read some research about quality teaching. (US News and World Report, September 2009) The article stated that it is better for a student to be in a “bad” school with a good teacher than to have a bad teacher in a “good” school. Many years ago I had the privilege of listening to Kati Haycock speak on the subject of increasing student achievement. She said that when she goes into schools, what is most distressing is that the best teachers are teaching the fewest kids. Conversely, the newest teachers teach the lowest level of students and have the largest class sizes. This inequality in our schools is hurting the population of students that need the greatest assistance. It not only hurts our students but also discourages young teachers. A few years ago at my previous school, a friend of mine left because he was told that he would never teach an upper-level class at our high school. This bright young man with great potential realized that our school was too entrenched in the seniority system, so he went elsewhere. <br />
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Failure to ask the question, “What is best for the students?” causes schools to be mired in mediocrity. Often, schools do what is expedient and do what they have “always done.” The saying “we never did it that way before” is too often used in today’s schools. This attitude has a devastating effect on student achievement. First, students underperform because inexperienced teachers who lack the tools necessary to motivate students are often the ones assigned to teach our reluctant learners. These are the students who most need access to our best and brightest educators. Additionally, when we fail to put students first, we discourage bright young men and women from entering into the teaching profession. If a prospective teacher feels that he will forever be placed teaching struggling students or is not given adequate resources to make a difference, he will either never enter the profession or leave education entirely after a short time.<br />
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The good news is that we can and should change the paradigm of education and bring those quality teachers to all of our schools. With the advent of 21st Century tools, it is now possible to have some of the best teaching in the country happening in multiple places at one time. Educators can record their lessons on the most difficult subjects and make these lessons available for students all over the country. As this becomes a reality, the role of the classroom teacher will change. He or she will go from being the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. The classroom teacher will spend his days interacting with students and pushing them to excel instead of spending time managing poor student behavior or presenting a scintillating lecture. Another advantage is that if the individual teacher is strong in some content, he or she can rely on a gifted distance teacher so his/her students will have access to that content. <br />
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When I have spoken around the country about what we are doing with the “Reverse Classroom,” some of the greatest interest has come from rural and urban schools who have a hard time finding teachers to teach some of the more difficult science and math courses. Those schools see the “Reverse Classroom” as a way for all of their students to have access to quality, high-level teaching that will open doors for their students.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1122040381719098694.post-3738927876845116062010-05-26T12:30:00.000-06:002010-05-26T12:31:20.123-06:00What I Believe about Learning and TeachingThis is an excerpt from my application for Colorado Teacher of the Year (I was a semi-finalist). It explains much of what I do and believe in about education. I hope this explains a bit about this blog.<br />
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In today’s world of Google and the internet, knowledge is accessible to virtually all citizens. Our students realize this and have become disenchanted with the schools that they attend. Teachers who still think that they are the disseminators of knowledge need to see that there is more to learn than they can ever hope to teach. The greatest gift we can give our students is the ability to learn and adapt to new situations. We must give them the gift of learning so that when they leave our halls, they will have the tools to succeed in the complex world in which we find ourselves. <br />
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Outside of school our students live in the connected world of facebook, twitter, texting, the internet, and their own social spheres. Unfortunately many of today’s schools require our students to scale back when they walk into the schoolroom. They have to turn off and dumb down. Instead of fighting the digital culture, we as educators need to infiltrate the digital culture. As we do this we will be embracing and using the tools of the future. When schools are designed for the benefit of students, they will see the connection between the classroom and their lives and will realize that schools are their launch pad into the larger world. I have seen some of our best and brightest students give up on school because they feel that it is not relevant to their lives. We cannot allow this to happen. Our schools can and should be a place where all students have equal access to the best possible education. <br />
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If this is to happen, educator roles need to change. The old model of the teacher as the giver of all knowledge needs to disappear. Instead we need to act as coaches and guides to our students. As educators, we can guide and nurture tomorrow’s leaders, not just teach them specific content. This all has to be done in the context of caring and nurturing relationships. When our students realize that we won’t ever give up on them and that we believe in them, they will truly become the leaders they are meant to be. As our schools are transformed into hubs of learning, our country will become a better place, and our schools will again become the envy of the world. <br />
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As we move into the 21st century, students need to be able to solve complex problems, work collaboratively, and synthesize their knowledge and experience. Gone are the days when teachers covered content and hoped that students would learn. My classes are a laboratory of learning. <br />
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For decades, many people have talked about mastery programs, but successful implementation has been difficult. With the explosion of technology, it is now easy to make interactive video podcasts that teach specific objectives. <br />
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In this model, students take responsibility for their learning in and out of the classroom. They watch video podcasts on a number of digital devices, work on assignments, conduct experiments, interact with the class Moodle website (course management system), and have one-on-one discussions with their teacher. Students are allowed to work through the content at their own pace while meeting pre-described milestones. When they complete a unit, students must demonstrate that they have learned the content by taking an exit assessment that includes both a written and a laboratory component. If students do not demonstrate mastery by meeting the pre-established objectives on these exit assessments, they must go back and relearn the concepts they missed and retake the assessment. <br />
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A huge benefit of this teaching methodology is that every student learns at a level that is developmentally appropriate for each individual. Differentiation occurs for ALL students. Some students are given the extra help that they need to master the content while other students are allowed to move ahead at their own pace. Because I am now a mentor instead of a lecturer, more time is available to interact with all students and to give them individualized help. Since every student is now required to master the content before progressing, all students are engaged in their own education. This has been a radical paradigm shift; I have seen students of all ability levels mastering rigorous content. Using this model assures that all students learn at a high level and I am able to asses them continually. When students “don’t get it,” they are required to go back and relearn the concepts until they master them.Jonathan Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870669561498044224noreply@blogger.com1