Twitter for Teachers

    For many teachers and educators, Twitter create more negatives than positives, more headaches than solutions.  We see online student bullying, more opportunities for "drama," and fights among students, both prearranged using Twitter and "defending someone's honor" because of something someone tweeted.  We actually spend a considerable amount of time in the classroom dealing with issues that Twitter has made possible.

    Perhaps most annoying of all problems is the "celebrity status" that students believe they have thanks to Twitter.  They're going through life thinking that they are in a movie where they play the lead actor or actress.  When they tweet, they believe that everyone will instantly read their message and that everyone deeply cares about what they write and express.  Every message and opinion they have is great, absolutely correct, and extremely important.  Consider, for example, this tweet from Ohio State Quarterback Cardale Jones about his schooling.

Another example of a positive choice with an extremely important message about which we all deeply care.  (For the record, he recently deactivated his Twitter account.  Perhaps he is learning something....)

Twitter for the Teacher

     With so many negatives, it's amazing to think that Twitter could be a positive resource for teachers.  Unbelievably, Twitter offers amazing opportunities for those educators willing to use it!  Here are some tips for educators interested in unlocking their Twitter potential.

1.) Create a Professional Twitter

    Brand yourself online using a twitter name and account that reflects you as a professional and lifelong learner.  Use this account to connect with educators around the globe and to research teaching ideas.  This can also be a way for students to connect with you outside of class - they can tweet you questions, comments, and concerns to help improve your teaching and their learning.  Don't tweet about what you ate for lunch or how much fun you had at a birthday party.  Save that for Facebook or your personal Twitter account, if you have one.

2.) Follow Other Professionals

    Follow individuals who share your interests.  Follow the people who make a difference in your field.  Follow organizations whose interests mirror your own.  Here's a couple of the people that I follow:

National Math and Science Initiative (@NMSI) - Awesome data about the importance of STEM subjects (science, technology, English, and mathematics) and the effectiveness of Advanced Placement and Pre-AP classes.

Algebra Fact (@AlgebraFact) - Gives one math fact about algebra every day.  Introduces me daily to new parts of math that I never knew existed!

CBS News (@CBSNews) - Following one of the major news networks makes my Twitter an up-to-the-minute news machine.  I know about current events before they're reported anywhere else.

Trevor Packer (@AP_Trevor) - College Board's head of AP tweets data about AP exams and any changes that are happening in the world of preparing students for college.

David Britten (@colonelb) - Superintendent of Schools in southwestern Michigan.  Tweets the most interesting education articles.  I've learned a lot reading the articles he sends out.

3.) Follow who They Follow

    Trevor Packer will never follow me - I'm not very important and nothing that I tweet will be useful to him. And that's okay - I don't have a God complex.  So when Trevor follows someone, I should definitely take note - they're someone with something to say that might be interesting to me.  Once you identify some professionals in your area that you want to follow, see who it is that they follow.  Soon enough, you'll have a giant community offering advice, anecdotes, support, and ideas to make your life better.  With this digital Professional Learning Network, I am amazed at how improved my leadership is in my classroom.  Twitter makes me a better teacher.

Follow @mrcbiscuit

No Flying Cars, but...

    With each new technological advance, there are always people who make predictions about how it will change our lives.  All too often, these advances turn out to be fads or the predictions are much too bold.  How many people predicted that we would have flying cars by year 2000?  And 2001 Space Odyssey?  As an educator who advocates for technology, I never quite know if the predictions made by experts will come true (and therefore worth my time and money).  But this PSA from 1995 about the Internet must have been incredibly bold for its time, and so incredibly accurate now.  Amazing that something like this could be true; it makes us wonder what truly bold predictions will be realized in technology.

Flipped Classroom Misconceptions

    I swear, if I ever hear another teacher tell me "oh, that's sounds great for an honors class, but I'd never do that in my low level class," I might have a brain aneurysm.  I won't hide the fact that AP Calculus is lightyears ahead of Algebra 2, but that would be the case if I taught any way.  In order to prevent an explosion in my brain, I wanted to take time to explain some of the common misconceptions and myths I've encountered while talking to people about the flipped classroom.  Maybe if more people were informed about its strengths, they'd be more open to explore the infinite possibilities.

FLIPPED CLASSES ONLY WORK FOR HONORS

    Like I said in the introduction, of course this method works better in honors.  They're honors students.  They thrive in school.  Give them a class where they only read math textbooks and they'll find a way to succeed.  Give them substitutes every day, and they'll find a way to get an A.  Now understand, they'll succeed at a higher level if they've got the right support system.  The flipped classroom offers the ability to guarantee that they'll only have 45 minutes of homework every two days and have the ability to learn at their own pace.  They're responsible and they want to learn - that's why it works for them.

    But I didn't flip my classes for AP Calculus.  They were, honestly, an afterthought.  I thought about my Algebra 2 students who told me that I taught too fast.  I thought about the students who refused to take notes or stared out of the window, no matter how much prompting I gave them.  I though about the sleepy student who just wasn't "all there."  I thought about all the stress that homework put on the students and how very few assignments were returned with almost all problems complete and correct.

    My low level classes haven't learned how to be responsible for their learning - I need to teach them.  I anticipate that we will have a good system by the end of the semester.  More than the honors students, they need to learn at their own pace and they need the support when doing their homework.  Also, parents can now support their students 100% at home.  Some families even sit down together after dinner to watch the videos.  I can't ever remember a story like that in my years of teaching before the flipped classroom.

THEY DON'T HAVE INTERNET

     Alright, it's true - not every student has internet at home.  Not every student has a computer.  However, the internet is more widely used than many teachers choose to accept when discussing the merits of a flipped classroom.  The Pew Institute has found that 93% of teens ages 12-17 are online.  I can vouch for this - I have seen the Facebook drama in my classroom.  Almost everyone has a profile and it's a major point of discussion among students.  And many students can access a computer or internet at a friend or family member's house.

    And it's also true - everyone in my AP class has internet and there are about 10 students in Algebra 2 without.  But of the 10, at least 3 have smartphones with internet.  For the others, I can make a DVD of the videos.  Most schools or districts have DVD writing software and many would provide the DVDs for instructional purposes like this.  Students come in during their time to pick up the DVD and can watch it on their XBox, PS3, DVD player, or at the school library.

THEY WON'T WATCH THE VIDEOS

    Huge shock - some students won't do their homework.  If the assignment was to write a sentence about how you got to school yesterday morning, some still wouldn't do it.  We teachers will always struggle to get students to complete homework assignments and complete them correctly.

    Algebra 2 boasts a 50-70% preparedness rate almost daily.  This isn't close to the 100% that we'd like, but it's much better than the homeworks I'd receive in the past.  I no longer hear the words "I didn't understand the homework" or "the homework was too hard."  Students can complete these assignments accurately and completely every night.  And if they don't?  The videos are saved for them to complete when they are able.  The flipped classroom allows lower-level students to succeed daily in a way that was nearly impossible in the traditional classroom before.

    Finally, it's popular to think that the students won't know what's going on if they don't watch the video and take their notes.  True, they'll be behind the students who did actively watch the videos; however, aren't these the same students who wouldn't pay attention during my direct instruction in class?  Aren't these the same students who could never focus in class in the first place?  They never got much out of my direct instruction before.  If they miss the video, aren't they in the same place they were before?  And aren't a lot of students better off since they learned at their own pace?  I can't see the negative here.

THIS ONLY WORKS FOR MATH

    Some of the best flipped teachers are in science and social studies / history.  MY model works great for my math classroom, but there are tons of people who flip in every subject at every level.  Through social media like Twitter, Edmodo, and Facebook, we can discuss our ideas.  In learning teams, we can talk about how we might improve our 1-on-1 interactions with students.  This is the key pillar in a flipped classroom - how can I maximize my interactions with my students?  There is no flipped classroom model that works for everyone - each is unique and tailored for the students and their learning.  Search, explore, and be creative - flipping can be a very positive force in your classroom.

YOUR CLASS IS REALLY THE SAME AS AN ONLINE CLASS

    Many people simply associate the term "flipped classroom" to mean "the teaching is on video."  They have a point - much of our direct instruction is through video and other electronic means.  The teaching, though, is not restricted to videos.  I take time in class for deeper whole-class direct instruction where I often answer questions related to their understanding of the fundamentals.  Unlike in an online class, I spend hours learning with small groups, working through individual problems and answering the specific questions they have about the math.  This really allows me to differentiate instruction for groups of students and allows me to better interact with students in a way that's almost impossible during direct instruction time.  This is blended learning - the best of the technological world coupled with the best of the classroom world.

MISCONCEPTIONS WILL EXIST REGARDLESS

    Many of the great flipped class teachers have written on these misconceptions - this is just my personal take on some of them based on my experiences of being one of the first flipped teachers in my school.  I won't be able to convince every teacher, administrator, parent, and student that this flipped classroom is the best idea to improve learning in my classroom.  I can only stay positive, work with my colleagues who support me immensely, and continue to pursue perfecting techniques that allow me to help my students learn at the highest level.  At the time, my flipped classroom has improved the student experience more than I ever could have imagined.  I could never imagine doing what I did in years past - I'll keep this classroom model for every level as long as I teach.  Until someone stumbles on a way to make this even better...!  Thank goodness that I'm on Twitter to hear about it sooner than I heard about this model.

The iPad in the Classroom

    I can't thank my wife enough - we got an iPad 9 days ago and already it has made a difference in my classroom.  (This was our compromise to not getting smartphones - better to pay $400 once than to pay $1500 anually.  The math actually works out....)  It has been the perfect addition to my flipped classroom.  The awesome part - I'm not sure that I'm using everything that I could be using!  I'm more organized and able to keep up with deadlines thanks to the reminder and notes apps on the iPad; however, there are so many more apps available to us teachers that I couldn't help but list my favorites here.  These apps make my day-to-day operations in class that much easier.

Dropbox (free):

Dropbox is a standard on mobile devices, such as the iPad.  Dropbox allows me to coordinate files on my personal laptop.  I can use Dropbox to move files from device to device, up to 2GB for free.  In addition to the abilities to move documents, many apps can use Dropbox to make their services available on multiple machines.

Explain Everything ($2.99):

    This app is worth every penny to the teacher who is flipping his or her classroom.  There are many free apps available to teachers who want to record lessons on their iPads, such as ShowMe, Doceri, and Educreations.  ShowMe won't allow multiple pages and Doceri has a very slow response rate when creating presentations.  Educreations is perhaps the best, but it doesn't support PDF import and teachers can only put their lessons on Educreations's website.  Explain Everything allows teachers to import documents from EverNote, Dropbox, photos, etc., apply their notes and voice, and export directly to e-mail, YouTube, etc.  Explain Everything has allowed me to explain math problems to students on a Sunday night before their test.  For a teacher flipping their classroom, there is not a finer app.

Penultimate ($0.99):

 This is the app for teacher who wants a personal whiteboard.  I move from group to group using this app, showing each student (or group of students) some piece of mathematical knowledge.  The drawing is fine enough for math teachers to show enough on each page, while allowing for multiple pages in multiple notebooks.  I can save drawings, share with multiple students, and use many different pen colors with just a push of the finger.  Coupled with a stylus for the iPad, this is a very poweful app.  Included in the $0.99 price are graph paper and lined paper styles, in addition to the white paper default.  A must-have for the flipper!

Planbook Touch ($9.99):

Planbook is, in my opinion, the best education planning software available for teachers on Mac or iPads.  The software is able to create a book based on your particular schedule at your school.  If a school meets every-other-day, the Planbook has you covered.  Have a special schedule every week?  The Planbook has an option to set itself up for you.  You can save lessons and assignments, and Planbook even allows you to "bump" lessons to the next class period if you need another day on a particular topic.  Assign units, assignment, and standards to each lesson to keep you planned through the year.  This app, which is the most expensive, is certainly worth the $10.  You can e-mail lesson plans and coordinate with Dropbox.

TeacherKit (free):

As a free app, this is a surprisingly comprehensive classroom organizational tool.  Teachers can input seating charts, document grades and student behaviors, and record attendance.  Advanced teachers can even import student photographs for instant recognition.  This app can help teachers to stay organized and informed while moving from room-to-room.

Twitter (free):

How can a teacher use Twitter?  We honestly spend more minutes dealing with Facebook and Twitter drama than teaching on many days.  On Twitter, I follow teachers.  I follow superintendants and professors.  They share articles and ideas.  They share what they did in class and the struggles they had in class.  When a teacher asked "what do I do with the 55 students who didn't watch the video?"  I knew that my problem with students watching the video was a common problem, regardless of my experience with the flipped classroom.  Finally, I have connected my Twitter account with my Facebook account so that my support group of family, friends, and colleagues can offer their comments, questions, and concerns.  Twitter has been an amazing professional development tool.

There are many apps available, like TeacherNotes and Timer+, which help me as a teacher (they're both free).  I'm excited to learn about other apps that will help me as a teacher, especially as one in a flipped classroom.  And I'm still searching for the best way to project what I write on my iPad through a projector in my room.  Your ideas are always helpful!

What is a WSQ?

    One of the most frustrating parts of being an "outsider" in any organization is the awful acronyms.  Every group has them.  In education, the acronyms seem to be overwhelming, especially when coupled with the "flipped class" or "blended learning" ideas available to teachers.  This post aims to clear any acronym issue that a reader might have if he or she is not familiar with blended education.

WSQ: This stands for Watch, Summarize, Question.  It describes the homework in some flipped classrooms.  Students watch the video at home and take notes just like they would in a normal classroom.  Unlike what they're able to do in class, students can pause and rewind as many times as they need and like.  Students then write a summary of the video, at least five sentences, and then pose questions about the topic. The idea is for these questions to be higher-level thinking questions - asking why, how come, what if, what about, etc.

IEP: An Individualized Education Plan is developed for students who have some sort of disabilities in order to help them access the general classroom.  Typical accommodations include preferential seating, extra time on assignments, and testing in a smaller group setting.

...more acronyms to follow...

Want to know what a particular acronym means, or confused about something that is in this blog?  Add a comment to this post!

Reflecting after 13 Days

    Today was my 13th day in the flipped classroom and, while it feels like my first year some of the time, I'm certainly way ahead of where I was back then.  I don't have to worry about classroom management, about school policy, or about who I am as a teacher.  I am confident and collected.  The first-year feelings seem like they should be bad, but they aren't.  I'm re-focused, re-energized, and re-motivated.  I don't feel like I have the crisis of faith I had at the end of last school year about my role in public education.  A lot of good is coming from this model.  Here are the positives and improvement areas I've discovered.

Positives

Calculus Student Buy-In: On any given day, I won't have more than three who didn't watch the video or complete their summary.  The questions that calculus is asking are amazing - many of the are thirsting for knowledge and how everything's related.  In algebra 2, we usually have somewhere between half and two-thirds of the class prepared, depending on the day.  At this point, only a couple seem to truly be repeat offenders with a definite pattern of not watching.  I'll be better able to keep track of these students with a little more data.

Blank White Paper: At the start of each discussion, each group gets a blank sheet of white paper.  On this paper, a group member records the various topics that are discussed within the group.  This paper is submitted to me at the end of the period.  It really helps me to know where certain groups are at, what misconceptions exist, and questions that are posed.

Student Achievement because of the Videos: It's kinda funny.  I'm using the same words as I did before.  And a lot of the same examples as I did before.  Using the same logic that I did before.  But now that it's in a video, the students get it.  They come to class with a lot of knowledge to share, and they are excited to be asked a question to which they know the answer.  I've noticed this to be immensely helpful in my algebra 2 classes, where most students have failed at least one math course and many would rather be anywhere else.  The fact that they're successful is a huge plus for them.  (This, unfortunately, does not apply to all topics.  Absolute value inequalities are impossible for my sixth period.  But my fifth period understands them just fine.  And they watched the same video.  Go figure.) 

Period 1 actively learning!

Active Student Participation: Just look at this picture.  That's my first period - every day - for at least 90% of class.  In my old class, I would talk a lot.  90% of class used to be lecture and used to be directly guided by me.  Students probably only worked like this 10% of the time.  Now, with the flipped classroom, my kids work 90% of the time, collaborating and learning in a very active way.  It's not perfect, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.  Especially now that there are different assignments available for the groups, each group could conceivably be working on something different, all at the same time.  In the words of MJ (that's actually Michael Jon, not Michael Jordan, but Michael Jon is sort of like the Jordan of education...) "The things you can do in a flipped classroom!"  Boy is he right!

Video Length and Quality: I've now figured out how best to work the document camera software to record my lessons.  This seems to be the easiest and, now that it's easier for students to read, a quality option.  I think that every algebra 2 video will be document-camera based just to make my flip a little easier on me.  I'm still going to try to do as many in-person "live" video lectures for calculus.  It's a little easier to put in an extra hour of work when everyone will watch it.

Improvements

Student Summaries: The summaries in calculus are all right - they include the main points from the video.  The algebra 2 summaries are really poor.  Many are only a few sentences (but, thank goodness, they are sentences complete with capital letters and punctuation).  The algebra 2 summaries really only cover surface-level information - the title of the video and perhaps one major thing to remember.  I really have to do a better job of critiquing their writing.  How can I spend more time with each summary while efficiently moving group-to-group so that I don't spend 45 minutes of class time critiquing summaries?  I'm thinking about showing students examples of good and bad summaries - good summaries emphasize how to do it or why to do it.  This might help better direct students.

Questions: Calc questions are awesome.  Algebra 2 questions are nonexistent.  I REALLY need to remember that AP students are not the students in my algebra 2 class for students with math anxiety, math phobia, and math issues.  It will certainly take some time before good questions are asked regularly.  I think I average a student-asked higher-order thinking question once every two units.  Crystal Kirch, the amazing teacher after whom I have modeled my initial flipped classroom, recently blogged that she has some students who do not have any questions, but cannot seem to answer basic questions correctly.  I need to do a better job of identifying those students immediately.  Perhaps open-note quizzes about the basic facts in the video, such as a problem or two?  Can you do it, like I did it?  That name isn't half bad....

Discussion Time: While students do get to talk during this period and I want it to be open to the students to discuss as they need, the structure appears to need a fix, especially at the algebra 2 level.  Some students don't participate (they did the WSQ, they know the material, but they don't want to turn around and talk).  Some students are off-topic.  Perhaps if I asked students to write their perfect 5-sentence group summary, write down questions they have about the topic, and do one or two questions as a group that are very similar to the problems explained in the video.  Perhaps the doing problems, just one or two, will help to bring out the questions.

Practice Time: I regularly under-estimate the amount of time it will take my algebra 2 students to complete practice problems.  I'm sure part of the problem is motivation, but I feel it's more than that.  They work slowly and make a lot of mistakes.  Often, they don't realize that they've made a mistake, even though their solution process is nowhere close to the process they have in their notes.  Today, in sixth period, it took 30 minutes for two problems.  And some didn't complete both by the end of the period.  It's tough for them to replicate a process - this is the most frustrating part of being a math teacher.  Maybe they don't see the how; maybe they don't see the why; maybe they don't see the logic.  I can't explain it, but I know that we need to be able to do more practice.  I'm sure a creative solution will present itself soon.

What have you Learned?

    I really need to ask this question to my students, and the sooner the better.  My ability to reflect and analyze on my work is one of my strongest suits.  Asking "what have you learned" can only help to better improve my students' reflection skills.  Perhaps Monday they'll get a survey to complete as a warm-up.  The worst possible scenario?  The results make for a great post.

Second Week Review

   At this time, my students are into their second week of the flipped classroom.  Here are my thoughts on the success and the process that I have used in my flipped classroom so far.

The Classroom Process

    Homework: Students watch the 10-20 minute video on the topic.  The video is either one of me live, or of my my voice and writing.  Students take notes just like they would in a regular classroom - except they can pause and rewind as they need.  After taking notes, the students write a 5-sentence summary and write a question.  If the students cannot think of a question (because they "completely understood" the entire video), they need to write a "what if," "how come," or "why" question to delve deeper into the subject.  The student writes this into their notebook.
    At this point, I only have a couple calculus students who do not complete the homework and arrive unprepared.  Between the two classes, I don't have more than 5.  In the Algebra 2 classes, which contain many "reputation students," the preparedness rate is approximately 50%.  This completion rate, however, continues to increase as students learn how they can access the videos.

    Opening ClassWork: Class begins with the students gathering with their groups to discuss their summaries and questions.  Since the students are actively engaged in their discussions, I move from group to group reading summaries and questions.
    I give each group a blank sheet of paper on which to take notes.  Students record their summary discussion and any questions they discuss as a group.  I am moving around to check in each student's summary and questions.  I answer some questions as I move around.  At the end of the period, I collect the white pages from each group and document the best questions for future reference.

    ClassWork Practice: Students are given problems to complete, some of them real world and requiring higher-ordered thinking.  Students are involved in the question-development process, designing questions based on given answers.  Sometimes, we complete basic problems that would have been assigned for homework in a traditional classroom.  Students turn in their particular work for that day and its graded as homework typically would be.

Final Thoughts

    My students are engaged and active learners in the classroom.  They are asking better questions and seeking information that they need.  I'm seen now as a resource and a guide through material.  My day is mostly spent talking about the mathematics with my students and answering the questions that they have.  In all, it's fun!

    My class is still not perfect.  Algebra 2 participation is still around 50% and I've already noticed a pattern in a couple of students.  The students are also somewhat struggling to communicate with me outside of school, especially when they will be unprepared.  I'm also disappointed in how I'm answering questions - I answer too many.  I need to remind myself to encourage the students to work collaboratively to find the answer.