Comment

Comment by Dave Hicks on April 15, 2013 at 9:35pm

Good questions Cathy. I have tried to collaborate with my counterparts, but they think I am weird and tend to opt out of my suggested activities. Change is hard and many are not willing to leave their curator jobs. The vocabulary used is not always essential to understanding. Science teachers seem to compete with foreign language teachers on new words a student can master during one year of study. Unfortunately, the tests my colleagues have been producing contain many of these nonessential words I have chosen to pass over. Same with some of the trivial calculations that authors generate. I choose to have my students read about applications involving the concepts they are learning, to use calculations in solving tangible problems from real-world or lab-generated data, to use their imaginations to illustrate the abstract concepts. I do not want to do the same old school routines using videos rather than lectures, I want to provide a richer experience.

Comment by Dave Hicks on April 15, 2013 at 9:08pm

Comment by Cathy Hones on April 12, 2013 at 10:04am

Tough that you have to give a common test.  

1. Can you collaborate with the other teachers on the test?  

2. Don't your kids still have to use vocabulary and do calculations in order to PBL?  If they have used this vocabulary and done the calculations, just in a problem based way, shouldn't they be better prepared for multiple choice?  

Just curious as you ask good questions which require discussion by all as we consider how we set up PBL and flipping the classroom.

Comment by Dave Hicks on April 11, 2013 at 8:39am

I am working on a proposal for an alternate final exam that would be more in line with the SB, guided-inquiry methodology used in my class. Does anyone have any suggestions for a final exam??

It is getting close to final exams here. I am in a school where finals are required and they want us to have a common final for all us chemistry teachers. But, I am the only one who teaches with the flipped/SB model. The rest of the chem teachers teach a bunch of vocab and math problems. They are in charge of the final. I teach problem-based, guided inquiry  approach. Even though my students understand science and chemistry better (my bias of course) I feel like giving them a multiple choice exam may be putting them at a disadvantage, as well as disowning the very values I have for teaching and learning.

Comment by Debbra Smith on March 28, 2013 at 1:14pm

So, I am 4 weeks away from our state's end of the year assessment.  This is my first year flipping 6th grade math and requiring mastery of 80% on each lesson in order to progress to the next.  Out of 29 students, I have 6 that will easily make it through the 13 chapters, another 10 that will most likely make it through, another 8 that will come close, but will need some assistance on my part to cover the essentials of what they aren't going to get to, and 5 that to be honest I'm not sure how things will end up, it will depend on the day.  Those students that are "behind" I am requiring to work over our Spring Break. 

I have gone to having the lower half of the class, do chapter pretests to see what they know and what they don't know, then trimming down the assignments as needed.  This has made a difference for the slower students in my class and to be honest I will make this part of what I do next year.  The students' attitudes about Math have improved a lot!  I only have one student who lacks motivation, but I haven't given up yet.  I would say that 90% of my class love doing Math now. 

I feel as though both Flipping and Mastery have made them more self sufficient.  My class' goal to reach AYP this year is 97%.  I'm not sure that we will make it, but I know that they will all improve significantly from last year.  We received 80% last year (I looped with my fifth graders), so my personal goal is 92-93%.  I feel comfortable with that given my students abilities.  I just want to say that I have loved teaching this way, and will never go back again!

Comment by Carol Marcolini on March 6, 2013 at 11:34am

Flipping the Classroom is an instructional method being embraced by my school division to improve student engagement, and more importantly, achievement.  I recently transitioned from the classroom to a position where I provide instructional technology training and support for teachers.  I taught a Blended classroom, but I need resources to learn from to create training materials.  Help!

Comment by Mark Heilbrunn on December 2, 2012 at 12:24pm

This is my first year doing mastery teaching (one subject is being flipped and the other is not).  I would like to observe how other teachers do it, and my school's network has not responded to my administration's request.  So, if you teach in NYC, Westchester, or Nassau and have mastered mastery teaching, can I observe a class or two?

Thanks,

Mark Heilbrunn

Prep Academy for Writers

Queens, NY

mrheilbrunn@gmail.com

Comment by Deb on July 24, 2012 at 1:45pm

Newb here: Is anyone using ActiveGrade for keeping track of individual progress/mastery of each objective?

Comment by Jonathan Bergmann on July 20, 2012 at 2:59pm

Cathy:  I like this method.  It would have saved me some headaches with some of my kids.  Great work!

Comment by Cathy Hones on July 19, 2012 at 3:46pm

I used this in my anatomy class for the whole school year this past year.  They had three chances to score at least 75%.  If they were over 75% it was their choice to take the quiz again for a higher score or not.  If they did not get a 75% after three chances, they were required to remediate with me in some way.  Sometimes it was a video, extra study, drawing, etc.  It was different for every unit.  My quizzes focussed on anatomy and identification.   We would talk about why they weren't understanding the material.  It was usually that they did not prepare properly.  I then gave them another chance to take the quiz.  Nobody took the quiz more than 4 times.  I just gave them the score that they earned.  If the quiz was 10 points, they got their highest score.  If they had to remediate, they got their highest score.  By the middle of the year, many were choosing to keep their first or second score, even if it was not perfect.  Most of them had over 85%.  

All students were good with this.  When I asked them about review with the text after taking the quiz, they said "no" and thought this would defeat the purpose of being quizzed on the material.  They had to take the quiz in my presence, so I had it password protected.  They could ask questions of me when they were reviewing the quiz after they got their score.  They could not review with their text sitting in front of the quiz.  There were allowed to discuss questions with their classmates.  Most of the time I had a big enough bank, they didn't get the same thing again anyway.

I loved the discussions after they took the quizzes, they were rich and the students were talking about why they had an understanding for anatomy or how they remembered particular parts.  I could then focus more on the physiology on the unit tests and applications of their thinking.   A great addition to my class!

This year, the first quiz will not be password protected, they can take it when they want during my assigned time period.  However, the score will not count.  They do not have to take a practice quiz if they don't want to.  They will then have two more chances to take the quiz (password protected) to get the score they want.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page