I'm going to FAIL this year!

The cliche goal setting post is upon me. You know the one, where we all become optimistic, SMART goal setting educators. Come June we look back and realize that we probably dropped the ball some time in October and then reset our goals around New Years' and dropped the ball again around February break and then said eh, there's always next year. Since I'm a whopping 7 days until school begins, let's take a look at my goals from last year as I remember them now and see how I did.

1. Flip my Civics course and have it ready (all lesson/all units) to go by day 1.

• Well, I flipped. Flipped out is more like it. There were times I felt I couldn't get it done, but I did. While I'm not sure you'd call what I do truly flipping (well, I suppose there is no "definition), I love how I'm teaching the course, I love the changes I'm making, and I love the feedback I get from the students.
• For this year I'd like to continue on this path, continue listening to the students, and add in more personal reflection (see #4 below). I think where I'm moving too is a place of problem and project based learning with writing infused into the course. I like it. 

2. Take 4 graduate courses (2 in the fall and 2 in the spring).

• Why do I always do this to myself? I took 2 in the fall. Stopped going to the second (I had already taken the course topic twice before) class after the midterm. Spring I only took one.
• This year I'm again attempting 4, but with a better plan. Since I'm doing my practicum in the fall, I'm only "teaching" 3 classes (instead of 6) and then Guidance 9 on Tuesdays and Thursdays so fall won't be trying, but there's always the spring!

3. Replan as I go my Honors World History course to include more discussion, more groups, more projects, and try a flipped lesson/unit in the spring.

• Ummm what was I thinking? With teaching 6 classes, taking 4 graduate courses, and already replanning a course, what made me think I could replan a second course? Seriously, optimism in the summer is more like delusion!

4. Continue blogging throughout the year.

• See #3 above! Although I wish I had kept blogging. I think it would have helped to flesh out ideas I had and implement new ones. But most of all just served as a sounding board for myself, even if I never actually posted it!

5. Stay engaged with like minded individuals online.

• Like #4 above, it would have helped with the "self-care" aspect I always forget about!

I'm sure there were more, but this is what I can think of and BOY DID I FAIL! My umbrella goal for this year is simple I want to FAIL. Yes I am setting out to intentionally FAIL. I know sounds negative and quite the opposite of what I should be doing, but hear me out!

Step 1 in FAIL is FOCUSING. 

• I need to focus on what is important. I need to take time and assess what needs to be done now, what can wait to be done, and what can just plain never be done!

Step 2 in FAIL is APPRECIATE 

• I need to learn to appreciate what I have. That means my support systems around me, my family, my colleagues, my friends, my students, and my PLN!

Step 3 in FAIL is INTERESTS

• I can no longer afford to say yes to everything that everyone asks me to do. I must learn to cull my interests to those that truly excite me and that I have a passion for. Rather than wanting to be helpful to everyone in every situation, I can be most useful to people when my skill set and interests match up.

Step 4 in FAIL is LAUGHTER

• Laughter is the best medicine of all. I want to laugh more, I want to laugher harder, and I want to laugh wholeheartedly this year. I want to enjoy life, after all you're only 29.1 once right!

So who else wants to FAIL with me this year?

Reflections of Year 1 - I'm still alive!

What a year it has been! I'll be honest, I'm not sure where to begin, I have so many ideas flowing through my brain. There are many things I want to tweak, change, and just plain throw out from the previous year. I knew this would be the case even before I asked for feedback from my students.

At the end of each semester, I asked my students to fill out an End of Course survey for me through Google Docs. Both groups did so, but second semester students were much more open and brutally honest. Perhaps because they knew they wouldn't see me for two months! Truth be told, their honesty has helped me, where they may have thought they "tore into me" I see critical feedback which is part of the process. While it may be harsh, I can see through it and perhaps read into why they feel that way. A few of them left their names and I am grateful for that, others did not, which was their choice and I am still grateful for their feedback. Below are word clouds (made possible by Tagxedo) that summarizes some of their free response answers! In future posts, I am going to talk about real hard changes I am making to the course, but here is what has propelled me into a weeks worth of reflection so far!

Here is the positive!

Students favorite activities/units

These units are ones that I want to keep doing, add more to, and truly make into PBLs (Problem Based Learning Units). Most of them are at the beginning stages of that, and perhaps might be why students enjoyed them. They had more flexibility in how they showed me their understanding and how they went about learning the objectives.

What students enjoyed about the class

This is the qualitative data, the "make me feel good about myself" stuff. But in reality, it has EVERYTHING to do with the students I had this year. I don't know what it was, but this year (my 6th year) was my favorite year in all my classes, flipped and non-flipped. I had more fun and a better understanding of my students this year than I have in the past, which may be why the students (most, not all) enjoyed this year as well.

Now onto the not so positive reviews/remarks. However, I still view these as positive (forever the optimist!), because they show me that I will always have room for improvement and I should never become "comfortable" in doing something. I would be considered, if after my first year of trying something new, all my students were amazed and loved this. I am thankful there were some who questioned and challenged me, because it is they who are helping me become a better educator! I'm doubtful they see it that way though!

Units/Activities students didn't like

The word cloud above doesn't show the whole picture, many students added other comments next to what they didn't like, which was extremely useful. They told me why they didn't like something, how it could be better etc. These nuggets of information are invaluable! These units are where a lot of work will be done this summer, I want to include them into the fold of PBL and allow students more of a choice in showing me how they understand the objectives. If there is a group project, allow them to work alone if need be. I, as much as the next guy, understand the pitfalls of a partner who does nothing! I am still a proponent of working on at least one group project a quarter though! 21st Century Skills of collaboration!

The one below is more of a puzzlement however!

Least favorite parts of class

I am unsure of what to do about this one. This is definitely what I need to reflect on the most and will certainly be a future post!

I hope your summer is off to a good start and good luck with your reflective process!

So Flippin' Excited!

I was nervous, well still am nervous. Monday night I couldn't sleep, Tuesday I felt like I had a caffeine drip in my veins, Flip Class was getting the best of me - I couldn't wait to show off my baby. Boy have I learned a few things in just two days. Here are my reflections!

1. This generation of kids, and I'll have you know I am NOT that far removed from them, while they have been around technology all their lives are NOT technologically intelligent by default. I realized that while it was safe to assume a few things, most things would have to be taught. Yes they know what YouTube is, yes they know what Google is, yes they can access our LMS. Have they ever really used any of these things (other than the LMS) for educational purposes, no. So to teach them how to use them along these lines was quite the task. In two days, I hope I have scratched the service.

2. Over the summer I lovingly referred to my new Civics class (the syllabus, the flipped model, the ideas, thoughts etc.) as my baby. So I thought it no big deal to do this in my class. The conversation went something like this.

• Ms. P: So this class is my baby, I have spent many hours nurturing it, and I love it. You don't have to love it back, but you certainly cannot call it ugly! And I'd love whatever feedback, positive and negative, you can give me.
• Student: YOU HAD A BABY, but you weren't fat in June?
• CLASS STARTS THE BIGGEST BELLY LAUGH EVER - INCLUDING MYSELF
• Ms. P: No, student, I did not have a baby over the summer. I was making a comparison between a parent raising a baby and me creating this class. Where I have created it and am now setting it free into the world to see how others will interact and react to it.
• Student: Oh, that does make more sense.

Let me tell you - if a rumor got out that I did have a baby (AND I DIDN'T!) there would be some interesting conversations between me and the powers that be!

3. Students are very willing to give feedback and are great at it all you have to do is ask. I'm curious as to why they haven't before. Perhaps it's because of the typical student teacher relationship and there is some sort of boundary, or if they just never thought to - but I intend to do it much more often this year!

4. Their first flipped assignment is due by tomorrow at 7am - and as of right now I have 40/68 responses - with 3 emails asking for help and those 3 submitted. So tomorrow we'll recap with what to do. I spent today going back over what we did yesterday in terms of homework expectations and how to do it. I pretended I was again a 15 year old doing this homework and had them guide me through it - so I took wrong turns (clicks) and became side tracked. To them it was amusing but got the point across. Again it goes back to this idea of asking for feedback - a student suggested that I have them walk me through the process to see if they could remember. Sometimes my students are so smart!

Overall, I'm excited to see what the rest of the week brings - how have your first weeks been going?

Orientation Days

The last weeks of summer flew by and so did Orientation Days at school! I have to say that this year if the first year that I haven't been totally excited to go back to school and after talking with friends at school many of us are in the same boat - it has a lot to do with the past, hopefully we can all move forward and make this year AMAZING!

I can already see some positive changes with our new Vice Principal, while I miss Mr. C, the new Mr. C is awesome. Very positive, upbeat, and upfront. What you see if what you get and I think the kids will respond to it. Yesterday we had the freshman and today the sophomores and juniors came in for a half day - just seeing how he interacted with them improved my mood - however, not to the point where I'm jumping for joy (yet!).

All I've really done with classes is hand out my syllabus, take roll, and chat a bit - during orientation days they only run their through schedule for about 45 minutes meeting with each class for about 5-7 minutes. Not that useful but enough to get some annoying things out of the way.

Each year students and parents have to fill out the Academic Honesty sheet (no cheating, plagiarism, lying etc.) and I usually have parents fill out contact information as well - this year I decided to use Google Forms to do this. I also added in a question "What should I know about your student that would help me teach them better." Not many parents have filled it all out yet, but those who have, have offered some amazing insight to their child. Such as seating arrangement help, behavioral issues and how to deal with them - amaze what parents will offer to teachers they have never met! I LOVE IT!

I'm planning on asking students the same question on the first real day I have with them. For the freshmen this actually won't be until NEXT FRIDAY! How crazy is that, with technology training (with our IT person), the summer reading test and review, I am giving up 3 full days next week for them to do non-history "things".

I was nervous about my sophomores this year, with a few issues that happened last year, I was curious, nervous, and interested to see what the relationship and reaction would be. Thankfully it is like we picked up right where we left off. We'll see how long this lasts - they are sophomores! A few of them were very happy about the late work policy being lifted and were curious as to why - I left them with the cliffhanger that they'd find out Tuesday. Woohoo FlipClass!

Hopefully tomorrow with my senior homeroom goes just as smoothly!

NYSCATE Flipped Conference

What a way to get back into the swing of things! I must say the two days of professional development I just had were the best two days I have ever had. Sure, I've sought out PD before on my own and chosen the topic, but it was never quite driven by what I truly wanted to do. These two PD days, were exactly what I wanted and needed!

My first day of PD was at NYSCATEs Flipped Conference which was held at Pace University's Lubin Graduate Center in White Plains; it quite a trek for me from central Connecticut but it was well worth it! I felt connected with other "techy geeks" and not shunned for bringing a laptop and actually using it! We were encouraged to tweet out about the sessions and ask questions in that platform, it actually made the panel discussion go more smoothly than others I've seen. Perhaps because the question types could all be seen and discussed as a group rather than people jockeying for a microphone and to be heard!

Aaron Sams (@chemicalsams) was the keynote, you can read more about him, as well as other pioneer flippers on the Flipped Learning Network. To feel his energy and his passion was uplifting and inspiring. At this point in the summer I am starting to doubt if this is going to work in my classroom, are the kids going to buy into this method - and he won me over yet again! Showing me that there is an answer for every doubt and every problem that comes my way.

One of the best quotes that came from the day was "natural consequences have a place in flip classrooms". I am a firm believer in natural consequences, you threw food in the cafeteria and now your project is a gooey mess - what solution do you see here? You decided watching YouTube videos of cats dribbling basketballs was a better use of your time then watching my 5 minute video to prepare for class - I suppose you'll have to watch it in class and miss the discussion.

Also presenting were Kristin Daniels (@kadaniels) from Minnesota (also a part of FLN), Marc Seigel from New Jersey, Helaine Marshall from Long Island University, and Kristin Siano a student from LIU. It was great to hear a students perspective, although she was a non-traditional college student. I would like to hear from a high school or middle school student what they have found to be useful, non-useful, and great in this format.

In Marc Seigel's (@daretochem) session on Flipping Assessment Mindset, we discussed the philosophy of assessment in a flipped classroom. The idea that there is a spot for collaboration for ALL assessments, even unit end ones. Collaboration is a 21st Century skills (while perhaps not technological!) that students need to know how to do effectively. They need to know what they don't know and then how to get that information, with collaboration that is brought to the forefront and gives them the opportunity to figure it out, in a low risk environment.

The collaboration and expose to great minds was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I met wonderful people, and even two from the central CT area! They will be the ones who are creating CREC's version of the Flipped Conference in November that I'm hoping to attend (there are a few conflicts on the horizon already!). If I had just stopped here at this one day, I would have been ready to go back to school filled with ideas and energy. But thankfully in Marc's session he had plugged EdCamps! A quick Google search led me to find that CT was holding their's the very next day - but there was a waiting list, I put my name on it and by the end of the Flipped Conference I was off and signed up to go. So glad I made that decision. But more about that in the next post!

Thank you to NYSCATE for putting together this one day Flipped Conference - it was what I think many of us needed.

Reflections coming soon!

I went to NYSCATE's One Day Flipped Conference today and it was amazing!! I plan on writing a reflection post but am so exhausted from traveling and learning from everyone that my brain can't wrap around everything! That and I'm heading to EdCampCT tomorrow in Simsbury. So excited for all this PD! Now if I could just get out of the first two days of my school's PD - that would be amazing!
Plotting my way out of it as we speak...

Reflection on NYSCATE and EdCampCT to come!

Back to School nightmares!

It's not even August and the nightmares have begun! They have never started this early and I am definitely more relaxed this summer than I have been in years past!

Last week I dreamt that my principal came in and yelled at my entire class for something I had just told them to do. As she was yelling she was crying and I had to calm her down! Yikes - hopefully this dream doesn't come true, not a position I want to be in!

Last nights dreams though really lit the fire under my bum! I dreamt that it was the week of Orientation (we have 2 days of PD, then Wed Freshmen full day, Thursday is Soph/Jr. 1/2 day, and Friday Seniors 1/2 day - a bit odd but ok) and I had not copied my syllabi. I was happy to find that I had no Homeroom BUT was teaching 5 classes in a row! When I got to my 5th class in a row (one of the flipped ones) the previous class hadn't put the desks back so everyone was everywhere and a female student plugged in a boom box (one from the 80s) I asked her to unplug it and she didn't, she turned it up - so it was clear I was not structured enough! I had to go back and unplug it and she slapped me! Well I went to the VPs office with her, but the new VP hadn't started yet and the old VP was long gone. It was bad - I woke up so anxious!

So on the agenda today - some scripts for the first week. I'm currently working on Tech 101 - how to access everything you need to succeed, we'll watch this one in class together. I think instead of doing screencasts within the video, I'll pause the video and try it out with them in class. For example, when I say "sign into Edline and navigate to our classpage". I'll pause the video and have a volunteer come up and log in and navigate. So the kids get the interactiveness of the video and that you can pause and try things if you don't understand.

I wrote the intro to a flipped class (2nd video they'll watch, 1st on their own) and am feeling better. I think it'll set the tone for the class and so they know what to expect for a normal class period.

My anxiety is decreasing, but my cats anxiety has risen - a nice thunderstorm is passing through and both cats are in the downstairs closet - they are each others thunder buddies! Emma ran away when I tried to take their picture, Callie loves her picture taken!

First Unit

I get frustrated a lot when planning - and last week I hit a wall! I was attempting to redesign and realign my syllabus using UBD (Understanding by Design) - that was a mistake! Not the theory, but how I was trying to do it. I took the weekend off of everything Flipped, UBD, school etc., and boy did that make the difference!

Monday afternoon after watching my mindless TV (DOOL if you were curious!) I had the stroke of genius. I wasn't looking to redesign the nuts and bolts of my units, so let me redesign the assessments for the units coming from a PBL (Project Based Learning) viewpoint. From there I can flesh out the standards which will lead me to the EUs (Enduring Understandings) and EQs (Essential Questions). As soon as I rephrased my problem, it made total sense and I was IN THE ZONE!

I have since planned out the first unit that allows students to choose their assessment, depending if they want to work individually or in a group setting. Next on the agenda is writing the scripts for the videos, and writing out the projects in details, creating the rubrics, and some daily discussion points for guidance. After this unit is done I think I'm going to feel like I'm in a better place.

Next on the docket - intro videos for parents/students to Flipping/technology etc., and start reading my new World History text. I thought it was a good idea to change my Honors text for this coming year while creating pretty much a brand new Civics class. What am I thinking?

Coming Out

For the past 6 months or so I've been toying with the idea of flipping. Trolling the internet for articles, how-to's, and blogs of those who have gone before. Shamelessly asking questions such as "just how do you make the video, no like step by step." I'm not kidding, I asked someone this (if it was you, I'm sorry!). I think I've come a long way since then! 

In the last quarter of the year I successfully flipped a unit, although it was more Flipped 001 than Flipped 101. I've shared my thoughts, successes, and failures with a few trusted colleagues who will back me up no matter what and give me the encouragement and kick in the rear when needed but I hadn't shared it with my sister, a fellow teacher...until today!

I have been extremely nervous to tell her what I was planning on doing. You see, I am the younger sister and have followed her wherever I go, since, well birth! I was nervous that she might not "get it", understand why I was doing it, or think that I had finally jumped into the deep end. I'm sure my family has a pool going for when this actually does happen!

Thankfully she was fully supportive and was truly interested in knowing just what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. When I started to speak aloud about my ideas they came flooding out and I realized I am further along in my planning than I thought - what a relief! I also realized just how much this is backed up by theory to make the "big guys" happy.

Having the short conversation with her this afternoon gave me renewed hope that this will work, the kids will enjoy it, and the outcomes will be there. My hard work will pay off and I'm going to have a lot of fun doing it! So thanks for the encouragement!

This is the most recent photo I could find of us (without my niece)! Taken April 2008 when we went to San Diego together - before she had my niece and during my first year of teaching!

What's in a name?

It took me a while to create a title for this blog. For one, I don't consider myself creative and once I get it in my head that I'm not creative I get a block - hence it taking me an hour (yes, an hour) to come up with the title of my blog. Other titles in the running:

• Technological Diffusion
• Bursting through the Dark Ages (hey I'm a Social Studies teacher and LOVE the Middle Ages!)
• Crazed Flipper 

You get the idea right? I was running on E! 

A bit about me - I'm a 28 year old Social Studies teacher (Civics and Ancient World history) teaching in a private school in CT. 2012-2013 will be my 6th year teaching and I love every crazy, exciting, hair pulling, tear jerking, ah-ha, drama filled moment of it! I am currently enrolled in a program for School Counseling and will (hopefully) be done with that in December of 2014.

This year I received a grant from the Stanton Foundation in NYC to increase technology in my  Civics classroom and so I have set about to completely reform and revamp my Civics curriculum. I am flipping my classroom (read about flipping here) as well as implementing Project Based Learning. I tried it out with my absolute last unit in Civics last year (I know I know silly me) and surprisingly it went over well!

I am very excited to continue this into the new school year and am working on it feverishly this summer. It's been fun and amazing to start connecting with other educators and create my PLN on Twitter, now I'm starting to branch out on the Blogosphere! So please bear with me as I figure out how this works!