The flipped classroom is a relatively new teaching technique that utilizes technology to turn the traditional classroom size upside down. In the traditional classroom, the teacher spends most of his or her time lecturing and giving instruction for new content. In a flipped classroom, the students use technology to receive this instruction at home. This method frees up the teacher for more guided practice, individualized assistance, and student-led learning in the classroom.
There are many resources available on this relatively new teaching method. This particular book is readily available in a Kindle edition and is written by teachers who have successfully implemented the flipped classroom with their own students. The authors propose the flipped classroom so that students can receive in formation at home and apply it in the classroom under the supervision of the teacher.
While other books focus on the application in the classroom of a flipped classroom, this book is mostly filled with ideas of how to create the best presentation of the materials for the students to access on their own. It discusses a variety of presentation methods: blogs, videos, and screencasting. While these are all valid methods, it seems like doing them all separately is to much work when websites such as sophia.com are readily available and have done much of the work for you.
The book also has a small section of assessing students' learning in the classroom. This assessment is vital, since the students do much of the learning independently, but idea should be viewed more as an application of the learning rather than a test/assessment.
Overall the book is a good introduction to the idea of a flipped classroom, but in order to become efficient in this teaching method, other resources would need to be studied.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Saturday, March 19, 2016
PBL Geometry Assignment: A House of the Future
This project will address numerous Common Core Standards in geometry and will have crossover value in other content areas as well. It has been adapted from ideas on Curriki, Pintrest, and other Google searches.
The challenge in this project is for students to examine four trends— population growth, urbanization, energy efficiency, and changing tastes in design—that will affect the kind of houses that people live in by 2065. Students will create a floor plan and basic model of a house of the future that reflects these four shifts, and then deliver their design and give evidence of their thinking in the form of a 10 minute presentation about why their house will be necessary and useful in the future. The format for the talk can vary, but it is suggested that the presentation follow the guidelines for a TED-like talk in which presenters give short presentations that focus on the future and innovation. Their model houses must accommodate a family of four. It can be a stand-alone dwelling, be part of a cluster, and use any shapes. Room for a vehicle or outdoor space is optional. The project is designed to encouraged creativity and imagination.
Students will create a floor plan, a basic model sketch, and a 10 minute presentation as their final products. The floor plan and model should convey key geometric concepts and show how geometry was used to construct the floor plan and model. The students will work in teams of three to four to create presentations that should include three elements:
1. The model
2. An explanation and defense of design choices
3. An overview of why the design would help solve housing problems in the future.
The blueprint and model will be the main criteria for the Geometry aspect of the project. Students must create a "to scale" model that will use congruent shapes, reflections, and other transformations . The blueprint and model measurements must be accurate to a house design that would be feasible and mathematically correct. Students will also be graded on their innovation and presentation to the parents and peers.
Students will be motivated by the challenge of innovating designs that will be necessary some 50 years in the future. While this is an exciting challenge, careful attention must be made to the mathematical processes in house design that correlate with the geometry skills that have been taught this semester.
Ideally, the presentation will be given using some form of technology such as Prezi, PowerPoint, Key Note, etc., or something even more innovative as approved by the teacher.
Students can search TED talks for ideas on architecture of the future for inspiration. The parameters are endless, but just as in the real world, there is a time deadline. Students should dream and innovate, but not so much that the project cannot be completed on time.
The challenge in this project is for students to examine four trends— population growth, urbanization, energy efficiency, and changing tastes in design—that will affect the kind of houses that people live in by 2065. Students will create a floor plan and basic model of a house of the future that reflects these four shifts, and then deliver their design and give evidence of their thinking in the form of a 10 minute presentation about why their house will be necessary and useful in the future. The format for the talk can vary, but it is suggested that the presentation follow the guidelines for a TED-like talk in which presenters give short presentations that focus on the future and innovation. Their model houses must accommodate a family of four. It can be a stand-alone dwelling, be part of a cluster, and use any shapes. Room for a vehicle or outdoor space is optional. The project is designed to encouraged creativity and imagination.
Students will create a floor plan, a basic model sketch, and a 10 minute presentation as their final products. The floor plan and model should convey key geometric concepts and show how geometry was used to construct the floor plan and model. The students will work in teams of three to four to create presentations that should include three elements:
1. The model
2. An explanation and defense of design choices
3. An overview of why the design would help solve housing problems in the future.
The blueprint and model will be the main criteria for the Geometry aspect of the project. Students must create a "to scale" model that will use congruent shapes, reflections, and other transformations . The blueprint and model measurements must be accurate to a house design that would be feasible and mathematically correct. Students will also be graded on their innovation and presentation to the parents and peers.
Students will be motivated by the challenge of innovating designs that will be necessary some 50 years in the future. While this is an exciting challenge, careful attention must be made to the mathematical processes in house design that correlate with the geometry skills that have been taught this semester.
Ideally, the presentation will be given using some form of technology such as Prezi, PowerPoint, Key Note, etc., or something even more innovative as approved by the teacher.
Students can search TED talks for ideas on architecture of the future for inspiration. The parameters are endless, but just as in the real world, there is a time deadline. Students should dream and innovate, but not so much that the project cannot be completed on time.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Confidence in teaching Digital Literacy
What will you have to do to become confident of your 21st Century Skills as a learner and as a teacher in Digital Literacy?
The key to being confident as a teacher is to be confident in the content area yourself. As I became familiar with the websites and took the self-assessment, I am happy to say that I consider myself very literate in the digital world. I know how to manipulate most any Windows, IOS, or Microsoft Office programs and am confident in my internet abilities as well. In my college years, I use to design and manage a website for a small retail bookstore chain. I can read and write basic html. I use Google docs, sheets, etc. in my classroom as well as online game and review sites. I also have recently learn to use a smart board in the classroom. All that being said, I have much to learn!
In the area of technology, there are always new things to learn. Teaching technology is different than understanding it. As Doug Belshaw describes in his TED Talk, pre-literacy concepts with books (like right side up, and opening across form the spine) carry over into digital literacy. As students are thrown into the digital world now at such a young age, we as teachers much given them pre-literacy concepts in this area as well. Teachers must always be keeping up to date with new ideas and technology being used in education. I have seen one presentation on using a program similar to Skype in order to have a sister class around the world. I know that some classrooms require a lot more assignments done with technology than I do. Fortunately, the administration at my school is very gracious and excited when teachers want to attend staff development conferences in the area of using technology in the classroom. I plan to take classes or attend staff development in this area at least once per year.
The key to being confident as a teacher is to be confident in the content area yourself. As I became familiar with the websites and took the self-assessment, I am happy to say that I consider myself very literate in the digital world. I know how to manipulate most any Windows, IOS, or Microsoft Office programs and am confident in my internet abilities as well. In my college years, I use to design and manage a website for a small retail bookstore chain. I can read and write basic html. I use Google docs, sheets, etc. in my classroom as well as online game and review sites. I also have recently learn to use a smart board in the classroom. All that being said, I have much to learn!
In the area of technology, there are always new things to learn. Teaching technology is different than understanding it. As Doug Belshaw describes in his TED Talk, pre-literacy concepts with books (like right side up, and opening across form the spine) carry over into digital literacy. As students are thrown into the digital world now at such a young age, we as teachers much given them pre-literacy concepts in this area as well. Teachers must always be keeping up to date with new ideas and technology being used in education. I have seen one presentation on using a program similar to Skype in order to have a sister class around the world. I know that some classrooms require a lot more assignments done with technology than I do. Fortunately, the administration at my school is very gracious and excited when teachers want to attend staff development conferences in the area of using technology in the classroom. I plan to take classes or attend staff development in this area at least once per year.
Digital Citizenship
How do I describe myself as a learner in the 21st Century?
One of the main goals in my life is to be a lifelong learner. If I can't always be learning new facts, methodologies, interests, and data, how can I expect my students to be excited to learn? I graduated from high school in the year 2000 and much has changed about how I learn even in my 30-some years of life. My academic learning used to be mostly confined to classrooms and libraries, textbooks and encyclopedias. With the rise of the Internet age, there is instant information at my fingertips at all times. When I want to research something or learn something new, there is even too much information at the palm of my hand. It used to be hard to find and now it is hard to discern. I have learned that as a learner, I need to constantly be finding new information, but also making sure that the information I find is accurate, reliable, and helpful.
How do you describe yourself as a teacher in the 21st Century?
While I believe that I received an outstanding education and that most all my teachers were top notch, I cannot rely of the way I was taught to teach my students now, even just a decade or so later. SO much has change with the way students interact with the world, with each other, and with new information. I need to be staying a step ahead of my students with the way I understand these interactions. The new technology can be a scary thing for teachers, but when used carefully and correctly, the new technology can open up so many new and exciting things in the classroom. It also can be a motivator to get students interested in learning. In contrast, a classroom that does not make the most of the technology now at our disposable will discourage students from being excited about learning and discredit the information, not matter how accurate.
One of the main goals in my life is to be a lifelong learner. If I can't always be learning new facts, methodologies, interests, and data, how can I expect my students to be excited to learn? I graduated from high school in the year 2000 and much has changed about how I learn even in my 30-some years of life. My academic learning used to be mostly confined to classrooms and libraries, textbooks and encyclopedias. With the rise of the Internet age, there is instant information at my fingertips at all times. When I want to research something or learn something new, there is even too much information at the palm of my hand. It used to be hard to find and now it is hard to discern. I have learned that as a learner, I need to constantly be finding new information, but also making sure that the information I find is accurate, reliable, and helpful.
How do you describe yourself as a teacher in the 21st Century?
While I believe that I received an outstanding education and that most all my teachers were top notch, I cannot rely of the way I was taught to teach my students now, even just a decade or so later. SO much has change with the way students interact with the world, with each other, and with new information. I need to be staying a step ahead of my students with the way I understand these interactions. The new technology can be a scary thing for teachers, but when used carefully and correctly, the new technology can open up so many new and exciting things in the classroom. It also can be a motivator to get students interested in learning. In contrast, a classroom that does not make the most of the technology now at our disposable will discourage students from being excited about learning and discredit the information, not matter how accurate.
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