Flipping Then and Flipping Now
Reviewing last year's efforts at flipped learning were a hard thing to do. I felt like I failed at flipping my Art History class. I wasn't consistent with following up on the video assignments assigned as homework and got frustrated when students didn't watch them. I ended up abandoning it all together halfway through the nine week class.
As I look to this coming fall and what I hope to achieve as a teacher my focus as far as flipping goes will be on the technology that makes it all possible as well as that which makes life easier to manage. I have recently become a convert to Google Calendar having just today added in all of my upcoming dates for the school year. This led to creating a course calendar for AP Studio Art along with a course website using Google Sites. I'm a form making queen as I strive to gather student information for the theatre productions I direct. Now it's time to turn my love for Google to flipping through lots of application and lots of practice.
Google Documents
I'm no longer trapped in the tunnel vision of flipped videos being the answer. I am still searching for a new way to interact with kids beyond the lecture mode but realize that the video isn't the end all be all of flipping. It was a good start but there are so many other ways to do it. I also have the task of incorporating iPads into the mix as we work to further utilize our 1:1 to status at CHS. Google Documents is the place I plan to start as far as flipping goes in my Art History course, which was conveniently moved to the fall. I will create Google Documents for each Unit we study. (These are broken down by art movements.) Then the students will be charged with adding to each document as we work through the class with information they gather by whatever means they prefer: website research, classroom art history books, talking to their neighbors, watching online videos (I'll keep the old ones around as an optional resource and review tool.), Twitter, Facebook, etc...Their inquiries will then be posted to a Google Document that the entire class can access. I love the idea of the class having a collaborative set of notes about the art movements and artists we study. They can paste links, share video clips, type information, whatever means they prefer to get that information posted to the class. I'll monitor it on a daily basis to ensure things stay on track and information is credible. Most of this will be done outside of class or at the end of class when students are finishing up. It will also be a pre-unit activity that we can keep adding to as the unit progresses to provide some inquiry based prior knowledge development.
Google Forms
Google Forms is something I'm using primarily outside of the classroom to organize information for the student theatre program which I run. However, I think there is possibility there as well with regard to Peer Student Art Critiques. I'm going to make a form for each art critique we do where a student would select a peer's artwork to critique as a means to gather that information for assessment as well as to share with the student whose work was critiqued. It's also a great way to collect data which is something our district is obsessed with. One of my classroom learning goals is quality reflection. This could document each students growth toward achieving that.
This Fall's Focus
It's been an interesting journey so far into flipped learning. I'm excited to see where things go but for this year focusing on becoming technology literate is a good place to start. I hope to gradually move some of this stuff out of the class period to allow for more meaningful student led inquiry moments as well as more project-based class time.
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