To Flip or Not to Flip, that is the Question: Flipping the Classroom

This post would be embedded in a unit on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Students would watch it prior to investigating the BIG question: Is Jay Gatsby a hero?

The screencast recognizes stages of The Hero's Journey in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. I chose this film because it is one students are sure to have seen, or at least be familiar with. In addition to this screencast, I would provide students with links to resources that would enhance their understanding of The Hero's Journey (youtube video, readings, etc).

Upon watching this screencast for homework, students would bring samples of films and novels that include certain characteristics of The Hero's Journey to class and share/discuss their ideas. These ideas are what students would be assessed on because they would not be able to successfully identify films and novels with characteristics of The Hero's Journey unless they watched the screencast and/or browsed through the provided resources. After students share and discuss their ideas, they would then begin identifying components of The Hero's Journey throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, and ultimately come to the conclusion of whether or not Jay Gatsby is a hero.

The learning objectives embedded within this lesson are to prepare students for analysis of a character's development, or journey, over the course of The Great Gatsby, as well as utilize technology to enhance their educational experience. This lesson also provides students with the opportunity to analyze the structure of a narrative and be introduced into the world of archetypes.

I think flipping the classroom is an ingenious idea. The technique really takes advantage of technology and enhances the overall quality of education that takes place both inside and outside of the classroom. To Flip!

Screenr, the Hero-r

 Screenr is an effective tool that could be implemented into the classroom for a variety of purposes. One purpose is to review students' work in real time.  Students could submit their work via e-mail and the teacher could read through whatever they submit one or two times before using Screenr to highlight key points/strengths and weaknesses. Students could even respond to the teacher's Screenr with one of their own, asking questions and explaining revisions. Students could also use the device as a tool to peer edit outside of the classroom.

Another purpose is to use Screenr as a form of assessment. The teacher could assign students a homework assignment in which they must utilize Screenr. Then teachers could assess whether or not each individual student is comprehending classroom material without, once again, reducing valuable class time.

Ultimately Screenr expands the classroom walls. Thus, activities that usually take up a whole class period, like peer editing, could be done during the afternoon/evening hours at students' own leisure. Screenr also allows teachers to assess student comprehension on a more personal level. By taking the time to devote no more than 5 minutes per student, teachers have the opportunity to establish interpersonal relationships and continue dialogue that happens within the classroom.

Presentation for Parents

This is an excerpt of a presentation I would present to parents at a future Back to School Night. This presentation would be used to inform parents about how 21st century skills were being integrated into the academic realm of English. I tackle the Information, Media, Technology strand of 21st century skills by communicating my intentions to utilize a variety of technological mediums, as well as present students with a dystopian/utopian unit that focuses on the influence technology has on both literature and the real-world society.

Creating this presentation was made easier after viewing the video Life After Death by PowerPoint 2010, by Dan McMillan. McMillan really displays what not to do in a PowerPoint-like presentation, including the presentation being saturated with unnecessary words and distracting images. He also does a hilarious font analysis, explaining how the font you choose is reflective of your personality.

ba BUM/ba BUM/ba BUM/ba BUM/ba BUM: Iambic Pentameter Podcast

For my podcast I chose to do a review of iambic pentameter. I simply reviewed points that would have already been discussed in class and read the first sentence of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?," which is an example of iambic pentameter. I then wrote my own sentence of iambic pentameter- With you I walk from dawn to dusk and back- and asked students to write their own and share via podcast.

Assigning students to complete a podcast allows the teacher to hear each of their voices (including the quiet ones that hesitate to speak in class). I also think students can benefit from listening to their teacher do a podcast, especially individualized ones- for example, a teacher reading a student their essay to them and making verbal comments throughout. I think using a podcast is extremely effective not only because they are easy to make and take very little time, but also because they extend learning beyond the forty-five minutes allotted to class time during the day.

Below is my podcast:

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Something Old, Something New, and Something...21st Century

Technological and 21st century soft skills, like communication and teamwork, are already being integrated into the curriculum. The core of a language arts curriculum is, or should be, communication. By strengthening the language and literacy skills of students, they are learning to engage in conversations with various texts, as well as communicate their ideas both orally and scripturally. Teamwork and other soft skills, such as critical thinking, solving problems, comprehending information, and making decisions, can be incorporated into any subject area with a little creativity from both teachers and students.

Teaching 21st century soft skills should not be "about teaching either academics or skills; [but] about blending the two and teaching one using the other" (The Value of Teaching 21st Century Skills). Academics are certainly a forum through which critical skills can be inherited, and skills are certainly tools that can be used to engage students in their academic studies. Both are interchangeable; one should definitely not be able to exist without the other.

Academics can not be eliminated from the school curriculum simply because they are the porthole to our past, present, and future. Particularly in language arts, where novels are able to give students insight into different periods of time (including the future), academics are the foundation of our existence as human beings- we "do not restart the world anew with each generation...we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us" (Critical Thinking? You Need Knowledge). The past cannot be erased. As humans, we need a firm understanding of where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. Literature is one way of gaining this sort of knowledge, which students need to acquire before developing critical thinking skills because one "cannot think critically without quite a lot of knowledge to think about" (Critical Thinking? You Need Knowledge). It is imperative that students continue reading canonical novels, such as The Great Gatsby and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well as Shakespeare's plays and ancient texts like The Iliad, because these are the foundations of our existence and, therefore, our knowledge- there can be no new knowledge without old knowledge.

This isn't to say that newer pieces of literature should be exempt from the classroom (every student should be reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher) but reading the classics before and in-between will only enhance students' understanding of contemporary literature.

"We cannot stand still" 

(The Value of Teaching 21st Century Skills)

This, perhaps, is the most important thing to remember about education- it must be treated like a living, breathing, and growing creature and cannot stand still. However, this does not mean that the past should be forgotten. The educational system must be considerate of the present and past in order to prepare for students' success in the future. The old and the new must be considered within the context of the 21st century. Technology and 21st century soft skills must be integrated into the curriculum, as they have become important parts of our society. But academics must persevere because they are central to our existence as human beings. There is room in our educational system for all of these old, new, and 21st century academics and skills to be addressed, and in many cases they already are.

My Week in Technology (2/10-2/16)

This week I inquired about the lack of technology in my cooperating teacher's classroom at Columbia High School. When I walked in on the first day (two weeks ago) I observed that the classroom was technologically equipped with one laptop at the teacher's desk and one overhead projector (the ancient kind that uses transparencies). I was shocked, to say the least. Overhead projectors were the thing to use when I was in elementary school, but with the Smart Board craze I really did not think that overhead projectors were still in use. Before confronting my cooperating teacher, however, I explored the rest of the school and actually found a lot of Smart Boards in classrooms that housed subject areas like mathematics, science, and history. So why did it seem that nearly all of the classrooms had Smart Boards except the ones with English classes? Well, during my second visit to the school I asked my cooperating teacher and apparently the school ran out of funding to equip the English classrooms with Smart Boards.

So we are traveling back to the Stone Age! In my future observations I am going to be sure to pay special attention to how my cooperating teacher utilizes the overhead projector and gauge whether or not it is effective to student learning. Thus far, she has used it to project directions for individual and group work, as well as the results of group work. For example, students were situated into groups and given a transparency on which they were instructed to write down important aspects of a particular chapter in the novel A Tale of Two Cities. These aspects included a brief summary, character descriptions, important themes/metaphors/symbols (it was much like creating their own SparkNotes page). The groups then displayed and presented their transparencies to the class. It was effective, but just seemed like a really outdated way of doing things. It will definitely be interesting to observe how else my cooperating teacher makes use of the overhead transparency- more details to come!

Wonderful Wikis

Out of all the TECH tools we have been introduced to in class thus far- Blogs, Web Design, and Wikis- my favorite has been the Wiki. I think the Wiki is an excellent technological tool to utilize in a classroom setting because it establishes a sense of community. Wikis allow students to collaborate and interact with one another through editorial access, as well as feel a sense of ownership and responsibility over their education. Plus the format of the site we used, Wikispaces, is accessible and easy to navigate. Of course it was a bit challenging at first, but with practice the posting of information became quite simple- almost second nature.

In relationship to the Core Curriculum Content Standards for Technology, grade 12, a classroom Wiki fulfills the CPI# 8.1.12.A.3- participating in online courses, learning communities, social networks, or virtual worlds and recognize them as resources for lifelong learning- located under Strand A: Technology Operations and Concepts. A Wiki is an online learning community as well as a resource that students can refer to anytime beyond their one year spent in a class. In regards to Strand B: Creativity and Innovation, Wikis also fulfill CPI# 8.1.12.B.1- design and pilot a digital learning game to demonstrate knowledge and skills related to one or more content areas or a real world situation. Although I am confused as to what a digital learning game means, students can definitely post information onto Wikis that demonstrate skills related to other content areas or real world situations. Wikis also accomplish CPI# 8.1.12.C.1- develop an innovative solution to a complex, local or global problem or issue in collaboration with peers and experts, and present ideas for feedback in an online community- which is located under Strand C: Communication and Collaboration. Provide students with a problem to solve and have them collaborate with peers and present their ideas for review and feedback through a classroom Wiki. Wikis can also be used as outlets to practice Digital Citizenship, covering all the standards in Strand D as well as Strand E: Research and Information Literacy and Strand F: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision-Making.

One Wiki project I can think of in relation to The Great Gatsby (the topic I did my Wiki on for class) is creating a database for the 1920s. Allow students to choose a specific cultural, political, or economical aspect of society (theater, cars, the World Series, hospitality, sports, dance, fashion, real estate, advertisement, etc.) to research and contribute to an online Wiki database that their peers can refer to for background knowledge while reading the novel. Doing so, all the basic technological requirements of the Core Curriculum Content Standards for Technology, grade 12, are covered and the students are provided the opportunity to enjoy learning by researching how their interests existed during the Jazz Age. Plus students love Wikipedia (as do I), inform them they are making their own classroom version of it and their interest is sure to be sparked.

Wikis are wonderful! I truly can not see any negatives to using them, besides students not having access to a computer at home- but even then the Wiki can become part of an in-class project. I think these standards are appropriate for students to properly develop in this technologically-driven time. I do not know exactly how many job descriptions I see these days where applicants are required to have basic computer skills, but it is a significant amount! If skills are not acquired in the classroom, and students lack access to a computer in their homes, where will they learn? How could they possibly have an equal opportunity to become successful in this society without having basic, foundational technological skills? I believe these standards exist as a resource for educators and schools to ensure their students acquire the necessary technological skills. The standards are also flexible- easy to incorporate into any lesson or unit plan.