Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum

Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum

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Teaching with Twitter

Posted on January 21, 2015 Written by Lori Stokes Leave a Comment

Twitter_logo_blue copyToday it seems like everyone is on Twitter, following and/or being followed. There’s a hashtag for everything (#chestnuts, anyone?) and much of the traffic is devoted to fun and games and news. But away from the chatter, there is also a steady stream of educational Twitter use. It makes sense: Twitter is free, easy to use, and most high school students are already on it.

But as late as September 2014, Ben Stern of TeachBoost described teachers who are heavily engaged with Twitter as “outliers”. Why? Some school districts don’t allow in-school use of social media, of course, but that’s not the whole reason. Many teachers who have not yet used Twitter as part of their curriculum may be holding out for some concrete examples of using Twitter with their students. If that’s you, you’re in luck. We provide some great examples right here:

Hold Tweet Chats and Conversations

Have students who don’t like to speak up in class? Of course you do. Twitter allows students to comment and contribute to classroom discussions without raising their hand. Have students who can’t stop speaking up in class? Twitter’s 140-character format discourages long harangues and allows for more equal participation.

The joy of Twitter is that it expands the definition of student participation, both in class and well after the bell rings. Tweet a question like “Who’s most responsible for the tragic introduction of Jim Crow segregation law?” during your U.S. history class at 9:00 AM and you’ll be reading tweet after tweet on the subject well after 9:00 PM, and into the next day and the next—for as long as you keep the topic open. Discussions that light up Twitter go on to feed vibrant and informed classroom discussions.

Don’t forget to add custom made hashtags so that you and your students can easily follow the conversation. George Couros offers some tips to create classroom hashtags for Twitter on his blog.

If you prefer more structure to your Twitter chat, ask students to discuss a question for homework within a specific time frame (on Tuesday evening from 7-9 pm, for example) to give students a window for participation. Designate a hashtag for the assignment and tweet out the question with that hashtag at 7pm to get the students going.

Elicit Peer Feedback in Real Time

Ever notice how people at conferences tweet like mad during the presentations? (Are you one of them?) They’re giving instant feedback on speakers and ideas to their network and getting responses right away. By the time the speaker is finished, their thoughts have already gone around the world twice and been thoroughly hashed and re-hashed by their peers before the live discussion in the conference room even begins. Your students can do the same thing: have them tweet questions and comments during videos or student presentations so that when it’s time to talk, the conversation is already in motion. For example, if your science class watched “Biodiversity Decline”, program 9 of Annenberg Learner’s series The Habitable Planet, they could tweet questions and comments about the episode using the hashtag #HP9discuss.

Have Students Tweet in Character

Taking on a persona can be a tough sell in the classroom. Few students want to stand up and deliver a presentation in character (especially in costume) as a figure from the past or from literature. But ask them to tweet from the perspective of a Revolutionary soldier or Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games and it’s a different story. Tweeting allows students to create a longer-term project of living inside a character’s head from day to day, expressing concise thoughts from their point of view over a longer time period that immerses them in the character—especially when they have to answer questions as the character.

Involve the Community

Students can also reach beyond their peers to begin meaningful dialogues with people outside the classroom. You can help them come up with questions for local political candidates, performers, business owners, and more to inform in-school projects and help create socially engaged members of your city and state.

Follow News and Issues

Have students track specific issues in the local, national, or world news as they are being tweeted about (#climatechange for example) to get a sense of how those issues are being discussed at large.

Encourage Group Work

Twitter can get students cooperating as a group. For your next reading or video assignment, organize your class into groups and have each group post a summary. It’s hard work to summarize any resource in 140 characters! Tweeting content like this forces students to really single out the main point of a text. You can have students vote on the best summary, or choose and retweet it yourself.

As students do all these things on Twitter, you are able to track their activity and get a good sense of where to go in your next classroom session. Afraid of spending hours each day tracking hundreds of student tweets? You can spread out Twitter-based assignments. Even one a month will give your students the benefits of the format without keeping you chained to your web browser. If your students and school have internet access, try one of the strategies above to join the “outlier” teachers who are teaching with Twitter.

What’s your experience with using Twitter? Let us know by posting a comment. (Don’t forget to follow @AnnLearner on Twitter!)

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Literature & Language Arts, Social Studies & History

Prevention Month Recruits Parents, Students, and Teachers to End Bullying

Posted on October 27, 2014 Written by Alex Nseir Leave a Comment

antibullying pic_SPcreatedPSFor children and adolescents across America, October is usually a festive time of year, associated with costumes, candy, haunted houses, and corn mazes. Since 2006, though, October also marks National Bullying Prevention Month, an awareness campaign started by the PACER Center. Rejecting the idea that bullying is simply a normal part of childhood, PACER initially developed a bullying awareness week that would take place every October. National Bullying Prevention Week grew into an entire month in 2010.

The theme for 2014’s National Bullying Prevention Month is “The End of Bullying Begins with Me.” Already this year, students across the country have celebrated by participating in anti-bullying 5K runs, wearing blue for the World Day of Bullying Prevention, and signing online petitions. In the last week of October, students have the opportunity to combine Halloween with bullying prevention. While trick-or-treating, participating children and teens can hand out cards to the neighbors and community members, encouraging them to sign an online bullying prevention pledge.

This year’s awareness month also has special significant since, in January 2014, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the first federal uniform definition of bullying. The definition was developed in order to aid in the research and monitoring of bullying – specifically its effects and prevalence, determining who is at risk, and, most importantly, what can be done to prevent it.

The official definition from the government agency marks another departure from viewing bullying as a harmless rite of passage. It is increasingly considered a public health threat.

Between one in four and one in three students say they have been bullied. These are alarming statistics since the effects of bullying can include decreased academic performance, lower scores on standardized tests, and struggles with depression and anxiety that continue into adulthood. Connections between bullying and suicide, however, are often oversimplified. It’s important to know that no direct cause and effect relationship has been established between bullying and suicidal behavior

To prevent bullying in their classroom, teachers may benefit from understanding how a student’s emotional state affects his or her ability to learn and function in school. Neuroscience & the Classroom, unit 2, discusses how, even without bullying, children and adolescents have trouble understanding their emotions and the emotions of others. They can be easily swept away by negative emotions, and the result is that students may not be able to motivate themselves or engage in meaningful learning.

While the science behind bullying prevention has uncovered many useful facts and statistics, researchers have yet to identify the best way to prevent bullying. However, most agree that prevention and awareness require a community effort.

For parents and teachers, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) created the KnowBullying mobile app, which has specific resources for educators, information about warning signs, and even a feature that reminds adults that it is time to talk to their children or students about bullying.

While dedicating a month to prevention of the epidemic of bullying is admirable, awareness needs to be a priority the entire year.

Share the ways in which you raise awareness for bullying prevention among your students in the comments section below.

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Teaching the News Tagged: , , , , , ,

How can schools prepare for discussions of controversial issues? (Part II)

Posted on September 10, 2014 Written by Stacie Pierpoint Leave a Comment

MCR D7 TalkOn Monday, we looked at the reasons why schools should allow discussions of controversial issues. See Part I. Now let’s address the how.

What can school leaders do? Schools could preemptively address parental and other concerns by preparing teachers through professional development and appropriate planning. The following are just a few ideas to consider so that current news events may enrich instead of derail curriculum plans.

1. Set up the school-wide goals. What do you want students to gain from the experience? Will they learn to think objectively? Discuss difficult topics while respecting each other? Examine historical influences on current events? Collect facts and differentiate between credible resources and voices that are just stoking a fire? Brainstorm ways they can work towards a solution for the community?

2. Discuss appropriate approaches for these conversations. Meet with teachers early in the school year and determine procedures and guidelines. For example, not everyone will agree that opinions need to be left out of the conversation, but we are human and we arrive to the discussion table full of opinions, preconceptions, and biases. What are appropriate ways to deal with the whole human package that the school and parents would be comfortable with?

3. Determine which professionals in the school would be best to handle discussions. Do students have advisers or a school counselor that they can talk to? Are there teachers in the building who are willing to tackle issues with their students and who have expertise they could share with the group? Social studies and literature teachers could offer natural safe spaces for students to work on issues.

4. Designate a liaison between the school and the parents and guardians. This person, whether an administrator, teacher, or parent volunteer, can provide parents with information and field questions and concerns. Consider developing guidelines for how administrators and teachers will handle any challenges to or concerns about the classroom discussions.

5. Respect an individual’s preference to sit out of the conversation. Not every teacher will be comfortable talking about difficult issues with their students, and that’s valid. Some teachers might recognize that they have a bias due to personal experience or just might not feel comfortable leading a discussion safely. What resources can these teachers direct students towards when questions occur?

What can individual teachers do? At the individual teacher level, here are some ideas for guiding students in respectful conversations about controversial topics and what it means to be a part of a community. (These videos below could also be used for professional development on this topic.)

1. Develop students’ understanding of multiple points of view. For example, teacher Wendy Eubank’s students simulate a town hall meeting, role playing characters that have a stake in an outcome, so they can learn to express their ideas freely. Students have researched facts from multiple sources and are asked to consider multiple viewpoints. Watch Social Studies in Action, program 31, “Dealing with Controversial Issues,” to see this and other examples of activities at varying grade levels.

2. Structure discussions to allow every student a chance to share, listen, and evolve. For example, JoEllen Ambrose does a fantastic job leading students through a discussion about individual rights versus public safety related to news topics students are already familiar with. She asks for students to respond to questions physically and verbally, by grouping themselves by agreement and providing personal examples to support their opinions. Watch students specifically discuss their ideas about police power and individual rights, especially related to racial profiling. See workshop 7, “Controversial Public Policy Issues,” of Making Civics Real.

3. Empower students to act as a member of a community. In the introductory video for Teaching ‘The Children of Willesden Lane,’ Martina Grant’s students discuss their “universe of obligation;” reasons why people choose to act and not to act during times of crisis; and how history is connected to their own lives and experiences. Once we understand why individuals or communities fail to act during a time of crisis, we can work together to propose possible solutions or realistic ways people can act.

News comes and goes as one event overshadows another. Underlying themes and issues persist, and teaching students how to discuss these themes and work together to build a stronger community that can problem-solve should be an important goal of any school. Meanwhile, the beauty of the internet is that resources we often need are a click away. Please share more links and ideas that you find helpful on this topic in the comments. I started a list here.

Here are some links to some additional resources:
Discussing Controversial Public Issues in the Classroom, via TeachingHistory.org
Michael Brown, via Facing History.org
Empathy: The Most Important Back-to-School Supply, via Edutopia

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Literature & Language Arts, Social Studies & History, Teaching the News Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Should schools allow discussions of controversial issues? (Part I)

Posted on September 4, 2014 Written by Stacie Pierpoint Leave a Comment

MakingCivicsReal_7[OP-ED] On Saturday, August 9 in Ferguson, Mo., a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, a young black man, sparking protests in the town and discussions about race and history across the United States. On August 21, Ed Week reported that the superintendent of a nearby school district banned the discussion of the events in Ferguson, Mo. in schools, because “parents complained … that some teachers were interjecting their own opinions into class discussions rather than objectively guiding discussion for students.”

While it’s true that discussions about emotionally charged or controversial issues must be handled carefully in the classroom, what message do teachers send when they have to tell their students, “We are not allowed to talk about that here?” And while parents certainly have a right to be concerned about how teachers will address difficult topics in their classrooms, silencing the discussion all together is not an answer. The ability to discuss public controversy is a sign of a healthy democracy and a right we can share with our students. Preparing a plan for discussing national news events as they occur could help avoid the “shut it down” effect, which cuts off golden learning opportunities to build better thinkers and stronger communities.

School is most likely one of the best places to address controversial news topics, and there are several benefits to providing students a forum to express themselves. (Similar discussions already occur in literature and social studies lessons as students read and talk about literary works and historical themes.)

First, students are already talking about events as they occur, so they will be easily engaged and invested in learning experiences tied to these topics. In the classroom, teachers, as objective moderators, are able to guide students in thoughtful discussions in a safe space.

Second, controversial issues offer teachers an opportunity to develop students’ critical thinking and analytical skills, goals of the Common Core Standards. For example, they may examine the role that emotions and personal biases play in how people initially react to a national news event like Brown’s death and the resulting protests and police response. With appropriate activities, students learn to review available information, evaluate sources, consider multiple perspectives, and propose solutions.

In addition, allowing students and teachers to talk about timely events and controversial issues creates a sense of community and empowers students to take productive actions to correct wrongs within the school, city, even nation or world.

Please share your thoughts on this topic in the comments and look for Part II on Wednesday: How can schools prepare for controversial discussions?

(The views expressed by the authors of Learner Log blog posts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or endorsement of Annenberg Learner or the Annenberg Foundation.)

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Literature & Language Arts, Social Studies & History, Teaching the News Tagged: , , , , , ,

Using Graphic Novels in the Classroom

Posted on September 3, 2014 Written by Virginia Loh-Hagan Leave a Comment

Why should you consider teaching with graphic novels?

WorldLit_Odyssey_RoyThomascomic

The Odyssey comic written by Roy Thomas, et al. See Thomas talk about his experience with the work in Invitation to World Literature.

Kids read graphic novels – walk into any library or bookstore and you will find young readers hanging out in the manga and comics aisles. So, why aren’t teachers using more graphic novels in their classrooms? One of the main reasons is due to a bias against graphic novels as a “legitimate” text; however, this bias is being chipped away as research supports the efficacy of using graphic novels in the classroom. Yildirim (2013) writes, “The increasing popularity of graphic novels has transformed it into a powerful medium of expression. Once regarded as only a means of amusement lacking literary insight and merit, graphic novels have evolved into a respected and well-regarded genre of literature which deserves a permanent place in the literary world” (122).

Graphic novels are popular and prevalent today because these texts offer a diverse range in complexity and topics/issues in addition to crossing genres. Today’s graphic novels are about more than just superheroes, science-fiction and fantasy (Gorman, 2002) – they can be used in all content areas as there are graphic novels about history, science, and major literary works. Furthermore, graphic novels not only target teen readers, but are also making an impact in the early/emerging reader markets (Brown, 2013). Simply put, there is a graphic novel for everyone.

There are many benefits to using graphic novels in the classroom.

1. They can be used to build students’ reading and writing skills (Frey and Fisher, 2004; Yildirim, 2012; Brown, 2013). They offer multilevel reading experiences, as reading the words and images builds students’ basic reading skills and analytical skills (Yildirim, 2013).

2. Graphic novels provide support for struggling readers, including English learners, by addressing multiple learning modalities. Hassett & Schieble (2007) indicate that graphic novels facilitate comprehension by combining images with texts, making them particularly helpful for visual learners. Graphic novels also provide a path for more complex reading by building reading fluency and reading confidence (Yildirim, 2013).

3. Graphic novels build students’ reading habits; for example, Schwarz (2002) found that graphic novels were a source of motivation and stimulation for struggling and reluctant readers.

4. Graphic novels can boost students’ critical thinking skills, creativity, and imagination (Yildirim, 2013).

Graphic novels benefit all readers. As McTaggert (2008) indicated, “[Graphic novels] enable the struggling reader, motivate the reluctant one, and challenge the high-level learner” (32). Reading a graphic novel requires students to make inferences and draw conclusions from the images and text while being supported by visuals and pacing. I would argue that in some ways, reading a graphic novel is more complicated than reading a traditional novel in that graphic novel readers have to rely on non-textual cues to derive meanings and they also have to rely more heavily on their inferring skills.

It makes sense that today’s digitally-oriented students would find graphic novels appealing. These students are used to surfing the internet, navigating multiple open windows of content, and reading messages from various social media sources. Our students have been reading graphically for years!

Resources for Using Graphic Novels in Your Literature Classroom

Annenberg Learner provides several resources to graphically enhance your classroom instruction. Invitation to World Literature is a comprehensive resource for learning about literature from around the world and across time. There are several programs within the series that could support learning about graphic novels.

1. “Journey to the West” is a classic Chinese story about the Stone Monkey King. In this program, you’ll find videos, texts, maps, slideshow of images, and connections to graphic novels. This unit would pair nicely with a study of Gene Luen Yang’s “The Shadow Hero,” a graphic novel about the Asian-American superhero, The Green Turtle. (Also, make sure to check out Yang’s other graphic novels.)

2. The video introducing “The Epic of Gilgamesh” presents comic book artist Jim Starlin. Starlin wrote a comic book series, “Gilgamesh II,” for DC Comics. Students might find it interesting to learn more about him as he is best known for re-inventing Marvel Comics superheroes, Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock. He also co-created Thanos and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu.

3. Roy Thomas is another comic book artist featured in the program “The Odyssey.” Thomas was Stan Lee’s first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is famous for writing graphic novels for “X-Men,” “Conan the Barbarian,” and “The Avengers.” He has also written titles for “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad.”

4. Lastly, the program on “The Thousand and One Nights” also features a comic novelist, Bill Willingham. He created the DC comics series “Fables” and wrote a comic novel entitled “1001 Nights of Snowfall,” which would be a nice pairing for this program. Students might get a kick out of studying how Willingham puts a unique spin on classic stories.

 

How are you using graphic novels in your classroom?

 

References

Brown, S. (2013). A blended approach to reading and writing graphic novels. The Reading Teacher, 67(3), 208-219.

Gorman, M. (2002). What teens want. School Library Journal, 48, 42-47.

Hassett, D. D, & Schieble, M. B. (2007). Finding space and time for the visual in K-12 literacy instruction. The English Journal, 97(1), 62-68.

Frey, N., & Fisher, D. (2004). Using graphic novels, anime, and the Internet in an urban high school. The English Journal, 93(3), 19-25.

McTaggert, J. (2008). Graphic novels: The good, the bad, and the ugly. In N. Frey, & D. Fisher (Eds.), Teaching visual literacy: Using comic books, graphic novels, anime, cartoons, and more to develop comprehension and thinking skills (pp. 27-46). CA: Corwin Press.

Schwarz, G. E. (2002). Graphic books for diverse needs: Engaging reluctant and curious readers. The ALAN Review, 3(1), 54-57.

Yidirim, A.H. (2013). Using graphic novels in the classroom. Journal of Language and Literature Education, 8. 118-131.

 

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Literature & Language Arts, The Arts Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get Set: Organize and Manage Your Classroom

Posted on August 20, 2014 Written by Annenberg Learner Leave a Comment

Teaching Reading K-2 KostandosWhile considering all of the material you will need to cover during the school year, you might be tempted to jump directly into the content. Instead, consider spending time teaching classroom expectations and systems that can create more productive learning environments throughout the year.

Here’s an example of a productive first grade reading classroom. Watch Valerie Kostandos teach her students to be readers, writers, and leaders in Teaching Reading K-2, program 8, “Promoting Readers as Leaders.” She builds in early opportunities to teach systems that foster cooperative learning and student independence.

“I think it is important that all kids get in that role of being the leaders. If we give them a challenge, they rise to it. They feel so empowered… and that carries over when they write and when they read. They have the sense that they can do it…. What is hard is trying to stay back and not jump in.”
Valerie Kostandos

Ms. Kostandos’s classroom runs smoothly because she

1. organizes the physical classroom space so that she can see what is happening when children are working in small groups.
2. teaches students leadership roles, giving her time to work with students individually at the beginning of each class.
3. uses an observation survey to keep records of how students are progressing throughout the year.
4. models classroom expectations and systems early and gradually gives students more autonomy to perform tasks on their own.
5. provides opportunities for students to share their ideas about what they are reading and what they have learned at the end of the school day.
6. gives students some choice in the books they read and guides them to choose books they hadn’t considered.
7. varies activities to encourage social growth. Students learn to work independently, in pairs, in small groups, and as a whole group.

Discover more ideas for organizing and managing classrooms in the resources below:

Teaching Reading 3-5, workshop 1, “Creating Contexts for Learning,” explains why classroom organization matters, the importance of routines, and how grouping affects students’ learning. It includes tips for new teachers on setting up a vibrant literacy classroom starting on the first day of school.

Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12, program 29, “Groups, Projects, and Presentations,” provides tips for forming cooperative learning groups and fostering problem solving skills in the classroom.

The Learning Classroom: Theory Into Practice, unit 13, “Pulling it All Together-Creating Classrooms and Schools That Support Learning,” looks at the bigger school community. What structural features of schools support teaching and learning for understanding? How can schools use what is known about student development to organize and scaffold instruction?

Now it’s your turn. We would love to hear how you get your classrooms off on the right foot in the comments.

 

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Literature & Language Arts, Social Studies & History Tagged: , , , , , ,

Get Ready: Build a Learning Community

Posted on August 13, 2014 Written by Annenberg Learner Leave a Comment

Get ready, get set! But before you go, step back and consider the bigger picture. What will your classroom look and feel like? How will students interact with each other? How will they express themselves and share ideas? Teach your students to be learners together and to respect differences by developing a sense of community. See the following examples for different grade levels and subject areas:

Social<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Studies<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Library1. Teach students how to discuss and appreciate differences within their classroom community. For example, in Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12, program 31, “Dealing with Controversial Issues,” students learn how to conduct informed and open discussions that include multiple perspectives about gender-based discrimination, conflict in the Middle East, and other issues.  Program 30, “Unity and Diversity,” deals with teaching students to appreciate the different cultures of their community.

2. Plan your writing community before the year starts. Take a look at Developing Writers: A Workshop for High School Teachers, workshop 1, “First Steps.” Think about how much time students will spend writing, getting and giving feedback from peers, and reviewing their own work. In workshop 2, “A Shared Path,” you’ll consider the characteristics of a writing community and learn to set up effective writers’ groups.

3. Build a safe middle school writing environment from the beginning of the year. In Write in the Middle: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers, workshop 1, “Creating a Community of Writers,” see teachers model participation in a writing community.

4. Involve parents and guardians. Watch how a teacher extends a 3rd grade book community using activities and discussions that involve the students’ parents, grandparents, and friends in Teaching Reading 3-5 Workshop, classroom program 10, “Fostering Book Discussions.” Students also learn how to generate discussions in small groups.

5. Set up classroom routines that help young students become positive, more self-directed learners using strategies from Teaching Reading K-2 Workshop, workshop 1, “Creating a Literate Community.”

6. Foster effective communication and mathematical thinking with strategies provided in Teaching Math Grades K-2, session 2, “Communication.” Help young students express their understanding of math concepts through oral, written, and visual (symbols, pictures, gestures) communication.

What are ways you build a learning community in your classrooms?

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Literature & Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies & History Tagged: , , , , ,

How to Share Ideas From Your Classroom

Posted on May 21, 2014 Written by Annenberg Learner Leave a Comment

sharing ideasWe know you create amazing lesson plans and activities using Learner.org resources. Share them with other teachers on the Ideas From Your Classrooms section of our blog.

Submit your lesson plans and activities to blog@learner.org for consideration. We will post a new activity or lesson plan every Tuesday. Check back often to learn about fresh ideas from your peers.

Also, in the Ideas From Your Classrooms section of the blog, we encourage you to comment under lesson plan and activities posts, respond to questions about your classrooms, and support each other with knowledge and advice from your teaching experience.

 

How to Submit a Lesson Plan or Activity

Your plans and activities should state a clear objective, be well-organized, require minimal to no edits, and incorporate a Learner.org resource. (You may also refer to additional resources if desired.) The Learner.org resource you refer to can be a whole series, or part of a series such as an online textbook chapter or video program, an online interactive, or any other resources accessed free on our website. Series titles and urls must be included.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Please include the following information with your materials:

  1. Your name and email address
  2. Title of the activity or lesson plan
  3. Subject/ Class name
  4. Grade level
  5. School name or location (not required)

Also, please share this post! Thank you. Don’t forget to subscribe to LearnerLog.org so you don’t miss new postings.

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum, Foreign Languages, Ideas From Your Classrooms, Learner.org Announcements!, Literature & Language Arts, Mathematics, Science & Nature, Social Studies & History, The Arts Tagged: , , ,

Have You Flipped Your Classroom Yet?

Posted on February 24, 2014 Written by Alex Nseir Leave a Comment

Rear view of class raising handsIn January, CBS News produced a feature story on the flipped classroom, thrusting the model even further into mainstream discussions of education. Accompanied by glowing reviews from a high school physical science teacher and his students, the three-minute segment referred to flipped classrooms as “a ray of hope” for students and parents struggling with applying concepts learned in class to their homework.

In simplest terms, the flipped classroom inverts the traditional teaching paradigm, introducing new concepts, typically via video lectures, that students can watch outside of the classroom at their own pace. Applying the information learned during lectures – what used to be considered homework – then takes place in the classroom under the supervision of the teacher.

As the students from Warren Township High School in Gurnee, Illinois noted in the CBS feature, benefits of the flipped classroom model include being able to pause and rewind lectures, focusing on segments or concepts they struggle to grasp. Teachers are then free to set aside time for collaborative work and address the needs of individual students, challenging those who excel and zeroing in on the struggles of those who lag behind. Ideally, a flipped classroom changes the teacher’s role from “Sage on the Stage” to a more effective “Guide on the Side.”

The cons of the flipped classroom, however, were not properly addressed in the news segment. Tech inequity is the most glaring obstacle to achieving an effective flipped classroom, although some educators are finding ways to address that issue.

In addition, passive lecturing, whether delivered via online video or in the classroom, is not the most effective teaching method.

The presentation of the flipped classroom model as a miraculous solution to a myriad of educational problems is also misguided, especially since it may not fit with every teacher’s instructional style or curriculum. Rather than a solution, the flipped classroom should be viewed as a potential tool that could help educators create a more collaborative, engaged classroom.

Annenberg Learner offers many resources for teachers interested in implementing a flipped classroom. Since a flipped classroom does not necessarily introduce all core concepts via video lectures, Annenberg’s online interactives can serve a similar purpose and be completed by students as ‘homework.’

For example, the Democracy in America series, program 11, “Public Opinion: Voice of the People” interactive prompts students to create an effective poll that will accurately gauge public support for a specific policy, in this case waste incineration. After watching the unit’s accompanying video, students can complete the interactive, which could then be used as a starting point for a collaborative or group polling project in the classroom.

Similarly, the Rediscovering Biology series program on Applied Genetic Modification allows students to engage in an interactive, animated case study to explore the practical details of genetic engineering. After watching and completing the case study at home, students will have a practical example of how genetic modification applies to their lives, making in-class projects and discussions feel more relevant.

Considering the recent water crisis in the American Southwest, teachers may also find the online text and video from The Habitable Planet, unit 8, “Water Resources,” helpful tools to connect real world issues to their classroom. After reading all or parts of the online text, students can then complete teacher-made activities that address water supply issues.

These are just a few examples of how Learner.org resources can help you flip your classroom. Search the site for more content in all subject areas to find videos, and online texts and interactives that your students can work through at their own pace at home, freeing up your instruction time for engaging activities.

Sharehow you might be using Learner.org to flip your classroom in the comments below.

Filed Under: Across the Curriculum Tagged:

How to Build Effective Collaborative Groups

Posted on August 20, 2013 Written by Donelle Blubaugh Leave a Comment

ssin action_groupworkFor many educators, the resolutions that really matter are the ones they make in August in anticipation of the new school year. Maybe you’ve resolved to integrate more technology resources into your instruction. Maybe you’re determined to tackle some classroom management issues. For the sake of this post, let’s say that you’ve decided to make your lessons more student-centered.

So, how does the sage exit the stage? Create conditions in which students build skill and knowledge while you assess progress and maintain an organized and productive classroom. Take a look at “Groups, Projects ,and Presentations,” a component of Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practice Library, K-12. Although the series centers on teaching Social Studies, the practices illustrated and explained in the “Groups, Projects, and Presentations” video are relevant to all academic subjects and grade levels.

In the K-12 classrooms presented in the video, the spotlight is on the students as they work collaboratively toward common goals that require problem solving and decision making. Their teachers encourage students’ active involvement in their own learning in ways that reinforce and personalize knowledge.

The video points out key factors in planning and implementing students’ collaborative creation of projects and presentations:

Creating Group Structure: What teacher hasn’t planned a terrific group project to see it go horribly awry (one student shoulders all the work or nothing gets done at all) because the group dynamic wasn’t right?  5th grade teacher Kathleen Waffle (5:06) starts her planning by assessing which of her students are natural leaders and makes sure one of those students is in each small group. Her groups are heterogeneous, not only because students who have learning challenges benefit from group support, but also because all students benefit from learning to value the different skills group members can contribute to the project as personal strengths emerge. She remixes groups every four to six weeks so that students learn to work with different personalities, just as they would in the real world.

Setting a Purpose: Setting clear, purposeful goals that keep the students focused is a key factor in the success of groups projects. Teacher Rob Cuddi (12:45) creates a set of essential questions. These anchor students’ research and discussion as they work in small groups. Cuddi also uses the questions and student responses as an assessment tool. The students respond to the questions in their journals at the beginning of the project and again at the end.

Rubrics, often student-created, also help provide purpose.

Determining Team and Individual Roles: When students work in collaborative groups, they all share responsibility for a successful outcome. It’s also important that students take individual responsibility for their learning. High school teacher Tim Rocky (19:04) gives individual team members specific roles: reader, recorder, facilitator or process keeper. Most importantly, he doesn’t assume that students know how to work effectively in small groups. He asks a “fish bowl” group to model the process while he provides feedback and guidance.

Creating Assessments: Assessments (21:19) like scoring guides or rubrics not only provide purpose and focus; they also make assessment or grading less arbitrary. They give teachers concrete evidence of student progress or point to areas in need of improvement. You can also assess by listening to group discussion. You might hear something that signals a group’s need for your input on its process or for additional resources. Students may use rubrics to evaluate each other and to understand how their own work will be evaluated.

When you invite students to take a collaborative approach to group projects and presentations, you are giving them a stage on which they actively seek knowledge and own and share their learning. One of Osvaldo Rubio’s fourth graders (16:22) says it best of working with his peers: “They tell me what they know, I tell them what I know, and we put that all together and it makes a lot of difference…”

These teachers provide lots of practice for the kinds of collaborative interactions the students will encounter throughout their lives.

What kinds of collaborative experiences will you offer your students in the coming school year? We would love to hear your ideas for projects.

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