Alex Umsted

Byrd

EDRD 651/Reading Reflection 4

27 July 2014

 

Flipping Your English Class to Reach All Learners:

Strategies and Lesson Plans

 

Page # (kindle)	Quote	Response
Loc 239	“With the Flipped Classroom, I can give struggling students ample attention and assessment to meet their needs.  I have the flexibility to give alternate assessments on an individualized level.  I have the extra time needed to talk with these students and help them where they are struggling.”	As an educator, creating time like this is very important in the classroom.  As Cockrum had mentioned before, it is very disheartening when we cannot give students the “Ahah!” moments.  It seems that the flipped classroom method allows for teachers to have more one on one time for students to be able to make those needed connections.  Additionally this may also be useful when it comes to gifted and talented students.  Their curriculum can contain more complex work. **At this point in the textbook, I am still a little confused with what a flipped classroom is.
Loc 345	“The mass media appears to define flipping the classroom as lectures at home and homework at school, which grossly oversimplifies it.  The definition I operate from is this: using technology to deliver asynchronous direct instruction with the intention of freeing up class time for student-centered learning.”	Now that I have a better understanding of what a flipped classroom is, this book is making more sense.  (I feel like this definition should have been noted early on because I was confused for basically the whole first chapter.)  Having said that, my first reaction to this type of classroom is very mixed.  Like I noted before, I think that the in class time will be very beneficial because students can have the one on one attention.  Additionally, I like the idea of having more in class discussions.  In a way, this is like a college classroom—except college students do the reading that is discussed instead of watching videos. On the negative side, what if students do not have a way to watch the videos at home?  This puts them at a great disadvantage.  Like any major change, I think this definitely has a lot of benefits, but there are also a few kinks. Again, these are just my initial reactions.
Loc 476	“Genius doesn’t spark everyone at the same time.  I want my students to embrace the creative process.  I do have deadlines that must be met, so I call my class guided pacing, as opposed to totally self-paced.  However, when students work on what is up to them.”	I like the idea of incorporating a “guided pace”.  Even though students are given the freedom to work on stuff at the pace they want to work on things, they are still being given deadlines to make sure they are actually doing work.  Also, I think this will simultaneously help at risk students and high achieving students.  Instead of forcing one to run faster than they can while the other is forced to walk, these students are able to jog at a pace they are comfortable with.  However, my only concern with this method is how will the classroom discussions work?
Loc 488	“Therefore, when I teach concepts, students aren’t constrained to one way of showing me understanding.  Don’t want to write a persuasive essay to show me persuasion?  Mock up some advertising, create a public service announcement (PSA), write a newspaper editorial, just show me you understand persuasion.”	I really like the freedom that Cockrum gives his students in this regard.  I feel like students, especially in high school, are in an awkward position of still being treated like children when they want to be seen as adults.  By having a classroom set up with so many choices, students will feel like they are being respected like an adult.  Additionally, the main idea is still being conquered because students still have to show the teacher that they explicitly understand what persuasion is; they just get to do it in a way that understand best.  Furthermore, I think this could also help students choose potential career paths.  They are able to make the assignment their own.
Loc 584	Traditional flip: “This is the first and most prominent flip.  The Traditional Flip is simply frontloading a video of content followed by problems, activities, or writing in class based on that content.”	I like the way Cockrum has divided the Flips in to categories.  I feel like, in a way, this shows the stages in which the flipped classroom may take as a teacher is beginning the flipped method.  As a person who is new to this method, I identify more with the traditional flip because it is so straight forward.  If I were to flip my classroom, this is definitely how I would have to start.  Others include: writing workshop flip, explore-flip-apply, flip-mastery, and peer instruction (PI) flip.
Loc 1169	Flipped Writing Instruction: “The skills needed for writing can be explained in a video and individual instruction with the students can improve those skills.”	I like this explanation because I feel like writing could be a great place to first implement the flip.  Because writing is more of a process than a lecture, it is a good idea to have the students in class while they are going through the actual process, rather than send them off to home where they cannot ask questions.  The lectures for writing are usually the straight-forward, so it would be best for the process time to be in the classroom.
Loc 1169	Language Instruction: “What I really love about using a flip to teach grammar and vocabulary is that I can have fun, engaging and lively activities in class and don’t need to spend a lot of time on grammar rules.  The videos handle that.  If the students forget, the can go back to watch the videos or look at their notes I have them take.	Again, I never really thought about this for grammar, but I do actually like this idea that Cockrum has come up with.  Like he said, usually students get bored when describing the “rules” of grammar.  This could be an easy spot for students to completely disengage with what we are saying.  By having them watch the videos at home, in class time can be used to make sure that they are actually understanding the rules.  Also, this is where teachers can get creative with practicing grammar.  In a normal classroom, the homework students are given is usually very straight-forward and boring.  Therefore, they are getting a boring lecture and a boring assignment.  I believe this is where I personally became uninterested with grammar.
Loc 1330	Lesson plan for P.O.S: “Students would then take their own writing and do the same exercise.  The goal of this is to highlight every P.O.S. on the page.”	I like this part of the lesson plan because I think it adamantly portrays Cockrum’s most used “Explore-Flip-Apply” method.  At the beginning, students are looking at other student’s work to see what they can identify.  Then, they watch the video and do the same thing with their work.  I think this is a great way of intriguing students, teaching students, and then giving them the ability to apply what they have learned.  This is a great way to show the applicableness of part of speech identification.
Loc 1409	“Unless my students are reading using reading comprehension skills and making connections to previously learned content.  In other words, they should be applying what they’ve learned at this point not simply consuming information.  If they are unable to do this, I need to assess why that is and how we can fix that which is difficult if they are reading at home.”	I agree with Cockrum here.  Though it may be easier for teachers to assign reading as homework, this cannot always be done in a high school setting.  Some students have a hard time reading at home and actually comprehending what they are expected to understand.  For example, students would not actually read Shakespeare if that were outside reading.  Though discussions in the classroom are necessary, I think that some in class reading is also necessary for students to completely stay on track with the story.  Maybe this could be a time where google hangouts or discussion questions are implemented in a class website to serve as a class discussion outside the classroom sometimes.
Loc 1731	“Public speaking (speeches) and live presentation are a large component of the CCSS speaking and listening skills.  I’ve found breaking speeches down into smaller parts help me focus on the specific needs of students.”	This is important because it is true that many English teachers tend to overlook the speaking and listening section of the required skills that are supposed to be taught in the English classroom.  By studying speeches and having more in class time to present speeches, teachers are able to help student’s individual needs with these requirements.  If the classroom were not flipped, most in class time would go towards studying different aspects of speeches.
Loc 2034	“As a teacher, I really wanted my students to help each other improve their writing…For me, it wasn’t until I flipped and created the in-class environment where students felt invested in each other that was I able to get the most out of peer feedback.”	I also believe that peer feedback is very vital to the writing process.  By having students look at each other’s work, they can help each other and see what mistakes they may be making that reoccur.  By flipping the classroom, more in class time is made available for students to conduct peer revisions.  Additionally, this can lead to major discussions for the whole class to see some popular mistakes that are being made by the class as a whole.
	Chapter 10 as a whole	As I have read through this book, I have become more accepting to the idea of managing a flipped classroom.  However, one major question kept popping in my head: how does a teacher go about making successful videos?  Therefore, I love that Cockrum has dedicated a whole chapter to giving tips and answering important questions about how to produce sufficient videos.
Loc 2133	“I recommend starting with a script.  It does take a little longer to prep for a video if your write out a script but it will help you get a sense of timing and make sure you don’t forget anything.”	The tip listed here is one of my favorites because it is hard to tell when a teacher is being natural or is reading que cards.  Though this may be a matter of preference, I like the authenticity of the answers Cockrum gives.  He explains what has worked best with him to make sure that your video experience is the best it can be.