How to Use Quizlet Screencast

One of the most difficult things for the learning disabled kids I work with to do is to learn terms.   This website helps them to create their own flashcards.   It will even read the flashcard to them which is very valuable to them.  In this screencast I show them how they can use quizlet to study the terms from the science text they use.   Here is the screencast:

Physical and Chemical Change Animoto Video

My training and certification is in English, Speech and Drama, but in order to work part time hours, I work as a SPED para at Papillion Junior High.    I spend much of my day tutoring learning disabled and mentally handicapped kids.  I made this video as a review for them as a review for their physical and chemical change quiz.  Pictures are so great for mentally handicapped and dyslexic kids.    This method is probably faster than cutting, pasting, and laminating.   I could make even better use of these tools working with kids if I had an iPad handy so that my electronic library of images to improve vocabulary and to review key concepts would be right at my fingertips.  



Physical and Chemical Change

Is the Flipped Classroom a Better Version of a Bad Thing

My second article, Is the Flipped Classroom a Better Version of a Bad Thing?" by Hope Gillette, is a bit more critical of the flipped classroom.   The main criticism is that by switching homework to watching videos of instruction or lectures, the teacher is still relying to heavily on the lecture method.  The lecture method has been under fire for years as being archaic and for making the student a passive learner.   They also thought students might too easily get way with not viewing the teaching at all.   On the other hand, the article noted the obvious advantage of students being able to work through curriculum at their own pace.  Also noted is that all students got to go home with an expert, not just students with educated parents.

The example of the Physics teacher in Texas addressed this criticism nicely, I thought.   His interactive button provided both accountability and an open door to interact with the teacher about the ideas presented.   I thought the videos to be a bit different than the traditional lecture.  They were shorter, breaking information into chunks, inviting students to interact after each chunk.  I think science and math lend themselves to the flipped approach very nicely.  I'm interested to see how teachers of other grade levels and other subjects flip their classrooms. 

Physics Teacher's First Week with a Flipped Classroom

My first reading comes from the Strickland Science Bloghttp://stricklandscience.weebly.com/1/post/2012/09/my-first-week-with-a-flipped-classroom.html by Gary Strickland, a rural Texas Physics teacher.   His first post is "My First Week with a Flipped Classroom."   He intends to follow his first-year journey flipping his classroom.   His basic approach is to assign video instruction for the students to watch, an 13 and 11 minute video.  He notes that realizing his audience is possibly world wide via the web improved the quality and accuracy of his instruction.

After the video, he designed a button in which students had to answer three questions reflecting and asking questions after the video.  This button not only made them accountable for the assignment.  He also know before class which concepts needed clarification and how they needed clarification.  When they got to class, the labs were set up.  Because the instruction was done as homework, the students came to class ready to "do" Physics.  This teacher seemed excited after his first week working with the flipped approach and felt the response was positive from parents and students as well.

Now that I've seen a couple examples of flipped science and math classrooms, I'm going to keep my eye open for an example of a flipped classroom in teaching literature.  Since traditionally the homework is reading and the class time is discussion and other activities, what might a flipped classroom look like in a Literature class. 

30 Online Resources for PBL and Flipped Classrooms

Below is my summary of 30 Online Resources for PBL and Flipped Classrooms from the blog, 21st Century Educational Technology and Learning.