Your Blog Prompt for this week

What do you think about the Flipped Classroom based on what you have seen and read... and maybe heard from other sources?

THE PROMPTS:
a.Blog entry...Your list of pros and cons about flipping?
or
b.Blog entry... your analysis based on your current state of skill, interest, subject/grade level.  Would you, could you do some flipping? What would be your most favored role (performing, planning, coaching)?
Why/why not.  

More on Flipping

Just to be clear, here are expectations for the 'virtual class' the week of October 15:
1. Comment on this post so I know you read it.  Comment with your name.
2. Watch the Salman Kahn video on the TED website.  Click on the Symbaloo button
3. Read//watch the content linked to the other 6 white Symbaloo buttons at the bottom right of my Symbaloo.
4. Be prepared to discuss and write about the Flipped Classroom (pros and cons) when we meet again.
5. See you next time... don't forget to email or text if you will be absent.

Flipped Classroom

Buzz words, especially in education, are sometimes just a gadfly zipping in one ear and out the other. Sometimes however, the buzz turns into a whine and then a roar.  I'm not sure what stage of noise 'flipped classroom' has reached but it deserves a look and a listen.  Check out this link and then look at my Symbaloo for more links to 'flipping'.  The Symbaloo buttons are in the lower right side.  Check them all out and watch the 20 minute Ted talk by Salman Kahn.

Flipped Classroom:

The flipped classroom will be the basis for our virtual classes on October 15 and 17 (remember no classes in Roush 204 those days)  You are on your own to study the 'Flipped Classroom'.

Jing, screenshot and screencast software from TechSmith

Want to show someone how to do something on the internet or with a piece of software?  Jing captures screen videos and voice and puts everything into a video format that can be shared with others.  Try adding a simple 'how-to' video to your blog or choose Jing to make a screencast to present your favorite teacher tool.

Jing, screenshot and screencast software from TechSmith:

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Reflections on a Technical Breakdown

In class on Wednesday I suffered (and I mean that quite literally) a breakdown of the technology that I am supposed to be teaching about.  I couldn’t get the Google Docs presentation that I had carefully prepared and that worked just fine at home, to work right.  The presentation mode wouldn’t present and the links only opened blank pages.  From my point of view it was a total disaster.  In the old days when I went out to do a workshop or presentation I carried my computer and a raft of adapters to fit every conceivable projection device AND I printed transparencies of my talk so that if all else failed I could use an overhead projector which every school and office had at that time.  It’s been several years since I’ve printed transparencies and cables have been standardized to the point where I can be assured that all I need is a VGA adaptor for my Mac.

Yesterday brought back near disasters of the past… not only did the presentation and demonstrations not work but, I felt that I didn’t have an adequate backup plan… nothing analogous to those transparencies I used to carry.  I talked and suggested things to do with the computers everyone had in front of them but it was not the same as the screencasts I had prepared and the YouTube videos I’d planned to show.  I was embarrassed, to say the least.

Right or wrong I owned up to the situation and said I was embarrassed.  It would have been better of course if I had a ‘plan B’ ready to implement but I didn’t.  As I reflect on the situation I am still struggling to decide what I could have or should have done.  Even with 40 plus years of teaching and presenting experience behind me I was flustered and fumbling.  Should I always have a ‘plan B’?  Should I have dismissed class with a lame excuse that an “emergency had arisen”?  Was fumbling through with only verbal instructions and not enough content to fill the time available the right or only thing to do?  I still don’t know… I’ve got to process some more.

What this means to you as a prospective teacher is: there will always be days or classes that don’t go as they should and you can’t be prepared with a ‘plan B’ for all situations.  However, you can be mentally and psychologically prepared for your own goofs and the glitches that are bound to occur.  If you kind of expect that someday the projector bulb will burn out or that the test copies you were sure were in your bag disappear without a trace you will not totally panic.   Further, you may be prepared to do some self-evaluation to decide what, if anything, you can do to avoid encountering the same situation again.  Also, and most importantly, be prepared to cut yourself a break and put the situation behind you… we all fail from time to time it’s called “Being Human”.

I think this post falls under the heading, “Experience Speaks”.  File it whereever it fits in your schema of teaching advice.

15 Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Silly | Copyblogger

I don't want to be a nag but I can't overemphasize the importance of correct spelling and grammar in what you write at school.  This 'poster' and article helps you (and your students) avoid the most common grammatical transgressions.  This is a keeper.

15 Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Silly | Copyblogger:

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Confession:  I have always struggled with spelling and grammar myself so I am super-vigilant about my own shortcomings... and my wife is the spelling and grammar nazi.

The Many Hats of a Teacher

Jillian Bradley (ED Tech 2100) found this site... her search inspired, I hope, by my reference to the many hats teachers wear.  This author is so much more elegant in his praise of the multifaceted nature of teaching than I am.  Notice that 'computer expert' is the only reference to technology that I've found.


School of Education at Johns Hopkins University-The Many Hats of a Teacher:

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