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Although I have a crazy life, I love talking about the flip so much that I pretty much drop everything when I get questions from future and existing flippers out there! I am open to sharing documents, ideas or just brainstorming. So please feel free to contact me and ask me anything.

Year-round email

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Twitter @SraWitten - I try to participate in the #flipclass chat on Monday nights at 8EST and sometimes at the #langchat on Thursday nights at 8EST


13 comments:

  1. Emillia, love your posted about flipclass in World Languages! I am also working on this, as well as PBL in WL. I am following your lead on flipclass and planning to use some of your ideas. Glad to collab with you about this and PBL as well. I am teaching a week long seminar in Santa Barbara in July(I think I already told you that!) and will gladly share with you the info. Are you on Edmodo? If so, I will send you the group code to join the PBL in WL group so you can take what you want and collab with the group. Also, I have a wiki on PBL in WL. You might already know that as well. It is at http://PBL-WL.wikispaces.com Finally, we could collab about all this @Edutopia - if you want, post something about flipclass on the WL community forum @Edutopia. I would love to see a discussion start there on the topic. I can tweet it out as well. Any other ideas about how to collaborate on these initiatives? Keep up the good work!

    Best,
    Don

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    1. Don, thanks for contacting me. I started a discussion about my journey with the flipped class and my desire to incorporate PBL. It was wonderful to find a FL resource for PBL.

      I am on Edmodo, so I would love the code for the PBL group. I am also on Twitter at @SraWitten. I have tons of ideas, and look forward to collaborating with you and on Edutopia. Please continue to comment and feel free to email me with any questions.

      Heather

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  2. Sra. Witten,
    Thank you so much for taking time to include the world on your journey of Spanish flipped classrooms! At the beginning of my teaching career MANY years ago, we never dreamed of the impact of the internet on learning. I am so blessed to have been in this profession long enough to realize the changes! Better yet, long enough to be able to facilitate those changes in classrooms. I direct the World Language programs in a large suburban/urban district in Texas and we are going to embark on flipping classrooms this school year 2012-13. Any wisdom or advice you have for me as I support the leaders and teachers?
    Many thanks in advance for your response!
    Sra. Lezley Lewis

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    1. Thanks for your kind words! It is awesome to think about a whole FL district moving to the flipped classroom.

      As for advice:

      1. Be ready for technology snafus. They happen, and usually at the worst possible time. Always have a hard copy of a video that you could show to the class (or individuals as needed.)

      2. Be ready for pushback, but don't cave. The flipped class takes some real getting used to for students (and teachers). Listen and make shifts where you can.

      3. Explain what is going to happen to students and parents before school starts so they have a basic understanding of the change.

      4. Give students the freedom to choose assignments and assessments where possible. This is one of the most important parts of the flipped classroom which is unfortunately often overlooked. The flip is so much more than videos!

      5. Connect with other teachers flipping. I am glad to chat with anyone who has questions. There is also a twitter chat for the flipped class on Mondays at 8pm EST at #flipclass. Also join us at www.vodcasting.ning.com

      6. Stay positive. The flip is a ton of work up front, but it gets better the more you do.

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  3. Hi Heather!

    I didn't know exactly where to post this question, but how do you respond to the skeptical teachers/parents/others that ask you: Students don't even do "regular" homework, why would they watch a video lesson at home?

    Since reading your blog, I've been so excited to even just try a blended structure before a full flip. It seems, though, that anytime I bring this model up to teacher friends, they are very doubtful something like this could ever work (I tell them, actually MANY classrooms are very successful).

    I know there is definitely a students vs homework challenge (I've always kept mine to a minimum and still have those that don't do it), but I keep thinking about how much classroom time could be used more productively by actually USING the language and building fluency through this structure. I imagine it would be a challenge at first and I remember reading some of your earlier
    posts about students not watching videos, but how do you respond to the doubt: they won't watch, why should they learn at home?, what would be the point to coming to class (reallY??), it takes the relationship out of teaching (a teacher friend actually said this!), parents won't be on board...

    For me, I think this model opens up so many possibilities that I would rather try to make it work and have it fail than to have not tried it all. It's funny how some teachers can be so open to shifting a paradigm, while others see change as a new edition or publisher of a textbook...

    Thank you, Heather! Your time and comments are very much appreciated!
    Karla

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  4. So excited about Flipping my Classroom this year! I, like you Sra. Witten, have been involved with Adult Ed (corporate training, etc.) for a while, so being back in a HS classroom where there is some lack of motivation :) is having me really challenge my instructional strategies.

    While I'm committed to doing this, here's my nagging concern:
    I'm afraid my classroom will be total chaos. If everybody is working at their own pace, doing things in a different order, working with their friends, etc., I can see how things will get pretty loud and crazy.

    Granted, I can handle a certain amount of chaos (and actually like it), but any advice for keeping the students going when I'm not right next to them? I'm hopeful that you're going to say that "they love this method so much, it is self-motivating..." :)

    Tara

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    1. Tara

      This may sound terrible, but in many ways I find the motivation for adults in the corporate world and the teenagers in high school very similiar! But you are right, the instructional strategies are in many ways different.

      To an outsider who didn't understand what I was doing, my classroom last year probably resembled chaos. In fact there was at least one math teacher (we share the area I am in with math) that was convinced that the flipped class just gave the students carte blanche to do whatever they want and that students were always goofing off in my class. This was far from the case.
      As much as I would love to say the the students were all motivated to stay on task for the love of the class, that would be a lie too.

      Last year, I found the key to keeping things in control was:

      1. Starting with some sort of class activity. I don't usually start with a Q&A like other content areas because I think the grammar often seems to make sense to students until they start working on the practice. Depending on the day, I used Picture Pages, translation, vocab sentence creation, etc. This is pretty essential to help the kids change gears to the target language and get them focused.

      2. Having assignments due consistently throughout the unit. If you look at my assignment sheet (in important docs tab), there is something due pretty much every day. I found this makes the kids be focused on an activity every day.

      3. NEVER SIT DOWN!!! I am more exhausted at the end of every day, but I never sit down. I am constantly moving from one group to the next checking progress, asking questions. When students know that you are on your game, they will be too!

      Hope that helps!
      Heather

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  5. Dear Sra. Witten:

    Flipping the Classroom is something new I learned this summer at the Edmodo Conference.

    I am considering flipping my Chinese language classrooms, but I am wondering how this will work, and how effective it will be, given that the Spanish language and Chinese language are so different.

    I am also curious about if you have time to work with all of your students during class time. How many students do you have, and how many groups are there? I am faced with a classroom of 46 students. There's barely room to walk around.

    In the meantime, I will start reading through your posts.

    Regards,
    Mindy

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  6. I see that you flipped your Spanish III, Pre-AP, and AP classes. How about lower levels?

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    1. To answer both of your questions....

      I have only flipped the upper level classes because that is what I have been teaching. I would flip 1 and 2 if I taught those classes, but it would probably look a little different than the upper levels.

      Secondly, yes, I am able to work with all of my students. I have a smaller number in class, about 25. However, I think even with classes as large as yours it is still possible. Think about how much time you spend in the front of the class. You could free up all that time to work with students one-on-one or in small groups. The best part is they all have stuff to do, so they aren't just sitting, waiting for you.

      I am sorry my response took so long. The last two weeks have been crazy. Hopefully you were able to check out the webinar I just gave on the flip in foreign language classrooms. If not, I just posted a link to the recorded version on the blog.

      Please feel free to keep commenting here, or email me with any questions you have.

      Heather

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  7. Heather,

    My name is Mike, and I run a company called Connect2German, an online-based source for learning German. Just watched your webinar on Sophia.org, and I found it great that there is already someone doing this - not only because I can use ideas as a starting place, but also because I have been struggling for years to change the approach to my teaching (knowing that the "old method" wasn't working. I thought I was crazy for being one of the only ones swimming against the stream - I just knew it wasn't working for the students.

    I took a look at your Unit Plan you posted, and I believe it's a great idea the way you have worked things out. I was thinking along the same lines with you regarding changing the overall content to get to things that were normally missed (at the end of books). My solution in making it more tangible and fun for the students was more toward a "situational" approach - so not just the theme of food, but the goal was "order bread from a German bakery" - very concrete.

    My question, however, is that as I'm building these "situations" (like your units) I find myself trying to see which grammar points I can squeeze in. It's not the way I started this whole endeavor, so I feel like I'm derailing. I started with the grammar videos I created (I have about 30), and I built situations around them. They naturally evolved from the examples I gave in the videos. I feel like I am getting more fun and realistic activities but am also swinging the pendulum completely to the other side, missing out on the actual required concepts they should know (according to ACTFL and other guidelines). How do you find the middle ground between these two things?

    Thanks,

    Mike

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    1. Hi Mike!

      First, I am glad that you enjoyed the webinar. I don't have any foreign language flippers at my school so it is great to be able ot connect with other flippers.

      I agree the situational approach is the best, and when I am creating thematic units, I think about what the "expected" curriculum is for the level. Then I try to place those grammatical concepts in the units that work best. Sometimes it is easy. For example, in my "teen challenges" unit, they have to talk about future choices, so they need to learn the future. But, as you know, not everything fits in so nicely. After planning the year with what works, I look at the concepts that are not a "perfect" fit, and just figure out how to put them in. I try to balance the units so there aren't two super hard concepts in one unit.

      I have also done a few things based on what I have seen in class that aren't "required" but the kids really need to know. So, for example, in my detective story unit right now, the kids are reviewing present subjunctive (because they can't read the stories without it!) and the other grammar concept is "commonly confused words". This also sprang from the reading. I am sure you have had students say "why do they use this word and not that if they mean the same thing?" I finally decided that I should just put all those little things together and really teach the kiddos the difference.

      I think the main thing is to make sure that the kids have the skills required for the next level and that they are continually progressing. I have seen my level 4 students try to get by with easy level 1 type conversations and pout when they didn't get the grade they wanted. We just need to keep pushing them (and inspiring them) to improve on the ACTFL scale and then I know I will be happy! ;)

      PS - I would love to hear some of your project ideas if you could share them via email at hawitten@hotmail.com that would be great!

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