There is nothing like the first week of school. It is a time when everything seems possible. All the students are capable of receiving A's and learning all that we can teach. The students all have a fresh start and have the ability to continue on a great path or change directions to get on the path to learning.
I love the beginning of the school year, and not just because I can talk to children other than my 2 year old twins. I love looking at my new students, getting to know each of them as individuals, and seeing how all of the plans I have made over the summer are received by the students.
Of course, as we teachers know, another interesting thing about the beginning of the school year is how something that was so easily explained last year is totally confusing the next. For example, this week, many of the students seem confused by the assignment sheet. (A sample is on important docs tab.) I explained it to the group, I explained it individually to many of the students, but the students are still confused. Even in looking back at notes from last year, I don't remember this being as big of an issue. So, I am faced with a few choices: 1)In addition to the current assignment sheet, give a cheat sheet in date order, 2)Change the current assignment sheet, 3)Keep the assignment sheet the same and keep giving them the "what's due tomorrow" list on the board.
The problem is, I really like my assignment sheet. I like the students to be able to make their own plan and keep up with the due dates on their own. I enjoy helping them make the plan to stay on track. I think that learning how to tackle the assignments and completing them in a way that works best for each student is an important part of the life lessons that the students get from the flipped classroom.
So, what to do? I think I am going to continue just giving the students the "What's due next class" reminder for the remainder of the review unit. When I begin the first "real" unit, (after Labor Day) I am going to give them the blank spreadsheet and go over with them how they can make a plan for the unit. Hopefully the more that the students work with the spreadsheet, the easier it will be to understand.
Otherwise, I think the students are settling in nicely. They began giving their "Who am I?" present review projects, and so far I have been pleased with the results. They are doing a good job about not reading (of course I did tell them they would get a 0 if they read!) I am going to be doing baseline speaking assessments with the students Wednesday and Thursday and am excited about being able to do a better job of tracking student progress throughout the year.
Back to school night is Monday, and although I would love to have some classroom pictures with the students, it is probably not going to happen. The first week just went by so fast. I think I am going to send home a newsletter to parents with something I put together toward the end of September. This way parents can see the flip (and their students) in action.
Now for week 2.....
Showing posts with label assignments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assignments. Show all posts
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Is the problem flipping, the new curriculum, or both?
With the early success of the review unit, I was excited to get started on the first full unit. It is called "Challenges in Teen Life" and I thought that with the flip we would be able to get so much more accomplished and the kids would be able to do so many fun things with this unit.
When I passed out the unit assignment packet, there were plenty of wide-eyed looks. I kept reminding them that these were all of the assignments for the entire unit - 5 weeks. The unit assessment was going to be a video project done in a group. I began the unit by having the students choose either a Judge Judy format or a Jerry Springer format. Then I divided up the groups. I wanted to have some amount of say in the formation of the groups so that no one person was left out, and I also didn't want to have a group that was totally composed of weaker students. Everyone had some of their friends in the group, and almost everyone was happy with how the groups shaped up.
Then I went over the highlights of the assignments and due dates. I made sure I pointed out when the assessments were and what would be on them. We also discussed the new format of the assessments. There would be two benchmark assessments and one unit assessment for each unit. The benchmark assessments would be on vocabulary and a grammar concept. The vocabulary would be in fill in the blank format, not just a regurgitation of a list. The students all nodded and got to work.
When the day of the first benchmark assessment came, I knew something was wrong. I was about to hand out the assessment and I was asking if there were any last minute questions. Students asked me to define to ostracize, to define to conform. These were words that were on their vocabulary list. Not only did they not know what they meant in English, but they were only now asking me what they meant!! How do Juniors not know what these words mean?
That was only the beginning. I had no sooner handed out the quizzes that the students started to look like deer in headlights. They started asking for hints, for a word bank, and my favorite "could I please tell them one this word means?". I had given them practice worksheets for the vocabulary that were in the same format as the assessment. Many of the questions on the assessment had come directly from the practice. I told them all to do their best, and I was confident my reign of "tough and mean" teacher would continue.
The assessment grades were a disaster. Yes, I did have a few As - there are some students that will always get them. However, most of the grades were Fs, and not just Fs, low Fs....37, 26, 14. I was really shocked. What went wrong? Was it me? Was it the flip?
After the I handed back the assessments, I talked to the students. It would seem that many didn't really study, and the ones that had studied did it right before class. And yes, in my effort to use vocabulary that would enable them to discuss teen issues, I clearly went over their head.
Luckily, my plan had always been to allow the students to retake the assessment if they needed to. So, I chalked it up to experience and knew that the next one would be better. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The next one was a little better, but still more than half of them were Fs. Worse yet, many of the students didn't take advantage of the retakes, so the grades were in the toilet. We were six weeks into school, and I had kids planning on dropping at semester. What was I going to do to make this better???
When I passed out the unit assignment packet, there were plenty of wide-eyed looks. I kept reminding them that these were all of the assignments for the entire unit - 5 weeks. The unit assessment was going to be a video project done in a group. I began the unit by having the students choose either a Judge Judy format or a Jerry Springer format. Then I divided up the groups. I wanted to have some amount of say in the formation of the groups so that no one person was left out, and I also didn't want to have a group that was totally composed of weaker students. Everyone had some of their friends in the group, and almost everyone was happy with how the groups shaped up.
Then I went over the highlights of the assignments and due dates. I made sure I pointed out when the assessments were and what would be on them. We also discussed the new format of the assessments. There would be two benchmark assessments and one unit assessment for each unit. The benchmark assessments would be on vocabulary and a grammar concept. The vocabulary would be in fill in the blank format, not just a regurgitation of a list. The students all nodded and got to work.
When the day of the first benchmark assessment came, I knew something was wrong. I was about to hand out the assessment and I was asking if there were any last minute questions. Students asked me to define to ostracize, to define to conform. These were words that were on their vocabulary list. Not only did they not know what they meant in English, but they were only now asking me what they meant!! How do Juniors not know what these words mean?
That was only the beginning. I had no sooner handed out the quizzes that the students started to look like deer in headlights. They started asking for hints, for a word bank, and my favorite "could I please tell them one this word means?". I had given them practice worksheets for the vocabulary that were in the same format as the assessment. Many of the questions on the assessment had come directly from the practice. I told them all to do their best, and I was confident my reign of "tough and mean" teacher would continue.
The assessment grades were a disaster. Yes, I did have a few As - there are some students that will always get them. However, most of the grades were Fs, and not just Fs, low Fs....37, 26, 14. I was really shocked. What went wrong? Was it me? Was it the flip?
After the I handed back the assessments, I talked to the students. It would seem that many didn't really study, and the ones that had studied did it right before class. And yes, in my effort to use vocabulary that would enable them to discuss teen issues, I clearly went over their head.
Luckily, my plan had always been to allow the students to retake the assessment if they needed to. So, I chalked it up to experience and knew that the next one would be better. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The next one was a little better, but still more than half of them were Fs. Worse yet, many of the students didn't take advantage of the retakes, so the grades were in the toilet. We were six weeks into school, and I had kids planning on dropping at semester. What was I going to do to make this better???
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