'Flipping' Out at BHS

Over the past couple of years, some BHS teachers have shared with me their interest in experimenting with the flipped model. While in some cases this might seem daunting, there are different ways in which flipping can happen.  Three teachers in particular have started to create instructional videos for their students to watch outside of the classroom: Mr. Fritz, Mrs. Dudgeon, and Mrs. Dreyer.

Mr. Fritz teaches mathematics at Bedford. In his videos, he typically highlights a particular problem for his students. By doing, this he hopes that it will trigger their memory as to what they have to do on their own for their homework. The videos that he makes are no longer than 5 minutes long and are to the point.



Tools that Mr. Fritz needs to complete the video:

• SMART Notebook software
• This allows Mr. Fritz to be able to annotate his work while he is recording
• Screencast-O-Matic software
• This allows Mr. Fritz to record what he is doing on his computer screen
• Free downloadable software - allows you to create up to 15 minutes worth of video per recording
• Direct uploading options right to YouTube
• Wacom Tablet
• This allows Mr. Fritz to take control of his laptop with a pen so that he can 'pencast' his lesson
• Basically a pen takes control of his computer so that he is able to write and annotate his work
• YouTube
• This allows Mr. Fritz to store all of his videos in one place online for his students to access

Here is the process that he takes to complete a video:

• Opens up SMART Notebook software
• Pre-populates the question that he will answer in the video on a notebook file
• Opens Screencast-O-matic software and places the recording window over the area he wants to record
• Records the video
• Uploads video to YouTube
• Sets appropriate settings to video as well as puts it in a playlist in YouTube

Mrs. Dudgeon teaches humanities at BHS. She attended a history conference last spring and got jazzed up about the possibilities of flipping her classroom.  In her videos, she asks her students to learn about a new topic or idea ahead of time for homework. Then, students come into class the next day ready to discuss what was shared in the video. In the video below, you will even hear Mrs. Dudgeon say that students must fill out the homework worksheet as they listen to the video. This will then be proof to her that the students watch the video as well as through the discussion students have with her about the topic. What is also great about this is that if students are ever absent from class, they can still watch and listen to the lecture online. In addition, any student can go back to these videos as many times as they need to to make sure that they fully comprehend the information.

Mrs. Dudgeon uses a similar process as Mr. Fritz in creating these videos. However, you will notice that she does not have any annotations.  Instead, she had a presentation made in either in Google Slides, PowerPoint or Keynote. Then she used Screencast-O-Matic to record her lecture, followed by uploading it to YouTube.

If you would like to see more videos made by these two teachers, check out their YouTube Channels:

Mr. Fritz YouTube Channel

Mrs. Dudgeon YouTube Channel

Feel free to even subscribe to their channels and be notified when they upload new videos.

YouTube Tips:

• Make sure videos are public when you are ready for people to see them
• Make playlists to group similar videos to help viewers find videos
• Use tagging feature with each video - this helps with the 'related videos' that pop up at the end. Might not be a bad idea to create your own tag. For instance, I always use #bhstech222 whenever I upload a video to YouTube.
• Uncheck allow comments or moderate comments for each video to fight against spam or inappropriate content

It is important to note that there is not one way of making videos. In fact, there are many apps on the iPad that allow teachers to create and upload videos online for viewing. One such application is Educreations. Mrs. Dreyer has been teaching a Personal Finance course for the past couple of summers to students in a hybrid/online platform. As a result of this, she had to make sure that students could access content online and in some cases, this meant that videos had to be made. Similar to Mrs. Dudgeon, students had learned about the topic ahead of time in the video. Then the participated in a discussion via Google Groups. Since Mrs. Dreyer is using the Educreations App, her videos are stored on their website rather than on YouTube.

Mrs. Dreyer has even shared with me results from her end of the class survey from her students. Students have shared their appreciation for Mrs. Dreyer in making her own videos. They indicated that they enjoyed hearing from their own teacher rather than a stranger.  Now this does not mean that a teacher can never show a video made by someone else, but it does shed light on the fact that students connect with their own teacher.

Click HERE to view this video in Educreations

I appreciate the fact that these three teachers are willing to put themselves out there for the world to see and hear. Humans are not perfect and Mrs. Dudgeon, Mrs. Dreyer, and Mr. Fritz are not an exception.  It is ok if the videos are not perfect - in fact I think that is one stumbling block that some teachers have a hard time with. They want things to be perfect, but in reality it is ok if the videos are not perfect.  Mr. Fritz even mentioned in one of his latest videos that he was going to try and stop saying the word 'HERE' as students made a comment about it. I think it is great that theses teachers feel comfortable enough to make these videos.  Most people do not even like to hear their voices out loud but this did not stop them from starting their adventure into 'flipping' their classroom. It is also important to note that flipping is not meant for everything - I believe that high school students still need that human interaction.

If you are inspired to potentially implement some videos into your curriculum, feel free to talk to me any time! No idea is too small of an idea. I will help walk you through a process that makes sense with your needs and wants. You know where to find me...

** Big thanks to David Gilbert of Windham High School for the inspiration of how he flips his math classroom**

Integrating Pinterest in the Classroom

This has been an exciting week at BHS with all of the new tech integration that is occurring.  One big project was with the freshman Humanities class.  Students were tasked with researching about a famous artist during the Renaissance time period.  Once the research was compiled, students learned to use a new, free web 2.0 tool called Smore (I had written a blog post about this tool earlier in the school year).

Once students completed their project, they shared their Smore link to their teacher through a use of a Google form.  Alot of times, this is where the project stops.  The teacher clicks on each of the links, and grades the students with a rubric.  These teachers however wanted a means by which everyone in the class can look at what each other did, in addition to answering some questions about the particular figures.  In other words, the teachers wanted to create their own version of a 'Virtual Museum'.

We put our heads together and decided that the best way of having students 'experience' a virtual museum would be through Pinterest.  Thus, one of the teachers, Mr. Santy created a teacher Pinterest account (to separate his personal account), to create a Renaissance Virtual Museum board for all three teachers (Mr. Santy, Ms. Ferrelli, and Mrs. Dreyer).  He then, opened up each link that was given to him, pinned it, and added it to the board.  The best part is that students who have a pinterest account can choose to follow the board.  Students who do not have the account, can just view the page from the teacher's website.  To view the board, click HERE.  This is just a great way of seeing each others work...plus what better way than engaging students through means by which they are familiar with...social media.

I look forward to helping integrate Pinterest in other classes.  If you have any questions about how you can integrate this in your own class, stop by 222 and we can chat!

Hybrid/Online Courses @ BHS

Over the 2012 summer, Mr. Mezeske and Mrs. Dreyer each taught a BHS hybrid/online course, In Writing and Personal Finance respectively, to students who were wanting and willing to learn in a different environment.  It was so successful, the administration decided that it was a good idea to offer hybrid/online classes this semester.

We learned a lot of information regarding the process and the tools that we used.  One big restriction we had needing to find tools that were free to allow the learning environment to happen.  We ended up using three different platforms:

• Google Drive:  Producing and sharing products
• Anymeeting:  Video Conferencing
• Engrade:  Online Grading

Of course, there were some issues, in particular to Anymeeting not necessarily working perfectly and Engrade not providing a seamless discussion board.  So, we went back to the drawing board.  Just about the time we were reevaluating, Google gave us the ability for students to have a Google+ account under our school Google accounts.  Thus, this semester we are getting our feet wet with having students use the Google Suite for the hybrid course.  (If things go well, we will open up the chat and video feature for all of our students).  This is what we plan on using:

• Google Drive:  Producing and sharing products
• Google+:  Receiving information regarding the class/collaborating
• Google Hangout:  Video Conferencing
• Gmail:  Direct correspondence
• Google Groups:  Discussion board
• Google Sites:  Display work for Digital Portfolio

To help assist students, I created documentations on using particular components of the Google Suite.  Feel free to use this documentation for yourself.

Creating/Sharing Google Docs

Creating Google+ Account

Google Hangout

Google Groups

We are very excited about the possibilities ahead of us.  Of course, we will have a better idea after the semester is over, whether or not our ideas were on track.  More to come at the end of the semester!