Physical and Virtual Spaces

                The main problem I am trying to resolve deals with mainstream students.  Considering I teach a core class in Social Studies, I feel this is the best possible way to influence the most students.  I really want to work on raising the level of student engagement in my classroom.  This is not an issue with just a certain segment of the students in my room. The issue tends to move around and settle within different groups at different times.  I am hoping by implementing a flipped classroom model I will be able to increase the level of buy-in within my room. 

                In order for my plan to work well I will need to bring in a functional team.. I would hope to bring in some fellow teachers from within my area of study to aid in the process.  I would also seek out the aid of teachers within the school who have used the flipped classroom in the past as a sounding board for ideas.  The majority of the workload would fall onto me.  Seeing as this change will deal almost exclusively with my classes and my room, I would be the leader of this group.  The idea would be to let my administration in on what is going on and the changes made, but they would be on the periphery. 

                The great part about introducing the flipped classroom is students are given some freedom to work on at their own pace when it comes to the online portion of the lessons.  I really like the idea of giving kids the choice to view lessons at their own pace and to choose the path they take viewing them.  That said, I am not totally looking to give up all of the control in my room as to the pace, which students operate.  As much as I enjoy the idea of freedom outside the class, I also like the idea of being able to have a place for them to return to as a collective group and holding them accountable for staying with the rest of the class.  Students are expected to return to class, which will provide them the opportunity to transition back to the collective pace.

                As a teacher the flipped classroom would allow me to facilitate learning in my room without using a majority of the time relaying information to students.  I would be able to provide tutoring and guidance in addition to the online learning.  Essentially, I would be there for students when they have any questions or concerns, while at the same time students have the ability to complete classwork in an environment, which provides structure and guidance.  By eliminating homework in its current form, I am able to provide a place for students to ask questions and get immediate feedback on their performance.  It real is a win-win scenario for both the kids and me.  I now longer have to worry about presenting information and making sure they are attentive during lectures, and students have the opportunity to avoid the stresses that come along with daily homework and scheduling time to get things done.

Class Set Up

                When it comes to how my classroom is going to look, there really will not be much change from its current set up. In my current classroom, I have roughly 25 desks and they are arrange in traditional rows.  I have experimented in the past with different ways to set them up, but with the amount of space and the configuration of the room, I always seem to bring the set up back to the one I have now.  I do have a classroom set of laptops I plan to employ when students may need them, although at the current time there is not a way for students to check them out to take home.  A lot of the flipped classroom relies on the idea students will have access to the internet at their homes.  While I know there are students who fall into this category, I plan to be as accommodating as I can when it comes to students who need to use time in school to view videos.  There is a computer lab in addition to the cart in my room and we have seminar everyday if needed to catch up on lessons they may have missed. 

                Luckily, as I alluded to in the previous paragraph I do have the luxury of a cart of Chromebooks in my classroom.  There are 25 computers in the cart and my largest class contains 25 students, so the numbers work out well. This gives me the ability to provide enough computers for my students throughout the class period.  I am going to have to rely on the tools students have in their possession for watching videos outside of the classroom.  The best thing about much of the technology today is the fact most students can watch video on their phones anywhere they are and for those students, who may have difficulty finding a way to view the videos, simply letting me know and I can easily give them other options.

               

                

Improving Student Motivation

                When it comes to making sure my students find jot in their learning as a teacher I will need to raise the level of student engagement and buy in within my classroom.  For my students to be have the best opportunity to learn and enjoy the learning process, it is necessary for me to find ways to engage them on a level I currently have trouble getting them to.  I have found success building relationships with my students through interaction on a number of different levels.  The first way to I optimize the relationships in the room is to engage with my students in the classroom.  The second is by finding different interests they may have and talking with them about them in a genuinely interested way. 

                I think with all teachers there are times and situations in which we could effectively engage our students on a higher level.  My classroom is no different.  I am constantly trying to find new ways to work with my students, and still fall short on occasion.  Simply moving around the room and making sure they are on task helps some of the kids.  I also do a very good job of using eye contact during class discussions to help kids feel as if they are part of the class.  The real struggle comes when some of my go to techniques fail, and students just do not get into what we are doing.  The one thing I need to improve on that would do the most good would be making my lessons and goals more transparent.  There are times when I do a very good job of communicating these ideas to my students, but just not on a consistent enough basis. The video below is pretty simplistic, but does a good job of talking about some of the things I struggle with in my room at times as far as getting students to engage in the learning process.

                I really believe by using blended learning my students would have a better understanding of what it is I am asking of them.  For example, by using a flipped classroom model students would be able to view lesson materials on their own time, giving them an opportunity to control when and where they learn the material.  Through this method, students would also be able to watch lessons multiple times in order to have the material make sense.  In the classroom, the students can engage inn work and ask questions throughout the process.  Having time in class, which is not solely dedicated to information gathering, allows more time to understand what exactly I am wanting out of them in the lesson.  There is more time dedicated to asking questions and filtering through information they have watched outside of the classroom.  This style of learning opens the learning environment up so thoughts and ideas are freely exchanged.  Through the blended learning environment, I will be better able to give my students to opportunity to understand what the expectations are in my room.  The flipped classroom also gives me the opportunity to be more of a facilitator in the classroom rather the using the time giving information through differing techniques.