I, like most of us educators, have learned a lot about the flipped classroom idea. I admit when I first studied this idea, I was marveled and excited!! Yes, Dan Pink - you are a genius! Instead of lecturing during class time and assigning a bunch of homework...then woops the bell rings, he says, "Let's turn this upside down." Sending home things in advance such as videos, tutorials, and lectures is a brilliant idea! Thank you Dan and many teachers thank you too. But, and here is the big but, it is my opinion that is not the best choice for the population that is special education. Students with IEP’s have IEP’s for a reason. They are by and large NOT independent learners and they DO need lots of one on one attention. Instruction in the moment and not at home, matters. I played around with some flipped classroom ideas, sent home a few things, and hoped for the best. It was a bust. Primarily, it just created more worry and angst with my students then they were already feeling. For students with special needs, and really for all little ones, flipped is a flop.
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This one is short - I have been reading - a bunch of reading. Mertler's Action Research is so good and thorough. I feel humbled and basically realize how much I still need to learn. I have been "rapping" with my son who is 19. He hates when I say "rapping" but I use this word with him simply because it bothers him - ha. I said, "Hey Connor, let's discuss the difference between quantitative and qualitative analysis." He nailed it. I was proud of him. Me, on the other hand, was not as sure. I can really relate to what Mertler claims on page 173: “After having gathered potentially voluminous amounts of qualitative data, the practitioner researcher may feel a bit overwhelmed by the task that lies ahead, as it can seem a monumental undertaking.” Uh, YEAH. This relates to me and how I am feeling right now. I have a long way to go but as it stands, I am trying to put things in categories. How effective are my strategies? Is my sample enough? Am I collecting the right kinds of data to answer my questions?? I am still in PLANNING I should be farther along in ACTING I am not sure what to do with DEVELOPING I am looking forward to REFLECTING Thank you Zaretta Hammond for the lessons I learned tonight. After a Biden win and then today a Raider’s win, I have been feeling super upbeat. I enjoyed this blog experience thanks to Zaretta and...other factors. Culturally responsive teaching is exactly what we ALL need to do. Memo to me - keep this phrase written down and kept nearby.
1. Build authentic relationships. They are the on-ramp to engagement and learning. There is a trust factor here. My students come to me with a brand new IEP (usually) and they are wondering why they have to see me and sometimes, when can they get back to class. I work hard from minute ONE to build a relationship. They need to trust me. Ours is a safe relationship. 2. Use the brain's memory systems for deeper learning. Connecting new content through music, movement, and visuals strengthens the neural pathways for comprehension. A waldorf school is a sometimes frustrating yet useful environment! Music, movement, and visuals are what we do. Heart, head, and hands. And when we teach, we let it sit - an important pathway to comprehension. 3. Acknowledge diverse students' stress response from everyday micro-aggressions and help calm the brain. OK, not my forte, but this is interesting. I am reading that stress responses can be complex and numerous. Culturally responsive teaching can incorporate something as simple as asking how things went at home. Another memo to me: bridge the GAP between the student and myself - look for, ask for, investigate, try harder! There is little trust if I do not begin to understand their own personal ties to culture. 4. Use ritual, recitation, repetition, and rhythm as content processing power tools. And an incredible way to teach rote memorization. Boring stuff like multiplication facts. Set to music or rhythm and you can set the tone for years of automatic understanding. 5. Create a community of learners by building on students’ values of collaboration and connection. It creates intellectual safety, reducing stereotype threat. Teachers inherently build on their connections with their students. I think of little ants who climb on each other to create a bridge. We are always the ants - masterfully stretching, connecting, and sharing our strengths with other educators, in hopes to reach our students. There is a lot of trust there. If I can go home that day knowing that there was a kiddo who trusted me or even another teacher in a significant way, then I feel a connection was made. Just a little strand maybe, but a connection. Our students deserve this. This Blog unfortunately is being rewritten on a Google Doc in hopes that I can copy and paste it into my weebly blog page. I will not be able to trust weebly again. I wrote my blog tonight and did a damn good job - outlining all the videos and how it tied into my teaching. It was only one and half hours of typing but still. When I went to click SAVE, it erased the whole paper. GONE.
So, I will try to remember what I wrote and it may not be half the work I had produced previously. Sour grapes, sorry. Seely Brown main idea: 21st century challenge is preparing our students for this world of constant change. We need to rethink HOW we learn, WHAT we need to learn, and how MEDIA has changed the game. My favorite part is when he said, “There is no better way to learn than having to explain it to someone.” Howard Gardner main idea: outlines specific cognitive abilities that will be sought by leaders. Disciplinary Mind, Synthesizing Mind, Creating Mind, Respectful Mind, and Ethical Mind. Dan Pink main idea: Motivating students is not a way of higher rewards or larger incentives, in fact that can lead to poorer performance. Motivating students is intrinsic and comes from within. Students must do what excites them and what makes them feel like they are making a difference. Sir Robinson was OFFLINE all Sunday evening so I could not watch him. I loved the man I consider a genius - Louis Mobley. He taught his employees to think creatively and not just “read financials”. His school was built on six insights: traditional teaching methods are useless, “unlearning”, we must become creative, you can’t learn it, hang out with creative people (my favorite), creativity is connected to self-knowledge, and he gave his students permission to be wrong! I have tied many of these men’s methodologies into my teaching - maybe just not near as well as they have done. As I try to incorporate the 4 C’s, just as all these men have, I am learning that there is so much more for me to grasp. I incorporate critical thinking in my lessons as much as I can but sometimes, I just have to get a kiddo to understand that when C and H are together they make only one sound. What I can honestly say I understand and have demonstrated to my students over the years is that it is OK to be wrong. I ENCOURAGE it. This is how we learn. Mistakes get a big WOOP from me! Arms waving and everything. Mistakes are actually opportunities. I incorrectly assumed that there would not be a huge host of seminal authors in regards to my Driving Question. There are thousands of articles and even more "pieces" to be found on the internet. One could look in the Napa Marketplace Magazine for goodness sakes, and find things written that pertains to my DQ. My unsurety here as I write this is, "Are these truly seminal authors?" My DQ for those of you who can not and would not want to keep up with the many times I have changed it, is this: How can we support learning and well-being during Covid for our students with mild/moderate disabilities?
A few of the chosen ones: 1. Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet 2020;395:912-920. BIG IDEA: Understanding the psychological impact of quarantine. Further, " ...officials should quarantine individuals for no longer than required, provide clear rationale for quarantine and information about protocols, and ensure sufficient supplies are provided." MY THOUGHT: Of Course! 2. Betty Pfefferbaum, M.D., J.D., and Carol S. North, M.D., M.P.E. Mental Health and the Covid-19 Pandemic. New England Journal of Medicine. BIG IDEA: the major stressors that undoubtedly will contribute to widespread emotional distress and increased risk for psychiatric illness associated with Covid-19. Further, ...conflicting messages from authorities are a big factor. MY THOUGHT: YES! I agree! 3. Huang, R.H., Liu, D.J., Tlili, A., Yang, J.F., Wang, H.H., et al. (2020). Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning During Educational Disruption: The Chinese Experience in Maintaining Undisrupted Learning in COVID-19 Outbreak. Beijing: Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University. BIG IDEA: Online learning strategies. Further, this handbook is from China and perhaps it is not scholarly enough but it is extremely enlightening. MY THOUGHT: Always so much to learn from other countries. 4. Garbe, A., Ogurlu, U., Logan, N., & Cook, P. (2020). Parents’ Experiences with Remote Education during COVID-19 School Closures. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 4(3), 45-65. BIG IDEA: This study aimed to investigate parents’ experiences and struggles during school closure using an online survey. Further, and surprisingly, many parents were satisfied! MY THOUGHT: There is a lot to learn from this. “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must we want for all children in the community. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy” - John Dewey Chapter 9 Linda Darling Hammond - so many thought provoking ideas and ones that make so much sense...but how does this even happen?
High and equitably achieving nations would benefit from and require the following elements: Meaningful learning goals Intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems equitable and adequate resources strong professional standards and supports schools organized for students and teacher learning First, I would like to address the quote (and my silly picture) from Dewey. It never ends - as a parent, I am usually on top of my kids' learning, their assignments, their grades, their feelings with regards to fairness and equity, and their difficulties (if any) with learning. I am the staunch and resolute educational advocate and it is sometimes a joy for my kids and OK - more often than not, it is a pain in the neck for them. It is not always the delight of the student to have their mom or dad, who happens to be an educator, watching their many moves. I am trying to tone it down a bit, thank you for reminding me. There is a rich contrast between Bush Senior's six national goals and what Darling-Hammond is arguing for. Bush' ideas look absolutely fantastic on paper! And he had a lot of people of board - with the exception of educators! Is it really the teacher's fault if test scores are consistently in the tank in certain geographical areas? Wouldn't one look at equity in all circumstances, which might lend light to this issue? To "equalize access to education al opportunity" would be an educators dream come true but maybe even more important to the parent, whose child is underserved. So, in my opinion, when studying these five principals, I feel #3, is far and away the most important and the ideal that has the most consequences. As a special educator, I am always trying to understand the best way to "level the playing field" for my students. They need adequate opportunities to learn what everyone else is learning. I don't intend to give them the advantage over others, just help them ingest academic material in a way that works for their learning style. In tandem with this equity is the need for rigorous and sensible preparedness for the educators. The training should never cease. Our students' futures are depending on this. UNFORTUNATELY, I have changed my driving question. It is a bummer because I have to rewrite my ARP, AND try to make it better than before! I kind of feel like I wasted many weeks of summer classes where I worked many hours to get where I "got". The good news, is that I now have a driving question that is actually way more interesting to me, and is more narrow in scope, resulting in a better, more measurable research piece. Which brings me to my research I am now (sort of) conducting. Mostly I am looking up journal articles on the net but will dive into the Touro library of course. One thing I have learned - thank you Dr. Redmond, is that for every journal article and of course book, there are like 30 great...GREAT references at the end. Those references are gold. I am looking to find "seminal" authors, ones that come up again and again. So far, without doing library searches, I am learning a great deal from the YouthTruth Survey, where 20,000 students weighed in on well-being and learning during Covid. This is something I am very excited to learn more about. It is what we are ALL interested in right now. Are our kids learning? Are they well...on the inside, forget about the face they are putting on. The more I look into student well-being, the more I am interested in my research. Today I created my first survey for my students. I tested it on my own kids and they gave good feedback. "Mom, you're on to something, but I didn't understand the last question." Much more to do!
Clearly, if one took the time to read through my blogs for the last many weeks including summer time, one would realize that I have changed my driving question a few times. Well, here I go again. I worry not, as I understand and take comfort in the fact that this cohort is keeping it real, and not judging me! I will be including more information and insight into the 4 C's and TPACK in the coming assignments. I am feeling...overwhelmed. I am feeling...exhilarated. I am feeling...tired of zooming. I am feeling...unfulfilled. Lastly, I am feeling...like I can't wait to start my journey with my new DQ - beginning with a survey of my students and families.
I can identify with the ACOT research project. I feel I am past Stage 1 - Entry. I am somewhere in Stage 2 - Adoption. This is very likely NOT where much of the cohort is but I have been behind the times working for 12 years at a non-digital school. I am struggling (not complaining mind you) to make up time. I DO feel that my school aligns with something I am re-reading from Linda Darling-Hammond (pg. 65): "Research suggests that successful new models of schooling require strong teacher faculties who work in organizational structures that create more coherence and a "communal" orientation, in which staff see themselves as part of a family and work together to create a caring environment." My school is not strong on tech tools but we are strong on family and creating a caring environment. My U-Turn will be encompassing the 4 C's in my action research, and moving into the ACOT Stage 5 - Innovation! I have a lot of work to do. Please do not laugh at me. I am doing a 180 on my driving question! My new thinking is: How does interaction with a pet improve student behavior and performance?
So this is a far cry from my last question, which mind you, I spent 8 straight weeks working on. In my vast experience with distance learning thus far, it came clear to me that a few weeks in and as families sheltered at home, many adopted a new pet. Typical zoom session at the beginning: "Hi Johnny! Is that a new doggie in your lap?" "Yes, Mrs. Flynn! His name is Walter and he is a cockapoo. We got him last week!" And on and on it went. I had EIGHT families with a new pet during shelter in place in the spring. It was a big, interesting, and much needed conversation between myself, my students, and often their moms, who were usually close by. Hmm. How might this new friend make a difference in student performance - either at home or in the classroom (whenever that happens)? This is really intriguing to me. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I think I am kinda excited about this. Class pet experiences, anyone? Last semester, the 4C's were more of a cool graphic on our Touro website than an idea. Now, I have been referring to it, beginning to understand its relevance, and excited to see how this theory plays out in all the work I do from here forward. I watched MANY videos this week. Some were inspiring, such as the one on the Culture of Critique, on which I discussed in my very short video presentation. This video encompasses so much of what we teachers need to understand about our future 21st century kiddos: they are so smart, so savvy, and so ready to embrace the culture of the 4C's. If we can consistently, through out the grades and across curriculum's, establish a culture where we are creating together, critiquing each other in a kind and meaningful, collaborating on assignments, and using our critical thinking skills, we can then expect our students to become actively engaged, problem-solving young men and women. The video that also caught my eye, and my heart strings was, A Vision from Today's Students. NOT what I was expecting. I showed it to my 16 year old daughter, and not surprisingly, she quietly nodded in agreement throughout the whole thing. These particular students are not engaged, not feeling particularly interested in the curriculum or the way it is presented, feel the sting of too much homework, not enough sleep, wondering why they are constantly tested, and how much of that will be relevant in their adult lives. These two important videos portray very different ideas and are both extremely timely. How WILL we create a culture of the 4C's across all districts for all learners? It is not near enough to just put a laptop into every student's hands - that is standard stuff these days. It all comes down to well-researched, powerful instruction by educators, where we teach problem solving, how to collaborate with all types of students and in all types of situations, how to give and receive critiques, and all the while communicating and thinking critically.
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Kathy FlynnAlways hoping, learning, and wondering...how am I making a difference in my student's lives? Archives
April 2021
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