How to Start the Year in a Flipped Class Episode 40
00:00:00 Jon Bergmann: Welcome to another edition of the Reach Every Student podcast. This is John Bergmann, your host. Today I want to talk about how I start out my year. So today is the second day of school with students here at my school. And I, of course, teach in a flipped classroom model. And I thought I would give you some advice about things that you may want to consider as you start a flipped class. so this is going to be a series of just quick tips that I have picked up over the years, not just for me, but for many other amazing educators. So the first thing I have done, by the way, is I created a video that is my syllabus class procedures video. And I sent that home to my students actually before school started and encouraged them to watch it before school ever started. We had email addresses and I sent them to their emails. Not every student, by the way, watched the video, and that's okay. But I had a high percentage of them. And then when I see my students on the second day, then we're going to just discuss it. So instead of me like going over procedures and all that kind of stuff, that's kind of boring. On the first day of class, we actually did an experiment. I wanted them to get active in their learning and to enjoy the time, connect with me, connect with their fellow peers. Secondarily, I also made a parent video where I explained how the class operates, what a flipped classroom is, and I will be sending that out today because today is now the second day of school, and the parents now know that I'm their son or daughter's teacher. And so I have made a video and in the show notes, I'll put links to these two videos, the student video and the parent video to give you a sense of what they look like. That might be helpful to you, but they're like ten minute videos each something in that ballpark. And I am explaining, you know why I teach the way I do? I use what I would argue are the three most important graphics as you discuss flipped classroom to teachers or to parents or to students. And those are very useful. They're just Bloom's Taxonomy done three ways. Second point, besides communication to parents and students, the second thing is super, super, super important that you teach the students how to watch the videos. If you're going to flip with videos, I will flip, by the way, with videos and with text. So it's not just videos, but particularly with videos. And this may sound weird, students don't know how to watch videos now. They are really good at watching a TikTok video or, you know, Facebook Reels or whatever it might be. They're very good at those kinds of videos, but those are like dopamine hits right quick, quick, quick. And they swipe, swipe, swipe. We need them to watch slowly for content acquisition and they need to pause. Consider et cetera. ET cetera, et cetera. And so one thing that I will be doing with my students, uh, tomorrow is I'm on a block schedule. So I see my first group of students yesterday. My second my second first day is today, I guess. And then tomorrow I will get my first group back again. And then. So tomorrow, instead of the students like watching a video at home though, they watch the syllabus video at home. The first content video we will watch together. Now when I say together, I mean together in the room simultaneously, but not like on the screen. I don't want them to watch the video as a total group, but individually and I will have. I've already created graphic organizers for them to take notes in their, um, on papers that I'll be handing out. Actually, I do a packet, so I have a packet that has, uh, all the activities. So I'll have the graphic organizers. I have, questions to interact with, worksheets, if you will. And I have experiments in that write up. So it's a packet. So I'll have say in one class ten or eleven packets. Another seven or eight depends over the course of the school year. And then we work through that packet. I'm still a believer in paper, so I'm going to have them watch the video in class. But my role your role if you do this, is to walk around the room and help kids and watch them take notes. And you're going to quickly realize who needs more assistance in this. And I'm going to be trying to check and find out which students are struggling making note of these things. And by the way, while they're watching this, I'm also doing something else. I am memorizing their names because it's a quiet time where they're working on a video. They've got a I don't know, it's a twelve minute video, depending on which class, and they're going to be watching this. And then I'm walking around and I'm trying to connect with them, uh, on an individual level, because it's so important. Again, I've said this a million times, but if you haven't heard me say this, I believe what makes good teaching good is active learning and relationships, and I want to establish that relationship early on. And actually, another tip lots of things in my head. Second thing I did with my students on the first day I did it yesterday I did today is I assigned what I call the selfie video. And we have a platform where students can record a video, and I just want them to just tell me a few things about themselves. And I have like a just turn on a webcam and then tell me kind of who they are, kind of what they're into. So there they love basketball, or they love a debate team or singing or also I, I ask them to tell me, is there something you want to tell me? Is there a family situation going on that you feel like you need to tell me? There's a certain learning way. I hate the word learning style, but there's a certain way that I learn better. maybe I have a seating chart. Maybe you sat me next to my worst enemy, and that's not going to work out, so I will. I will watch those, In fact, right after recording this podcast, I'm going to write those and I'm going to watch the ones from yesterday. And I'm going to take notes in like a Google spreadsheet thing or something, and I'm going to then print that out. And then when I'm walking around tomorrow in, the students are watching the videos. What I will do is I will not only work on their names, I'll say, all right, this kid is the basketball kid. And then when I have more individual time, I'll say, how did the game go? Or, you know, tell me more about your basketball or whatever. You know, whatever is their thing. I want to connect with them and I genuinely want to know them. But I, you know, I don't know them. Most of these students are brand new to me. so number one was communication with students and parents kind of the syllabus thing. Number two was teach them how to watch. Number three, you need to explicitly teach them how to learn in a flipped class. Now let me say something really, really important. I have seen this derail flipped classrooms over and over again. Here's the message you should not send. Do not tell them. Hey, guys, this year we're going to be trying out a new method. And it's an experiment. And I'm going to see if it works. No no no no no no no no. You're going to say this year we will be flipping the class or we will flip a number of lessons. We will sometimes use flip classroom method by the flipped classroom doesn't mean something you have to do every single day. You could do it just a few lessons per unit or something like that. And it's super important that you message that this is a proven method that works. And I'm planning to teach you how to use this method and you will be successful. Uh, one thing I've seen with some students over the years is sometimes they'll complain that they're not learning well, and they might be struggling, and some students are genuinely they struggle in my class. Okay. But what I've also found is that they will say, I can't learn this way. Then they blame Flip classroom for their lack of progress. But what they don't know is that I've taught forever And so I teach physics and geology and chemistry. And do you know that physics has always been a hard class? And so it's chemistry. And what I've found that over the years is that I know that when kids are in a flip classroom, more of them will succeed, less of them will struggle. But for the kid who's struggling, they're looking for something to blame and they blame. Flipped classroom and flip classroom is not necessarily the problem. Now, if you're doing it poorly, then yeah, that there could be some issues. And by the way, if you're doing it poorly or you feel like you're really struggling with flipped classroom, remember that I have on my website. I have some very short like two hour mini courses on the best practices of flipped learning. And most teachers who've taken those courses have found them revelatory is they realize, oh, I've been doing a few things wrong. So and I'm really some of this content as I'm sharing on this podcast or things you would find in that course. So I encourage you to go to John Bergmann dot com and check that out. So number one is messaging matters in terms of how to explicitly teach them. Now secondarily, you need to emphasize their role at home. What I mean by that is it's super important that you really sell, sell, sell. Hear me? the pre-work, because the whole thing falls apart if they don't do the pre-work. And so you've got to say, hey, guys, we're learning this way and this is why we're learning this way. and yet you have a role. And if you don't fulfill that role, you will not be successful. And I want you to be successful. So you need to emphasize how important is that? They do their part at home. All right. Related to that is another part of that message as I talked to them about that when they're at home, there is no expectation that they master the material. I'm not expecting them to, like, completely understand how to do this type of physics problem or all the ins and outs of this type of volcano. You see, this is where, actually, this is where I think I can help. So one part of the message I haven't I haven't said this yet. I'm waiting until tomorrow to do this, but I will tell them, hey, if you watch my video on whatever and you're still struggling, here's where I'm going to encourage them to ask. I to just put a prompt in. I am studying XYZ and I need some help. I still don't understand ABC. Whatever it is and have I jump in and tutor them if they feel like the content was unclear or what part of it was unclear? And so that's going to be a new message I've never done before. So I guess I'll tell you how it goes. Uh, and then I also will teach them that there is a, there is a mini lecture and maybe you haven't heard this. This is one of the best practices of flipped learning is at the end of every class, or at least at the end of a class where they have pre-work to do, whether that's a video or a reading. I am going to do a preview. By the way, this idea is not, uh, from me. This came from Doctor Helene Marshall, who invented the Sofla method of flipped learning. It's the synchronous online flipped learning approach, where she teaches flipped learning in an online setting. She's brilliant. And so at the end of the class, I will set an alarm on my phone and then I will say, oop, it's time everything goes away. And now I'm going to say, hey, in tonight's video, we're going to learn about this or that. What I'm doing during that time is I am selling the video. I'm trying to encourage them to do it, but and I'm going to give them a little teaching. But what I really like to do is also I'm trying to reduce their cognitive load. And so what I'm doing there is I'm going to like, you know, maybe there's one word that's very difficult to understand. So the first video is my physics students are going to watch has to do with something called a vector. A vector has magnitude and direction. And it's a confusing topic. And so I'm really going to teach it in. And again three minutes. This is not I'm not lecturing but I'm it's a mini lecture if you will. I'm going to give them a quick preview. So when they watch it the second time, that will help them. So I'm reducing cognitive load. So they're going to hear it from me. They're going to hear it then I mean in class they're going to hear it from me in this video or in this reading. And then that's going to be it. And that's those touch points really make it work. In fact, one uh, one researcher doctor Hadi, uh, John. John Hadi. Yeah. his most recent, book on visible learning, he talked about flipped learning. And he hypothesized that the reason flipped learning works is because you get multiple touch points. And by doing the preview, I'm adding one more touch point for students. They get to see the content multiple times. All right. So what were my tips. Tip number one was communication. That's the syllabus and the parent communication. Tip number two teach them how to watch. Tip number three explicitly teach them how to watch. And uh I think what I'll close with is actually two more things. So what I'm going to close with is I'm just going to give you kind of my daily routine. Now, this is not been established yet. It'll happen in the days to come. I'm trying to build them up to this. So what happens in a typical day of a flipped class? The first thing I will do is I have an icebreaker. This is about relationship building. It has nothing to do with what I teach science. I ask him a question like, for example, the question of yesterday and today, since we're on the block is what was your favorite toy as a child? And then I reveal to them that as a child I had these little green army men, you know, like think Toy Story. And I tell them a little story and we laugh a little bit, and then the students, then I, and this is how I take attendance, I'll say, and I'm learning their names at the same time, I'll say, and Susie and Jose and they each answer the question, what's your favorite toy? And I have a list. Feel free to email me or something. I have two hundred and fifty, I don't know questions that I've garnered over the years, and I'll just pull up a question every day to ask the kids. I did not get this idea myself. I actually stole it from my amazing, amazing children who are both teachers. My daughter Katie was the one who came up with the idea the daily question. Anyways, icebreaker number one. Number two I will review last night's pre-work. So there's going to be some pre-work. And I'm going to say what did you not understand. What did you struggle with. And we'll just have a brief moment. I will also be checking to see who did or didn't, do the pre-work. So make sure you have a system in place, and I will have a little chat with those who have not done the pre-work. And, you know, some of my kids won't. And I'm going to have chats with them and I assign points. We could all talk about that later. And then, uh, so icebreaker and then review last night's and then I'll have some activity. I don't, you know, the activity might be in my class, might be an experiment. I might simply them working on some problems. In some classes it'll be more of group activities. Sometimes it'll be group discussions. I mean, it's all the good teacher stuff you've always done. Uh, but lots of times to do activity, whatever that might be. And then I will close out the class with the preview of that night's pre-work, whether it's a video or a reading. And so, yeah, lots of ways to think about. It's important that you intentionally flip your class or start. So it's important that you are more intentional about how you start a flipped classroom. Because right now I'm building culture. I'm trying to build a culture of learning in a certain way, and I have to train the students up on how to do it. And it is so important to do that. Right. And even if you're going to flip a lesson or two or, you know, when I say a lesson or two, maybe two lessons, a unit, when you do flip classroom stuff, make sure you build that culture in for your students. So I hope this has been helpful for you and maybe a little late. I'm going to try and get this out right away, because some of you have started the year like I have, and I just thought, man, this would be helpful for a lot of you. And some of you still haven't started the school year, so I hope this has been helpful. anyways. Yeah, this is John Burgman. I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast on your podcast feeds. Uh, go to John Burgman dot com or the actual website for the podcast is Reach every Student Comm. So go to reach every student comm. You might notice that I've got these courses I encourage you to think about taking. Those have a great start to the year. It's always exciting. I was at the gym this morning. Free free comment here I was at the gym this morning talking to my friends and I said, you know what? One of the benefits of what I do is I get a fresh start every year. And they all looked at me and said, oh yeah, yeah, one guy's a doctor and another guy works in oil or whatever. And they said, yeah, my job just it keeps going, but I get to start new, build new culture. And as an extra work, of course it is.
00:16:09 Jon Bergmann: But all the mistakes I made last year, I can like, forget and let's start afresh. What a great profession we have. And so I encourage you to go out and reach every student because each student matters. Have a great, great start to your year.
