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http://stillwatergazette.co m/2013/06/19/educato rs-flip-at-sessio n/

Educators flip at session

By Avery Cropp on June 19, 2013 at 11:49 am

Teachers teach teachers about flipped learning OAK PARK HEIGHT S Teachers and administrators f rom the U.S. and other nations were in the St. Croix Valley this week learning how to implement a new way of classroom teaching into their classrooms. T he sixth Annual Flipcon f lipped learning conf erence that ran Monday through today shows teachers how to use f lipped learning. Most do it with video content that students can view either in or out of class in place of a classroom lecture. Af ter watching the video, students return to the classroom and teachers can of f er in-depth answers to students questions. T he f lipped classroom concept caters to Aaro n Sams p o s e fo r a p ic ture afte r the ir ke yno te ad d re s s . (G az e tte s taff p ho to b y Ave ry Cro p p ) individualized and personalized learning f or students. T he videos allow students to learn at their own pace. If students dont understand something, they can back up the video and hear it again or re-learn some concepts giving them trouble. T hen if students still have questions, they can talk with their teacher during their lesson while they do what would be classif ied as homework. In essence it takes the classroom idea of kids watching a teacher work to teachers watching how kids work. Independent School District 834 Coordinator of Educational Innovation and Technology Mike Dronen organized this years Flipcon13 meeting at Stillwater Area High School that had 1,000 people virtually and physically attending the conf erence. T his is the sixth annual event and the people who attend are, in general, f olks that want to move f orward and teach their kids in new ways. T his staf f that attend this event are some of the most innovative staf f around the country and the world, Dronen said. Conf erence participants were f rom more than 10 countries. Attendees also included f lipped learning pioneers and keynote speakers Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, who started the technique about six years ago at their school, Woodland Park High School in Colorado. T he two men never expected their idea to get this big. We were just doing what we were doing. We didnt know that wed be speaking to 1,000 people. We call it the sixth annual conf erence, but our f irst workshop was 20 people who asked to learn more. Its just grown exponentially since then, Bergmann said. T he pair started the idea by creating videos f or students to watch outside of class that served as their
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lecture, then using their f ace-to-f ace classroom time with students more ef f ectively by having time to answer students questions and doing less lecturing. T hey added that f lipped learning comes in many dif f erent f orms. Teachers dont have to do a complete classroom f lip, but they encouraged people to try it with one lesson or one unit to see how it works f or them. T hey cautioned, however, that it wasnt easy to win kids over to the idea at f irst. T he biggest challenge I f aced was helping students learn how to learn actively. T heyre great at playing school, going in, passively listening and working just enough to get the letter grade their parents wanted f rom them to keep them of f their backs, Sams said. T here was a lot of push back at f irst and it was hard to struggle through the process, but it benef ited my students in the long run. A session about f lipped learning in a diverse classroom was presented Tuesday by a Swedish team of educators. T here were various conf erence sessions covering a wide variety of topics over three days. T he educators f rom Sweden, Erica Eklof and Johanna Kristensson, work in an education resource area/agency that serves various schools in Halmstad, Sweden. T hey said that the f lipped classroom experience could be an ef f ective tool f or language comprehension and literacy. In our experience, weve learned that students who have the hardest time in school are the ones with he largest amount of homework at home. Homework isnt really ef f icient and it has little ef f ect on the achievement. Also those students go home and dont understand what they need to do with their homework. If you use the f lipped classroom as a tool to help some of these students it could help them going f orward, since theyd learn in a dif f erent way, Eklof said. Although the f lipped classroom is just beginning in Sweden, Eklof and Kristensson said it has advantages f or parents and students. Eklof said it helped her daughter with math because she could go back and review the videos and really know the concepts. Kristensson added that a f lipped classroom also benef its parents trying to help their kids with homework. To be able to see what your kids are being taught is very helpf ul and makes it easier f or parents to help out, Kristensson said. When it came to the conf erence, Eklof and Kristensson said it was wonderf ul. Its just great, Kristensson said. Really inspirational, Eklof added. It gives us exactly what we need. It gives us some knowledge to bring back home, share with teachers, and improve our classes, Kristensson added. We came with our bosses and theyre already making plans about how to do more of this in Sweden, Eklof said. Tags: Featured