Session 6 “The Flipped Classroom and CBL Assignment

“We need to think differently.

 

What if we focused our energy not on test scores and rankings but on engaging students in their work? What if their work was more than facts and formulas as presented in books, but relevant to the world they see? What if rather than trying to teach them problem solving, we actually encouraged them to take on problems that needed solving? Rather than teaching them a science curriculum, what if we opened the door for them to do science?”

The paragraph above hit the nail on the head for me.  After reading in detail about Challenge Based Learning or CBL and flipping the classroom, I most definitely confident that both will in fact increase student motivation. With the flipped classroom, students’ motivation will be increased due to the fact that class time is reserved for collaborative work and concept mastery exercises.  For example, students won’t get as frustrated nor give up on homework so easily because in flipped classrooms homework is worked on in class and since the students watch the lectures at home at their own pace; teachers have more time to explain difficult concepts in class.  I also believe the flipped classroom will motivate students because students will receive instant feedback from their teachers and peers via online discussions after watching the lectures or lesson introduction.  Engagement takes place in the class because students will be learning through the activities completed in class.  This mere fact will motivate students to want to come to class to participate in the hands on learning experience instead of the traditional lecture and activities assigned individually as homework. 

CBL will motivate and benefit students to because of the up-to-date technology tools (web 2.0) and resources they will have access to which leverage the technology they use in their daily lives and the fact that CBL topics are relevant to the students.  CBL focuses on real world problems and address local challenges that are impacting neighborhoods, communities, and the world.  Students participating in CBL will benefit from it because the workflow of CBL mirrors the 21st century workplace, students are given enough space to be creative and self directed, students get to showcase their natural abilities and skills that are suitable to work on a team, and students will get to participate and collaborate on a project which will get published.  CBL develops 21st century skills and helps students to master multidisciplinary concepts.

My music, choir, and AVID classes could most certainly benefit from being flipped and/or working on CBL.  I can see my students being engaged, solving real-world issues, and being very collaborative, which they already are. I am going to definitely consider these two concepts when I set out to design my next unit.  I am envisioning my kids right now (7th and 8th graders, mostly) putting their investigative skills to great use trying to solve a real world problem.  I am yet unsure if this is something all of my 6th graders would be able to handle.  My 6th graders can be quite teacher dependent but this can be a launching pad to wean them away from that.  I can definitely say these concepts will be used in my AVID curriculum.  This is exactly what our students at MIT need.  We are a technology based school, yet we do not use all avenues of tech that we could potentially be using.  These concepts also sound very similar to the direction in which MIT was heading (PBL) prior to our current administration, which now seems to be standards and teaching to the test driven.  Albeit some teachers, myself included, still incorporate projects and cross curricular units into their lessons which do cover content standards but CBL could really assist with students mastering content material at the same time addressing community issues and needs and students taking ownership of a project or challenge self and group guided by the students and not the teachers.

Session 5 Homework

Sebastian Seung: I Am My Connectome

Seung focuses his work on the brain and connections of your neurons.  The following book title is what fueled his research and study; “Guys’ Brains Are Like Waffles-they keep their lives compartmentalized in boxes.  Girls’ Brains Are Like Spaghetti-everything in their life is connected to everything else.” Seung believes that it doesn’t matter if you are a male or female, everyone’s brain is connected (one neuron connected to many other neurons due to synapses).  As for connectomes or memories are concerned, the mere act of thinking can change your connectome; neural activity/consciousness can change the connectome. By more studies and research, Seung also believes connectomes will help us see miss-wiring of the brain and other mental disorders. 

John Seeley Brown: A New Culture of Learning

Seeley Brown stated the 21st century infrastructure is driven by the continual exponential advances of computation, storage, and bandwidth, with no stability in sight.  Seeley Brown also gave us as teachers and as we prepare our students a 21st century challenge; “for this world of constant change, perhaps we need to rethink how we actually learn – especially the tacit, what we need to learn, and how new media has changed the game in fundamental ways.”  Us as teachers and a society should afford students and kids curiosity via mobile devices, such as iPods, iPads, iPhones, because these devices are curiosity amplifiers.  Seeley Brown was very passionate about allowing kids to play video games which are tools to allow kids to become knowledgeable by blending the tacit learner with cognitive learning.  Seeley Brown used the expression “We participate, therefore we are!”  He also believes as educators we should instill the quest to always become a lifelong learner in our students because knowledge is constantly changing.

Howard Gardner: Five Minds of the Future

Gardner talks about the five minds of the future.  I especially connected with the third mind which is the creative mind; this is the mind that does something new and thinks outside the box. It is imperative to go beyond the known in this computer age.  Getting kids to think outside the box pushes them to deal with things that do not always work out and to try them again; this is how kids become creative.

Sir Ken Robinson: Challenges the way we’re educated out children (All Three Videos)

Robinson states that all kids have tremendous talents but we (educators) squander them.  Creativity is as important in education as is literacy.  Kids will take chances and are not frightened at being wrong.  “If you aren’t prepared to be wrong, you aren’t original.”  Many highly creative people think they aren’t brilliant because everything they were good at in school wasn’t valued. In school, students are steered away from things they won’t do later on in life like music to musician.  The current education system was designed and conceived for a different age; the intellectual culture of the enlightenment. Reform of the education system is not enough, there needs to be a revolution in education.  We are getting our children through education by anaesthetizing them when we should be waking them up to what’s inside of them. We need to begin teaching divergent thinking: an essential capacity for creativity.  The arts address aesthetic experiences.

Daniel Pink: The Surprising Science of Motivation

Pink stated we should believe in the power of incentives.  If you want people to perform better, you have to reward them.  Having autonomy, mastery, purpose, and engagement, self direction and creativity should increase motivation.

Analysis

As an educator, I believe with collaboration and engagement will come creativity, which are very crucial in the classroom and when engaging in Project Based Learning.  Whether students collaborate face-to-face or collaborate using such programs as Prezi or Google Docs/Google Presentation, students will be engaged and free to express their creativeness.  For instance, this past week I showed my classes the way I was taught by a friend how to save and upload a Wordle onto their blog page (yes, I have my students creating their own Weebly page dedicated to different genres of music) and while I was walking around the classroom helping a student, another student asked to show me another and much easier way to complete the same task I just showed them.  In another class period a different student showed me yet another easier and effective way to complete the very same task.  I firmly believe we should let our students amplify their curiosity and collaborate not only with their peers but us teachers every chance they get.

Teaching in the arts and having been trained in the arts and quite creative myself, I feel I have a slight advantage when it comes to allowing my students to be creative, express themselves, and to teach and motivate those few students who may need a little more encouragement to just simply let go!  I can and will enhance teaching to the students’ creativity once I implement Louis R. Mobley’s six insights to help your students think creatively, particularly insights four, five, and six; (4) hang around creative people (controlled chaos and unstructured environment where most benefits accrued through peer to peer interaction), (5) creativity is highly correlated with self-knowledge, and (6) give students permission to be wrong-make a fool out of themselves.  I feel that that some of these insights can be observed in my classroom weekly.  After I have introduced a new note, rhythm, and song, to the class as a whole, I give student practice time to work either independently, or with peer(s).  Several students and staff ask how I can concentrate with all the noise and chaos.  I simply tell them it’s not noise, the students are practicing with peers, receiving help and corrections by peers and myself and for the shy ones, they are playing while no one is judging them if they do make a mistake.  Allowing students to let loose for a while is needed as well as equitable.

Adaptation - Constructive Language Arts; Visualization and Characterization Videos

A.       The nature of this case study is to expose students infusing their technology class and Language Arts class through a video            in place of writing an essay which explores what they know and gathered from reading the novel “Tom Sawyer.”

B.      In the case study video students have written scripts for their student made film to depict what they learned from the novel.               The students are integrating each classmate’s ideas for the entire film.  The students themselves are portraying the actual              characters in the novel.

C.      While viewing this case study I have come to realize although students have read the same literature either in out loud in                   class or individually, each child’s interpretation of the same scene or passage can differ from one another.  I have also                       become aware that many students have probably shot videos from their cameras and mobile devices and even uploaded                   their videos onto social media sites, but not many students have had the chance or opportunity to write, cast, direct, film, and           star in an interpretative short film before.  By creating this film, students are able to express themselves freely and outside the           box more than they would have in an essay.  The film project also is a great avenue for students to visually express their                   creativity and imagination based on a novel.

D.     I could see myself using this lesson and adapting it for my choir class when we begin studying the genre of operas. I would              have my students listen and review a recording of an opera either translated to English from Italian or just in English and leave          the interpretation to the students to decipher and later after careful analysis, have them act out an opera of their own.

E.      I would rate this video a 4.5

http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/lessons/constructive_adaptation_languagearts

Here is a link to my Wordle.net creation for this case study:

Here is another web 2.0 tool that I have used to depict my case study #4:

Video Animation.

Case Study #1 QuaverMusic.com

a.      This video is an introduction to a new resource for classroom music teachers to use while at the same time integrating technology for teaching music theory concepts.

b.      This video goes into detail about the features this software offers to energize and engage students at the beginning level of music theory in the music classroom.

c.       I learned that music theory does not have to be boring (i.e. pencil, paper, teacher lecture) at all times.  Music theory can be interactive with games and trivia contests which can be quite engaging for all students.

d.      I could most definitely use this lesson and software in my classroom.

e.      Rate: 3.5/4


Case Study #2 Learning to Play the PanPipes

a.      This video shows students learning to play the panpipes that requiring learning to create definite pitches and they are also learning to play as an ensemble.  The teacher shows students at two different schools who are participating in a music class via the Iowa Communications Network, which is a statewide, interactive telecommunications network (distance learning).

b.      The goal and purpose of the distance learning lesson was to have students learn a different instrument from another culture that they would not ordinarily see in a music classroom.  The teacher also wanted to highlight the differences and work in teaching the students panpipes.

c.       The teachers share the curriculum and divide it up amongst themselves (not just the music teacher creating lessons).  This music teacher made this technology infused lesson a cross curricular lesson as well.  Science was integrated by having the students learn and work on the principles of sound.  The geography teacher mapped out the country of Bolivia and the culture which is the origin of the panpipes.  Math was also integrated by having the math teacher work on measurements and putting the panpipes together with the students.  Students are getting knowledge of different subject matter in the music classroom. I’ve always thought it would be the other way around.

d.      I could most definitely use this lesson which would require me to build a rapport with our local community colleges.

e.      Rate: 3


http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/039iaue/0/


Case Study #3  Opera on the Net

a.      The nature of this case study is increase the students’ knowledge of the opera process and to use the opera as a tool to help students better understand the relationship music has with other arts and core classes. The teacher also wanted to give her students a greater understanding and appreciation of an opera rather than just watching one.

b.      The teacher shares that her students are creating an opera with a class in Helsingborg, Sweden.  The students use a variety of technology as they are actually producing a real opera.  The students of both countries wrote an original opera together through the use of the internet and video conferencing.  The students also use editing software, Music Time composition software, and Total 3D Home software for building and creating the set design.

c.       I learned that students can and should be taught music engineering skills at an early age.

d.      I would love to use this lesson or something similar to it so that my students could produce and perform a big music production to showcase their hard work and talent.

e.      Rate: 3


http://www.intime.uni.edu/video/050iams/0/