WELCOME! Please take a handout Be seated Have your laptops
available on your table with tops down Have fun!!
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To Flip or Not to Flip: Reflections on flipping my ESL High
School Classroom Jennifer DiFiore West Iredell High School/Iredell
Statesville Schools April 16, 2015 Jen DiFiore GTN Wiki A Race to
the Top Initiative NC Department of Public Instruction Educator
Effectiveness Division
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Norms for Participation Minimize outside distractions. Be
attentive and participate in all activities. Mute your devices.
Share your ideas with colleagues.
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What is the Governors Teacher Network? A talented group of 450
outstanding teachers were selected from 1400 applicants for
2014-15. Teachers identify instructional needs, create innovative
digital instructional resources and design professional development
to support key Race to the Top initiatives in Home Base. Network
Teachers continue their current educator roles in their schools and
districts and serve in one of two pathways. What is the GTN
project?
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What is the Governors Teacher Network? Pathway 1 Teachers:
Professional Development Identify problems of practice around
instructional needs and conduct action research projects in their
schools. Investigate and analyze the effectiveness of strategies
and practices on student learning. Create professional development
sessions and materials to be posted in Schoolnet and the
Professional Development System in Home Base.
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Having fun playing with the photobooth feature on students
Macbook
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What is Action Research? Systematic inquiry conducted by
teachers and other educators to find solutions for critical,
challenging, relevant issues in their classrooms and schools.
Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher
Researcher, 2014
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Pathway 1: Action Research Classroom and school research
conducted by teachers to: Positively impact student outcomes.
Identify problems of practice and promote effective instructional
strategies. Create opportunities for teachers to become reflective
practitioners. Share research results with other educators. Mills,
Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher,
2014
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Scope of Work What is the problem of practice addressed? With
the implementation of the Macbooks, teachers and students were
somewhat intimidated and concerned about how to use them and how to
teach with them. My goal was to see how they could be used
incorporating the Flipped/Blended learning environment several days
a week. Why is this important? I wanted to see if it would not only
increase their academic success, but if it would also help improve
engagement in their learning. Who would benefit from these
resources and how? Teachers and students would both benefit from
these tech resources and strategies. Using the flipped lessons and
blended learning model in the classroom will enrich the learning
and teaching experience for all stakeholders. It will help build
relationships between the teachers and the students and increase
communication flow as well.
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Problems of Practice Brainstorm ideas about problems of
practice within your school setting. You can answer as many times
as necessary if you have more than one thing to share. Read the QR
Code with your phone or computer. If you can not read the QR Code
go to http://answergarden.ch/view/163326
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Action Research Focus Focus Question: How can I use the new
MacBook Airs provided through our districts IMPACT grant to improve
ESL student performance/engagement and close the gaps that exist
among their non-ESL peers? Area of Focus: I will attempt to use the
flipped classroom model and other tech strategies to help improve
ESL student performance/engagement in language acquisition,
comprehension skills and writing.
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What is Flipped Learning/Lessons? Think Pair Share Activity
Brainstorm what you know about the flipped classroom model. With a
partner, discuss what you know. Share your thoughts with the group.
Flipped Learning in action!
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Action Research Plan My action research focused on the Flipped
Classroom approach in an ESL high school classroom. I used
Blendspace as my platform for delivering the flipped lessons and
supplemented student learning with weekly assignments on
Spellingcity.com and informative assessments using
Kahoot.it!BlendspaceSpellingcity.com I used rotation stations on
the days after the students watched their lesson to apply what they
learned. Lets take a look!
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Station Rotation Example
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Data Collection Methods I used student surveys, writing rubrics
for the various types of writing assignments, Unit Quizzes/Tests,
Reflection questions related to the Blendspace lessons,
Spellingcity reports, Kahoot results, and teacher field
notes/observations.
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Action Research Results Writing Rubrics were used for self,
peer and teacher assessment with feedback. Initially students did
not know how to use a rubric. Students would assess giving higher
marks. As we progressed students began to utilize rubrics to
increase their writing skills and provide constructive feedback.
Unit Pre and Post Quizzes were used to determine what skills needed
to be learned and what skills were mastered. All of my student
scores increased by 50% to 90%. Blendspace does not provide
quantitative results however it is used as the platform for
delivering the flipped lessons and reflections from the students
determined how engaged they were. It did prove to help students
stay more engaged and feel more prepared for discussion and
classwork as determined by survey results. Spelling City reports
has a pre-assessment and post-assessment to determine increase in
vocabulary associated with the Milestone Units. Eight activities
provided practice with the vocabulary/definitions in which they had
to create sentences and paragraphs. Kahoot was used as an informal
assessment to help engage students. The results were downloaded and
I found by reviewing they increased their skills. Teacher field
notes/observations the methods I used with the above tools helped
keep students more engaged and they were excited about the
class.
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Recommendations based on my Research Start out slow turning one
or two lessons into flipped lessons Dont be concerned about
creating your own videos use resources already created at first
Scaffold review expectations Have a plan for extra class time Dont
re-lecture Differentiate Make sure you have an
assessment/reflection
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How is HomeBase/Schoolnet used? Brief Description and tutorial
of SchoolNet
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Activity Gift of Time Use one of the tools I have demonstrated
and used in my action research to create your own resource to
integrate in one of your lesson plans.
Blendspace-http://www.blendspace.com Answer
Garden-http://answergarden.ch
SpellingCity-http://www.spellingcity.com Kahoot!-
https://Kahoot.it
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Discussion What if students dont complete the flipped
lesson?
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Questions?
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Feedback Please go to the link below and fill out the survey on
your experience today. Thank you! http://goo.gl/forms/nuhwNC6pyV
Title: To Flip or Not to Flip: Reflections on flipping my ESL High
School Classroom Presenter: Jennifer DiFiore
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Thank you for your participation! Contact Information: Name:
Jennifer DiFiore School/District: West Iredell High/Iredell County
Phone: 704-873-2181 Email: [email protected] Website:
Jennifer DiFiore ESL Teacher WIHSJennifer DiFiore ESL Teacher
WIHS
Slide 24
References Alvarez, Brenda (April 2012). Flipping the
Classroom: Homework in Class, Lessons at Home. Education Digest:
Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review. 77 (8) 18-21.
Bergmann, Johnathan, Sams, Aaron (May 2014). Flipped Learning:
Gateway to Student Engagement. Learning and Leading with
Technology. 41 (7) 18-23. Bergmann, Jonathan, Sams, Aaron.
Kappenmagazine.org V94 (N2) 25. Demski, Jennifer. (May 2011) ELL to
go. THE Journal. 38 (5) 28-32. Turgut, Guliz. (October 2012). A
Case Study on Use of One-on-one Laptops in English as a Second
Language Classrooms. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry.
3 (4). Other Resources: Blendspace.com, SpellingCity.com,
Kahoot.it!, AnswerGarden, Milestones (Heinle CENGAGE Learning)