Pre-Algebra teacher - Mr. Leon Johnson - has flipped one of his sections of Pre-Algebra.
Mr. Johson wanted to make a change. He wasn't satisfied with the performance in and outside of his class. Students just weren't getting their homework done. Of course, there are many variables that come into play as to "why" students aren't doing their homework - but Mr. Johnson felt is wasn't because they didn't know what to do - they just weren't motivated to do it.
Mr. Johnson had this conversation with me, and I threw out the idea of "flipping" his class. Kudos to Mr. Johnson. He didn't turn and run, nor make excuses as to how it wouldn't work or the amount of time it would take to make it happen, but instead said, "let's give it a shot!"
Of course, I was super excited for the impact he would make on this group of students by flipping his classroom. We did a lot of research before we "flipped out" his room.
Through social media threads, I came in contact with Dr. Clay Edwards, who is the middle school math teacher at Grundy Center Middle School. Dr. Edwards was invaluable in his knowledge, resources, and time spent with us through email correspondence and even taking time to do a Google Hangout with us. Give him a follow through these channels: Blogpost and Twitter.
Like anything worth doing, it takes time to see impactful results. Mr. Johnson has done a lot. I'm confident his efforts are making a difference. We are both looking forward to checking out Iowa Assessment and MAPs data over a span of time to reinforce "it IS making a difference!" on paper because we already know through daily participation, conversation, and just seeing the students think and collaborate within the classroom HAS made a difference.
We had some fun today in class. Students begin each class with a quick Problem of the Day. These are problems that focus on estimation. We brought today's estimation to life.
Students had to estimate how many jelly beans were in the jar. We also filled a 1/8 measuring cup with jelly beans - talked about how many jelly beans were in the 1/8 cup - then let the students figure out their answers.
It's hard to replicate through images what "happened" in the room, but to listen to their problem-solving strategies and their communication was awesome.
Congrats Nicole on having the closest estimate!