WELCOME! Please take a handout Be seated Have your laptops available on your table with tops down Have fun!!

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

Norms for Participation Minimize outside distractions. Be attentive and participate in all activities. Mute your devices. Share your ideas with colleagues.

What is the Governor’s Teacher Network? A talented group of 450 outstanding teachers were selected from 1400 applicants for 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?

What is the Governor’s 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.

Having fun playing with the photobooth feature on students’ Macbook

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

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

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.

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

Action Research Focus Focus Question: How can I use the new MacBook Airs provided through our district’s 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.

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!

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. Let’s take a look!

Station Rotation Example

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.

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.

Recommendations based on my Research  Start out slow turning one or two lessons into flipped lessons  Don’t be concerned about creating your own videos – use resources already created at first  Scaffold – review expectations  Have a plan for extra class time  Don’t re-lecture  Differentiate  Make sure you have an assessment/reflection

How is HomeBase/Schoolnet used? Brief Description and tutorial of SchoolNet

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- Answer Garden- SpellingCity- Kahoot!-

Discussion What if students don’t complete the flipped lesson?

Questions?

Feedback Please go to the link below and fill out the survey on your experience today. Thank you! Title: To Flip or Not to Flip: Reflections on flipping my ESL High School Classroom Presenter: Jennifer DiFiore

Thank you for your participation! Contact Information: Name: Jennifer DiFiore School/District: West Iredell High/Iredell County Phone: Website: Jennifer DiFiore ESL Teacher WIHSJennifer DiFiore ESL Teacher WIHS

References Alvarez, Brenda (April 2012). Flipping the Classroom: Homework in Class, Lessons at Home. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review. 77 (8) Bergmann, Johnathan, Sams, Aaron (May 2014). Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement. Learning and Leading with Technology. 41 (7) Bergmann, Jonathan, Sams, Aaron. Kappenmagazine.org V94 (N2) 25. Demski, Jennifer. (May 2011) ELL to go. THE Journal. 38 (5) 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)