1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,240 Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:09,240 to just survive teaching, but actually thrive. So, as promised, I 3 00:00:09,599 --> 00:00:13,800 have this episode that's taken me a while to put together because there's so much 4 00:00:13,839 --> 00:00:18,879 that I need to say about my past semester with the Modern Classroom Project. 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,039 And for those of you that are new and have no idea what that is, 6 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:26,440 I'm going to link in the show notes my previous episodes about the Modern 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,839 Classroom Project so that you can know what it's all about, or you can 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,920 just listen right now to this and you can learn about how I run this 9 00:00:34,079 --> 00:00:37,719 model. Really wanted to give you guys an update on this because I have 10 00:00:37,799 --> 00:00:41,320 a lot to say, and it's been definitely a work in progress, and 11 00:00:41,359 --> 00:00:45,439 the fact that I'm still doing it should say a lot. Ever, face 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:50,719 the frustration of planning a crucial lesson and having to deliver it on a specific 13 00:00:50,799 --> 00:00:55,679 day, only to find out that a significant number of students are absent or 14 00:00:55,719 --> 00:01:00,880 worse, despite a seemingly successful class, a significant portion of your students fail 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:07,040 the assessment. Yeah, of course that's happened to me. As educators navigating 16 00:01:07,079 --> 00:01:11,200 these challenges can be really daunting. Reteaching risks boring the rest of the class, 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:17,840 after school tutoring or lunch tutoring encroaches on our personal time, and relying 18 00:01:17,879 --> 00:01:22,959 on students to just figure it out independently really is a gamble. In this 19 00:01:23,079 --> 00:01:27,439 episode, I delve into a solution that many teachers, including myself, have 20 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:34,480 found to be transformative. By eliminating traditional lectures. Not only have I revolutionized, 21 00:01:34,719 --> 00:01:38,439 and I really mean that, how my students learn, but more importantly, 22 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:44,159 I've positively impacted my own mental well being. So today I'm going to 23 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:49,480 share the six phases that transform my teaching from stress to success, including insights 24 00:01:49,519 --> 00:01:53,680 into my lesson planning strategies, how I manage the classroom, and more importantly, 25 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:59,319 the results stemming from this really remarkable technique. As I've mentioned in three 26 00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:04,519 previous episodes, this year, I transitioned to what is called the Modern Classroom 27 00:02:04,599 --> 00:02:07,039 Project, and I'll go ahead and link that so that you guys can catch 28 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,840 up on those episodes. So basically, it's like a flipped model where students 29 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:19,479 are getting the information the learning via video and they're also practicing in class with 30 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,039 extra help from me, And it's just very much self pace. When I 31 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,759 decided to adopt this model, it actually took me a long time, so 32 00:02:25,759 --> 00:02:30,919 I had to reframe the way that I saw teaching and how I saw the 33 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,479 curriculum in general. So after learning about this model, I actually spent a 34 00:02:34,479 --> 00:02:39,000 couple of weeks just thinking and staring at past classes in Google Classroom, looking 35 00:02:39,039 --> 00:02:44,159 through all of my teaching materials that I regularly use, and trying to get 36 00:02:44,199 --> 00:02:47,560 an idea of how this was going to work because my students wouldn't have me 37 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:53,919 carrying them along and teaching them in real time the lessons, and that was 38 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,360 just a really huge paradigm shift for me because I'm just used to doing that 39 00:02:57,439 --> 00:03:01,319 whole stage on the stage thing that a lot of have learned and probably a 40 00:03:01,319 --> 00:03:05,159 lot of us still use. And also, as I was learning about this 41 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,159 model through actual free courses through the Modern Classroom project, I had to let 42 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:15,360 go of my pessimism and skepticism and just that nagging feeling in my mind that 43 00:03:15,479 --> 00:03:16,360 was like, well, this isn't going to work, well, how is 44 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,719 that going to work? And coming up with all these reasons why it would 45 00:03:20,719 --> 00:03:24,199 be a bad idea to do this because I've always wanted to do something like 46 00:03:24,319 --> 00:03:28,039 this, and so I had to think about pacing from a different way. 47 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,919 But I had to structure the units and the lessons so that it could still 48 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,879 be self paced for the students and ensure that they were still learning. And 49 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,680 it doesn't seem obvious that that would work, because maybe students are getting the 50 00:03:40,719 --> 00:03:46,000 videos but they're not actually absorbing the information. But at the same time, 51 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,439 that could also be happening when you're giving lecture. One of the nice aspects 52 00:03:50,479 --> 00:03:53,080 of this model is that if students didn't understand it the first time, or 53 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:58,080 maybe they spaced out in the middle of your lecture, they can actually rewind 54 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,639 and go back and listen to it again. I had to let go of 55 00:04:00,639 --> 00:04:03,680 that need for control by standing in the front of the room and making sure 56 00:04:03,719 --> 00:04:08,240 that we are all moving at the same pace at the same time, and 57 00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:13,960 really allowing myself to trust the students to progress as they see fit. So 58 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,720 that was just the first phase. The next phase was also thinking about assessment 59 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,920 and what that would look like in a self paced model. As I was 60 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,600 learning more through their amazing Facebook group, and of course as I mentioned the 61 00:04:25,639 --> 00:04:29,560 free courses that they have, I had to think about how am I going 62 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,560 to find out if students are actually learning, because it's one thing to just 63 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:36,079 play a video, and it's another to actually see if they absorbed or learned 64 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:41,759 anything from that video. Traditionally, I would have them just do a worksheet 65 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,920 or work in groups or answer out loud in class, but they can't do 66 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,399 that if they're all moving at a different pace, So I had to rethink 67 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:53,600 formative and even summative assessments. In this model. I adopted what they call 68 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,759 mastery checks, which are basically a fancy word for formative assessments, but it's 69 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,120 just a checkpoint along the way to make sure or that not only did the 70 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,519 student watch the video and try to absorb it, but they also did the 71 00:05:04,519 --> 00:05:11,639 practice associated with it and they actually somewhat mastered it. Sometimes students wouldn't quite 72 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,839 completely master it, but I could tell that they knew enough to at least 73 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:16,879 progress, and I knew that they would have more practice later on, so 74 00:05:17,079 --> 00:05:21,160 I let them move on. But it really serves two purposes, not only 75 00:05:21,199 --> 00:05:25,759 for me to know that they did the lesson and did the practice, but 76 00:05:25,879 --> 00:05:30,600 also it's some accountability on part of the students. So if they didn't actually 77 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,639 pay attention to the video, then they wouldn't pass the mastery check, and 78 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,040 then they wouldn't be able to move on to the next part. In the 79 00:05:36,079 --> 00:05:40,959 beginning, I was creating so many mastery checks because I just wanted to make 80 00:05:40,959 --> 00:05:44,600 sure that they really were doing what they were supposed to do, but I 81 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,439 was creating more work for myself. So around the second or third unit, 82 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:53,000 I was a lot more thoughtful about the mastery checks because I wanted to make 83 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:58,879 sure that they really showed whether or not students mastered even like a portion of 84 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,199 the standard or skill that they needed to learn by the end of the unit. 85 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,199 So it's just kind of like when you do have a concept that you 86 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,680 want students to learn, you can break those up into parts, but they 87 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,800 really need to know all of the parts combined in order to show mastery. 88 00:06:12,959 --> 00:06:16,399 So that's where I had to think about what type of formative assessments were really 89 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,720 useful and also how I wanted to check these. I didn't necessarily want students 90 00:06:20,759 --> 00:06:25,759 to hand in work or submit work online. I wanted something that was maybe 91 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:29,920 a little bit easier and more manageable for me. So a lot of times 92 00:06:29,959 --> 00:06:33,319 that would be in the form of short multiple choice quizzes that they could redo 93 00:06:33,439 --> 00:06:36,120 if they didn't pass, and it wasn't really that big of a deal if 94 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:41,959 they didn't pass it right away because they could just maybe rewatch a previous lesson 95 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,639 and then retake the mastery check. I also explored opportunities for meaningful practice and 96 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:53,040 definitely embedding group work, because I feel that my students work best and learn 97 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:58,199 the best when they can struggle through a concept or idea with their group members. 98 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,399 This would mean that I would have to create stopping points in the lesson 99 00:07:01,639 --> 00:07:08,279 where students had to wait until everybody else did catch up, and that was 100 00:07:08,319 --> 00:07:11,120 frustrating at times for the students, but I wanted to make sure that they 101 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:15,480 all had the prerequisite information before they did the group work. Or sometimes with 102 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,319 my units, I would start out with some kind of group activity where they 103 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,720 would struggle together, and then they would proceed with the rest of the unit 104 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,519 and all of the videos. So the third phase was actually putting all of 105 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:33,439 these ideas together and creating a streamline planning process. It did take a couple 106 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:38,720 of units for me to get over the struggle of just like, what should 107 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,319 a unit look like? But it started to flow better because I did what 108 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,560 most of us do, which is work backwards. We think about the skill 109 00:07:46,839 --> 00:07:49,480 or the standard that we want them to learn. So let's say that I 110 00:07:49,519 --> 00:07:53,759 want them to learn how to write a race paragraph, and then I think 111 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:59,000 about all of the little mini skills that they need to be able to do 112 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,000 in order to successfully write that. Independently, I would work backwards, and 113 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,439 that's how I would plan those units, which is pretty typical. But the 114 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:11,720 hard part is making sure that there are enough practice opportunities and that the practice 115 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:16,480 that they do complete is meaningful. What they also advocate is to have different 116 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:22,680 types of learning opportunities based on what the students need. So we have three 117 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,920 categories, must does, should do, and aspire to do. The must 118 00:08:26,959 --> 00:08:31,600 do is are self explanatory. These are activities that students have to do. 119 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:39,200 The should dos are additional learning opportunities or additional lectures or additional lessons for students 120 00:08:39,279 --> 00:08:43,840 that didn't quite understand it. For example, with the first lesson on how 121 00:08:43,879 --> 00:08:48,159 to write a race paragraph, I demonstrated for the students how they are supposed 122 00:08:48,159 --> 00:08:52,840 to write it, and then they had to follow along and complete that for 123 00:08:52,919 --> 00:08:56,279 students who didn't quite understand it the first time around, I had an additional 124 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:01,440 practice where I wrote a different race paragraph so that they could see the format 125 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:05,720 again without feeling like they were just sort of repeating the video because sometimes that 126 00:09:05,799 --> 00:09:11,159 first time maybe they didn't quite grasp it. Maybe the second time I explained 127 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,120 it a little better, or just the extra practice really solidifies it for them. 128 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,879 And then the last category is aspire to dos, and these are extension 129 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,879 activities. I've only done a few of these, so the students who did 130 00:09:22,919 --> 00:09:26,720 forge ahead, I didn't necessarily want to create more work for them. I 131 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,759 could have probably created something like other learning opportunities or just some interesting videos that 132 00:09:31,799 --> 00:09:33,960 they could watch, But this being my first year using this model, I 133 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,799 decided to just stick with the mustus and the should dos. And a lot 134 00:09:39,799 --> 00:09:43,879 of times most of the lessons are mustus if I'm being honest, and I'll 135 00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:48,799 probably embed more should dos in the future, but this just really helps in 136 00:09:48,879 --> 00:09:54,559 terms of personalizing content for the students. But if they get to a mastery 137 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,000 check and they realize that they didn't really understand it, they can go back 138 00:09:58,039 --> 00:10:01,399 to the should does. They can also rewatch the must us. But you 139 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,440 eventually trained students to know what it is that they need and to progress as 140 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:11,360 they see fits in the next phase. After all this planning is creating the 141 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,399 videos, and I'll be honest, it's kind of a tie in terms of 142 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,080 which took up the most time, because planning does take a lot of time, 143 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,720 and creating videos it can't take a lot of time. If you were 144 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:26,720 not technologically savvy. You can use videos that you find online, and I 145 00:10:26,759 --> 00:10:31,679 have used some of those, depending on why I needed them. A lot 146 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,799 of times it was just a screen recording of me teaching them the concept, 147 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:39,399 or I would just use something like an app on my iPad or a screen 148 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,639 share on my computer and teach them that way. I didn't put my face 149 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:46,879 on any of these videos. I don't think it's necessary if you're teaching a 150 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,240 concept and you want to try to keep the videos fairly short. They recommend 151 00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:54,279 no more than eight or nine minutes, and I did my best to stay 152 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,039 within that limit in terms of my workflow. After creating a video, there's 153 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,320 a couple of different ways to do this. Post it to YouTube publicly and 154 00:11:01,519 --> 00:11:05,559 save it in the playlist that you send to your students. I personally save 155 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:11,679 it as unlisted, and then I upload it to an online software called ed 156 00:11:11,799 --> 00:11:15,240 puzzle, and you may have heard of this, And what's great about ed 157 00:11:15,279 --> 00:11:20,000 puzzle is that you can embed questions within your video just to make sure that 158 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,039 they are paying attention and not just pressing play and letting the video run. 159 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,360 It's really great and yes I had to pay some of my own money. 160 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:33,960 It's about thirteen fourteen dollars a month for that, and it's not necessary to 161 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:37,320 use it. I just found it to be really useful in terms of making 162 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,000 sure and keeping track of who is watching the videos. I know that a 163 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:46,200 lot of teachers like this option, so again it's not necessary. And from 164 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,440 there I sign it through Google Classroom. And one thing about Google Classroom that 165 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,320 I just found out about is that they are working on a function where you 166 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,639 can upload videos to Google Classroom from YouTube and within that you can embed questions. 167 00:11:58,639 --> 00:12:01,919 Now at the time of this video, if it's working, then that 168 00:12:01,919 --> 00:12:05,679 could completely bypass the need for the ED Puzzle, So that could be really 169 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:11,279 cool if you want to explore that route. So I use Google Classroom as 170 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:16,159 my learning management system and that's how I disseminate all of the units and all 171 00:12:16,159 --> 00:12:18,720 of the lessons, and of course I let them know about the videos and 172 00:12:18,799 --> 00:12:24,039 an effort for me to not have to recreate all of these units in Google 173 00:12:24,039 --> 00:12:28,600 Classroom year after year. I did create a master course that just kind of 174 00:12:28,639 --> 00:12:33,399 stays there, and I just copy and paste from that master course into the 175 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,440 different class periods that I have. So here's what this looks like in terms 176 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,559 of disseminating the units. I'll create the units in Google Classroom, and what's 177 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:46,360 great is that you can categorize it by units, and then I will post 178 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:48,840 all of the lessons in there. Let's say that there's seven lessons less than 179 00:12:48,919 --> 00:12:52,559 one point one, one point two, one point three, something like that. 180 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,519 I will schedule that to go out all at once so that students can 181 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:03,279 move along as necessary. If there's a worksheet that's associated with that particular lesson, 182 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,440 I will upload it as well, so everything just comes out all at 183 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,320 once, so that students can access the materials that they need as they are 184 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:15,639 progressing through the unit. So Google Classroom is where students will get that information, 185 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,919 and then they'll have to go to ed Puzzle to get the lessons. 186 00:13:20,279 --> 00:13:22,639 And this is really important because for me, they're going to two different places, 187 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:26,639 so I do leave instructions for them in terms of where they're supposed to 188 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:28,679 get the lesson or what it is that they're supposed to do next. So 189 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,080 let's say that they're absent, they can go into Google classroom and see what 190 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,519 the next part of the unit is, and then they can just keep moving 191 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:41,399 along if they want to try to keep up or catch up later on. 192 00:13:41,639 --> 00:13:45,720 One of the ways that the modern classroom project ensures that students stay organized and 193 00:13:45,759 --> 00:13:48,720 on track is to have some kind of a personal tracker. So I create 194 00:13:48,799 --> 00:13:52,879 this where all of the lessons are laid out, and then also for me, 195 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,600 I also put instructions on what it is that they're supposed to do. 196 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:03,200 So it'll say, go to Google classroom and download one point three and open 197 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:07,000 it in Notability, which is the app that they use to annotate on their 198 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:11,480 iPads. And then the next point will say, go to ed Puzzle and 199 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:15,879 open up the video one point three and watch it while you're completing the worksheet 200 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:20,799 something like that. So it's very detailed in terms of what it is that 201 00:14:20,799 --> 00:14:24,480 they're supposed to do and where they're supposed to go. And again this makes 202 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,000 it so that as they're moving through the lessons, they can just look on 203 00:14:28,039 --> 00:14:31,799 that tracker and see what it is that they're supposed to do next. And 204 00:14:31,879 --> 00:14:37,360 this tracker goes out when I disseminate all of the other lessons within a unit. 205 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:39,399 So the next phase was figuring out how my classroom was going to run 206 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,639 with this model, because that was really important. It was going to look 207 00:14:43,879 --> 00:14:48,759 very different than before. It's not going to be me teaching the same lesson 208 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,799 for five periods in a row. It was going to be the students getting 209 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,559 the lessons on video. Then I had to think about what am I doing 210 00:14:56,639 --> 00:15:01,080 during this time and how am I ensuring that they are progressing, especially for 211 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,240 the students who are highly unmotivated. I had no clue what this was going 212 00:15:05,279 --> 00:15:09,240 to look like. So after some trial and error, this is how it 213 00:15:09,279 --> 00:15:11,279 does look like. At the beginning of class, I still do a warm 214 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:15,000 up with the students, and this is when I do something like grammar. 215 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,919 I don't have just a unit for grammar, because for me, grammar is 216 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,000 ongoing. It's something that you have to kind of like chip away a little 217 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,440 bit at a time if you really want it to stick. So we do 218 00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:30,600 some kind of grammar or sentence correction or what are kind of warm up that 219 00:15:30,639 --> 00:15:33,639 you like to do. We still do that at the beginning of the class, 220 00:15:33,639 --> 00:15:37,679 and that still allows me to engage with the students and they get to 221 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,159 know me and I get to build that rapport and those relationships with them. 222 00:15:41,399 --> 00:15:46,200 When we start a new unit, I have them first download the unit tracker 223 00:15:46,559 --> 00:15:50,279 and we go through the entire unit and discuss all the different parts of it. 224 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,320 The students definitely want to know what are the lessons that are in there, 225 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,600 but they also want to know what are the masteret checks, what are 226 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,200 they going to be responsible for needing to demonstrate to me in terms of they're 227 00:16:00,279 --> 00:16:03,720 learning, because that's what goes in the grade book. I also don't tell 228 00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:07,240 them where they need to finish for the day, but we do set some 229 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,159 goals in terms of how far we think we should go, and I might 230 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,039 say, Okay, by the end of this class period, it would be 231 00:16:14,519 --> 00:16:18,000 a really good goal would be to get to thirteen point two, or a 232 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:22,519 really good goal it would be to get to fourteen point five. It just 233 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,000 depends on where we left off. And I had them sort of make a 234 00:16:26,039 --> 00:16:30,279 realistic goal in terms of where it is that they want to be by the 235 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,720 end of the class period and then they get to work. In the beginning 236 00:16:33,759 --> 00:16:37,320 of the year, I had students bring earbuds so that they could watch the 237 00:16:37,399 --> 00:16:41,360 videos, or they could bring headphones, and not all of them bring those 238 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,840 consistently, as you can imagine, but I do have a set of earbuds 239 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,200 that I got from the school, and I loan them out to students. 240 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,240 I'll give them a sanitizing white to clean before and after they use them. 241 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,039 The students are working on the lesson, they're watching the video, they're doing 242 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:00,159 the practice, and I'm circulating, and it's really a amazing to be able 243 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:06,240 to walk around and watch them work. It's something that when you are lecturing, 244 00:17:06,759 --> 00:17:10,200 you don't have the privilege of being able to do that. If you 245 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:12,839 were walking around while you're lecturing, that could also be a little bit confusing 246 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,599 for the students because they're trying to figure out where they're supposed to look. 247 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:21,039 So here they're really focusing on the lesson, and I get to look over 248 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:23,359 their shoulder, and I get to catch the students who are doing nothing, 249 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,400 or I get to catch the students who are stuck and just staring, or 250 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:32,599 the students who seem to have skipped too far ahead and they're not really doing 251 00:17:32,599 --> 00:17:36,599 the practice correctly. I just really get to clear up a lot of misconceptions, 252 00:17:36,599 --> 00:17:40,759 and I get to know my students and get to know their level of 253 00:17:40,839 --> 00:17:45,480 preparedness, and it's just been really eye opening. So you walk around the 254 00:17:45,519 --> 00:17:49,279 classroom and if you see a bunch of students making the same mistakes or they're 255 00:17:49,319 --> 00:17:53,519 confused or stuck on the same spot, you can pull those students aside and 256 00:17:53,559 --> 00:17:57,400 then you can have a group lesson with them, or you can just sort 257 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,599 of reiterate or clarify things for them. It works out really well. The 258 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:08,559 modern classroom project model really advocates for having a public facing tracker where you display 259 00:18:08,599 --> 00:18:12,240 it on the board, like who's on what lesson? And I'm not at 260 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:18,440 that point. I really just prefer to walk around and just see who's doing 261 00:18:18,519 --> 00:18:22,640 what and help them as I see fit. I don't really want to keep 262 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,519 track of them that way, although a lot of teachers have had a lot 263 00:18:25,519 --> 00:18:27,440 of success with that. One of the benefits of having that kind of a 264 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:32,240 tracker is that if students are on the same lesson, then they can go 265 00:18:32,279 --> 00:18:34,440 and sit by that person and work with them if they want to. But 266 00:18:34,559 --> 00:18:38,160 I'm just not quite there yet, Maybe we'll try that next school year. 267 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,839 One thing that doesn't work with this model is sitting at your desk of well 268 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:47,000 students work. I learned this the hard way because what happens is some of 269 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,000 the students will just do something else because they think that you're not paying attention 270 00:18:51,079 --> 00:18:56,119 to them, or they'll get distracted, or they'll become unmotivated. It's just 271 00:18:56,599 --> 00:18:59,960 as if they were doing regular work and you were just sitting at your desk. 272 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,359 They just there's something about circulating around the room and talking to them about 273 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:08,920 what they wrote down, saying good job, asking them questions about what they 274 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,599 did, and maybe not the entire time that you're walking around. I will 275 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:18,400 just sit sometimes and just watch them and look for confused looks on their faces, 276 00:19:18,599 --> 00:19:21,680 or look for someone who decides to sauch in their seat, and it's 277 00:19:21,799 --> 00:19:25,160 obvious that they're not paying attention, and I'll go and work with them. 278 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,200 But I highly suggest that you don't see this as a replacement for engaging with 279 00:19:30,279 --> 00:19:34,000 your students. It's more a way of allowing them to move at a pace 280 00:19:34,079 --> 00:19:38,319 that works best for them. So the sixth phase of this was thinking about 281 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:42,720 how all of these parts move together, especially when it comes to classroom management. 282 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:48,559 Because here's a thing. Just because students are allowed to be self paced, 283 00:19:48,599 --> 00:19:51,119 it doesn't mean that they're working. In fact, there are a lot 284 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:55,599 of times when students aren't working. If a student is already unmotivated in every 285 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,119 single class, it doesn't mean they're going to be more motivated in yours. 286 00:20:00,799 --> 00:20:04,000 This does increase the chances of them at least learning some of the material, 287 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:08,039 because if they decide that they're going to check out for ten minutes, it's 288 00:20:08,039 --> 00:20:11,799 not ten minutes during your lecture, it's just ten minutes of class time, 289 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:17,440 and then you can redirect them and then you can have them still get the 290 00:20:17,599 --> 00:20:21,880 lessons. So it's beautiful that way. And are students going to talk when 291 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,200 they're not supposed to? Yes, it doesn't solve all classroom management problems. 292 00:20:26,519 --> 00:20:30,440 However, it does mean that when one student is being disruptive, you don't 293 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,680 have to stop the lesson to deal with them. The other students who aren't 294 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:40,319 being disruptive get to keep learning and it's great. And as I mentioned with 295 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:45,160 the worm up, it doesn't mean that you never get to have class discussions 296 00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:48,000 or that you can't have things like socratic seminars or group work. You can 297 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:53,279 absolutely still do that, but again, the learning part, the part where 298 00:20:53,319 --> 00:20:57,680 you were teaching them the new concept or reviewing the concept, it gets to 299 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:02,440 happen on their own time, and it gets to happen whether or not they're 300 00:21:02,519 --> 00:21:07,640 in school or at home or out of town. So rethinking your role while 301 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,960 the learning is happening while you're not lecturing it really does have an effect on 302 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:18,759 classroom management because again, you can really be present, you are walking around, 303 00:21:18,079 --> 00:21:22,160 You are catching all the little things that maybe you wouldn't be able to 304 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,920 catch, or that the students would more likely get away with or try to 305 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,519 attempt because of proximity to them, because you're at the front of the room 306 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,279 and they're over to the side or the back. You being able to circulate 307 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:38,640 around just really has a huge effect on the number of off task behaviors that 308 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:44,400 happen. So let's discuss the results from all of this happening, because yes, 309 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,920 it's a great model, but is it actually effective To determine this, 310 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,759 I decided to look at my students writing from last year as well as test 311 00:21:52,759 --> 00:21:57,640 scores, and here's something that kind of surprised me. Nothing changed the scores 312 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:03,640 weren't better, The scoolors weren't worse. The writing wasn't better or worse either. 313 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:07,920 Now does that mean that it didn't work. Absolutely not. That actually 314 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,319 shows me that it does work. I'm still delivering the same quality of lesson, 315 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,319 it's just via video. And if anything, I had fewer missing assignments 316 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,440 with this model because the students were able to go back and learn the material 317 00:22:22,839 --> 00:22:29,000 and complete the assignment compared to being absent and me somehow figuring out how to 318 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,319 catch them up with a concept that I spent all class teaching them. So 319 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:34,720 their scores didn't go up, but they also didn't go down, which I 320 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,519 think is really significant considering that I am not standing at the front of the 321 00:22:38,599 --> 00:22:42,440 room lecturing them. And this was really huge. Now, as you can 322 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:48,480 imagine, this model is amazing for catching up students. I've had students who 323 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,920 just miss all kinds of school for whatever reason, and they can work on 324 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:56,880 this when they're gone, and some of them do. They know that they 325 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,559 just have to follow along the tracker. We'll ask me what are we doing 326 00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:03,720 when we're gone, which is really silly to me, and I'll just tell 327 00:23:03,759 --> 00:23:07,880 them we are progressing through the unit and they can just work on it if 328 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,359 they want to, and some of them do. And for those who don't 329 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:12,680 work on it when they're gone, that's fine too. They can catch up 330 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:17,000 when they're in class. But one thing that has been great is that when 331 00:23:17,039 --> 00:23:19,599 I have to teach them a major concept, something that we're going to use 332 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,279 all the time, like the race paragraph, and they happen to be absent 333 00:23:23,319 --> 00:23:26,400 that day, or just having a bad day and not focusing, or they're 334 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:32,880 distracted or whatever, they can still get that crucial lesson, and if they 335 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:37,200 didn't understand the first time, they can watch it again. And in fact, 336 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,480 I had a student who was gone all last week while we were writing 337 00:23:40,559 --> 00:23:42,519 a major essay. I was talking to his group members and I was like, 338 00:23:42,559 --> 00:23:45,200 wow, he's been gone all week, And one of his group members 339 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,319 said, yeah, But it's a good thing that all the lessons are on 340 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:55,519 video. So even my students recognize the power and the value in having these 341 00:23:55,599 --> 00:23:59,799 lessons be online so that they don't fall behind. I would say that some 342 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,119 of the frustrations that I have with this model is that some students will deviate 343 00:24:04,319 --> 00:24:10,839 because they aren't following the lesson. They'll deviate because they're not following the tracker, 344 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,359 they won't know what to do next, even though by now we're on 345 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:18,200 thirteen units and they still ask me what should I do next? Just because 346 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,200 you have it all laid out, it doesn't mean that students are going to 347 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:26,279 be inherently organized. Also, some students just want to fast forward through the 348 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,039 lesson and skip it because they're like, oh, I already know how to 349 00:24:29,079 --> 00:24:33,359 do this, And you can set that functionality in ed puzzle so that they 350 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:37,160 can't skip ahead. But then it can be frustrating if ED puzzle is glitching 351 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:41,960 and it sends them to the beginning and they were almost done with the lesson 352 00:24:41,319 --> 00:24:45,960 and now they have to watch it again. That's a technology issue, but 353 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:48,640 it has been frustrating for my students at times. Also, we don't do 354 00:24:48,799 --> 00:24:52,279 as much group work as we have in the past, and I'm someone who 355 00:24:52,319 --> 00:24:56,039 really believes on the power of collaborative work. It's been a little bit harder 356 00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,440 to embed that. But I just have to be a lot more intentional than 357 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,960 I have before, and it can get a little bit overwhelming at times. 358 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,200 When you have your students all over the place in a unit, they tend 359 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,640 to move together at a similar pace. But you'll have a few outliers, 360 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,480 and sometimes it can get a little bit overwhelming and frustrating to keep track of 361 00:25:15,519 --> 00:25:19,519 all of those students. But I still find that it's valuable and worth it 362 00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:23,799 because the students that need to catch up or the students that are falling behind, 363 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,880 it benefits them so much I can't reiterate it enough. Now, let's 364 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:33,240 also talk about how this has been on me. So it's a mixed bag. 365 00:25:33,519 --> 00:25:37,319 Number one, it's a lot of work to have to create those videos. 366 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,640 Not going to sugarcoat it, but I only have to create the videos 367 00:25:41,799 --> 00:25:47,160 this year and reuse them from now on. Yes, I will tweak a 368 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,119 couple of videos that didn't quite work out. I had a video where I 369 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:56,200 did a screen recording and apparently it stopped recording all of my movements and just 370 00:25:56,279 --> 00:26:00,680 kept recording the audio. And I don't rewatch. Every single one of my 371 00:26:00,759 --> 00:26:03,200 video is not going to lie, And so the students caught it, which 372 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:07,759 is pretty comical because all of a sudden, thirty hands shot up in the 373 00:26:07,799 --> 00:26:11,279 air saying you say that you're highlighting, but there's not actually any highlighting on 374 00:26:11,319 --> 00:26:15,160 the screen. So there are some glitches and some videos that I'm going to 375 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,000 have to record, but for the most part these lessons are done. It's 376 00:26:19,039 --> 00:26:22,799 pretty awesome, but there's more work in that aspect, and then also the 377 00:26:22,839 --> 00:26:27,960 planning part and the disseminating everything, creating the tracker. All of that a 378 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:33,000 lot of work, but I'm only doing that work this year. However, 379 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,960 in terms of my mental well being, I can tell you that during actual 380 00:26:37,039 --> 00:26:42,680 class time, I have so much more relaxed. I am really loving getting 381 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:48,200 to know my students, working with them one on one, walking around the 382 00:26:48,279 --> 00:26:52,960 room, helping those students that struggle, and giving them so much more individualized 383 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:57,960 time. It's just been so amazing for the students, and I've had discussions 384 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:02,759 with them and they love it. There are a couple of students who do 385 00:27:02,839 --> 00:27:07,240 prefer the old school lecture style, and that's fine, and we do have 386 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,839 some moments like that, like when we're doing grammar, but for the most 387 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,759 part, the vast majority of my students really wish that there are other teachers 388 00:27:14,839 --> 00:27:18,759 were doing this model. It's just been great for me. I don't have 389 00:27:18,799 --> 00:27:22,039 the Sunday scaries anymore because everything is planned out. I don't have to worry 390 00:27:22,079 --> 00:27:26,319 about what we're doing on Monday. What are we doing Monday? We're picking 391 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,880 up where we left off on Friday. And that's just how it goes. 392 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,720 So do I recommend that you do this sure with one caveat if you are 393 00:27:33,799 --> 00:27:40,039 someone who is a newer teacher, maybe not, only because you don't know 394 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,279 yet what it is that you want to do or that you need to do 395 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:48,160 and you're still learning. And I do see value in actually lecturing in front 396 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,640 of the class when you're just starting out, so that you can really learn 397 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:56,519 about pacing and what works. I'm worried that if you aren't used to teaching 398 00:27:56,559 --> 00:27:59,759 yet, then your lessons might go by a little too fast or a little 399 00:27:59,799 --> 00:28:03,359 too slow, and until you kind of get used to how to pace your 400 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,359 lessons for students to truly grasp it, I feel like you might want to 401 00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:12,200 hold off on this. I also would take it slowly if you are not 402 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:17,279 someone who has a curriculum. So I know that a lot of you have 403 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:18,799 a curriculum that you have to use, that you're forced to use, and 404 00:28:18,839 --> 00:28:22,359 you have to say certain things and do certain things on certain days. And 405 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,680 this model will actually work really well with that because it's already planned out for 406 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,440 you and you just have to go along and create the videos and the lessons 407 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,799 for it. But if you're someone who's still creating your own curriculum because you 408 00:28:33,839 --> 00:28:37,240 were just told to teach, maybe you were given a textbook and you just 409 00:28:37,279 --> 00:28:41,000 have to kind of wing it, then you might want to take some time 410 00:28:41,039 --> 00:28:45,519 first to figure out your curriculum and then the following year create the lessons. 411 00:28:45,599 --> 00:28:48,480 That's just my recommendation. I know that with the Modern Classroom Project, they 412 00:28:48,559 --> 00:28:52,559 think that anyone can do this at any time, and just from my experience 413 00:28:52,599 --> 00:28:56,480 and the struggles that I went through, I would definitely hold off if you 414 00:28:56,519 --> 00:29:00,799 fall into those two categories. However, you can also go in the Facebook 415 00:29:00,799 --> 00:29:06,200 group for the Modern Classroom Project, and so many people are just willing to 416 00:29:06,359 --> 00:29:11,000 just give you their materials, to give you their pacing guides and their trackers, 417 00:29:11,039 --> 00:29:15,559 and it's just so supportive of a community that if you just want to 418 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,319 kind of poke around and lurk and see what other people are doing and maybe 419 00:29:18,359 --> 00:29:22,960 try it for like one or two classes or two subjects. If you teach 420 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,759 elementary, then you can do that. And I can tell you there are 421 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:32,279 elementary teachers that are doing this. So if you're skeptical as an elementary teacher. 422 00:29:32,599 --> 00:29:36,119 You just need to go to the Modern Classroom Project website and they have 423 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:40,240 a course for how those teachers do that, and also go into the Facebook 424 00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:44,680 group to get additional help. So I hope that all made sense. If 425 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,680 it didn't, then you might want to actually head over to the YouTube video 426 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:53,200 of this because I do have screenshots of things like my personal tracker and what 427 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:57,359 my Google classroom looks like in terms of how this is uploaded, and that 428 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:02,359 way you can get more of a visual in terms of how this works. 429 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,200 That might help you if you just want to try it out and just you 430 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,359 know, even though at the time of the recording it's March, it doesn't 431 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,000 mean that it's too late to try it out. You could try it out 432 00:30:11,039 --> 00:30:14,839 for just one upcoming unit and just see how it goes. You can just 433 00:30:14,839 --> 00:30:18,039 play around with it, and that way you know how to tweak it. 434 00:30:18,319 --> 00:30:21,960 And if you want to play with it more this summer and develop it, 435 00:30:22,039 --> 00:30:25,519 then you have the time to do that because you've had a chance to experience 436 00:30:25,599 --> 00:30:27,039 it. So let me know if you're going to try this and if you 437 00:30:27,079 --> 00:30:30,839 have any questions or if you just want to brainstorm with me. You can 438 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:37,759 email me at kimat teachersnewteachers dot com and if you have any episode suggestions, 439 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,880 I would love to hear those because I am starting to get a little bit 440 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,359 of writer's block and I don't necessarily know what it is that would be valuable 441 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,599 to you, so please let me know, and so be sure to email 442 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,000 me and let me know any topics that you'd like me to cover. Thanks 443 00:30:52,039 --> 00:30:55,720 for hanging out with me today, you guys, and I will see you 444 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:56,359 next time.