Flipped Learning and Explain Everything

Flipped Learning

What impact have my pre-recorded 'Explain Everything and Book Creator' learning videos had on my kids' learning outcomes?

I enjoy making Explain Everything projects for my students' maths. Making projects and explanations is obviously a large task and I, unfortunately, feel like I just have everything locked in so I would hit the ground running at Te Kura next year but now I am leaving. I would really love to be able to share the success that I have had using EE and BC and how they can be used as a learning tool to increase engagement, motivation, independence, reflection and accelerate learning. 

These apps have allowed the kids, I have introduced to them, every chance for success. They have become confident to share and explain their thinking, clearly explaining strategies they have used to solve a problem. The progress and understanding of learning are noticeably greater for those that use these apps than those that don't.

Having the projects organised has meant that my students can work on these and listen to them in the time that suits and as many times as they like. This is extremely beneficial for obvious reasons. engagement, the standard of work, independence and ability to self reflect, confidence and understanding of what they are working on. 

Each project for maths is broken up into sections.

1. What are they doing and why.

2. Teaching explanation/example of how to solve the problem and possible thinking.

3. Knowledge practise related to that strategy.

4. Solve problems that are specific to using that skill strategy. 

In these videos, I use deliberate acts of teaching - thinking out loud and showing how I would record my thinking. 

I have tailored teaching explanation videos to the needs of my students based on their next steps and gaps from the Progress Tracking Sheets, along with using teachable moments. Next year, I would aim to keep building a library of these projects and videos so eventually, it won't be so much work as I can just draw upon them as I need them, instead of creating them from scratch. 

The thing that I have found hard and would like to implement in the future if I was to stay at Te Kura would be to hopefully show the benefits of having the paid version for this app available. The free version only allows the students to watch these projects as a video. That means they can not work directly on the slides that I make and that limits me to the way in which I make the projects and the ways in which the students can answer. It is also is slow and you can only have 3 projects and 1 slide to work from. Been able to share the videos as a project where students write directly on the project, allows coverage of a variety of learning styles, engaging different senses and presented in a way that is relevant to the learner in an interactive and innovative way. It covers:

- Auditory learners. Auditory learners take in information through listening and speaking. 
- Visual learners.
- Tactile learners.

 EE is about giving different ways to solve problems that are not just like solving a problem on paper. The maths that I view mostly in schools according to the SAMR Model is substitution - where the paper has been swapped and for Technology but has no functional change. 

EE 

Things I need to ensure:

that Students watch and listen to the slides with the strategy explained
that I don't include too much in the projects.
that I differentiate learning by making projects according to needs and when it becomes relevant for a student.


When looking for research and information online about this type of instruction, there were lots of readings and blog posts about flipped learning. 

In the above article, written by Andrew Miller, he talks about the five best practices of a flipped classroom. Although our EE projects are not exactly flipped classrooms (where students pre-load the knowledge they need outside of school hours), many of the aspects of this type of approach are similar. 

The first thing he mentions is: 

NEED TO KNOW. 

Students need to understand how what they are learning is relevant. This is where I see our Learning Progressions coming in. Students need to see the links between the maths projects we are creating, and the steps they need to take in order to progress through the Progress Tracking Sheets. If I was to continue next year I would make this a living and breathing document that is kept in their journal and all parties are aware of the next steps etc. I would have this open at advisories and online lessons where appropriate and use it to discuss their movement. These tracking sheets are a great way to celebrate success and small milestones that can sometimes be forgotten along with their next steps.

The second best practise is 

ENGAGING MODELS.

He discusses finding an engaging model to capture the kids attention. Through EE projects, I find my kids are extremely engaged, and it also allows for differentiation, which is another thing he mentions. Although these projects are engaging, I also try to mix things up by including hands-on materials based sessions, as well as knowledge games and think-aloud's.

The third area he mentions is 

TECHNOLOGY. 

He asks, "What technology do you have to support the flipped classroom? " As a correspondence school, we have the capability to be set up for success. The only detriment to our students is the lack of teacher understanding and funding required to have full access to these apps and be able to fully utilise 


The fourth thing is 

REFLECTION. 

He stresses the importance of getting the kids to reflect on what they are doing or what they have learned. That is where the recording function in the EE projects is so important. When the kids record their thinking, they are constantly reflecting on what they have done. He states, "Students need metacognition to connect content to objectives". Again, this demonstrates the importance of using our CKP as a working, open document that the kids are aware of and can refer to.
The final thing he mentions is TIME AND PLACE. He states, "If you have a blended learning environment, that, of course, provides a natural time and place to watch the videos." I think that allowing the kids time to watch (and re-watch if necessary) is fundamentally important. I encourage my kids to review the strategies and remind them that they will need to watch the strategy slide/s during their projects. I try to ensure that I give myself time each week to create meaningful projects, as well as ensuring I have time to review each kid completed assignment. Rather than a 'Flipped Classroom', mine is more os a blended learning environment.

The final paragraph in this reading, really sums it up. Miller states,

"My intent is not to say that the flipped classroom is bad. Rather, it is only a start. The focus should be on teacher practice, then tools and structures. The flipped classroom is one way to help move teachers toward better teaching but does not ensure it. Like the ideas above, focus on ways to improve your instruction before choosing to use the "flipped classroom."