Encouraged by Shift This!

Last year one of my Edu-Heroines, Joy Kirr, shared her story of shifting from a traditional classroom to a student-centered learning environment.  Shift This provides teachers a window into her classroom and how she has changed the learning space, classwork, homework, & grading and further challenged her students to become self-directed.  Here are my takeaways from her book:

In Chapter 4 Joy shares with us the power of music in the classroom.  As I have been practicing flipped learning the past 5 years, I always look for ways to get music into my video lessons.  "Freefalling" by Tom Petty is pretty obvious for a video on gravity and thanks to Justin Timberlake for the song "Mirrors" as the intro to my video on image formation by mirrors.  I have been playing music during class for years now.  I even installed 4 speakers in each corner of the room to create some surround sound.  I take requests from students and even have my room playlist up on Spotify.   As much as Joy promotes music in the classroom,  she truly does practice what she preaches as she played and even sang along to "Let It Go" last summer during her presentation at BLC17!

When I was a traditional classroom teacher, I did my best to answer every one of my students' questions.  However, in my flipped learning environment, I often put their questions back on them.  Joy states, "If students ask you a question, ask it back to the class to see what they think.  Try your best to not answer their questions, let them figure out their own answers instead (Chapter 5 Classwork)."  This has been a big transition for me as I now usually answer a student's question with a question.  The most common instance of this is when my students ask me to check their answer to a physics problem.  Pre-flipped learning I simply answered it, but these days I encourage them to check with their group (they sit in groups of 4 students) or I ask them to describe to me how they solved the problem.  By doing this I aim to promote more collaborative problem-solving and learning the process over just getting the right answer.

What is the true purpose of grading?  Feedback.  My students work in small groups (usually 2) on projects to showcase their learning by creating digital books, screencasts, and slide presentations.    When one of the students asks me to check the work,  I typically respond with, "Can you have your partner proof over it first?" In Chapter 7 Grading Joy observes, "The more feedback students can give one another before you see their polished work, the better the work will be by the time it gets to you."  

This is definitely true as I witness the conversation that ensues and seeing them make improvements to their work before asking me again for feedback.  This gives me more confidence that both students are working collaboratively and that the product best represents their effort. 

I first heard of Joy Kirr when I began searching for more information on Genius Hour.  She is the curator of the spectacular Livebinders page on Genius Hour.  I have incorporated this passion time or 20% time into my flipped classroom the last 5 years.  Genius Hour provides students with the  class time to research a topic they are interested in.  As a process of this style of self-directed learning, I am always asking students to blog on the questions, "What did I learn?" "What are the next steps?" as Joy encourages.  In Chapter 9 Student-Direct Learning she states, "The biggest result of including Genius Hour in my pedagogy is that I am now comfortable enough to offer more student voice and choice in all we do."  Absolutely Joy!  I find myself allowing students to make more choices on how they present their learning.  In fact, a student last week asked me what example she should use in a presentation as evidence of learning a concept.  She even gave me a few choices for me to select from, but I simply responded, "Whichever example you think best illustrates the concept."  Her mind was blown!  

In conclusion, I would say the biggest takeaway from reading her book has been inspiring me to finally take my desk out of my classroom.  I did it!  Now that I am over halfway through the school year, I can honestly say it is the best thing I have ever done.  Joy asks in her book, "How do you build trust with students?"  Without being chained to a desk, it forces me to walk around more and talk to students.  It is these one-on-one conversations about their interests and connecting with them that improves the overall learning.  It is not sitting at my desk going through emails or blogging (haha!).

A BIG thank you to Joy for sharing her story!  As I have also shifted my classroom, it is comforting knowing there are more teachers out there like Joy taking these risks and reaping the benefits and rewards for their students.