Find my original posting on flglobal.org by clicking HERE
One of my favorite movies growing up was Gene Wilder’s, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In that movie, the character Veruca Salt wanted everything: an Umpa Lumpa, the magical boat, a golden goose, and when I heard her belt out the line, “don’t care how, I want it NOW,” I can remember thinking, ‘What a brat!’ The same thought rings through my head whenever I think about the idea of instant gratification. Today’s society is built on the ideology of instant gratification. We no longer send letters through the mail (and sometimes an e-mail takes too much time), so we text directly. We have “On Demand” television programming, and “On Demand” music programming. “Alexa, what’s the weather. Alexa, play the Moana soundtrack. Alexa, set a timer.” Unfortunately, we “don’t care how, we want it NOW!” It is time, though, to end the need for instant gratification in the classroom. Many teachers feel the pressure of making sure students have been exposed to all of the instructional standards due to the weight of standardized testing. Teaching can be a rather daunting task, especially when we think through everything that has to be done. Toss in a few calamity days and all of a sudden we, as teachers, feel like we are drowning under the pressure of getting through everything. Even though there is a lot of pressure to get through it all, we have to slow down and realize that it isn’t about quantity or even how quickly we get to the finish line, but quality and the journey of getting there. Trying to ensure that all students master all content RIGHT NOW can be one of the most frustrating aspects of teaching. We need students to demonstrate a mastery of the standards in such an immediate manner that we tend not to “care how,” we just “want it NOW!” The truth is, we need to slow down and focus on the how, and be patient with the TIME it takes students to master the standards. Instant gratification is not an ideology that applies to only one particular group in education. Students, teachers, administrators all want results RIGHT NOW! Students want instant gratification: I finished the assignment, so what is my grade. Students focus on what grade they received on an assignment rather than the learning that took place. Due to the technology age that they have grown up in, gone is the journey to their experiences. Everything is immediate; from access to information on the internet to publishing things on the internet. Teachers want instant gratification: I taught it so they should have understood it. If we don’t get that instant gratification, we are frustrated due to a lack of patience in the learning. We want to see immediate progress out of our students. Administrators want instant gratification: Often there is little time to explore instructional practices because administrators want to know that what you are doing in the classroom is effective. There isn’t time in the year to “explore”. We need to do education right and do it right now. After all, these kids have a test to pass. The pressure to produce data that demonstrates how are students are doing can be very overwhelming. ‘Don’t care how, I want it NOW!’ The elusive educational element that everyone wants, but very few seem to have is TIME, and that is what Flipped Learning gives us all. As a flipped educator, I am able to focus on the quality of the education I am providing rather than the quantity of standards that are covered. The depth of the learning produces great traction for future lessons. One way to think about it is in regards to a tire. Does slamming down the accelerator make the car move, no. The tires just spin in place and start to smoke. Sounds kind of familiar to the classroom. We slam down the accelerator on the standards and then we tend to get frustrated because our students are not making the progress we expected. We wanted immediate progress. Because Flipped Learning moves instruction to the individual space, teachers use the group space for ACTIVE learning. Due to the additional time this gives us when we are face to face with our students, we are forced to go slowly. We can be patient and long tempered with the mastery of standards. We have time for students to be active with their learning. The more active they are with the content, the more connections they are able to make with the content. Slow and Steady Wins the Race When we look at our curriculum, we need to be able to identify those standards that are foundational or non-negotiable. In other words, these are the standards that must be mastered first. If we go slowly with these foundational standards, it makes the others flow more smoothly. If we do not take the time to ensure mastery at the lower levels, we are going to continue to spin our tires and be frustrated because we do not see the progress we want or need. Having the right materials to build with make this process simpler, but knowing what holds it all together is even more important: patience. Flipped Learning provides educators with the ideal formula for slowing down, creating active learning spaces, and checking for mastery. Here are some simple things that we can do to slow down, gain traction, and make progress. First, present content in the individual space. This allows your students to come to class and practice what you just taught them. This does not mean that they should or will be at a level of mastery from being exposed to a concept once. You can work with the students to see where they may need more support as you progress through the concept. This enables you to help your students gain traction. Second, create an active learning space for students to demonstrate their knowledge. Students need to DO something with the information they have been presented with. It is one thing to memorize and spit back that memorized piece of information, but it is something altogether different to ask students to apply that information to a new scenario. Truly, this is going to challenge EVERYONE in the classroom. Third, ask your students to create something based on the pieces of information you taught them. This could range from developing their own story problems to the integration of project based learning. This solidifies the content for the student when they have to engage with the content in more of a personal or individual manner. Fourth, teachers need to revisit the information that they taught to the students based on the previous three steps. Revisiting this information enables you to clarify misconceptions and further check for mastery of content. The fifth and final step is actually assessing students, and that is only if you feel that they are ready. As I stated previously, going slowly, especially through foundational standards, enables you to have greater traction on future lessons.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Mr. Dan JonesMaster Flip Educator with 13 years experience in the classroom. FLGI Faculty Trainer who trains based on the Gold Standard of Flipped Learning 3.0. Expertise in project based learning. Archives
October 2018
Categories |