Show Us What You Learned

As part of a end-of-year senior project one of Fountain Valley High School's English teacher, David Theriault, asked his students to demonstrate what they learned while they were attending FVHS. Wow, deep question right? Imagine trying to sum all that up into a 3-5 minute presentation.

Students worked together in small groups on these projects and everyone was responsible for turning in a one-page paper which explained what their specific contribution to the project was. The students were free to choose just about any tool that they wanted to use to help them make and present their project as long as it was not a prepared speech.

Here is one example of the student's projects. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is 1000 pictures and 2000 Post-its worth?

Kathy and Quinton's Senior Project: FVHS 2012 from Quinton on Vimeo.

Spoon-feed Students

Question: How do you discourage and work against the "spoon-feeding" mentality of students in a flipped class? (via @guster4lovers)

This was the question that was the topic of a live discussion on Twitter under the hastag #flipclass. Although I was not able to participate in this discussion, I was eager to see what the educators on Twitter had to say about this. The whole conversation is archived and is a great read, but here are some of the highlights. Add your on comments below.

@a_mcsquared - spoon feeding is my biggest weakness stil, so looking for ideas here, sorry #flipclass

@crystalkirch - I have tried 2respond 2 Ss q's w/more questions for them to answer...that has helped a bit in not being the "sole dispenser" #flipclass

@runfardvs - I used to have a broken wooden spoon hanging in front of my class. Reminding Ss that I wouldn't soon feed them answers. #flipclass

@Mr_Driscoll - One key is to clearly articulate to students that a #flipclass  is spent performing authentic tasks, not just listening to teacher

@jdferries - getting students to identify claims & evidence, problem & solution, tasks that demonstrate objective. a lot less talking in gen. #flipclass

@MrsHowardMath - Finding ways to assess understanding rather than a correct answer. #flipclass

@buddyxo - My biggest thing: building *trust* w ss. Makes them less fearful of discovery. Let the indep learning happen "by accident" #flipclass

@MrBrianBobbitt - If you can Google the answer, did the question need to be asked? #flipclass

@MrsHowardMath - @runfardvs @a_mcsquared also must teach them how to collaborate. We sometimes assume they know how to work in groups together. #flipclass

@MsRossEnglish - I struggled w/ this. Students wanted me to spoonfeed "What is the right answer your want us to say?" Tough to stay strong #flipclass

@historyfriend - Read "Why Don't You Just Tell Us the Answer" by Bruce Lesh - helpful for history, ss, especially.  #flipclass

@buddyxo - Closing note: we need to be careful not to go too extreme anti spoon-feeding. Support is key & it's imp ss know ur there for them #flipclass