A new beginning

 Today marks the first day of the 2014-2015 Marshall University Flipped classroom cohort. We have grown! We are up to 20+ teachers, some of us returning, others (many) brand new. I'm so excited about this year. 

 We've been in school for a month now (started Aug 5), but I haven't done any flipped lessons with my classes yet. I'm in the middle of studying for a praxis, getting used to a new schedule and other normal teacher like things. Not making excuses, I need to kick my butt in gear. I've even stopped taking part in the twitter meeting on Monday nights. :-(

So this past Friday,  I started talking to my students about the flipped classroom model. Showed them the website from last year and some of the videos that we used. My plan is to make a set of videos for next week starting with the periodic table and how to determine the number of protons, neutrons and electrons. This is always been something that isn't "tested" but I feel that is essential for the students to be able to do the other standards we have to cover (such as drawing Bohr models). What better way to cover the so called "non-standard" information than through a flipped lesson! This way, we can come into class and just dive into the practice. 

I also want to make a video for my parents to explain what is going on. The biggest issue I had last year was with parents misunderstanding what was going on in my classroom. However, I'm not entirely sure what to include in the video.... hmmm? 

Summer Studies

 This summer, I had the BRILLANT idea that I could complete ALL of my chemistry classes in one attempt. Needless to say, it is T minus 14 days until the end of my semester, and I have 1 1/2 classes left to complete. One of which requires a research paper on an inorganic molecule and its uses. 

Here is where the ADHD comes in, and where I wish I could explain my self better to my mentors. I'm not in any way using this as an excuse. It is my responsibility as a student to overcome my challenges and produce the best material I can. However, that being said, they are challenges that are sometimes difficult for others to understand. I will do my best to explain:

             Research papers are the WORST!!!! Professors give you a topic (sometimes) and an open ended question. Very little direction. Where many would flourish with this, I struggle to get started. I have no clue where to start! And I am not an unintellegent person. I went through honors courses in high school and college. It's the organizational aspect (the BANE of my existance). Where 'normal' people can take their topic, and break it down into small pieces, and then tackle each of those small pieces one at a time, as much as I stare at the paper and try, I can't see it. It is one big piece to me. And it seems to huge and daunting. And I am so afraid to fail at it, I put it off. Hence, I am at 2 weeks and still haven't started it. I'm 28 years old, and have to go to my mother or my brother to help me break it in to manageable pieces in order to figure out where to start and what path to take in my research. I know they love me and don't mind helping, but it is still embaressing beyond belief! And we wonder sometimes why our students don't ask for help when they are struggling?!?! It's embaressing to have to have help for something that others your age do with relative ease. Especially when you try to talk to your instructors about your issues and their response is that you are just making a mountain out of a mole hill and you will be fine. I absolutely love my mentor, but in that moment, her encouragement just made me feel worse about myself. 

I know this post isn't about flipping, or about my personal classroom in any way. But as I was sitting in my bedroom on my Saturday, reading chapter after chapter on Geochemistry, I just felt this overwhelming need to post this. Most likely it is my ADHD acting up again and my need to distract myself from the big project I have to work on (that is what my family would tell you...lol), but at the same time, sometimes we need a reminder of the struggles our kids suffer through in silience. God Bless

Introduction/why am I doing this?

This past June, I was blessed to attend the national FlipCon '14 conference in Mars, PA. I have to say it easily tops my list of best educational experiences to date.  I had no idea there were so many flippers out there! And they were all so friendly and helpful. Attendees were of various levels of experience with flipping their classroom, many with zero experience. I highly encourage teachers to go if they are interested or experienced in flipping. Even if you go alone. I did and still had a blast!

Although there were plenty of amazing sessions to sit in on, I'm excited to finally be able to access the archived footage. My brain was overflowing with information when I came back, and I'm still organizing everything I learned. However, the absolute best thing that I learned wasn't any type of strategy or computer program. It was twitter!

I had originally refused to join twitter when it came out. I'm almost certain I was the only person under 30 who did not have one (or at least that is the impression my 8th graders gave me, lol). Man, have I been missing out. One of the presenters told me that I had to create a twitter account because "teachers had taken over twitter". She was totally right. Not only have I found fellow teachers flipping and willing to share and help each other, but there is also a NextGen standards chat as well. #flipclass and #ngsschat if you are interested.

I also determined that many teachers had a blog. Something I have always been afraid to try. So in the spirit of "living in beta", I have started this blog with the intent of recording my second year of flipping. My goal is to do more of it with my classroom, maybe starting with my photosynthesis vs. respiration lessons? But be prepared for some randomness. This is the blog of a teacher who has been hyperactive for 28 years (teaching 6 of those) after all, haha. Squirrel moments are bound to occur :)

Disney's UP and the source of "squirrel moments"