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?