When you are starting your journey in flipping and doing your flipped classroom research, you are searching for things like flipped classroom how to, flipped classroom ideas, flipped classroom approaches, and flipped classroom pros and cons.

You are looking for any and all ideas to inspire you and get you started on your journey.  And that flipped classroom research can quickly become a black hole that sucks you in, and two hours later you come out and wonder, "Holy cow, what did I just learn from that?"

Hopefully you gleaned something from your searches, because there really is plenty out there, so I'm sure you did.  But wasn't it quite overwhelming?  Wasn't there so much to take in, and then you're left deciding, "What's going to work for MY classroom?" And, "Yea, but how do I get started flipping my classroom?"

I can't tell you how many times I have been sucked into the rabbit hole that is Google image, Pinterest, or searching tags on Instagram for inspiration...

Homework is a long, and hotly debated topic in the world of education.  I don't need to remind any teacher of this debate.  It's one that many teachers put a big, giant stake in the ground, and don't budge from assigning, and there are others that refuse to assign any at all.

There's tons of research for all grade levels that I won't bore you with, but do encourage you to check out sooner rather than later if you haven't yet, all about its effectiveness or lack thereof.  But, really, no matter what the research says, homework is yet another pendulum that often swings from one extreme to the other as years pass and as kids are still being educated around the world.

What is homework in the flipped classroom?

In the "traditional" flipped classroom, if that's even a word you can use to describe flipping, homework is now what WAS in-class work.  See, in the traditional classroom, students sit at their desks and receive information via the teacher through lecture -...

Last week we chatted about the first two weeks of school and how to set up your flipped classroom for success, because let's be honest, the first two weeks are so important in addressing challenges that you KNOW you will face.

Here's my not-so-secret secret...

The flipped classroom allows you to face the unique challenges you KNOW are present for you and your students HEAD ON.

Each classroom has its own unique challenges, and I can not begin to list or even fully understand what those are.  That's part of what we do as teachers; we teach in our unique schools, to our unique kids, and that makes each of our jobs different even from one teacher to the next.

The flipped classroom, however, allows you to face some of the big challenges that you'll find in many classrooms, and this post is all about answering the big question...

Weather

What an odd one to start with, but I've got a personal story to share with you on this one.  It relates to last week's post because the...

Here at Teach On A Mission, like every other teacher, everywhere, we are in total back to school mode.  And you can't be prepared to start a school year without talking about, preparing for, and understanding the significance of the first two weeks in the classroom.

The flipped classroom is no different.

Or is it?

Well, it kind of is.

The first two weeks in the flipped classroom are important not only so you can establish rapport and boundaries that benefit your classroom management abilities just like in the traditional classroom.

Yes, that's important, but in the flipped classroom, the first two weeks is MORE about empowering kids.

(photo by Nicole Honeywill, https://unsplash.com/photos/E3I2zjwGudM)

It's about empowering your students to own their learning, and know how to learn well.

So, in this post, I want to give you a picture of that classroom atmosphere, as well as some techniques to use to build that atmosphere and empower your students.

Be obnoxiously...

It's that time of year again.  The time of year where teachers are doing more reflecting and planning than most people do in an entire calendar year.  You are thinking about your future students, wondering what to expect, imagining the impact you can have, and dreaming of the connections you'll make in meaningful, authentic ways.

If you're reading this right now, I bet you are also the type of teacher who is thinking about ways you can make things better.  Ways you can optimize class time, strategies to increase student accountability and engagement, creative management techniques, the new Pinterest-worthy classroom decor items you can buy, build, and add to your walls, the new folder or mailbox system, and don't forget the new classroom library!

Don't get me wrong, these are all awesome things, exact ones that I have been over the moon excited about over many summers in my teaching career.  I do NOT fault you for these ambitions and goals during this time...

Video 2 of the 3 part content coaching series comes out TOMORROW!!!

I want to give you a sneak peek here.  Check it out...

And here's a little behind the scenes action of my set up so I could demonstrate some key understandings...

Gotta love my HUE camera :)

How I can Support YOU.

I'm just so darn excited that many new and veteran teachers are joining our group.  I am hearing from many of you of how you feel supported in this membership, and that is EXACTLY what my hope and goal is - for you to feel supported and not like you need to do ALL of the heavy lifting in preparing for the course, alone.

I have got you!

Seriously.

I don't want you to have to burn the midnight oil staying up late every night after you've put your own kids to bed, or work all evening as soon as you get home.  Leave work at work without the guilt and stress of feeling like you aren't prepared and are some how letting down your students.

NOPE!  I'm done with that, and I want you to be...

I've got the first of THREE content coaching videos ready to go for you and it will be sending out, arriving to your email inboxes THIS Wednesday (July 24, 2019)!

I have to say that this may be one of my favorite videos I've made, and as a flipped classroom teacher, I've made a lot of videos.

Something I haven't done more than once or twice before is switch between my web camera and my document camera.  So, by doing just that in this video I was able to speak about the content over my slides (more helpful for those of you taking some notes) AND demonstrate my thinking and teaching on paper!  I loved it, and I know you will too.

Here's a few screenshots of the video to give you a sneak peek of what's coming...

If you didn't catch my Facebook Live about this training, I highly recommend you do so, because I give a sneak peek there as well.  

Here's the gist...

I'm going to help you feel confident about teaching the normal curve to your students this...

Welcome to Part 5 of our Content Coaching Series.  Be sure to go back and check out each part of the series to learn more about this new(ish) way to support teachers, and new ways that I would like teachers to be supported through content coaching (part one, two, three, four).

The one-on-one coaching model in education is great because a solid relationship is able to form, and more personalized coaching can take place, and impact is made on the classroom and students.  Think of an instructional coach (or any kind of coach) you've worked with.  I'm hoping it was a positive working-relationship, and I'm sure you gained great value from it because there was one-on-one work.

The catch is that one-on-one coaching, as in all industries, not just in education, is a large time and financial investment.  Even still, it's the ideal solution in many cases, however, not all.  Not all situations need a huge time or financial investment, especially when time and finances...

Scratch that!  This advice is for all teachers.  Although I give this advice from the perspective of AP Psych, it totally applies to all courses who summation is wrapped up into one big test.  Here it is...

Align your course.

Some of you are totally giving me an eye roll right now, as if to say, really - I'm ready a blog post for that advice?!?!?

You're dag-on right you are.  And here's why...

There is SO MUCH out there to align your course to.  Every textbook company says they've got the latest and greatest resources, which many of them do.  Their handouts and activities can be great resources, but you don't necessarily want to be using their resources in the area where alignment matters the most.  That area, my friends, is tests.

When it comes to aligning the assessments of your course, if the resources are available to you, you need to use the ones that are provided by the company who makes the summative assessment of your course.

In AP...

I feel like I've been talking a big game about content coaching lately, so I want to back up all that talk with real evidence; real stories from real teachers.  First, I want to remind you that I am a teacher.  I am not an instructional coach, or even a content coach – at least not in the way that a school district has named me as such.  I do have a master’s degree that would qualify me for those titles, but my experience in the classroom has been what’s drawn teachers to me for support and guidance, not a title.

As I’ve been teaching and flipping AP Psychology for almost ten years, many fellow AP Psych teachers have reached out and sought advice or sent their appreciation for the videos and various resources I’ve built specific to the course.

This past school year, I was able to branch out a bit from my normal in-the-classroom teaching gig and work one-on-one with a few teachers who were newer to the subject of AP Psychology.  To be...