So, I got my husband to take off for the afternoon so I can work on my website. It’s a mess! Half started units. Blank pages. Everywhere I looked, evidence of indecision and procrastination. 

I need to have them ready to go for Monday. 

It’s slow. It’s tedious. It’s necessary.

I’d love to change the videos I made at the beginning of the year, but I think that’s a summer project. I’m keeping a little list of things to do and things to change (I’m always making lists!). The top item on the list is MAKE TIME TO FIX MY VIDEOS! 

What I’m finding as I work my way through the pages is that ideas are coming more easily to me than they did when I started flipping this class. Of course, when I started, I thought I’d just flip the “boring stuff” like grammar and editing information. But now that I’ve been flipping little parts, it’s easier to think about how to flip the big ones.

I also was thinking about how the first couple of days went. I’m having kids create digital portfolios. I’ve allowed them to choose whatever site they want to use, so there are a few different sites. The guys tend to gravitate toward Blogger because they are more familiar with it and it seems easier. The girls tend to like weebly and wix because they can be more creative in the design of it. 

Seems about right….

Another reason I decided I better get my site cleaned up is I’ve got five students who are taking an independent study with me. Creative Writing 2, if you will. They are all self-motivated students who like to write, so this will be fun to do. I can’t wait to read what they write. I did think they might need refreshers in some of the genres, so I need to get everything ready to go!  They will truly be flipped because they don't even have a 

"real" class period. One will meet with me two or three times a week, two others meet fifth period and the last two meet sixth period. I'm trying to connect all of us via google docs, schoology, and email. I plan to have them all read and respond to each other's work via shared google docs. I've set up folders so it's easy to share. We've got a document with everyone's website listed. I'm thinking a google group might also be a good thing to have, but haven't decided for sure. I'm just trying to make sure we are all connected. 

Writer's need to be connected. Learners need to be connected. And aren't connections and relationships the cornerstone of good teaching?

Welcome to the Flipping Family.

We’re high school teachers (well, one of us mostly teaches junior high). We’re all different ages and in different stages of our teaching careers. We teach reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmatic, with Spanish and Art classes thrown in for good measure. Each of us are flipping one or more of our classes. And in the midst of all this learning and flipping, we’ve become a family. Because I’m the oldest and the “Mom” of the group, I get to introduce this blog and myself.

As with all things education in my life the last couple of years, this endeavor started on Twitter.

A tweet about something called a “flipped classroom.”

An article describing it.

I tweeted Libby (#responsiblemiddlechild), “This sounds like us. I want to try it.”

#Bossman tweeted us back and said “If you want to know more about this, I’ve got a place to send you.” (You’ve got to love a bossman who pays attention to your tweets AND responds to them in this way.)

Tanya, the #oldestchild joined in. She was interested too. (She was more blended and flipped than she thought)

So we began reading and learning. We visited a school. We talked, we tweeted, we talked some more.

Little by little we tried things.

Then, #theoops joined our staff. He went along with us to a conference. As with many youngest children, he wasn’t going to be left behind. He jumped right in and tried it (maybe a little need for attention). Then #youngestsister joined our staff. She liked the idea and joined our merry little family.

We are lucky that our district is giving us personal learning time during inservices. We all work together in a Personal Learning Community (PLC). We talk. We disagree. We share. We reflect.

Hence, this blog.

This is my 24th year in our district. I began as a paraprofessional in the Special Ed department (You have to start somewhere! It was a great boost to my teaching skills). I taught junior high for fourteen or fifteen years---English, Reading, and Advanced English. Then, I moved to the high school. Now I teach Speech, Drama, Creative Writing and English 9 and coach contest Speech (Forensics).

So why did I want to flip?

I know that in many ways, my teaching has incorporated the tenets of flipped learning. I have always wanted my students to take charge of their learning. I want them to think (My favorite part of my day? When a student says, “Mrs. Day, this is hard.”).  I want them to solve their own problems. I want them to share what they know with others. I want them to reflect on their learning.

I don’t want to lecture.

Has flipping Creative Writing been easy?

Nope. Sometimes I’m not really sure how to do this. Sometimes, what works in other areas doesn’t seem to fit with my Creative Writing class. If you look at my website, there are gaps in the lessons (I’ll get them filled this semester, though. Don’t you worry about that!).

I’m still not fully flipping as I write this. I might not ever fully flip writing. (Mostly because I like to write with my kids). But there are lots of parts of writing I can flip. And that’s where I’m headed.

Is it a blended flip? Hybrid flip? Crappy flip? Not a flip?

Call it what you want. I want my kids to find answers for themselves. I want them to use me as a resource and a mentor. I want them to come to my class each day and say, “You shared with me how you do this. Now, I want to try it on my own.”

I want them to own their learning.

Simple as that.