After 20 years of teaching at Brookfield Central, I am saying goodbye. Although I spent the majority of that time in the physics classroom alongside my learners. That changed for my last 18 weeks. I ended up in a place similar to where I started, teaching chemistry and biology. So, rather than dealing with juniors and seniors at the end of their high school careers, I was in classrooms with freshmen and sophomores still trying to find their place. At the same time, I was learning and teaching a set curriculum I hadn't taught in over a decade. So, we were learning. But, of course, I already knew the content. The point of this post is to take a step back, take in, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School through the cards and notes they made for me on my last day with them. I don't take many yay me moments. But after 20 years, I think I'll soak this one in.
One day in class, we were doing an exploration in which they observed a Cartesian diver and hypothesizing how it worked. They recorded these observations and explanations to Flipgrid. Eventually in the unit we would discuss the reasons why things float and sink based on buoyant forces and weight. As we ended the unit, I had an idea based on the fact that students had recorded these ideas in Flipgrid and had access to them via my.flipgrid.com.
Many times students look at pretest and post test scores to reflect on growth. So, I had an idea to do something similar but without looking at scores. My idea involved going beyond a simple summary of the activity in the portfolio and an attempt for students to reflect on their past learning to see how their thinking had evolved.
Many times students look at pretest and post test scores to reflect on growth. So, I had an idea to do something similar but without looking at scores. My idea involved going beyond a simple summary of the activity in the portfolio and an attempt for students to reflect on their past learning to see how their thinking had evolved.
Rather than having students explain how the Cartesian diver connected to the concepts addressed in the unit, I asked them to explain how their model of the diver has changed being sure to use terminology we had learned in the unit.
I think there is power in students hearing their own explanations in the recent past. While this was the first time I did this, I think it has potential. But, I need to build in a better framework to guide learners to address how their thinking has changed to the original prompt.
I can imagine a bunch of different ways to take this. Having students record their own ideas about the concepts at the beginning of a unit and revisit at the end. This could be for a unit, a term, or even a school year.
As I said, this is just something I decided to try out a few days ago. I’m excited to see where I can take it. Even more excited to see if people are already using Flipgrid for this purpose and how they are getting students to see how they have grown. As always, I would love to hear your ideas!
- What aspects of their original thinking were correct
- What aspects of their thinking need to be changed
- What questions do they still have
I can imagine a bunch of different ways to take this. Having students record their own ideas about the concepts at the beginning of a unit and revisit at the end. This could be for a unit, a term, or even a school year.
As I said, this is just something I decided to try out a few days ago. I’m excited to see where I can take it. Even more excited to see if people are already using Flipgrid for this purpose and how they are getting students to see how they have grown. As always, I would love to hear your ideas!
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