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Let Flexibility Lead To Alignment

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  In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
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Building Relationships with Flipgrid #IMMOOC

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This will be my third year in which my physics students will be collaborating with an elementary school classroom. It is always a great experience but we’ve found a way to make this connection even better with technology. This year we are collaborating with Katie Spadoni’s 4th graders from Dixon Elementary School a mile from our high school. In the past, collaboration days involved school buses and permission slips.  Now we can innovate collaboration days into collaboration moments via Flipgrid.  
I’ve heard a lot about Flipgrid this summer. I began experimenting with it earlier this school year. But this week I feel like I’ve discovered the power within.
Our first collaboration moment was introductions.  These would usually be face to face on the day.  But using Flipgrid, my students were able to post an introduction and the 4th graders in Katie’s classroom were able to respond in kind.  We could see faces and hear voices.  



Today on our visit, our students collaborated on creating videos highlighting failed inventions. We were then able to post them on Flipgrid for all to view and respond to our creations.

I look forward to continuing with this collaboration on possibly a weekly basis rather that the monthly or quarterly collaborations we used to do. I’ve got some ideas brewing in my head for what we can share
  • Question of the week or success of the week?
  • Explain results of a lab we do in class
  • Explain science principles
  • Record a demonstration and explain

It’ll be a great way to share our learning with an audience outside of our classroom.

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