Thursday, December 27, 2012

It Takes Two

In FlipYour Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Everday one of the many suggestion Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams give for making videos your students will love is to "create the video with another teacher".   I will admit that I hadn't actually read "the book" before I began flipping my classroom this year. After my initial introduction to Flipped Learning at the Model Schools Conference 2012, all of my flipping research was done online. The Fizz Institute, The Flipped Learning Network, and Crystal Kirch's website were my "go to" resources for what to do.  

When I first started making my videos (just a few short months ago), I made them all by myself.  Then one day after school I was talking with another fifth grade teacher who was taking steps towards flipping his classroom.  He was saying that he needed to make a video for his class.  The more we talked we decided to make one together.  After we made our video, it was easy to see why Bergmann and Sams say you should make your videos with another teacher.  It seems more natural to have a conversation about the strategy as we are talking to each other.   Mr. Young also adds humor to the videos to keep you laughing as you learn.

One of my students wrote this post on Edmodo after watching a couple of the videos we had made together: "Hey Mrs. Fisher are you going to start having Mr.Young with you when we are doing math? I don't mind."  I guess that says it all.  Two heads are better than one!


What do you think?  Click here to watch one of my solo videos. 

Saturday, December 15, 2012

December 14th

Normally December 14th is a happy day for me.  You see it's my birthday.  This year I was blessed to be able to spend a quiet evening at home with my husband and my three grown boys enjoying a lovely dinner.  A dinner that had been prepared by the wonderful parents in my classroom. 

But this year was different.  I could not stop thinking about the families whose lives were forever changed.  Families that could not sit down together at the dinner table. There are no words that can adequately express my sympathy for their loss. . . .  My heart goes out to those families, teachers, and the entire community!

For suggestions on ways to help your students cope with this tragedy click here,

Goodbye!

Wow! I can’t believe I have not posted anything this entire school year! I’m not sure what that means. I have decided that I will be retir...