Steve Jobs passed away on October 5th, 2011. Here are some reactions from Twitter.
A friend of mine posted this on Google+ and I thought it was worth sharing. If you are interested in Steve Jobs’ biography, it is below.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Education is about meeting a child’s learning needs through creative and flexible instruction. That is why Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams developed the flipped classroom model. This is a method designed for those who understand that education cannot be reduced to any one strategy or be restricted to a rigid framework. Initially termed reverse instruction, this method essentially flips the current paradigm by sending kids home to attend lectures and the like in an environment much like an online school, and then spending actual classroom time in interactive review that has previously been reserved for homework.
Normally, students are required to bring hours of schoolwork back home, where it then must compete with all the distractions there such as the television and the computer. The student works on the problems and assignments entirely on his or her own, without peer review, interaction, or teacher feedback and correction. This can become a struggle for students everywhere, with unanswered questions turning into bad habits and malformed ideas.
According to Bergmann and Sams’ The Flipped Class Blog, the reasoning for this innovative new strategy was developed with these observations in mind. The flipped classroom model addresses these problems as a twofold cure. First, instead of a competition pitting homework against the draws of the Internet, the flipped classroom model embraces this common medium of our generation. Students get to “watch TV” for homework by viewing podcast lectures, power-point presentations, content-rich websites, and educational videos, all at their own pace. If they are the interactive type, they can then discuss what they are learning from home through chat rooms, blogs, and vlogs.
Secondly, the classroom environment changes drastically. Suddenly, instead of boring lectures and busywork, the classroom is alive and active. The students are engaged in what would have otherwise been homework. Hands-on and tactile students especially benefit, as they do not have to struggle to sit still and listen for any length of time. As students apply learned material to their work, they have the support of peer discussion and teacher instruction. If students have questions about the material, there is much more time for the teacher to clarify and give examples. David Truss of the acclaimed Connected Principles education blog agrees that when this strategy is well-done, it is a great use of time for collaboration, problem-solving, practice. However, he does warn that quality must not be sacrificed for the convenience of this model, as would be the temptation for some. This does not transform the teacher’s role from teacher to mere facilitator. Instead, production quality has the chance to increase due to the increased accountability as students have the opportunity to put pencil to paper under the direct tutelage of the teacher.
The relationship between a parent and the teacher is changed as well. The question becomes not “how is my child behaving in class?” but rather “is my child learning?” Bergmann and Sam discovered that this type of questioning is more profound, and allows for a much more nuanced treatment of children and their education, rather than focusing on how to discipline them and get them to sit still in class. Parents and teachers can work together to clarify what may be frustrating a child and figure out ways to solve it, both during home instruction and class time.
The flipped classroom is still a new method, and it may yet take time to fully flesh out any problems that there may be with it. But at the current point in time, parents, teachers, and students involved with the program are all giving rave reviews. Now that educational reform is becoming more and more important to everyone, this model may be one we can turn to to revolutionize education.
Maybe it’s because she can read what she wants. Maybe it’s because she can read when she wants. Maybe it’s the Reading Log Workbook, cheering her on to read one million words this school year. Maybe it’s not having to do monthly book reports. Or maybe it’s just because she’s another year older, and has accepted the reading as part of her responsibilities. Whatever it is, I love not having to cajole, beg, plead or stand over her to get her to do her reading anymore.
My 6th grader’s new charter middle school doesn’t have a lot of requirements to go with their 30-minute daily reading assignment. In fact, she doesn’t even have to do it every night; it’s up to her to figure out how to read that amount each week. She’s opted to do it all on Sundays. Part of that is because of our hectic schedule lately, and finding a half-hour a night isn’t feasible many nights. But come Sunday, she reads. It only takes one reminder from me, and she gets out a timer, figures out how long to read before taking a break. She only asks that there be silence while she’s reading, a simple (and frankly, welcome by me) request. My older daughter either goes into her room, or puts on headphones. I get some housework done, and read during my breaks. After each reading session, we use the guide provided in her Reading Log Workbook to figure out how many words she’s read, she writes it down, I sign my initials. She takes her break, and then goes back to reading with no fuss when her break time is over.
This is simply not normal for us. Right or wrong, good or bad, every school year for the last 5 years, I’ve struggled to get her to like reading. It’s been frustrating on varying levels for me. I love to read, and I couldn’t understand why my daughter didn’t. I’ve role modeled a love of books her entire life! I’ve also felt like a failure as a parent because of it. Her summaries were sloppy, not focused on the main points. There were few books she loved. There were months where I helped her finish her monthly book reports far more than I felt comfortable doing, and there were months it didn’t get done. Her grades in that subject struggled, and I struggled with ideas for motivating her.
I think it’s a combination of all of the above, and a few others, that have made this year so different. Her English teacher this year is her favorite, so there’s more intrinsic motivation, and less willingness to tolerate disappointment from this teacher’s eyes. As I write this, she has laughed out loud plenty reading this installment of Harry Potter, one of her greatest current obsessions. This is her last installment of reading for this week, and not once has she checked the timer to see how much time she has left.
However long it took to get here, however many factors play into us being here now, I can only hope that struggles with reading are in the past.
April McCaffery is the single parent to two daughters, in 6th and 9th grade.
Yesterday, I saw a commercial for Arm & Hammer detergent on TV. There were 2 ladies in the commercial. One of the ladies remarked that her husband asked her if she had bought new towels. (This means that Arm & Hammer is a great detergent, so great that your husand will wonder if you bought new >> insert here<< whatever you washed).
The ad was particularly funny for me as my husband right then was folding laundry that he had just finished doing. So I tweeted out:
My friend responded that advertising assumes that women make those purchasing decisions. Well, let me tell you that I had no idea which laundry detergent we used for the longest time. I didn’t even know that there is a hand-washing option on my washing machine and completely avoided buying any clothes that said “Hand washing” only. My friend also said that advertising is slow to change. So I thought I’d help the process along.
Before I tell you what I did, I also wanted to say that A&H is not alone. Katy on Twitter pointed out another ad from Tide:
This morning, I asked the following questions on Twitter:
And here are the responses I got and I sincerely hope that advertising takes note. I’d love to see an ad with a guy vacuuming, or cleaning or folding laundry, or whatever. It is teamwork and it really takes 2 to tango and I for one would love to see my amazing husband represented. He helps so much.
I will end the post with what Katy said. I also find these ads uber frustrating and unfair. We need to give credit where credit is due. To our wonderful husbands who help. And as Kelly correctly said, it is normal for your life partner to help with chores and we need to stop treating it like it is a big deal and represent the reality of our lives on television.
Tide and Arm & Hammer: Incidentally, Laundry is the #1 chore that men seem to help with.
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My youngest daughter starts middle school tomorrow. We’ll be waking up about an hour earlier than last year, I’ll be driving about 30 minutes completely out of my way, and she will start earlier and stay later. So why not the neighborhood middle school? Before she starts, I thought it would be good to write down my reasons for making this decision. As the year progresses, I’ll of course continue to post about how it really turns out.
Leaving what we know. My older daughter just graduated from the neighborhood middle school. While 8th grade was all right, 6th and 7th were not. She struggled both academically and socially. I had to change her counselor, she had to go back into therapy, and she had to go to summer school one year. While it could have gone worse, we barely made it through. It was only when she started to think about her future beyond middle school that she was able to start turning things around. I was certainly motivated to do things differently this time around.
A trusted recommendation. We chose the charter middle school based on a recommendation by a very trusted educator friend of ours, and after checking it out for ourselves.
She wants to go there. My daughter responded to the school enthusiastically, and that’s half the battle right there. She pored over the paperwork we’d been given, and the web site. She was excited to go back to school shopping and put her backpack together. We’ll see if it lasts, but her enthusiasm completely validates our decision.
The Parent Coordinator. Yes, that’s actually his title. I have his cell phone, his email, and he made sure to introduce himself when I first went to pick up the application. He has replied to each and every one of my multiple emails with my dozens of questions, thoughtfully and quickly. He even accepted some of the registration forms via email, understanding that it’s a drive for me to get there. He’s not the only one that’s been helpful. The Principal has also been friendly and knowledgeable, the woman in the front office has been helpful, and every teacher I’ve seen has been sure to nod and smile at me. Even a few of the kids stopped me one day and asked me about my child. They said they’d keep their eye out for her, and responded enthusiastically that they love their school.
The Advisory Period. I suppose this could also be considered homeroom, but the advisory class that my daughter will have every day will advise her not only on managing her homework schedule, but on thinking about colleges and her future. I think this will be a great tool in her transition from elementary school to high school prep and beyond.
The After-School Program. My oldest daughter used the City’s free bus program to get to her after-school program. That bus program has just been cut. At the charter middle school, there’s a free after school program on campus. They will have an activity for the first hour, then homework for the second, and other activities after that. I like that homework is in the 2nd hour, giving the students a break from school, but she’ll have both the time and assistance, and opportunities for other interests.
It will be a long year. Longer, in fact, than the neighborhood school because there are 10 more instructional days than the state requirements. I am bracing myself for the transitional period that will potentially involve tears and/or whining. Still, I have enough reasons to think that, in the end, our choice will be the right one.
April McCaffery is the single mother with 2 daughters, going into a charter middle school and an arts high school.
