Engaging Content for the History Flip

 

My VoiceThread on the French Revolution

For the past several years I have been experimenting with different aspects of the flip model in my social studies classes. I think the key element of the model is to get students activated in the classroom (and throughout instruction) and to move away (as much as possible) from content delivery (something that new resources and technology can do just as well, or better.) I would much rather have my students learn an combination of content and skills through discussions, document analysis, historical investigations, projects and the like. This is really nothing new, John Dewey explored constructivist methods of education more than a century ago. Since that time, social constructivist theories and connectivist theories have expanded Dewey's ideas for the 21st century environment. As a result, the flip model brings together 21st century instruction techniques such as screencasting, social networking, and bring-your-own-technology and combines with with techniques such as project, problem, inquiry and passion-based learning.

Crash Course World History -  The French Revolution

As a result of the flip instruction model, a lot can be done in the history and social studies classroom. I began this process myself by moving to a more inquiry and project-based model in my world history classes and supplementing the content material by moving my traditional lectures to Voicethread for students to view on their own time. This worked pretty well, but I still had issues with students relying on lecture-based content delivery and my issues with overburdening students with homework.

History Teachers - "Revolution in France."

So, I continue to experiment and rethink how I will implement my instruction to best help all of my students. I know that my focus will further be on how authentic history learning can be employed both inside and outside of the classroom. I am particularly interested in reducing the amount of content consumed at home while at the same time making it more interesting. For my world history courses, this means utilizing one of my new favorite resources - Crash Course World History. The (what will soon be a series of 40) videos created by the team here do a great job covering the basics of most of what I want my students to know. I would also supplement this with the musical talents of the History Teachers - History for Music Lovers, a great set of topic specific videos based on recent pop hits.  It all comes back to the idea of teachers being great curators.  As a result, I am thinking of reducing my VoiceThread screencasts to general overview of topics at the beginning of a unit, to topics not covered by the resources mentioned above, and for review purposes at the end of the unit. By bringing the other videos into VoiceThread or embedding them in Edmodo, I can still give my students a way to interact and ask questions of me. Plus, I know the creators of the videos listed above monitor their YouTube channels and answer student questions, adding another great interactive resource.

I think there are a lot of possibilites for increasing student engagement both with online content and what is done in the classroom. For more insights on this, read Tom Driscoll's post here.

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You've Heard of the 3R's, How About The 6C's?

I've been thinking and reading a lot this summer about different learning theories and how they affect pedagogy.  My three favorites are constructivism, communal constructivism, and connectivism.  Aspects of each of these three theories really inform my teaching and should be the basis for any attempt of innovative teaching in the 21st century context.  So, what does that mean for pedagogy and how do we apply it?  Certainly, we have all heard of the 3R's (reading, writing and arithmetic).  While these should form the basis of any good educational skillset, we know that they are not enough in the context of the needs of 21st century learners and what the theories mentioned above propose.  Therefore, I have developed my own framework that I hope to employ this school year in the development of my lessons, my teaching, and assessment of my students.

I call this the "6C's" or the "C-6 Framework."  The 6C's are "Choice, Construction, Connection, Collaboration, Creation, and Consideration."  Here is what each of these mean:

1. Choice - Learners will have the opportunity to choose what, how, and when to learn.
2. Construction - Learners will conduct research and inquiry to construct their own understanding of the world around them.
3. Connection - Learners will discover and build the connections between ideas, events, and people in different times and places.
4. Collaboration - Learners will develop the skills to effectively collaborate with their facilitators and peers.
5. Creation - Learners will strive to become producers of new knowledge using their skills and imagination to create new understanding.
6. Consideration - Learners will reflect and consider what they have learned, how they learned it, and how they can improve their learning in the future.

I'm not proposing that any of this is particularly new or radical.  For we are only "standing on the shoulders of giants" when it comes to learning theory and its practice in the classroom.  But, I find this a useful framework to remind myself of where are focus should be.  I have developed it with the social studies classroom in mind, but a simple variation in some of the language of each explanation could work in any and all subject matter.  I plan on sharing this framework with my students and parents in setting the proper tone in what I hope to develop in my students this school year.