May 23, 2018
Based on the analysis of all the courses and training sessions I have attended, There is one impressive training session came to my mind.
The quote by Pablo Picasso touched my heart deeply before the impressive training in my former school when I was a teacher. Since that session, my design of teaching has been totally changed. I have my own way to promote the teaching of English.
That training session in my former school, which is the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, was so important that I have benefited a lot. In most parts of China, English teaching has been a puzzle that has confused all the English teachers for many years. This training session enabled the teachers of the English department enhance the student engagement and trigger higher order thinking by flipping their classes in the courses they teach and thereby improve student learning.
My idea for the project instructional project is as follows:
The unit should be three hours of instructional time. This unit is based on the problems that exist in most of the middle schools in China.
1 Based on the different fundamental education backgrounds, a large disparity exists among the students. Some of them have not mastered these skills despite years of progress in educational methods in English learning, and as students mature, the divide between them worsens.
2 Students have no motivation to learn English ，sometimes students look lax and absent-minded because teachers give lectures all the time and students only take notes and recite the dialogues and articles.
3 Both the teachers and the students are not satisfied with the current performance and the results of the standardized tests.
4 Traditional methods of teaching take place in a strict environment which is teacher-centered. Teachers address students’ deficits instead of students’ strengths.
This unit is aimed to improve the current students' performance , motivate the students in English learning and develop higher order thinking in students in a student-centered environment by using the flipped classroom model. The unit will be classroom based and delivered in different sessions including class, homework assignment and etc.
The objectives for this unit are to enable all the teachers of the English department to:
● Remember and memorize the concept and techniques by demonstrating what it means by “flipped” classroom model and procedures of “flipping” a classroom.
● Apply concrete strategies for “flipping” the English courses by exploring various creative techniques for exposing students to course contents in class.
● Develop individual plans for “flipping” their English classes by identifying pedagogical strategies that facilitate active learning and reach diverse English learners in a flipped classroom.
Instructional activities:
1 Activities about "receiving content information"
Materials outside of class
A)
Provide the English teachers short video tutorials on the following topics:
■ What is flipped classroom model?
■ Procedures of “flipping” a classroom?
● Techniques for making contents accessible outside classroom (videos and reading and other materials)
● Exploring ways to get teachers motivated to prepare for class
● Techniques for students' active learning in the classroom that focus on higher order cognitive activities
● Recognizing mechanism to assess student understanding
B)
Supporting materials detailing active learning and pedagogical techniques about instructional differentiation and materials on technologies available to support the flipped classroom
2 Activities about "practice with content"
A) Discussion forum points as entry to the conference room for teachers
B) Invite a guest speaker from Y middle school who has used flipped classroom model for several years to deepen the understanding of the flipped classroom model with his own experience and Question and Answer session will fellow up.
3 Activities about "assessment of learners content knowledge/skills"
Class quizzes on the knowledge and skills about flipped classrooms using clickers followed by sharing the opinions with a partner sitting opposite to them.
Choose from a topic from the current textbooks and use a flipped classroom model in one class. Design a plan and share videos by Flipgrid.
4 Activities include a debrief of assessment of the learning outcomes of out -of -class materials
■ Critique of the Flipgrid videos of each teacher as a class (strengths and areas that need improvement)
■ Group discussion what were the challenges/ limitation/ pros and cons of the flipped classroom model
■ Survey questions assessing knowledge, skills and attitude in theory and practice of flipped classrooms
Comments