Over the past six weeks I have been conducting a class on how to use a Chromebook with Google Apps for Education, GAFE, in a 1:1 environment. The first couple of classes had me thinking, "They are never going to understand." However somewhere along the line it clicked.
It wasn't until we started talking about video curating with YouTube and Hangouts, both tools students can also use with the Chromebook, that the lights started to brighten. The teachers started to see my vision. They were creating videos of notes for students to access on their own. They were creating these videos so students could control their own learning and the teacher would not have to repeat the information thirty different times. They were incorporating technology into their lessons. They were letting go and creating lessons that empowered the students.
Some of the teachers became so excited about the lessons they were creating for the fall that they immediately had to incorporate what they learned into their classes today. TodaysMeet, Voice Comments, Google Hangouts, gClassFolders were turned from an interesting tool to their mainstream classroom material. It was amazing to see.
And then it happened. I came to class ready to address some comments and share some additional ideas, but I could not. I walked into the class, set up my material and it was silent. The teachers were pounding away collaborating quietly with each other on their lessons. I had completely lost control, or I should say given up my control to the class. They had full command of their learning.
About halfway through that class I stopped everyone and asked if they also saw what was going on; how the instruction had changed; how they were now the masters of their learning. They had completely demonstrated how a flipped the classroom works without even knowing it. I have to say, it was awesome!
It wasn't until we started talking about video curating with YouTube and Hangouts, both tools students can also use with the Chromebook, that the lights started to brighten. The teachers started to see my vision. They were creating videos of notes for students to access on their own. They were creating these videos so students could control their own learning and the teacher would not have to repeat the information thirty different times. They were incorporating technology into their lessons. They were letting go and creating lessons that empowered the students.
Some of the teachers became so excited about the lessons they were creating for the fall that they immediately had to incorporate what they learned into their classes today. TodaysMeet, Voice Comments, Google Hangouts, gClassFolders were turned from an interesting tool to their mainstream classroom material. It was amazing to see.
And then it happened. I came to class ready to address some comments and share some additional ideas, but I could not. I walked into the class, set up my material and it was silent. The teachers were pounding away collaborating quietly with each other on their lessons. I had completely lost control, or I should say given up my control to the class. They had full command of their learning.
About halfway through that class I stopped everyone and asked if they also saw what was going on; how the instruction had changed; how they were now the masters of their learning. They had completely demonstrated how a flipped the classroom works without even knowing it. I have to say, it was awesome!