What's My Innovation?
This page is dedicated to bringing together all of the elements of my innovation plan that I have been working on in the Digital Leading and Learning/Advanced Digital Learning Program. It has been a work in progress ever since starting the first class in August 2020. Now that I'm in the final capstone class, it's time to pull all the components together and see where I'm at right now in November 2021.
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The innovation that I have been working on is to bring in a flipped classroom to my Algebra 1 classes. I have done a lot of research on the topic and how to properly handle running a flipped classroom. Click on the link below to check out the research that has been done.
Once the research was done, I had to then focus on how to get my innovation started in my organization. I work in a small west Texas school district with administrators that are pretty much up to anything that will help students. Even still, it helps to get all of your information lined out. I drafted a proposal letter to my principal as well as identified my "Why, How, and What." Knowing why you want to do something makes it easier to have the crucial conversations necessary to institute change. To further help my cause, I created two different videos that can be used to help let others know what flipped classroom are and how they work. The first is pretty short and just shows the basics. My call to action video from EDLD 5314 also shares some of the benefits and possible pitfalls of using a flipped classroom.
How's the Plan Going?
Any time you want to make a change, it helps to have a plan. My first implementation plan was pretty vague as to when I would try to make changes. When I had to update it in EDLD 5314, I did list specific dates as shown on the left. I had great intentions of following this plan, but life has gotten in the way.
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Both teaching and going to grad school myself doesn't leave me a lot of time to do the work necessary for prepping a flipped classroom. The types of activities I would like to have are hard to find, and I want my videos to be better quality than the ones that were haphazardly done during the 2020-2021 school year. I have also learned through further research that I need proper training on handling a flipped classroom.
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My new idea is to see about flipping occasional lessons starting after Christmas. The topics that I have left between now and Christmas break in Algebra 1 can be difficult to learn in a normal classroom setting, but learning by video when they can't ask questions at home would be too much since the process hasn't been put in place yet. I have discussed the idea of a flipped classroom with some of my classes, and a couple of them were interested in at least giving it a try.
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Once I have some practice flipping the classroom myself, I will work on pulling in some of my fellow teachers into the process. I believe that there are a few that would be open to the idea. This is where the Influencer and 4DX plans that I developed will come in handy to create change in my school.
Hopefully, I will see success in using a flipped classroom with my students. I know that it will be a challenge at the beginning since it is so different from what they are used to. There will definitely have to be discussions about having a growth mindset in contrast to a fixed mindset. I hope that once they see the benefits to the flipped classroom, they will embrace it and be more willing to take initiative in their learning. I would love to have an innovative classroom that I could share with others via social media. I would even consider trying my hand at writing another article to be shared to help other teachers outside my school walls.
What's Coming Next?
As for the future, I would like to take what I've learned in the program about leadership and try to find a position where I can be a part of a leadership team that involves more digital aspects into the classroom. The only part that I missed out in this program was the professional development creation portion because of transitioning from DLL to ADL. I was given credit for the professional development course since I had already completed a course that wasn't needed for the ADL program. I would like to be able to test out different online/digital components for teachers and help to find ways for them to be used in the classroom to help their students learn. I am quick to learn new technology, so I feel like I would be a good person to help with that kind of thing. I have also learned a lot about creating my own ePortfolio, so that could possibly be a good innovation to lead teachers in creating and using in their classrooms. I think it would be a great tool for most subjects to use to demonstrate their learning. ePortfolios give students a great opportunity to use their own voice and choose how they want to show others what they have learned. I could develop a plan to teach the teachers how to create their own as well as offer my services to helping instruct students on how to get started.