Category: Analogies

What I did for my flipping summer vacation

9/15/2018

Here in Massachusetts (and most of the Northeast), we will remember this summer for being HOT and usually HUMID -- especially in August which was about 5 degrees above average. I just melt in the heat. I'm such a wimp about it.

We tried to ignore this stain in the 1st-floor ceiling, but it bubbled and grew in May and June. Finally got a plumber in early-July to check the pipes, which required this beautiful "skylight" that didn't get fixed for 6 weeks. The first plumber disappeared as contractors sometimes do; in late-July we found another guy who confirmed that the problem was a leak from the old cast-iron bathtub.

The upstairs bathroom was always problematic and fairly hideous. To replace the tub, they'd have to take off the tiles on that wall. If you're going to replace those, then ya might as well redo ALL the wall tiling, right? Or at least remove some to put drywall there. And the sink/vanity unit was too small anyway. That is how a brown spot in the ceiling turns into a 3-week-long, multi-thousand $$ bathroom renovation.

I have some handyman skills, but this was well beyond my toolbox. Even the professional contractor struggled at times and had to ask colleagues for help. I really respected him for that. The house was built in the 1920s and the upstairs was probably renovated in the 1960s (judging by the mint green tiles and other clues). There were some weird piping issues and wall material mysteries.
My wife and I did the last 10%: sanding the plaster, painting the walls, installing the new cabinets, plumbing the sink. The job was finally done August 20th. It is reassuring to know that the bathtub is MUCH less likely to fall through the floor, and it certainly does look cleaner and brighter now!

Oh yeah, I also had to replace the dishwasher in July when the 2-year-old unit stopped draining properly. (Frigidaire > Maytag!)

What does all this have to do with flipped classrooms? Uh, not much really. Except I think there is a metaphor somewhere about projects that got a lot more work than the naked eye can see. When I look at these walls, now I know what's behind them and how much effort it took to make the bathroom look this way. Same for the dishwasher, which required at least 8 hardware store trips in 2 days.
Our students only see the videos -- not the script / planning / outtakes / editing and everything else we did for several hours to produce that 10-minute lesson. Does that matter? Probably not. We get better at these jobs over time, and with experience it gets easier. This year's dishwasher job was easier than 2016 when I'd never done that before; installing the upstairs sink was just like when I did it for the kids' downstairs bathroom last year.
Nothing else in this house is allowed to break until June. I just won't have time for that until Summer 2019.

When you are your biggest flipping problem

9/24/2017

"obstacles, barriers, snags, and other complications to flipping"
[topic for the September 27 livechat]

I know that I am more fortunate than some flipping colleagues: my administrators have always supported the practice, parents have never complained about it, and technology access is a minor concern in this community. (When I surveyed students in week 1 about their ability to do online assignments, 100% reported accessibility at home and/or school.)
My teaching would be a lot easier with some curriculum improvements. In this state the Social Studies Frameworks have not changed since 2001, and the district has not revised its curriculum since 2003. It's stale, overstuffed, and basically impossible...so we all mostly ignore it. Massachusetts has no formal test for history and social studies, which alleviates pressure but reduces structure and funding. 1750-1865 America feels like such a wide area with too many topics and skills for 180 days, so we have to pick and choose and make different decisions each year. That complicates my flipping because we can't always recycle videos, and because we're always curriculum unit planning as well as lesson planning.
But that's not my biggest barrier. The most diabolical complication to successful flipping is between my ears. I get in my own way like nothing else ever could. Many of The Awkward Yeti comics illustrate my internal struggles better than I could manage in paragraph form. Here are 3 particularly appropriate cartoons:

Oh yeah, the force of self-doubt is strong with this one!
My solution so far this school year may seem counter-intuitive: I spend LESS time lesson planning than I used to do. That makes me more efficient and less likely to overthink, re-design, overhaul, kvetch, and commiserate. Trying to work smarter, not harder. That will also mean simpler video production this year, as already visible in my policies & philosophies clip. Getting out of my own way feels better than my usual "why are you hitting yourself?" approach. Let's see how long this lasts!

A couple more lessons from the flipping horrible porch

7/18/2017

I rushed through yesterday's blog post, and while finally finishing the porch project today I got a couple more good ideas of construction <--> education analogies.

ANALOGY #1:
Sometimes we must apply our best efforts on imperfect material.

This doorway is just impossible. The only way to make a proper floor would have been to rip all these boards, and probably re-adjust the entire door frame. However I don't have that kind of time or experience, so this just has to work out that best way that I can manage.

It's like some units that are just weaker than others; I have fewer primary sources, less-exciting video lessons, and the objectives are abstract. But I can't ditch this unit because it's a crucial building block for others. (One example is the Articles of Confederation period, which helps the Constitution's development & debate make much more sense.)

^^^^^^ Look at the slant on that floor!! The cabinet in the background really shows the angle of slope.
It wasn't really a problem for tiling, but it is for the door since I raised the floor level: now it rubs against the floor on the knob side when opened, but there's a 1/2-inch gap on that side when closed! That's why I had to tack this felt strip on the threshold.

Now you're looking upward at a rafter ... see how crooked this thing is?!? I don't even think it's actually supporting the structure at all....

And below you see a pair of grim realities: the ugly electrical socket on a floor bulge, and the dryer duct that protrudes a few inches into the porch while curving downward to the basement. That box came with the house; I can't take credit for this fine craftsmanship.

ANALOGY #2
The rafter, socket, and duct box represent the structural realities we sometimes have to teach around: an early-release in the middle of the week, a surprise snow day, the wi-fi glitching for who knows how long. It's not pretty, but our creative solutions are beautiful in their own way. I kinda like that brown box, and the piece of trim sneaking underneath the dryer duct....

I expect to look back on this blog entry sometime during the winter, when the current muggy weather is replaced by face-freezing chill. I hope the porch is still in good shape, and that I'm taking these lessons to heart while planning lessons for a pockmarked calendar of snowstorms and assemblies....

Teaching lessons learned from a flipping horrible porch

7/17/2017

As I mentioned a few days ago, one of my major summer vacation projects has been renovating the back porch. Today I finally declared success, although the door still needs some weatherstripping. During this job, I haven't directly done any school work but I have been thinking about connections between this manual labor and my day job.

Choosing the right materials to work with:

Ermagerd!! There are so many tools, materials, options, possibilities…here in Home Depot! Maybe one of these things will be perfect, maybe none of them will be. I buy several different items, and figure I can just return or re-purpose those that don’t work out (although sometimes I just keep them anyway).
Yeah, that’s also true for teaching, amirite?!?!

Painting the window trim on the porch:

NOOOOO! This detail work is so boring! This is like the least fun thing ever!! I mean, I guess I understand why it’s important, but I really wish I didn’t need to do this. Oh look, I just screwed up again.
This helps me understand how my students probably feel sometimes … although at least my tasks don’t make their shoulders and their neck muscles ache!

Painting the porch walls:

Coverage is a problem: Sometimes I think I’m doing a great job, but over time I realize that I’ve failed. Usually this happens when I go a little too fast with not quite enough material.
When the paint dries, if you did a bad job, you can see holes or thin areas where the surface never got covered properly…. In teaching it’s similar: the weak spots become clear, but sometimes not until AFTER the summative unit test!
So taking just a little more time and being a little more careful can save you from permanent regrets later on.

Laying down the self-stick vinyl tiles:

I am paralyzed. Where to begin?!? I have the basic plan for the tiles: I measured the space and laid down some tiles across the room (without removing the sticky paper). What about the details, like which wall should have the cut bits? And which tile should we stick down first? Maybe the middle one, because that’s what the directions say … but maybe that corner because the porch is uneven. AUGH!!!
Yup, that feels like unit planning. I gotta pull the trigger somewhere / sometime, and the sooner I do the sooner the job can really begin. Yes some pre-planning is important, but I always hit the point where the work must get started or else it never will.

Hammering in the finishing nails for the floor trim:

It really is true that when all you have is a hammer, then you just wanna pound the nail into submission!!
Sometimes the tapping goes great at the beginning, and then halfway through the nail bends. It hits an obstacle which you can’t see (probably a joist, or maybe another nail). If you insert another nail, you will still fail. Breathe. Accept the hidden obstruction as something the nail cannot change. Try a different angle, or even a slightly different location.
You can’t persuade a nail to cooperate. You can’t reason with it, or bribe it, or employ a positive behavior management strategy.
It’s just the same with middle schoolers.

These observations are not very deep (just like the nails in the trim!! HAHAHA), but I felt like I should share these random thoughts from my weeklong exile to the back porch.

What I did for my flipping summer vacation

When you are your biggest flipping problem

A couple more lessons from the flipping horrible porch

Teaching lessons learned from a flipping horrible porch

Who is this flipping guy?!

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