I got the news on April 23rd, the last day of April Vacation. He passed in his sleep at age 75 -- probably the best way to go. I have a small family that's scattered across the globe from California to China to Austria (Dad's final home), although our ancestral homeland is in Britain. That's where I'm heading for final services in a couple of weeks. What's this got to do with flipping?! Maybe nothing, maybe I'm just venting to the digi-verse....
But I'm also an almost-40-year-old man who is still trying to learn the meaning of perseverance. When do you keep going? When should you give up? Especially when you have children and/or when you have students ... what are we supposed to model for them? You might wonder something like this when you feel sick with a cold or the flu: demonstrate a strong work ethic by coming to work, or exemplify restraint by staying at home to recuperate?
Specifically for flipped-learning colleagues & newbies, you might sometimes wonder: If/when the students struggle or resist the videos or the class activities, what should I do? Sometimes it seems better to revert to the textbook, to the familiar, to the "tried-and-true" techniques.
But I'm also an almost-40-year-old man who is still trying to learn the meaning of perseverance. When do you keep going? When should you give up? Especially when you have children and/or when you have students ... what are we supposed to model for them? You might wonder something like this when you feel sick with a cold or the flu: demonstrate a strong work ethic by coming to work, or exemplify restraint by staying at home to recuperate?
Specifically for flipped-learning colleagues & newbies, you might sometimes wonder: If/when the students struggle or resist the videos or the class activities, what should I do? Sometimes it seems better to revert to the textbook, to the familiar, to the "tried-and-true" techniques.
Is this what progress & perseverance looks like?!?!
I don't really know. I can't even tell you why the font of this post has changed.
I am writing in the middle of my own thought process, and while I'm still living on the Stages of Grief spectrum between "Depression" and "Testing". (I have spared you the drafts of my earlier stages. You're welcome.)
What's your overall goal? What is the top priority? If you want to keep the kids busy, then fine: bail out to the familiar. Copy those worksheets, get back on stage in front of the whiteboard, and feel productive. If you want kids to learn and you want proof of that learning, then that's harder. Flipping is the best solution I have found so far, but I will ditch it in a second (I WILL QUIT!) if I found something better. Is that still perseverance? I think so, because if the goal is to reach the other side of that wall then I don't have to bash my skull. Look for a door, a window, another entryway or a weak spot. Again, for me that has been the flipped-learning model because that solves most problems at my school.
Some problems are not that easy to solve. Now I only have one parent, and there's no earthly resolution for that. Still, in many ways I feel fortunate and I'm starting to regain control of my own life after a few days of self-pity and robotic despair. Going back to work right away seemed to be the mature and appropriate decision but maybe that was a mistake. So I'm going to try persevering a different way, because whatever this is it isn't working.
Next post: "Was this all a pile of $h!+?"
I am writing in the middle of my own thought process, and while I'm still living on the Stages of Grief spectrum between "Depression" and "Testing". (I have spared you the drafts of my earlier stages. You're welcome.)
What's your overall goal? What is the top priority? If you want to keep the kids busy, then fine: bail out to the familiar. Copy those worksheets, get back on stage in front of the whiteboard, and feel productive. If you want kids to learn and you want proof of that learning, then that's harder. Flipping is the best solution I have found so far, but I will ditch it in a second (I WILL QUIT!) if I found something better. Is that still perseverance? I think so, because if the goal is to reach the other side of that wall then I don't have to bash my skull. Look for a door, a window, another entryway or a weak spot. Again, for me that has been the flipped-learning model because that solves most problems at my school.
Some problems are not that easy to solve. Now I only have one parent, and there's no earthly resolution for that. Still, in many ways I feel fortunate and I'm starting to regain control of my own life after a few days of self-pity and robotic despair. Going back to work right away seemed to be the mature and appropriate decision but maybe that was a mistake. So I'm going to try persevering a different way, because whatever this is it isn't working.
Next post: "Was this all a pile of $h!+?"
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