Reverse+Teaching

=Summer Technology Institute 2012=

I found this to be one of the best workshops I attended all week because of the practicality and application of the reverse teaching principles. Although Mr. Kelley spoke largely on his classes and the projects he does with his students, his examples were extraordinary and exemplified the benefits of reverse teaching as a style of teaching, rather than just a tool.

__Workshop #5: Reverse Teaching (with Keith Kelley)__
There are varying levels of reverse teaching. You don't reverse teach the same with different ages and grades Mr. Kelley believes that having transparency in his classroom empowers his students.

A difficult element of being a teacher is learning to walk away so the students will make mistakes. Mistakes = learning and teachable moments. //"I want them to make mistakes"//
 * REVERSE TEACHING**: Have students do things for you. They will learn it better by doing or teaching.

"Learn how to[| flip the script and teach backwards], where students teach the class by using hands on projects and classroom management tools. See in action how to put yourself at the “back” of the class while your students take the main stage. Rather than being the “sage on the stage”, empower your students to become the keeper of the knowledge keys. We will learn how to put students front and center by participating in a hands on environment building cars, skateboards, robots and prototypes. We will accomplish this while all the time maintaining aTransparent Classroomwhere parents, principals and pupils can “see” their work online anytime and anywhere."

Reverse teaching is an excellent tool to challenge students and promote creative thinking! Why not "flip the script". 1. Video lesson 2. Homework is to watch the video (quizzes* are done online) 3. Next class period is //doing// the video

//[*Grading Conditional formating in a google excel doc: "If it contains/ doesn't contain" then colour cell "red".]//


 * These are the learning modifications for special needs- video allows student to watch lesson at own pace. Quizzes may be catered to these students

Mr. Kelley uses various teaching techniques for the age range he teaches that are associated with both Piaget and Vygotsky's cognitive development theory. He also encourages multiage learning where students teach other students, specifically with differences in ages.

__**Quotes for thoughts:**__ //"Education has trained us the game of school. But when the kid leaves the classroom do they know how to do that? As teachers we don't know" - Keith Kelley//

//"The journey is sometimes more important than the outcome" - Keith Kelley//
 * Younger students may need "prizes" to help motivate them, but this lessons as students mature and develop.

__**Questions**__: What kind of time commitment do you put in by your degree of transparency. The responsibility is largely on the students which complements the basic premise of reverse teaching. Through time you learn better strategies that become more efficient.

Is the initial time commitment you put into creating the video's, websites, quizzes (etc.) overwhelming "Technological curve". Although time may be great to begin with, later the effort is almost "negligible".

What about socioeconomic and technological differences? It is always important to include various methods. You can always print everything digital and shouldn't be dissuaded by the concern of technology. As far as socioeconomic variants are concerned, there are always ways to provide and facilitate resources.

Do you see much collaboration with other courses? As much as I can. Some teachers really enjoy it, some don't.


 * __Reverse Teaching Tips__**:
 * Stand behind computers
 * Students run projector- gives them experience and can utilize students that do not always pay attention.
 * "God complex"- the belief and act that we "lecture" students. Students do not get the chance to facilitate learning. If we want them to be life long learners we have to approach teaching differently.
 * Asynchronous grouping: groups are made with students in different class periods. This forces the students to communicate with one another (usually google docs). It also forces them to divide work amongst themselves. By 7th grade Mr. Kelley allows them to choose their own groups (because the lazy students typically group together). Do have to build in time near the end for physical collaboration.
 * As the facilitator, you can make **everything** that gets posted onto //blogger// to be administered and approved by you.
 * You have to make it real world and applicable for them.
 * There is value in games: This generation of children can think 3 dimensionally.
 * "Prototyping is making mistakes"

__**For 5th and 6th Graders:**__ //Each grade has different blogs://

Fifth grade site:

Sixth grade site:



__**For 7th Graders who get their laptops:**__ Mr. Kelley, at age appropriate levels, intentionally allows students to use their computers for the inital 5 - 10 minutes. Believes it conditions students to //learn how to stop//. They are allowed a little more freedom and access to get this out of their systems. It also fosters relationship with students. It also provides self examples so that when students later say "I don't know how to do it" you can approach them by responding: "But you didn't know how to play that game. How did you figure out how to play"



__**For 8th Graders:**__ Students will be the focus in the video lessons. Also adds capability for parents to become involved with google docs. Students are responsible for figuring out their own programs using tutorials and limited initial help from the teacher. Still may have to motivate students with prizes: "The first one to figure out how to use *this* feature on itunes gets an itunes gift card!" - and suddenly all the students are trying to figure it out. It may not be that students are trying to figure out programs or problems **for** you when you motivate them with prizes, however, if we are trying to encourage **learning,** motivation is not a bad thing.