This is my flipped lesson for Art I two point perspective city scape drawing.

https://mix.office.com/watch/9ammb3w83kih

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xino88tqlbo3qn3/Kill%20the%20Pen%20snow%20days%20lesson.mp4?dl=0

Snow day lesson.
Written lesson to follow.

What have I found to be useful? Well just about everything. I would have liked more in depth hands-on practice on some of the program's we were introduced to. We went over so many that sometimes their features ran together.

The lesson I created, 20th century Architecture, drawing a cityscape using two point perspective, will be assessed by the students journal entries. They will sketch the different styles of architecture that I presented. They will copy down the characteristics of each style. I used a quiz in Office Mix that they must answer. At the end after they have watched the video I made of downtown Huntington, they have to list or sketch the details they observed on the sidewalk and the front of the buildings. Journals are to be turned into me on our next class period. All this will prepare them with enough visual information that when I teach them the basic rules of two point perspective they can turn those blocks into realistic buildings.

A French Snow Day Lesson

I'm posting this video but I'm not entirely happy with it. I wanted to use Office Mix, just to try it since I've used iMovie lots of times. And I like the idea of marking on the page and adding video. However, I was not happy with the audio. I'm using my Lenovo ThinkPad and the mic it is equipped with it so I assume that's where the issues stem from. But even the quality of the YouTube video is terrible. I redid it several times and tried different adjustment but it always sounds the same. Maybe someone else knows a trick?

Here is my snow day lesson: https://youtu.be/N-Vuf_f_Qbo

I taught the vocabulary for a snowman and in the end, I ask the students to create a story about a snowman. I want them to use what the know. The French I students should be able to give their snowman a personality and share likes/dislikes, hobbies. French II should be able to make up a day for their snowman, sending him on an adventure but telling the story in the past tense.

Flipped Video for the Passe Compose

I told my French II students that I made a video for them to watch and take notes on before our we started our next unit. They liked the idea! They thought it would be great to have and watch anytime they wanted. I posted the video and I told them to watch it and have the notes by Monday, October 19. Monday rolled around and out of 24 students, 5 were prepared for class. So it was class as usual. But the five that did watch the video, they helped me think of some ways to change the video to make it better. I will edit this one and review what each verb means. I will also add more about making the verb agree with the subject. The students always struggle to remember that step.

Here is my video link: https://youtu.be/J4unPuGCVtI

After watching the video, the students should be able to tell what happened in the past using a helping verb and a past participle. They will know which verbs take etre as a helping verb and they will know to make those verbs agree with the subject.

Flipped Classroom Snow Day Lesson

Snow Day Flipped Lesson: Online Comic Strip Maker

Objective: the students will learn about (1) sequential art, panels, gutters, speech balloons, and pointers (2) the 5 elements of a story.

EQ: (1) What is a comic? (2) What is sequential art? (3) What are the 5 elements of a story?


Assignment: The students are going to utilize the following to create an online comic strip to share with the class.

Assignment: Assignment Document

Tutorial: Video Tutorial

Portaportal: www.portaportal.com            guest access: msalter
(Rubric, Flocabulary Video, Assignment, Comic Links)

Audience: 3rd, 4th, 5th Grade Students

Lesson 1: Lure of the Labyrinth Tutorial

Lure of the Labyrinth is a middle school/high school free math program for educators and students. I chose to focus on the game because most of my students are experienced gamers. The objective of this game is for players to navigate their way through the Tasti Pet Factory solving various algebraic puzzles, eliminating puzzle rooms, and accumulating game tokens that they use to buy items and release captured pets.

The game contains a global user interface combined with graphic novel sequences. Students can use the TPC (Tasti Pet Communicator) during the game to collaborate with teammates. Teachers are able to track data while students are playing the game. Teachers can also monitor work performances, puzzle attempts, and TPC chat communications.

Playing this game is a very open-ended experience, in which students are rewarded for exploring, taking chances, and using the scientific method in their efforts to accumulate points, free pets, and eventually win the game.

Assignment: Video Tutorial for Manager's Cafeteria in Wing 1
Level 1: Equivalent Ratios
Level 2:  Proportional Reasoning
Level 3: Proportional Applications and Resources

After watching this tutorial, the students should be able to complete Levels 1, 2, and 3 in the Manager's Cafeteria

Lure of the Labyrinth Game: https://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/

Marbury V. Madison

     I love to experiment with Video and use many different formats and production tools.  I'm a technology geek, give me a new piece of technology, an app, or software and I'm in my happy place.  I spend extended time trying to push my limits. 
     In examining my lesson I produced a specific Video on Marbury V. Madison the first major supreme court case.  https://youtu.be/_VJ7UYxdWx0 This video is appropriate for both my AP government class and AP History Class.  I have and AP Gov. Class and an AP U.S. History class in both the morning and afternoon.  I had my morning classes as a homework assignment read an article about Marbury V. Madison my afternoon classes watched the Video.  I then used classroom discussion to assess understanding.  The afternoon classes did significantly better than my morning classes.  There are a lot of factors that could explain this, and I realize now it would have been better to have one morning class and one afternoon class do both activities and then assess this. 
     In case you're concerned I made the video available to all my students.

assessment of lessons

I would like to give a pre-test and a post-test with many types of questions: labeling, multiple choice, true/false, matching, fill in the blank, essays, etc. All of the questions will come only from the material covered by the video lesson. I will use Kahoot site to create the questions and have students answer them as soon as they finish watching the video.

Edcamp this weekend at WVU Parkersburg

As I look in on the blog and receive notification on posts, there are excellent ideas and lessons being generated by the group. I know there was a flipped classroom session last week, but if you are interested, there is an Edcamp being hosted in Parkersburg this weekend, October 24, 2015 from 8:30AM to 3:30PM at WVU Parkersburg. Never heard of an edcamp?

Our vision is simple: innovative professional learning for educators. Our collective experience spans international education, professional development, technology, innovation, non-profit and for-profit business, and paramount to the work we do is input from others. Our charge is to help educators discover new ways of learning and teaching, reigniting their passion in the classroom and passing it on to students across the globe. (From Edcamp, http://www.edcamp.org/learn-more)

If you are interested, here is the information is below.

Assessment of Lessons

I will be able to assess the flipped lesson that I created today through the online program Lure of the Labyrinth. All students are given a username and a password. When they login, the game records progress, puzzle completions, times, etc. This program allows students to work independently while I monitor progress.

Assessing the lessons

For my passé composé lesson, I am going to have the students do a pre-test before they watch the video and a post-test the day they are supposed to come in having watched the video. We will do a final assessment at the end of the unit. 

We have already completed the pre-test and the students did as expected. They didn't know which helping verb to use or to make the past participle agree with the subject. I am anxious to hear their thoughts on the video. 

Not sure if anyone has discovered this or not.  But, I just found an interesting site called goformative.com.  It is free for teachers and students.  It allows you to get live results from your students and do immediate interventions.  This looks similar to Geddit, but since it is no longer available, this may be a nice replacement.

Snow Days going well for Lawrence County, KY

(This is the video I shared at the beginning of our session.)


Lawrence County, KY


The link above is the WSAZ news report on how Lawrence County KY has raised their students' scores and college entrances. I know that utilizing a new approach to a snow day is only a part of it, but it IS a part of it.

Question 4-October 17, 2015

I found already learned so much.  I am very excited to use this knowledge to make history class a little more engaging.  I believe that by adding a personal touch, the students will make a connection.

Sesson 3-October 10, 2015

Question: How do you think you will be able to assess the lesson created?


I am still exploring possibilities.  I would like to be able to explain a project and write an essay.  Perhaps, I could simply use a few comprehensive questions that the students could answer.  I also would like the students to create their own questions for classroom discussion.  I hope to use Engrade so that the students can respond to lesson.

Flipped Classroom/use of video

Question 2: Find a video that you would work in your classroom. What would you do differently if you created that video?


I plan to use 30 seconds of the We Are Marshall movie. In addition to this short clip, I plan to video the Memorial Fountain on Marshall's campus, the turning off the fountain and it's significance. Also, I will visit the crash site memorial in Wayne County. I will include my personal memories of where I was that Saturday night in November 1970.  I think that making a personal connection to a historical tragedy will bring the lesson into focus.

Flipped Classroom

September 12,2015-Question: How will flipping enhance you content delivery of instruction?


I teach 6th grade American History and 8th grade WV History. History class rely on pictures, charts and graphs.  I hope to use the flipped classroom to incorporate a variety of virtual field trips to different events in Huntington and the surrounding area.  Upcoming events include, Christopher Columbus's ships the Nina and Pinta will be dock in Ashland Ky. later this month. Guyandotte Civil War Days will be October 30-November 1, 2015. In addition to these events, I would like to add the Marshall Plane Crash of 1970 and visits to Heritage Farm.

Found Video

I use many found videos in my class,  Often times I have students view videos before class or in class.   One series is by a gentleman named Keith Hughes, who does a series of History and Government videos in the for  dummies format.  One video that I use is Supreme Court Cases for Dummies https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HTVvZ1Sdkaw this video is one of the best explanation of supreme court cases, the only thing I might change is the length,

I  have been doing some blended instruction for two years and it has greatly enhanced my ability to cover information, and it allows in class activity to begin immediately without taking class time.   Perhaps the greatest impact has been enhanced engagement, my students watch as much for the entertainment value, my students are always looking for the hidden gem.

A Flipped French Example

http://youtu.be/7w6YZU39RqI

I found this channel on YouTube of a teacher who has already created several videos. They all look the same. He just presents the vocabulary by saying them and using pictures. 

My students would get very bored by these videos because they are all the same thing. They would definitely not watch these every week. I'm sure they would connect better to my videos if I make them different each time. 

flipped biology post 2

Recently I watched a video on YouTube explaining diffusion and osmosis, which had a lot of animation and movements of instructor's pen on the board while explaining these important processes occurring through the cell membrane. I am currently teaching transport through the cellular membrane, and would like to create a simple animation showing a diffusion of, for example, water molecules by osmosis. I will try to do this using Explain Everything or something else.  I think I could draw particles of water molecules diffusing through cell membrane and explain the process at the same time just like I would do on my classroom board. I think I would be able to connect to students this way because they would have my own style of drawing molecules (usually my molecules look like smiley faces) and the text around it. I could have one video for comparing diffusion and osmosis and one for comparing active and passive transport through the cell membrane.

flipped biology post 1

Implementing flipped learning in my biology classroom has multiple benefits. Biology deals with a lot of terms and vocabulary, labeling parts of the cell or explaining processes in the cell such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration with formulas and complicated biochemical reactions. Students who are absent for days from school have the opportunity to do this at home and save a lot of time. Students can review and study material at home and even take tests using online websites. Students who have been present in the class but have difficulties with a particular concept will have flexibility to review and study material at their own pace and re-visit as many times as they need. High performing students will have an opportunity to go over some of the concepts on their own and conduct some of the research associated with the concepts. Generally, this approach is beneficial in my opinion because it definitely saves time and gives everyone a great deal of flexibility.