Today, I'll deal with the last Guiding Principle, particularly as it applies to shorter works (GP 3):
4. Flipping reading has to be about process and skill rather than content
For my Essay and Exposition class (an 11th/12th grade English semester-long elective):
- Units are roughly a week, but part of a larger sequence, planned using Understanding By Design, and incorporating my adaptation of Ramsay Musallam's Explore Flip Apply structure:
More on that in a minute.
- Students will be about 75% self-paced. Monday will be the one day that is rarely/never self-paced.
- We will read a short text together on Monday - the class focus is on essays and creative non-fiction. This includes selections from Essay Connections, The Orwell Reader and The Blair Reader, as well as Me Talk Pretty One Day. Because I realise that is VERY different from what most people are teaching in US English classes, I've done my example here with two poems, which at least are easy to modify for your own context.
- After reading together and assessing basic comprehension, students will either work alone or in groups to look at theme/structure/style/whatever the focus is. This will usually take the form of inquiry.
- Sample Inquiry/Explore Questions (again, these are 11th-12th grade level, but could be adapted for lower levels):
- What common structures can you find in the language in the text?
- skill: analyse impact of author's choices on text, analyse impact of word choice on text, CCS 11.3-11.4
- Example with one text: What patterns can you find in the LANGUAGE (i.e. only the explicit/literal words in the poem, not the inferences you might make) in "Red Dust"?
- Example with two texts: What patterns in the language are found in both "Red Dust" and "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?
- How is the idea of (x theme) developed in the text?
- skill: determine theme and trace development, CCS 11.2
- Example with one text: What explicit words and implicit ideas/inferences in Philip Levine's poem "Red Dust" would lead you to believe that the author is writing about sorrow?
- Example with two texts: What explicit words and implicit ideas/inferences in "Red Dust" and "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" can you find? What common theme can you draw from those patterns?
- Compare (x text) to (y text). What do you notice about (x) pattern in the text?
- skill: analyse author's choices and development of theme in two texts, CSS 11.2-4
- Example (with two texts, obviously): What do you notice about the patterns related to mortality in "Red Dust" and "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"? What is similar? What is different? Which (in your opinion) delivers the theme/impression most effectively?
- What [figurative language/literary device/poetic meter/etc.] is used in the text? What patterns do you notice? What inferences can you make about the text based on those patterns?
- skill: determine meaning of words and how word choice impacts the text/theme, CSS 11.4
- Example: Levine uses intense juxtaposition throughout the poem "Red Dust" - what controlling impression does that create? What word patterns help you understand the controlling impression?
- What personal experience have you had that you can relate to this text? Explain the connection and how it relates to the text using specific examples of the language in the text that made you think of the connection.
- skill: cite textual evidence to support a claim, CSS 11.1
- What common structures can you find in the language in the text?
- From there, students will be self paced, using roughly this format:
- Skill: Video on technique/theme/style analysis (flip)
- Practice Skill: Complete task that builds skills with a similar text (apply)
- Process-Teacher Model: Video on choice of texts with guiding questions (explore)
- Practice Process: Analyse text of choice (apply)
- Process-Student Model: Write/do project to show mastery (assess)
- Work on WBP project, either as homework during the week or with left-over class time (explore/flip/apply)
I didn't want to break up the flow of that list, so here are some additional details about those steps:
The work will be completed in order, but it can be done in class or at home, as the kids find easiest/most productive for them. They do have to be working during class time, but not requiring the videos for homework makes it more self-paced and asynchronous. There will be a "Watch" station so they can view the videos during class.
There is potential that some students can skip the skill/practice steps if they can demonstrate mastery. No point in making them build a skill they've mastered, right? In that case, the assess phase would have to show mastery AND excellence, since they are now challenging themselves beyond basic mastery. The will probably end up also having masses of time to work on WBP, which is okay with me.
I'm using these loose definitions for the skill/practice/process terms:
[note: these are VERY under-construction. Feedback appreciated]
Skill: anything that builds a necessary reading, writing or thinking skill. Usually modelled explicitly in a video.
Practice Skill/Process: anything that allows a student to work on the skill or process. It will usually be a reading assignment, a conversation, or a piece of writing. This is the skill-building stage that allows students to move towards mastery. This is the step I will be most directly involved in during class time. I will be working with students individually or in small groups.
Process-TM: these are videos that I'll make with Andrew Thomasson where we model the writing process, a reading strategy, or have a reflective conversation. Whatever process we model, students will be expected to show mastery of in the Process-SM phase. If we show a reflective conversation, they will be expected to have a reflective conversation. If we show writing, they'll be expected to write. Etc.
In this example, we will talk about the three texts as a preview and walk through the beginning of each text, showing the beginning of the process we expect them to finish (like marking up figurative language and analysing the impact on tone). This will evolve as we start trying it [as of now, we've only hazily talked about it and this is probably the most complete description he's read at this point...so Andrew, if you have feedback or think this is a stupid idea, we can/will talk about it more...].
Process-SM: this step is where the students use the exact same process Andrew and I modelled in the Process-TM to show that they've mastered the process AND skill taught that week. So in the unit I've outlined above, students would have to film themselves (alone or in a team) walking through the process we modelled on a brand new text, or they could mark up the text in writing or in a VoiceThread. That would be assessed, and if students need to go back to build mastery, they will repeat the Skill/Practice steps with more explicit guidance from me.
This is overly reductive, but using that model means that the content you use (i.e. what you read/watch/talk about) doesn't matter NEARLY as much as the process and skills you're building. You can read a Cornflakes box and make it work in this format if you're clever enough.
I also know that I tend towards overly complicated systems and structures. It always gets more simple as I bounce it around with Andrew and the rest of the Cheesebucket Posse.