Hacking Our Learning

One of the changes we have been trying to implement at our staff meetings and department head meetings is providing time for a learning activity. This is a chance for us to learn and discuss a topic as a group. In our last staff meeting we discussed a chapter from the Hack Learning Series.

We looked at “Hack 7: The In-Class Flip” from the Hack Education – 10 Quick Fixes for Every School book. We used a jigsaw strategy to break up the sections of the chapter and then in groups of 3 staff discussed the hack. We also created and provided a template for teachers to utilize if they wanted to plan an in-class flip.

The reading time was short (which was great for a staff meeting) and the discussion was great. Some of the reasons why we wanted to introduce this hack and the discussion points/questions that came out the meeting are:

In our (small) school, we have combined (split) classes and we need to look at strategies that can allow teachers to deliver a concept idea in a combined class.
Flipped classrooms have been talked about as a strategy but in locations where there is a varied level of internet access for families, the in-class flip removes this barrier.
The “station model” is a good way to have students work through a variety of different tasks and provide the teacher opportunity to work with small groups of students.
Does the content delivery in the in-class flip doesn’t have to be done just with video?
Is there a way to utilize this strategy in a cross-curricular way?
What types of activities should I be using at the other stations?
If we only have one or two laptops in a classroom can this strategy still work?

The jigsaw structure and groups of 3 were done by drawing from a deck of cards – all diamonds read this section, all 4s (diamonds, clubs, hearts) jigsaw together the chapter – and it was great to see the discussion amongst our staff.

I like the Hack Education series as each hack (chapter) is a quick read and provides the following info (this list is taken right from the book):