Description

I am a math and science teacher at a high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This blog documents some of my journey as I explore the use of the Flipped Classroom model with my classes.

Tuesday 7 May 2019

The Jiu-Jitsu of Flipped Learning — Part II


This post is part of a series in which I reflect on connections I've noticed between my training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the practice of a teacher implementing the flipped classroom model. You can read the beginning of the series at the Flipped Learning Global Initiative or on my personal blog.

(cross-posted from https://community.flglobal.org/the-jiu-jitsu-of-flipped-learning-part-ii-2/)


2. It’s OK to make them uncomfortable

At one point in SBG’s documentary about women in jiu-jitsu, it discusses a tendency some women have to not fully assert themselves on the mats.* I have seen this in my own training and with some of my training partners (though I have admittedly noticed it less and less the more experienced we've become): some of us can fall prey to over-apologizing and/or being over-anxious in asking whether our opponents are OK. That’s not to say we should have no concern for the humans with whom we roll – we start with easy pressure, to help our partners learn the mechanics of each move before we gradually increase the challenge – but in a sport that involves chokes and armbars, a certain amount of giving and receiving pain is expected and agreed to. It’s because of this understanding that we learn to “trust the tap” and our training partners. (It’s also why we sign waivers before we start!) In the video, Rory Singer points out that to be a good training partner, you are actually supposed to make your opponent uncomfortable. In fact, they should thank you, because it is when you are in discomfort that you realize you need to learn more and grow to address the situation (and avoid ever being put in it again).
"Yikes, this is uncomfortable. How did I end up here, and how can I make sure I never
have to be here again? Also, I guess I should tap out before my arm gets broken."
While flipped learning has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last several years, there are still many students who have yet to experience a flipped class. Teachers of such classes may well hear complaints from such students at first because the structure is so fundamentally different from the one to which they’ve become accustomed. Those teachers who understand the flipped model also understand the benefits that it has for students in spite of this initial discomfort. If we really believe in the “why” of flipped learning, we need to be OK with putting students through some growing pains as they undergo a paradigm shift regarding what school can look like. However, we must show our students that they can trust us as “training partners.” We must help them understand what it is we're trying to do, we must support them through the transition by teaching them how to successfully navigate the new system, and we must give them sufficient feedback and time to help them climb the growth curve. We must also collect feedback from the students in return -- they generally cannot "tap out" of our class, nor have they signed waivers agreeing to any level of pain ahead of time, and so it is critical that we monitor their response and ensure the level of discomfort we cause is a reasonable one. It is fine to stretch our students' thinking; it is not okay for us to cause the equivalent of a pedagogical choke-out. If we are strategic about the way in which we challenge our students, most of them will eventually see the joy on “the flip side” of the discomfort, and thank us for taking them through the adjustment. 


*Note: the SBG documentary addresses this point from about the 27:54 mark through to about 33:29.

Thanks to draft reviewers Anna Muessig and Lucas Conner for their feedback on an earlier version of this post. The points about students not having signed waivers/agreed to discomfort ahead of time and what "trusting the tap" can look like in the classroom have been included due to their input.

Thursday 2 May 2019

The Jiu-Jitsu of Flipped Learning -- Part I



Some of the women from my Saturday morning class. My coach is the 3rd person here (in case you can't tell, I'm the 4th).

In October, I did a thing: I started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and thereby made those close to me drop their jaws in shock (my best friend asked for a DNA test!). Sure, introverts are supposed to protect their hamster ball of personal space with their life, not invite strangers to grapple within it. Sure, those of the INFJ Myers-Briggs personality type are supposed to seek harmony and avoid conflict. Despite all that, I’ve long been intrigued by martial arts, and I’ve had a passing interest in trying one out for years. When I decided it was time to start doing some sort of physical activity again this school year, I decided it was also time to do something different and looked up martial art studios close to my home and school. Straight Blast Gym (a.k.a. SBG) has a location in Scarborough that had consistently high reviews describing it as very welcoming and beginner-friendly. It also offered a 1-week free trial and just happened to have a women’s beginner jiu-jitsu class starting a couple weeks after I started looking, so I once again embraced my theme this year of “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” and registered for a trial week even though I knew nothing about jiu-jitsu.

Almost 6 months later, I’ve now got my first stripe on my white belt. I’ve obviously learned something about jiu-jitsu. What I didn’t expect, though, was the way I’d find connections between my training on the mats and my teaching practice. There are too many for me to share in one blog post, though, so welcome to my first blog post series(!), in which I will share some of the thoughts I’ve had lately about the jiu-jitsu of flipped learning.



1. There is no winning and losing in jiu-jitsu/flipped learning

In one of Steven Grossi’s videos, he addresses white belts and shares “5 tips to improve the jiu-jitsu journey.” One of these is that there is no winning and losing in jiu-jitsu – there is only winning and learning. When you spar against someone and “lose,” it’s actually a type of win, because it gives you a chance to analyze what didn’t go well, learn how to do better, and thereby grow in your game. Grossi goes so far as to call a winning/losing mentality "toxic" for those just starting their training, pointing out, "You're going to 'lose' a lot as a white belt, and that's just the way it goes."

One of the benefits of flipped learning is that it allows teachers to get the delivery of basic content out of the “group space” (time spent with students in the classroom) and instead use that time to provide the students with better-supported practice, more active learning, and activities that move them into higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Since classroom time has traditionally been used for content-delivery lectures for so long, however, teachers new to flipping often wonder what exactly it is they should be doing in class with their students. While it’s true that much has been shared by flipped practitioners about their practice, that training and certification options are available, and that the best flipped educators are often those who collaborate with other flipped practitioners around the globe, there is still a lot of “play” going on as we try out new things with our classes. The flip community grows as we experiment to see what innovations will work best with this group of students, this year, for this course. As they say, though, to make an omelette, you’ve got to break a few eggs, and sometimes an activity we try out with a class falls flat and doesn’t have the success we’d envisioned for it. When you're a white belt of flipped learning (and even as an experienced "flipper"), you will experience some "flops" in your flips! To embrace the jiu-jitsu of flipped learning, we must approach such seeming failures with a growth mindset and see them as opportunities to learn. Reflect on what may have caused that activity to go in a different direction than you’d planned, get input from others (including your students and other flipped practitioners), make adjustments as needed, figure out what may better accomplish the goals you had in mind, and keep going. Your practice can’t help but grow if you don’t give up.

http://theawkwardyeti.com/comic/practice/