This past week, I was able to take a breath, step back, and observe my students at work. I was able to do this because the blended learning/flipped classroom is getting into a good groove, and it is starting to look like what I envisioned. However as I observed a lot this week, I saw some fantastic things my students were doing, that I did not envision happening, that made me so proud of them. I observed all students taking ownership of their learning. They were using the Internet effectively to search for answers to their problems. They were engaged every day, every lesson, at every station. I saw student confidence rise, even in the students who thought they were "bad" at math at the beginning of the year. I heard the quiet "yes's" throughout the room as the students worked on and solved problems. I saw "I love math" notes around the room on the small dry-erase boards. Students were asking more engaging, specific questions. Formative assessment s...

At the end of the first marking period, I asked my students their thoughts on their first blended learning experience. I had my own, but I wanted to hear from them. If I am having a student-centered classroom, how could I ignore their thoughts? My goal of getting their feedback was to find out if they thought they were getting an effective class experience compared to previous years, to see if I am on the right track from their perspective, to give them a chance to voice any thoughts on the matter, to see if there is a need to incorporate flipped lessons, and to share the results with my colleagues to start a conversation about blended learning and flipped classrooms. Looking at the data, I feel very confident going into the second marking period continuing to use the blended classroom model. Not only do I feel as if I am finally able to dig into it more, but the students are telling me they really like the approach. There also appears to be a need to incorporate flipped lessons...