Week 32 - Reflect on Your Learning Journey

Week 32 - Reflect on Your Learning Journey
9 March 2019

Problem identification

1. What drives you to make the change? I am driven to make changes largely based on the needs of my students.  As the Head of the English Faculty at my school, I am also driven by wanting to see an improvement in the level of engagement of our students and their results.  Personally, I want to know that every day I am impacting my students learning in the most positive way and that they are growing their skills and confidences as scholars of English.  Of course, my embraces growth and change constantly challenges us as staff to seek new and better ways for our students.  This suits me personally as it drives me to be innovative and creative in my practice for the sake of my boys.  It is good for me too as I don't ever feel bored in my job and I generally leave work feeling like I have done something good that day. I enjoy the collaboration that comes from introducing new things.  It encourages different combinations of people working together and learning from each other which is generally good for our school (everyone included).  Change is important so that we don't stand still.  If this course has taught me anything, it's that!  The power of a growth mindset is paramount to successful change.  Although it can be very scary and challenging, it is always very exciting!

Observation and analysis

1. What kind of data you have gathered?  Through my Inquiry, I have gathered both quantitative and qualitative data.  It has made me aware of how much data is out there every day for the taking and how powerful it is to reflect on what we do, hear and observe (in every respect).
2. What insights have you gained about the problem that drives the change?  One of the things I have noticed about change is that not everyone enjoys it or is open to it.  In fact, many actively resist it.  This has, in turn, made me realize that people are not being unnecessarily difficult when they say they don't want to do something new.  It is more likely that they are very afraid of trying something new (stuck in a fixed mindset).  It may highlight areas of 'weakness' and make them feel exposed and vulnerable.  Sometimes, when change is suggested we immediately ask, "Why? Have I been doing something wrong?"  and they make it personal.  I have also realized that it is paramount to identify those who are keen to try new things (early adopters) and to get them to promote the change initiative as they are generally positive, not too concerned about the risks, don't have much to lose (as opposed to the early initiator) and therefore are good at making others feel at ease about the change.  I have realized that if a problem that drives the change is personal, then we have more to lose.  What I mean is that we are more inclined to want to be successful if our problem is personal.   

Abstract reconceptualization

The area of my practice that has been most impacted by this journey is the fact that at all costs, I want to be actively seeking new learning opportunities for my students to keep them engaged and enjoying the subject of English.  It is through engagement that the best learning takes place.  This relates most to principles of Whakaman - "empowering all learners to reach their highest potential by providing high-quality teaching and leadership" and Manakitanga - "creating a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity".  To not shy away from professional learning to "use inquiry, collaborative problem-solving and professional learning to improve professional capability to impact on the learning and achievement of all learners". 


Active experimentation

1. What new strategies or ideas you have tried to implement in your practice?  Although this is not something new to my practice per se, I have become far more interested in what students think and feel about their learning and will continue to place great importance on generating and reflecting on student voice to guide my practice.  I have tried to involve my students more in the design of our courses - giving them agency and a reason to learn.  Constructivism has been something that has been inspiring to me and something I want to empower my learners with.  I want them to be agents of their own lives and learning.  I want them to actively question what we are learning and why? I also want them to think about the best way to learn something.  I want them to have ownership of their learning journey.
2. What you have learned from the change/ experience?  I am left thinking about all the components that effect change and learning.  I am left thinking that it is very easy to assume because one makes a change to one area of one's practice, that is the thing responsible for the impacts observed.  I am left thinking that perhaps I have underestimated the fragile microcosm that is the classroom and how it is a delicate balance between a multitude of variable factors and that in actual fact it is very difficult to pinpoint the one thing that has the most impact sometimes.  I am left in awe of those who carry out research regularly and how much thought they have to put in their process to ensure that most accurate and unbiased impacts that help to influence the rest of us and our practice, and I am grateful to them for sharing their work.  Next time, I would narrow my inquiry to only focus on one thing at a time. I would then use those findings to help support the next inquiry.

References:

Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (2015). Reflective practice for educators : professional development to improve student learning.(2nd ed.) New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Week 31 - Evaluate your Impacts

Week 31 - Evaluate your Impacts
4 March 2019

What is the observed impact after the ‘Take Action’ phase?
Now that I have gathered my data, processed and cleaned it into reliable evidence, I am left with evidence that shows the before and after effects of my Inquiry on students' writing and engagement.  From my evidence, I am able to identify that my students' writing improved.  I am also able to conclude through student voice, attendance to class, teacher observations of active engagement in class and completion of class activities that my students' enjoyed the Creative Writing Unit.  What I am still unclear on, however, is the direct impact of flipped learning on the overall effectiveness of the unit of learning.  While students' grades indicated an improvement in writing skills, their writing improved generally rather than specifically to the skills emphasised in the online videos and tutorials.  While they were generally more engaged in this unit than in previous years, student voice suggested that while my boys enjoyed the videos as they looked forward to seeing what the next day was going to be about and that it gave them an increased sense of confidence in the class, they also liked that the lessons were "different for a change".  Something I had not considered when I set out on this spiral of inquiry, was the cohort of students, who were different to last years.  School reporting suggests that this year's group of students are decidedly more academically capable than last years.  Therefore this alone could have been the major contributing factor to the outcome of their learning, rather than flipped learning per se! 


How is the observed impact different from or similar to the anticipated one?
The observed impacts of the inquiry are in many respects similar to the anticipated impacts at the end of the Learn Phase of the inquiry, as I had been wondering throughout the process of the inquiry whether the trends in my students' writing were a direct result of flipped learning.  I expressed these thoughts in an earlier assessment.  Interestingly, there were also some differences that emerged.  The one thing that became clear was that whether it was flipped learning, the cohort, a change in the my normal way of teaching, increased excitement from me in my delivery, the writing of my students definitely improved.  This was the intended impact but one I was not entirely sure would be achieved.  Significantly, while I anticipated seeing a correlation between achievement and engagement and metacognitive thinking, engagement was directly observed through high submission of students' work, high attendance to class, between 90 and 100% engagement in class activities most days and a near 100% up-take of the flipped preparation, there was no direct link or evidence of metacognitive thinking.  Although I would still like to believe that flipped learning did illicit deeper thinking, increased student agency in the classroom and greater collaboration between students, my data collection tools failed me in this regard (I overlooked this area).  Therefore, I still only have assumptions about the correlation between flipped learning boosting metacognitive thinking.  


What is the impact on future inquiry/practice?
I find myself wondering now, whether increased student engagement could boost metacognitive thinking skills.  I am left thinking about all the components that effect change and learning.  I am left thinking that it is very easy to assume because one makes a change to one area of one's practice, that is the thing responsible for the impacts observed.  I am left thinking that perhaps I have underestimated the fragile microcosm that is the classroom and how it is a delicate balance between a multitude of variable factors and that in actual fact it is very difficult to pinpoint the one thing that has the most impact sometimes.  I am left in awe of those who carry out research regularly and how much thought they have to put in their process to ensure that most accurate and unbiased impacts that help to influence the rest of us and our practice, and I am grateful to them for sharing their work.  Next time, I would narrow my inquiry to only focus on one thing at a time. I would then use those findings to help support the next inquiry.

References:

Ministry of Education (n.d.). Stories from the field. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-learning/Spiral-of-inquiry-leaders-leading-learning/Stories-from-the-field

Stoll, L., and Temperley, J. (2015). Narrowing the Gap with Spirals of Enquiry: Evaluation of Whole Education’s Pilot. Whole Education, UK. Retrieved from http://www.wholeeducation.org/download,634

Week 30 - Reflect on Evidence (Take Action)

Week 30 - Reflect on Evidence (Take Action)
4 March 2019

Describe the data collected:
The qualitative and quantitative data I collected was through: 
1. A brief survey in the form of a letter home to whanau which was used to determine whether my inquiry would be at all possible or not. It was used to determine access to the internet and related devices at home, as well as whether families valued such methods of learning and would support the experiment. 

2. Student Voice in the form of a Google form to gauge at various points in the spiral of inquiry what my students' feelings and experiences were towards the flipped learning experiment. 

3. Identical pre and post-tests which were designed to test the effectiveness of flipped videos on my students' creative writing.

All of these methods of data collection took place in the Learn and Take Action Phase of the Spiral of Inquiry.  I have been lucky enough to have gathered all the data I set out to gather and have prepared it by collating it into a spreadsheet for reflection.  By doing this I am able to gauge the 'big picture' (data becomes evidence) as all the information is on one sheet and I am able to look for trends rather than only see things, one learner at a time.  I ensured that my data was cleaned before I added it to my spreadsheet for analysis.  

The method I used to clean my data was to get the writing samples moderated by another member of my faculty who did not have any bias towards the students or my inquiry.  I also scoured student voice forms for "proper responses".  If some students clearly were not taking the questions seriously, I discounted their voice before analyzing and interpreting it as evidence. 


Explain how you are analysing your data:
I have analysed my data by creating a spreadsheet to record my findings for each test.  For the writing samples, the way I have coded the samples by applying the AsTTle Writing Rubrics writing strands to my table for reflection.  This Rubric generates a raw score that can be converted to a curriculum level.  It is very valuable as it looks at writing from seven areas of focus and ranging from L1 to L5 of the curriculum.  It provides a very good picture of where each students' strengths are weaknesses lie but most importantly shows a trend in strengths and weaknesses in the class, which could be interpreted due to the effects of the inquiry.

Reflect on your evidence so far:
Now that I have gathered my data, processed and cleaned it into reliable evidence, I am left with evidence that shows the before and after effects of my Inquiry on students' writing and engagement.  From my evidence, I am able to identify that my students' writing improved.  I am also able to conclude through student voice, attendance to class, teacher observations of active engagement in class and completion of class activities that my students' enjoyed the Creative Writing Unit.  What I am still unclear on, however, is the direct impact of flipped learning on the overall effectiveness of the unit of learning.  While students' grades indicated an improvement in writing skills, their writing improved generally rather than specifically to the skills emphasised in the online videos and tutorials.  While they were generally more engaged in this unit than in previous years, student voice suggested that while my boys enjoyed the videos as they looked forward to seeing what the next day was going to be about and that it gave them an increased sense of confidence in the class, they also liked that the lessons were "different for a change".  Something I had not considered when I set out on this spiral of inquiry, was the cohort of students, who were different to last years.  School reporting suggests that this year's group of students are decidedly more academically capable than last years.  Therefore this alone could have been the major contributing factor to the outcome of their learning, rather than flipped learning per se! Hmmm!

References:

Riel, M. (2014, August 5).T8 Analyzing Data.

Week 29 - Considering your Audience

Week 29 - Considering your Audience
25 February 2019

Step 1: Briefly define your audiences
The audience I will be identifying for the purpose of this reflection is our school representative for the Community of Learning - Literacy.  Her role is to "enhance Literacy and Learning Progressions and Visible Learning.  This role supports the Community of Learning Goal and the staff of RBHS to embed the use of the Reading, Writing and Mathematics Learning Progressions and the Learning Progressions Framework in Year 9 and Year 10, as well as, introducing the use of PaCT. It also includes providing professional development on embedding the principles of Visible Learning into classroom practice." This is a relatively new partnership that bridges the gap between our school and what we do amongst ourselves in faculties and across faculties, and the wider community of teachers in other member schools within our community.  Their intention is to bring the member schools together, with a shared focus working together towards shared goals.  The result is that schools are no longer siloed from their communities - what we do in our school is relevant to all the other schools in our community and should benefit the wider school community.  We are also motivated by what's of interest and concern in the wider community and not only within our own school.  I have chosen this audience for the purpose of my action plan because I am interested in the effect flipped learning has on students' achievement and in particular, their writing.  As writing is the primary focus at the moment for our COL, collaboration would be mutually beneficial I hope.

Step 2: Analyse the audiences’ perspectives
The CoL's attitude towards my inquiry should be positive, as the purpose is to determine whether flipped learning could be a successful tool to enhance students' writing, a literacy skill.  I would imagine that the CoL would be supportive of any initiative to boost Literacy skills, especially if the method used incorporates other key areas of interest within the CoL such as visible learning (flipped videos use visible cues to promote writing skills), Learning with Digital Technology (the learning takes place at home in the form of online videos and tutorials) and Aiming for Excellence, in that the whole rationale behind my inquiry was whether flipped learning would boost achievement by increasing engagement and metacognitive thinking (a higher order learning skill that kicks in when students are given agency in their learning and are encouraged to collaborate in order to learn more).  I suppose, however, that the alternative to such a positive uptake by the CoL would be that they might have their own strategies in mind that they feel would better boost Literacy (the use of Literacy Learning Progressions and the PACT tool) and they might not want to have too many different strategies in the mix, especially early on, while they are still trying to get all members on board.  Some might be of the opinion that using videos to improve writing is unorthodox and would prefer more traditional methods such as reading exemplars of good writing taken from books and students (this would have a wraparound effect for literacy - using reading to promote writing).  Interestingly, if we are to consider future-oriented learning and teaching, then embracing the 21st Century skills mentioned above would be powerful and future-focused.  "Commitment to personalised learning, embracing diversity, re-thinking learners' and teachers' roles, forging new partnerships - all fueled by disciplined innovations and new technologies - are identified as the key dimensions of a re-designed, connected and coherent learning system." according to the New Zealand Council for Education Research.

Step 3: Discuss how you are addressing the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives while you are taking action.

One of the biggest advantages of partnering with the CoL is the data that they bring with them.  The Progress and Consistency tool is an online tool that supports teaching and learning.  "The capability to track progress and identify achievement challenges across a Kāhui Ako has been added to the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT)".  The International Centre for Leadership and Education has identified that "effective and rapidly improving schools use data to make decisions" to "monitor progress and to diagnose the effectiveness of instructional practices in real time".  Therefore, overall I feel that CoL as an audience will be most beneficial to my Action Plan.

References:

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

https://curriculumprogresstools.education.govt.nz/

Daggett, B. (2014). Addressing current and future challenges in education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/2014MSC_AddressingCurrentandFutureChallenges.pdf

Week 28 - Act in your Professional Environment

Week 28 - Act in your Professional Environment
18 February 2019


I have decided to use the questions as suggested in the Connecticut Teachers' Education and Mentoring Program to guide my reflection this week.

1. “What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise?  Considering whether the progress that I was hoping to see due to my initiative of flipped learning to boost achievement through increased engagement and metacognition, was actually due to flipped learning, or other factors altogether or a combination of factors. Ethically, I might be challenged to not 'pollute' their writing grades (which can be very subjective at the best of times).  I also have to be careful to not discriminate against those who have not prepared for the lesson due to not having access to devices.
2. How could this situation become a violation of the law, the “Code” or other school policies?  As teachers and professionals, we are bound to be honest and to act in the best interest of all of our students.  According to 'Our Code, our Standards', such behaviour would be in breach of "WHAKAMANA: empowering all learners to reach their highest potential by providing high-quality teaching and leadership" as well as "PONO: showing integrity by acting in ways that are fair, honest, ethical and just." If there is any danger of me polluting grades to reflect the outcome I am hoping for from my initiative, I will not be setting a good example to my students or acting with integrity.  Because we as teachers operate from a point in society as being highly trustworthy and beyond reproach in terms of our ethical responsibility because we work with young, impressionable people who require unbiased guidance, trust is automatically assumed.  To take advantage of that trust and manipulate evidence to suit my needs while misleading students in terms of their actual ability and academic success, is wrong.
3. In this situation, what are some potentially negative consequences for the teacher, for the students and the school community?  Some negative consequences that could come from such unethical behaviour for the teacher are:  the teacher will have a skewed view of the evidence linked to her practice.  She might be inclined to continue using the strategy under the false impression of it being directly responsible for good results all around.  It could also result in the teacher being inclined to consider such unethical marking next time (she has become desensitized).  This could have serious repercussions for the teacher when it comes to the moderation of her students' work against other teachers' (internal and external).  For the students: They too are left with a false sense of success which could lead to all sorts of dangers.  In some students who feel that their work might not reflect the grade, they could lose faith and respect for their teacher and might stop working with her.  It could lead other students to become complacent -I didn't try that hard and I did well so next time I won't have to try hard either.  They could develop a bad work ethic.  The community:  especially in such an initiative that relied heavily on the support and buy-in of the whanau and community, if they feel like they have been cheated or taken for fools, relationships and good faith will disappear and will be replaced with distrust and disconnect.  Such a lack of support from possibly our greatest stakeholders could be the most detrimental effect as their attitude will be represented by their children in the classroom and the teacher could be faced with a potential deficit classroom.
4. What responses/actions will result in a more positive outcome and/or what proactive measures might be considered?“ (p.5)  To ensure that this does not happen I have to be honest about all the variables that could impact my investigation.  I must consider that because I am so invested in this initiative, perhaps I am planning my lessons more deliberately and with greater passion and awareness, applying a growth mindset to my lessons and practice.  In the past I would have been very fixed in what I have done, being inclined to repeat units and strategies if they have 'worked', irrespective of the boys in front of me.  Therefore not being very culturally appropriate of responsive.  This injection of passion and variety alone could be the result of improved grades, greater student engagement, and metacognitive thinking.  An interesting discussion on G+ on a growth mindset suggested that if we as teachers have a growth mindset, our students will also be braver and more open to trying new things.  I need to also be aware that the rubric I would use for my pre and post-test after the implementation of flipped videos is not the same criteria as their actual assessment, therefore, not comparing apples with apples.  This can be avoided.  I could collaborate with a buddy marker who could moderate my work to ensure that I was not inflating results because I so desperately wanted my initiative and hard work to be worthwhile.

All great things to think about and reflect on!  And to be careful not to do!

References:

Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2015). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educators: Facilitator’s Guide: Understanding the Code of Professional Responsibility for Educators. Connecticut, US: Author. Retrieved from http://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/TEAM/Module_5_Supplemental_Scenarios-Facilitator_Guide_January_2015.pdf?la=en

Education Council. (2017b). Application of the Code. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Week 27 - Examine your Cultural Context

Week 27 - Examine your Cultural Context
18 February 2019

I will use the Mauri model to critically examine how taking action(s) during my Inquiry has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy.  I will focus on decision making and learning activities.

What? Being a Te Kotahitanga school, it is Russel Bishop's definition of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness that makes the most sense to me.  It is also based on this understanding that I have tried to model my practice.  He defines cultural responsiveness as "a caring and learning relationship".  He talks about:

1. Having high expectations of students
2. Prepare for Maori to be Maori in the classroom
3. Manage classroom behavior because of a shared cultural appreciation, context and respect
4. Providing meaningful interactions (feedback and feedforward) and sharing co-construction of work (shift away from transactional leadership in the classroom)
5. Teachers having a range of strategies 
6. Teachers using evidence (largely derived from students voice and other's in the community) to inform teaching

Edtalks.(2012, September 23).

So what? My understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness I am discovering is very much situated between Level 1: Actions and Expressions of Inactivity and Level 3: Actions and Expressions of Proactive on the Mauri Model.  The reason I identify with such a broad spectrum of awarenesses and interactions on this model is because I feel that in some instances I am aware (as if awoken) and actively encourage and embrace each student for who they are and where they place themselves in this world in terms of their cultural identity.  I feel that sometimes these differences are actively considered by me when I plan my lessons and learning activities.  I realise this happens because I care about my students, who they are, where they come from, what they bring with them into the learning space and context and how they interpret information because of these factors.  I also care about teaching them and therefore want to engage their interests so that the learning can take place in a way that makes sense to them.  I want my students to feel noticed and recognised for who they are and I do not want them to question the relevance of what we are learning (due to the context or content I have chosen based solely on my interests and frame of reference) to their lives as young, often Maori, boys.  From my inquiry, last weeks observations of student engagement and depth of thinking, as well as the student's voice gathered at the end of the week, I was able to inform my practice in a way that better represented the boys in my class.  Together we identified that visual texts were more culturally appropriate than written texts, for flipped learning.  This made me aware of how I will use written texts in the future. Especially, at what point in the learning journey, what purpose I want it to have and the context of it (is it something that will interest my boys or is it just a good piece of writing that does the job, but means nothing to them as young Maori men?). 

However, there are also times in my practice when I only consider what needs to be learned and feel that my students just need to learn it, as it is, irrespective of what it means to them in terms of their identity and how they might learn best.  Recognising this makes me feel ashamed.  Never do I not care for my students!  But sometimes I feel a bit stubborn about the content they just need to know.  Ironically, it is in these lessons that students are least engaged or happy in class which in turn creates further frustrations in me because they are not open to learning.  This is a direct link to what Bishop mentions in terms of Classroom management 'taking care of itself' if students feel valued and cared for.  I feel most comfortable from my own cultural point of view and sometimes feel anxious about how to make something more relevant, so I just stick to what I know.  The inquiry around flipped learning has been a wonderful eye-opener for me in terms of the power of collaboration when it comes to creating learning contexts.  Boys feel valued when asked to share their views on a lesson.  But it is not enough to just pay lip-service to it.  It has to be consciously and deliberately considered and implemented in future lessons.

What next?  I can clearly identify the advantages of being culturally responsive, not only for the benefit of my practice but especially for the benefit of my students and our learning relationship.  I see that consistency in my practice is key.  That I need to be more consistent.  Cultural responsiveness needs to become as much a part of me as a person, as it is a part of my practice.  I believe that this would mean embracing actions and expressions of a transformative leadership style.  "Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems".  Transformative in terms of practice and self.  I will make the cultural awareness and responsiveness the forefront of my thinking.  Everything I will do will be with my students in mind, as Maori boys.  I will give them agency to choose how they want to be assessed and what context they want to learn from.  Choice of texts and genres will be co-constructed.  I will also seek the voice of the wider community.

References:
Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v...

https://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basic-content-files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf

Week 26 - Rolfe's Model of Reflection

Week 26 - Rolfe's Model of Reflection
11 February 2019

What?  This week, following 4 days of flipped preparation linked to lessons on developing ideas in creative writing, I decided to give my boys a writing task.  Because my inquiry was built around boosting academic performance, developing ideas moves students from achieving the criteria towards being more convincing and perceptive (skills required for Merit and Excellence in writing).  Each flipped learning activity exposed the class to a short text with one or two clearly identifiable ideas.  The flipped task was to watch/read the text and identify what they thought was the most prominent idea as well as justify how they came to that answer.  The next day's lesson started with small group discussions around the ideas that were identified and then whole class discussions exploring each idea in greater depth.  These were plotted visually on the board as subheadings to the idea, with further elaborations and evidence attached, going deeper and deeper into the ideas. 

So what?  The most important and interesting aspect observed was how each day, the group and class discussions were on task and most of the class was engaged in the conversations.  I observed that each groups' members felt confident enough to share what they had observed about the text because they had watched/read it and came to class feeling knowledgable and prepared.  This openness to the learning then lent itself naturally to task-related discussions and deeper thinking.  More boys than the 'usual ones' who share every day were prepared to share beyond their small groups which was great.  I did notice that if the flipped learning involved reading a text as opposed to watching a video, there was less enthusiasm amongst them the next day.  Student voice at the end of the week revealed that if they had to read something, it was seen as too much effort and less than half the class did the reading.  They admitted to finding out from a friend (who had done the reading) the next day just before class what the reading was about because they didn't want to get into trouble for not doing their homework.  90% watched the videos, however, and this was directly reflected in the excitement to share and work the next day. 

This can be explained in that although what the two different text types (visual and written) were exposing them to and getting them to think about was the same in essence, (in fact you could argue that the ideas in the written texts were richer due to the natural development and description that text type lends itself to), the boys perceived watching a short excerpt of a popular TV series as entertainment rather than hard work, which reading felt like.  Some also said that being able to visualise things was easier.  This could be because so much of their time as youngsters is spent analysing and interpreting visual texts in the various form of technology they interact with on a daily basis.  Boys explained that reading is a chore unless they have specifically chosen the text themselves. "Visual images are acknowledged as becoming increasingly important in the reception and creation of contemporary texts" (Avgerinou 2009: & Felton 2008).  In 1994, W. J. T Mitchell used the term pictorial turn to suggest that western philosophy was adopting a more visual understanding of the world.  "Visual images can appear to offer immediate access to ideas, experiences, and feelings." (Callow, J. 2010).

Now what?  For the rest of my flipped learning sessions, I plan to do away with the written text component (unless it is supplementary to the primary visual text).  I will leave the readings for in-class activities once prior knowledge has been established through the flipped learning and in-depth class discussion.  I will still use and rely on written texts, but with a different focus and purpose in mind.  Written texts will serve to model expectations to the students of what their own writing should look like rather than be used to introduce ideas.  Written texts will be used as a tool to annotate ideas, concepts, techniques etc. 

This reminds me of the mindset of the early majority who, only once something has been proven as necessary and important, will they adopt a new approach or initiative.  The visual text will establish the importance and create buy-in in a way that requires little personal investment (effort).

This has been a very eye-opening week!

References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281069822_I'm_way_more_interested_Using_visual_texts_to_engage_students_from_low_SES_backgrounds

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. Practice-based Professional Learning Centre, Open University. Retrieved from http ://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf


Evidence of small group discussions based on visual text 'Brown Brother' - Youtube video