The Rookie Module

Every year of my teaching I always start too fast.  I love biology, and always can't wait to dive right into content.  Then, about 2/3 of the year I realize my shortcomings as students forget basic class routines, and I feel like they're not working as cooperatively as I'd like.  A couple years ago, I decided to implement "rookie mistakes" as part of my beginning of the year routine building.  I wrote down all those rookie things mid year that students forget, but should still remember.  Then at the start of the next year, I taught them these rookie items with the explanation that it's ok to be a rookie now, but you need to know these things the rest of the year.  When those rookie questions came up, I just told them that was rookie question, and made them ask someone who's not a rookie.  It really helped a lot with class routines and procedures because nobody wants to be a rookie.  Accountability went up.

But last year I still got that feeling like more needed to be done.  I wasn't getting as many rookie questions, but I was still not experiencing the collaborative class I was hoping for.  

This year I set out to really front load.  The year is made in the first month of school.  The classroom climate, efficiency, efficacy, and overall experience is built on the foundation of the first weeks of school as we establish those routines, expectations, and student connections.

Here's what I did in Week 1: 

"The Rookie Module"

We've moved to the learning management system Canvas. I really like it, and have moved everything onto it.  I created a unit with all the stuff I wanted my students to know before I teach them a bit of biology.  Below are several screenshots of my Rookie Module.

Everything in one place a new student needs to know.

The first page featured several screencasts showing where things are on Canvas, how to manage their settings, where things can be found, and how to turn in assignments.

The Class Overview page basically had the syllabus (which we went over in class on the first day) and a vodcast introducing them to my flipped classroom.  Here's the video they watched, which I had them do as homework.

Your Flipped Classroom

Building on what I really took away from Tom Solarz's book Learning Like a Pirate, we're creating even more of a student centered classroom.  We had students on day 3 sign up for student roles.  Class-sourcing many of things I used to do, or want to do, but don't have time or energy to do myself.

Students set up their Google Accounts and shared it with me on a spreadsheet.

We're doing a lot of things online and I feel very strongly about teaching digital citizenship, so they watched a video about digital citizenship, read some about it (we also discussed it in class as part of our rules), and then they participated in an online discussion about what it means to them and how they will practice good digital citizenship.

I used to spend a bunch of time setting up the notebook on day 3.  Now I just put a video tutorial of it on Canvas, and let students set it up at home or in class, depending on where they were in their module.  I included the documents they should paste in as well.

From here they then went on to set up their biology blog (I'll post about this in another post), which they then turned-in via Canvas (a skill they need to know).

When they were all done, they had to take a rookie quiz (also on Canvas).  This assessed them on each of different parts of the rookie module to see if they have moved beyond rookie status.  I required a 90% for them to move on Unit 1 with the ability to retake as much as they needed.  Really, I should have made it 85%, because some spent too much time re-taking the quiz.

How I implemented it

 We spent day 2 of class getting Canvas set up and starting the module, that night for homework they watched the "Your flipped classroom" vodcast, and then the next day they continued on the module.  Whatever wasn't finished, was homework.  

Reflection

I would say the Rookie Module was a great success. It really gave a nice orientation for the start of the year. It taught them how to use Canvas, front loaded everything I wanted them to know that was on the digital side of the class (and some in class things too), and created a nice foundation for what we're going to do the rest of the year.  What's more, it's a great resource that students can go back to throughout the year.  

Today, the start of week 4, I had a new student.  I simply told her what tonight's homework was and where to find it, and then showed her the rookie module.  She now has the next week to work through it at her own pace, and won't feel nearly as lost as most new students would.

Some Highlights of Week 2 and 3:

• Students completed a Rookie Scavenger Hunt to find where things are in the class and review lab safety expectations.
• Reviewed the Rookie Module.
• We dove into our first unit on the scientific method, did a lab, posted the results of the lab to their blog, and then used the peer-grading function of Canvas to grade their lab reports.
• Took their first test on the scientific method module.