Relationships, SCoodle, and Sites, OH MY!

I have been asked in #flipclass twitter chat what is one thing that makes my flipclass work better.

There are two things that make my #flipclass work better, and I will address each individually.

The first are the relationships formed with the students.  This actually could be like the age old question about which came first, the chicken or the egg.   I couldn't begin to flip my class successfully if I didn't believe that relationships were important.  However, I wouldn't be able to form relationships if I didn't flip my class, since flipping gives me extra time.  Sure, prior to 3 years ago, I had some pretty good relationships with my students and often had a waiting list to get into my courses, but those relationships only went so far.  I knew about the kids and what they participated in, I knew which kids liked math and which did not, and I knew what kind of math student they were.  However, I didn't know whether they worked well with others, if they enjoyed working with others, what their evening time looked like, who they hung out with, why they did the activities that they did, whether they were a single child or had siblings, where their parents went to college (or even if they went at all) and many other things. Furthermore, the relationships that I build with the parents are strong as well! Being a math teacher, one may find that those things I mention aren't important to math, and maybe directly they aren't.  However, if I know a kid is struggling at home because mom and dad are going through a divorce, that does indirectly affect math.  I am a teacher, and then I teach math.  Getting to know the Whole Child and teaching the whole child is so much more important than just teaching math.

The other piece, which is obviously the lesser important than building relationships, that I feel makes my classes work better is our Moodle.  We call it SCoodle, for State College Moodle.  It is an integral part of my teaching.  It is where I post my videos, and my WSQs, and all other important items of the class.  We as a district are required to keep things private and this allows me to do so.  I can do many things through our SCoodle and couldn't possibly imagine flipping my class without it.

I can name so many others, like Kahoot, Socrative, Infuse Learnine, Educannon, etc, but the two most important would be the ones I listed.