Working Through the Options
Adventures in Iteration
I want to tell you a story about how long it took me to figure out something that seems obvious in retrospect. This story is about a specific example connected to my approach to teaching my AP Biology class. It’s also an illustrative example of so many of the other things that happen when teachers work to put changes in place in their pedagogy.
Some (long-ish) context
For context, it’s probably wise to understand that I teach my class in what could be described as a “flipped/blended” model. Technically, these are slightly different terms, but functionally, they both mean the same thing a lot of the time. There are as many variants of this flipped/blended approach as anyone could imagine. It looks different for different subjects, different teachers, and different learning environments. I had been employing a version of this model in my pre-Singapore teaching life, having produced a series of course videos for my Chemistry classes back in NY. I had even started on a series for my AP Biology classes before stepping into a Director role. When we decided to move to Singapore, and I was once again teaching AP Biology, I did the necessary lift to complete my AP Biology course videos to use in the same way. They would serve as my course’s main text.
