ohhey[blog]

Ugly Learning

Unfortunately, we are entrenched in an age of education that wants to be “pretty.” Students are all reaching “mastery” in every subject and they al... Read more

How to Create an Effective Study Guide

Final exams and standardized testing are right around the corner for us. My students have the obligation to sit in a large room and take multiple c... Read more

Flipped Classroom Point

I wrote the following essay as a response to the ISTE Community Point/Counterpoint question: “To Flip, or Not to Flip?” You can see the discussion ... Read more

Why Risk is Scary

I have written a couple of posts lately on risk-taking being an essential component of change in a system. Much of this stems from the risks that I... Read more

Supporting Students in a #Flipclass

I saw a tweet come through the feed this morning from Brad Campbell and Vanessa Alander regarding the practice of “implementing” a flipped classroo... Read more

Three Things I Should Have Done in College

I got to speak with a group of preservice teachers this morning at the University of Evansville. Heading into the class, I was thinking about what ... Read more

“Academic Bowl” Paradox

Last night, I read the science questions for the Indiana Academic Bowl our school hosted. The city schools all sent teams of students to participat... Read more

It Is Up to Me

I have learned more this year than ever before and I keep coming back to one inescapable truth: If I want education to change, it is up to me to ch... Read more

#Flipclass Chat Starts With a Bang

Monday, March 5 was the inaugural #flipclass chat event. We promoted the chat on Twitter, Google+, and various blogs to push a great first session.... Read more

Reach That One

I had a severe case of the “Mondays” today for some reason. My patience was thin and kids seemed to be a little bit more opinionated about their as... Read more

A Letter to Students and Parents

I began writing my course audit for AP Biology this week, which is always a fun thing to do. Part of my course description includes a short letter ... Read more

Change Teaching by Changing Grading

I have made a few changes in my chemistry class recently that came more out of pragmatic necessity than anything else, but these changes have cause... Read more

The #Flipclass on NPR

I was given a unique opportunity today to join our local NPR host on a show entitled The Trend. The first half of today’s show was about new classr... Read more

Coming Soon: Weekly #Flipclass Chat

With the discussion about the Flipped Classroom gaining steam globally, I thought it was about time we begin to connect in real time. I emailed Jon... Read more

Heroes and Villains

We have a saying in the science department here: students lack mental stamina. They are faced with problems, and instead of working together to fin... Read more

I Can

In the spirit of full disclosure, this has been a discouraging week for me. Students are antsy and in need of a break. I am fighting some old battl... Read more

I Can’t Teach Science

Ever since the State of the Union address on January 24th, I have seen more blog posts and articles on STEM than I have in a very, very long time. ... Read more

I Can’t Learn You

I read a post from Jeff Utecht just ten minutes ago which got me into this thought. He wrote about helping a teacher flip her history classroom: Pa... Read more

Don’t Miss Today

Teachers are planners, in case you didn’t know. We like to plan units weeks ahead of time, plan for technology or behavior issues, and even plan fo... Read more

Power in Online Video

I’ve had a crazy week. On Tuesday and Thursday I worked with Brett Clark and Brian Bobbitt sharing the Flipped Classroom with almost 100 teachers a... Read more

Stop SOPA and PIPA

I think this is my first ever politically-based post. But, I feel so strongly about it, I couldn’t think of a better way to share my thoughts on th... Read more

Commercials and Education

I saw this commercial over the weekend: I think this commercial shows two classrooms. One class uses computers as worksheets. The second uses compu... Read more

The Flipped Class and Shifting Paradigms

It is a new year and a new semester for us and I’ve been thinking a lot about the Flipped Classroom and what role it plays in my teaching. While I ... Read more

Year of Collaboration

The year ends today and I’ve spent some of this Christmas break looking at old pictures. I came across this picture from our trip to Vietnam in 201... Read more

A Year of Learning

As the year winds down, I find myself thinking frequently about all the change I’ve gone through. This post doesn’t have a particular theme or any ... Read more

I Am Responsible

I recently overheard a conversation in which two teachers were discussing a particular student that came to school and simply “existed.” He didn’t ... Read more

The Flipped Class is Here to Stay

…or, “The Difference Between a Fad and a Usable, Meaningful Tool is the Teacher.” I missed #EdChat…again. It’s one of the downsides of living just ... Read more

New Flipped Class Article

I co-wrote an article on the flipped classroom with several other outspoken flipped class advocates. It is posted on thedailyriff.com, but I can po... Read more

Why I Teach

Before Thanksgiving break, I gave my classes a short evaluation. It was totally anonymous and they were asked about things they liked, things they ... Read more

The Greatest Struggle, Part II

I’m trying to capture the small moments each day with short posts. I feel like I glaze over these moments too quickly and I lose out on one of the ... Read more

The Hidden Message

I had an interesting conversation with our pre-service teacher this morning concerning a make up quiz she had given to her chemistry class. In shor... Read more

All or Nothing

I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. I think to be a teacher, you have to be. If I didn’t have the ability to look on the bright side, I wouldn’t wan... Read more

Culture of Change

A few weeks ago, I came to Twitter lamenting the abysmal grades from a quiz I had given. You’d think I had learned my lesson at that point…well, I ... Read more

Save Our Schools

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending EdCamp: Grand Rapids hosted by the extraordinary Ron Houtman. About 100 educators from all over Michi... Read more

Grades Revisited

I spent some time this afternoon updating my grade book. Like most of us, grading is my least favorite part of teaching and I have a nasty habit of... Read more

Get in touch

Comments are always open. You can get in touch by sending me an email at brian@ohheybrian.com