MOCK EXAM 13
SIMULA UN ENTORNO TRANQUILO DURANTE CUATRO HORAS Y MEDIA
COMO SI ESTUVIERAS EN EL EXAMEN. DURANTE ESE TIEMPO:
1. ELIGE UN TEMA Y REDÁCTALO SIN MIRAR APUNTES, SIMULANDO
EXAMEN REAL.
2. ELIGE TRES PREGUNTAS DE LAS SEIS DEL TEXTO.
GOOD LUCK!
PRACTICAL EXAM:
1 NY. Times.
2 Turning Education Upside Down
3 By TINA ROSENBERG
4 Three years ago, Clintondale High School, just north of Detroit, became a “flipped school” —
5 one where students watch teachers’ lectures at home and do what we’d otherwise call
6 “homework” in class. Teachers record video lessons, which students watch on their
7 smartphones, home computers or at lunch in the school’s tech lab. In class, they do projects,
8 exercises or lab experiments in small groups while the teacher circulates.
9 Clintondale was the first school in the United States to flip completely — all of its classes are
10 now taught this way. Now flipped classrooms are popping up all over. Havana High School
11 outside of Peoria, Illinois, is flipping, too, after the school superintendent visited Clintondale. The
12 principal of Clintondale says that some 200 school officials have visited.
13 It’s Well known by now that online education is booming. You can study any subject free in a
14 MOOC —— a massive open online course — from single-digit addition to the history of Chinese
15 architecture to flight vehicle aerodynamics. Courses are being offered by universities like
16 Harvard and M.I.T. and by the teenager next door making videos in his garage. Among the
17 best-known sources are the Khan Academy, Coursera and Udacity. But while online courses can
18 make high-quality education available to anyone for the price of an Internet connection, they
19 also have the potential to displace humans, with all that implies for teachers and students.
20
21 (...)
22 Flipping a classroom changes several things. One is what students do at home. At first, teachers
23 assigned 20—minute videos, but they now make them shorter — six minutes, even three
24 minutes. That promotes re—watching. The school also uses audio files and readings as
25 homework, and uses videos from the Khan Academy, TED and other sources. Many students do
26 not ask questions in class, worried they will look dumb. But they can watch a video over and
27 over without fear.
28 Jahya Dunbar, a junior, said her mother watches math videos with her. “She likes the idea of
29 the technology,” she said. “When I ask questions, she can understand it."
30 “Whenever I had a problem on the homework, I couldn’t do anything about it at home,” said
31 Luwayne Harris, a senior. “Now if I have a problem with a video, I can just rewind and watch it
32 over and over again.”
, MOCK EXAM 13
33 Especially in low-income communities, some students don’t have access to the tech they need
34 to watch Videos. Students I talked to said that about 10 percent don't — but they easily watch
35 at school. Just because students can watch, of course, doesn’t mean they do watch. (See the
36 discussion page here for teachers’ advice on getting students to do homework.)
37 Robert Townsend, who teaches ninth-grade physical science, gives students a week to watch a
38 package of videos and requires students to do brief online quizzes about the videos or take
39 notes to show to him in class.
40 Getting students to do homework is not, of course, a problem exclusive to flipping. Students
41 who don’t watch videos are even less likely to do traditional homework problems. They may
42 have no support or help at home or live in a chaotic house. If they get stuck on the first
43 problem they are out of luck. Townsend said that while only half of his students did traditional
44 homework, 75 to 80 percent watch the videos. “It’s always available to them,” he said. “They’re
45 used to watching. It’s the world they live in. We’re meeting them on their ground”.
46 Salman Khan, founder of the Khan academy, makes a good point in his book,“The One World
47 Schoolhouse”: If students are going to skip homework, it’s far better to miss watching a video
48 than to miss doing the problem sets.
49 This is the second and far more important shift that comes with flipped claseroms: it frees up
50 class time for hands—on work. Students learn by doing and asking questions — school shouldn’t
51 be a spectator sport. "A lot of people think it just has to do with technology,” said Kim Spriggs,
52 who teaches business and marketing. “It's actually more time for kids to do higher-order
53 thinking and hands-on projects. Instead of presenting the information in class and having
54 students work on projects at home, where they don't necessarily have support, here in class,
55 one-on-one or in small groups, I can help them immediately.” Students can also help each '
56 other, a process that benefits both the advanced and less advanced learners.
57 Flipping also changes the distribution of teacher time. In a traditional class, the teacher
58 engages with the students who ask questions -- but it’s those who don’t ask who tend to need
59 the most attention. “We refer to ‘silent failers,’ " said Spriggs. “Now it’s a lot harder for students
60 to hide. The teacher can: see pretty much where every student’s understanding is and how to
6] help them. It’s a huge difference for students who didn’t seek out extra help and attention ——
62 who just sit back and keep silent.”
63 Clintondale’s experience indicates that the biggest effect of flipping classrooms is on the
64 students at the bottom. “It’s tough to fail a flipped class, because you’re doing the stuff in
65 here,” said Rob Dameron, the head of the English department. “I used to have about a 30
66 percent failure rate in English — these kids come in a lot at third-grade, fourth-grade reading
67 levels. Now, out of 130 kids, I have three who are failing — mostly due to attendance
68 problems.”
69 Townsend said he has seen big improvements in failure rates and in class discipline, but not in
70 grades. “Before my average test score was D+ — now it’s C or C+," he said. (Other teachers
71 had a different experience, and indeed, science is the weakest subject for students at
72 Clintondale, and across the state as measured on standardized tests.) He said he is now
73 redoing his video lessons and adding online discussion to try to incorporate more critical
74 thinking.
75 The flipped classroom is a new experience for students — but also for teachers, who are going
76 from “sage on the stage" to “guide on the side,” as many education writers put it. For good
77 teachers, that’s liberating. “I have a YouTube video on subject-verb agreement that has 54,000
78 views,” said Dameron. “I don’t wantto give that lecture every year.”
SIMULA UN ENTORNO TRANQUILO DURANTE CUATRO HORAS Y MEDIA
COMO SI ESTUVIERAS EN EL EXAMEN. DURANTE ESE TIEMPO:
1. ELIGE UN TEMA Y REDÁCTALO SIN MIRAR APUNTES, SIMULANDO
EXAMEN REAL.
2. ELIGE TRES PREGUNTAS DE LAS SEIS DEL TEXTO.
GOOD LUCK!
PRACTICAL EXAM:
1 NY. Times.
2 Turning Education Upside Down
3 By TINA ROSENBERG
4 Three years ago, Clintondale High School, just north of Detroit, became a “flipped school” —
5 one where students watch teachers’ lectures at home and do what we’d otherwise call
6 “homework” in class. Teachers record video lessons, which students watch on their
7 smartphones, home computers or at lunch in the school’s tech lab. In class, they do projects,
8 exercises or lab experiments in small groups while the teacher circulates.
9 Clintondale was the first school in the United States to flip completely — all of its classes are
10 now taught this way. Now flipped classrooms are popping up all over. Havana High School
11 outside of Peoria, Illinois, is flipping, too, after the school superintendent visited Clintondale. The
12 principal of Clintondale says that some 200 school officials have visited.
13 It’s Well known by now that online education is booming. You can study any subject free in a
14 MOOC —— a massive open online course — from single-digit addition to the history of Chinese
15 architecture to flight vehicle aerodynamics. Courses are being offered by universities like
16 Harvard and M.I.T. and by the teenager next door making videos in his garage. Among the
17 best-known sources are the Khan Academy, Coursera and Udacity. But while online courses can
18 make high-quality education available to anyone for the price of an Internet connection, they
19 also have the potential to displace humans, with all that implies for teachers and students.
20
21 (...)
22 Flipping a classroom changes several things. One is what students do at home. At first, teachers
23 assigned 20—minute videos, but they now make them shorter — six minutes, even three
24 minutes. That promotes re—watching. The school also uses audio files and readings as
25 homework, and uses videos from the Khan Academy, TED and other sources. Many students do
26 not ask questions in class, worried they will look dumb. But they can watch a video over and
27 over without fear.
28 Jahya Dunbar, a junior, said her mother watches math videos with her. “She likes the idea of
29 the technology,” she said. “When I ask questions, she can understand it."
30 “Whenever I had a problem on the homework, I couldn’t do anything about it at home,” said
31 Luwayne Harris, a senior. “Now if I have a problem with a video, I can just rewind and watch it
32 over and over again.”
, MOCK EXAM 13
33 Especially in low-income communities, some students don’t have access to the tech they need
34 to watch Videos. Students I talked to said that about 10 percent don't — but they easily watch
35 at school. Just because students can watch, of course, doesn’t mean they do watch. (See the
36 discussion page here for teachers’ advice on getting students to do homework.)
37 Robert Townsend, who teaches ninth-grade physical science, gives students a week to watch a
38 package of videos and requires students to do brief online quizzes about the videos or take
39 notes to show to him in class.
40 Getting students to do homework is not, of course, a problem exclusive to flipping. Students
41 who don’t watch videos are even less likely to do traditional homework problems. They may
42 have no support or help at home or live in a chaotic house. If they get stuck on the first
43 problem they are out of luck. Townsend said that while only half of his students did traditional
44 homework, 75 to 80 percent watch the videos. “It’s always available to them,” he said. “They’re
45 used to watching. It’s the world they live in. We’re meeting them on their ground”.
46 Salman Khan, founder of the Khan academy, makes a good point in his book,“The One World
47 Schoolhouse”: If students are going to skip homework, it’s far better to miss watching a video
48 than to miss doing the problem sets.
49 This is the second and far more important shift that comes with flipped claseroms: it frees up
50 class time for hands—on work. Students learn by doing and asking questions — school shouldn’t
51 be a spectator sport. "A lot of people think it just has to do with technology,” said Kim Spriggs,
52 who teaches business and marketing. “It's actually more time for kids to do higher-order
53 thinking and hands-on projects. Instead of presenting the information in class and having
54 students work on projects at home, where they don't necessarily have support, here in class,
55 one-on-one or in small groups, I can help them immediately.” Students can also help each '
56 other, a process that benefits both the advanced and less advanced learners.
57 Flipping also changes the distribution of teacher time. In a traditional class, the teacher
58 engages with the students who ask questions -- but it’s those who don’t ask who tend to need
59 the most attention. “We refer to ‘silent failers,’ " said Spriggs. “Now it’s a lot harder for students
60 to hide. The teacher can: see pretty much where every student’s understanding is and how to
6] help them. It’s a huge difference for students who didn’t seek out extra help and attention ——
62 who just sit back and keep silent.”
63 Clintondale’s experience indicates that the biggest effect of flipping classrooms is on the
64 students at the bottom. “It’s tough to fail a flipped class, because you’re doing the stuff in
65 here,” said Rob Dameron, the head of the English department. “I used to have about a 30
66 percent failure rate in English — these kids come in a lot at third-grade, fourth-grade reading
67 levels. Now, out of 130 kids, I have three who are failing — mostly due to attendance
68 problems.”
69 Townsend said he has seen big improvements in failure rates and in class discipline, but not in
70 grades. “Before my average test score was D+ — now it’s C or C+," he said. (Other teachers
71 had a different experience, and indeed, science is the weakest subject for students at
72 Clintondale, and across the state as measured on standardized tests.) He said he is now
73 redoing his video lessons and adding online discussion to try to incorporate more critical
74 thinking.
75 The flipped classroom is a new experience for students — but also for teachers, who are going
76 from “sage on the stage" to “guide on the side,” as many education writers put it. For good
77 teachers, that’s liberating. “I have a YouTube video on subject-verb agreement that has 54,000
78 views,” said Dameron. “I don’t wantto give that lecture every year.”
