‘Flip-mastery’ approach a winner in classroom

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/06/2019 (2403 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s fair to say that Greg Speiser has made a difference in the hearts and minds of those in his school’s community.

Speiser, who teaches math and physics to Grade 10 to 12 students at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate, is one of the recipients of this year’s Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence (certificate of achievement).

Officials say the awards honour outstanding and innovative elementary and secondary school teachers in all disciplines. Recipients are recognized for their leadership and exemplary teaching practices, as well as for their commitment to help the next generation of Canadians gain the knowledge and skills they need for future success.

No stranger to garnering academic recognition, the 51-year-old was also among the recipients of the provincial Excellence in Education Awards that were given out earlier this spring. Speiser won the award with fellow Nelson McIntyre teachers Mark Schmidtke and Tera Woodyard for their work in math education.

“It’s a little humbling,” Speiser told The Lance recently in light of the Prime Minister’s Award announcement.

“When I look around at all the other teachers that do amazing things, I’m really humbled to receive this recognition. I’m also very grateful to share this with all the other great teachers in our school. It’s such an affirmation from my boss and my peers. I didn’t think I’d get it, so it’s a delightful surprise,” he said.

Speiser said his principal, Charlene Smallwood, put together a fairly extensive nomination package for the award — “she said lots of nice things about me” — which also included contributions from a colleague, a parent, and a student.

In terms of his own contribution in the classroom, Speiser is a big-picture thinker who strives to find new and different ways of teaching and learning, both in terms of student engagement and empowerment.

Along with Schmidtke and Woodyard, the Wolseley resident has created a non-rigid approach to math at the Norwood-based school in the last few years that allows students to learn at their own pace, which includes what he calls the “flip-mastery approach.” This approach steers away from a more traditional scenario “when a teacher lectures, and then a kid goes home and gets stuck on their homework.”

“We made videos for the lessons, and put it all on YouTube, which includes suggested exercises for their homework. These include a short mastery check at the end of each lesson for the student to continue. I feel this has revolutionized the whole process, and changed the dynamics of the whole room, as it helps support students that are at different stages of learning and provides lots of flexibility. We’ve seen a significant increase in provincial math scores, and now we’re above the average,” Speiser said.

As well, the school now has a math lounge, where students can stop by if they are seeking extra support.

When it to comes to teaching physics, Speiser adopts a different approach, which includes a whiteboarding problem-solving approach where students work in groups and try to answer questions, which encourages them to develop trust among their classmates, take risks, and appreciate the value of mistakes and reflecting on them.

“The way I do physics is very different from how I do math,” Speiser said.

“There’s lots of discovery in math, and in physics there’s a lot of guided inquiry, which includes groups working together to solve problems. We’ll do white board meetings, when the groups will explain their findings and the kids around the room will ask questions. It’s a process that’s driven by co-operative learning, and the white board technique is very important. It’s almost the exact opposite way of learning.”

Grade 11 student Grace MacPherson has been taught physics by Speiser, and she is grateful for the impact he has made to her learning.

“Mr. Speiser is an incredible teacher,” MacPherson, 17, said.

“He doesn’t just get you to question your thinking when you’re wrong, he questions it when you’re right in order to make you prove your thinking and know why it’s correct. After his class, I started seeing physics everywhere. It’s been over a year and I still can’t get into an elevator without thinking about the forces acting on me as I accelerate. He’s taught me through example, and that it’s important to use our gifts to help others. I cannot imagine a better teacher, and it will be a privilege to be in his class again next year.”

Grade 11 student Anis Zeid has also been a member of Speiser’s physics class. He said the marking system implemented by Speiser helped “many students improve their outcomes from specific units.”

“We have a week planned out. Every Friday, we had an assessment to keep our facts and concepts up to date. And they were altered depending on whatever the student wanted to improve. If a student wasn’t fully understanding the concept of scientific thinking and would like to improve their outcome as the semester went on, all they had to do was ask for it on an assessment,” Zeid, 17, said.

Grade 11 student Anika Heidinger said Speiser is “always challenging us whenever he sees us.”

“I am lucky enough to be going to Churchill with him and one other student next year and I am very excited to get to know him more. He’s always been a positive support and always pushes us to find the answers to questions he doesn’t know to allow us to make the discovery. No matter where you are he will say ‘hi’ and see what you’re working on and have a conversation with you about it. He is a teacher who makes you interested in whatever it is and he will push your discoveries. He makes it like the book you can’t put down. He makes you excited to come back the next day.”