To Flip or Not to Flip
Flipping a classroom has been a topic that I continue to learn more about. We have a teacher in our school who has completely flipped his math classroom and has seen a lot of success with it. By flipping your classroom, students can take more control over their learning. They can watch the lesson at home, and then come to school prepared with questions they may be having. When a lesson is traditionally done in the classroom, some students might not get a chance to be heard. By having them watch the lesson at home, it gives students time to really think of authentic questions. Another advantage of flipping your classroom is giving the teacher more time to work with their struggling students. Teachers can see which students are struggling and spend their time working with those students, instead of physically teaching the lesson for the class during the day.
A challenge I see with flipping a classroom is the time commitment. Having to create videos of all your lessons can be overwhelming and take a lot of time. To overcome this challenge, I would start small and flip part of my classroom. This way I can ease myself and my students into this new way of learning. Another challenge I see happening is not having all the students watch the video for homework. This could make them fall behind. If I were to set up this system, I feel that I would manage this with stations. The students who do not watch the video and do the homework, will have to do it at school and might not be able to play the fun games or do the extra fun projects that the other kids will get to.
When thinking of a lesson that could be flipped, I immediately think of math. I think it would be fun to teach a skill and have my students watch the video, and then answer the questions that follow by using EdPuzzle. This tool lets you upload your own videos and the students can't see the answers to the questions until the end. I would start with multiplication or division. These two skills tend to be difficult for my 4th graders and it would be beneficial for them to have a resource to look back to in case they are struggling with the skill.
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! You can make a really good point about some students not getting a chance to be heard or not being able to come up with valid questions immediately after being taught a concept at school. Some students just need some time to reflect and assimilate new information. Using a flipped classroom approach allows that to happen.
Yes, time commitment is a huge negative when it comes to creating flipped videos. Definitely starting small is the right idea. I think that's the benefit of having your own YouTube channel where you can house these videos. If the students go ahead and watch your videos I don't think that's the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteMeghan,
ReplyDeleteI love that you have realistic consequences for the students who do not watch the videos at home. I really believe that the students will be motivated to watch the videos in the future if they see what they are missing out on!
I too got overwhelmed thinking about the videos I would have to create to make this happen! But, then I thought about the millions of videos that have already been made by quality educators and are available and free online! I think that starting with a mixture of already created videos and videos created by myself would make me feel less overwhelmed :)
Hi Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI agree that flipping our classrooms completely would be a large time commitment, but if we started small and focused on the most challenging concepts first, like multi-digit multiplication or division, we would feel motivated by our students' progress! If the students have the ability to pause a video at any time and use it as a model while completing their assignments, they will feel empowered and successful as they tackle tough problems. I also like your idea of having a station where students are required to complete the previous night's assignment prior to beginning a more "exciting" task. This would be a great way to enforce accountability!
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI share the same fears about flipped learning! I was also concerned about what would happen if students do not complete the flipped learning at home or outside of class time! I like the idea of that being made into a station if the student needs to complete the assignment. This would ensure that they are learning the concept & the no game time consequence would hopefully help to remedy the issue of students making the choice not to complete the flipped learning! It makes your students responsible for their own learning, & that is a powerful thing! :)