Seven Stepping Stones to a Flipped Classroom

Seven Stepping Stones to a Flipped Classroom

The “flipped classroom” is not the newest fad that will save education.  It will not replace textbooks.  It certainly will not replace teachers.  And it definitely will not make every student all of a sudden love school and turn in every assignment.

However, with a little extra work up front, a little more imagination and an openness to change the parameters of the traditional classroom, the flipped classroom could create opportunities to provide more content, create extra time in your classroom, develop opportunities to interact with students and empower them to take charge of their own learning.

Oh there will be push back.  Students will complain, parents will wonder, colleagues will question and administrators may balk.  Student complaints will include things like, “your not teaching us,” “I used to get my homework done while you lectured,” ‘my dog ate my hard drive,” and “I don’t get it.”  Parents will wonder, “why is there no homework,” “what do you do in class all day,”” why is my child on the computer all the time,” and “why are you not teaching my child?” Colleagues will ask, “Why, What and How?” And Administrators will balk at, “What is this going to cost?” and “How are you going to meet the standards?”

To get a handle on all of this and make the transition easier, there are basic step that will make the process move a little smoother and provide opportunities to get all of the publics on board. 

  

The Seven Stepping Stones for implementation of the flipped classroom include:

1.     Brainstorm

2.    Create

3.   Design

4.   Prepare

5.    Set Outcomes

6.    Build a Library

7.    Create a Portal

Brainstorm

The first thing to do is decide how you want to transition into the world of flipped learning. Do you want to spend the summer creating an entire semester of content and go “whole hog”?  Are there specific lessons or content areas that make sense for your subject matter? Do you want to have a flipped day?  Monday will be flipped homework and Tuesday will be the Flipped Classroom day.  What content can you create or find easily?  Is there a special unit or class project that flipping might enhance? Remember not all lessons can nor should be flipped.  The teacher facilitator must do what is best for all students and must maintain their own sanity.

  

Create

Create the “flipped” homework assignment.  Determine what the students will watch.  What is the content that the students will need?  Do you need to make your own video?  Is there something already available on line or from your textbook?  What media can or should be used?  Is this a lesson or a unit?  What will the students do?  And, how will you create accountability?

Design

Design the classroom follow-up activity.  How will the classroom become student centered?  Will the activity be a project?  Will inquiry be the focus?  What choices will the students have in demonstrating their knowledge?  How will the learning be assessed? How will the students take ownership of the content knowledge they have been exposed to?

  

Prepare

Get students prepared for the “flipped experience”.  Outline expectations and

parameters.  Encourage the students to take charge of their learning.  Demonstrate 

how to use the media.  Explain all the options and choices available. Be proactive in 

assisting students who have special needs or lack access to the technology.  Offer 

options and possible solutions for all students to feel they can be successful.

Set Outcomes

Determine expected outcomes and processes for assessing the learning.  Prepare for success but be ready to support failure and develop areas for improvement.  Provide opportunities for growth and varieties of methods to demonstrate learning and mastery of the content standards.

  

Build a Library

Develop a library of resources that can and will engage all students. Provide choices 

in what the students can watch.  Evaluate media for the effectiveness of delivery of 

the content, engagement for the students, presentation of the content standards and 

development of formative assessment. Encourage students to use other resources to 

further their understanding of the content. Allow students freedom to take care of 

their own learning.

Create a Portal

Determine how to deliver the content.  Does your school offer a platform for the organization of the content library?  Do you need to develop your own portal?  Is there something already available that can be adopted to fit the needs of your students and your classroom?  Can you use a platform like Moodle, Blackboard, Ted Ed, Vimeo or YouTube to put your content in a format that is user friendly for both you and your students?

Now it is time to start “Flipping”!!!

10 Reasons to Flip Your Classroom

10 Reasons to Flip Your Classroom

Flip to reach students anywhere, any way, any time and at any pace.

Find them where they are.

Most students spend a great deal of their time attached to a device linked to the internet.  They connect with each other, they connect outside their own circles, find resources, exchange information and learn.  Why not take advantage of this? The educator can use this same technology to connect students to the content necessary to learn for the classroom.

Flip to aid over scheduled and/or chronically absent students.

Students have access to the digital resources on their time. No matter what their schedule looks like.  Students can get ahead, catch-up, keep-up, follow-up and review, when the academic environment provides access at any place and any time.

Flip to improve your students' learning skills.

When you give students the opportunity to learn on their terms and hold them accountable, students will adjust accordingly.  This type of learning demands that study skills, organizational skills and time management skills be addressed as students balance their daily schedules with the expectations of the learning environment of your classroom.

Flip to provide alternative access for all ability levels.

The educator can provide a variety of choices in the digital content resources.  This allows for differentiation within each classroom in the delivery of content and the activities for assessment and accountability in the classroom environment.

Flip to allow students to pause, rewind, and fast-forward their teacher.

Students can view the digital resources at their own pace, as often as they need to and whenever they need to.  Through the digital portal they can check for their own understanding, take notes, repeat sections, and review at a later date.

Flip to increase student-teacher interaction.

It may seem that digital content resources would make the teaching-learning dynamic less personal, but in reality the classroom activity provides additional time to provide one-on-one and small group assistance which actually increases the student-teacher interaction.

Flip to improve classroom management.

In an environment where students understand the value of learning and see the application of the content in action there are less students who find methods to be a distraction to the learning process and therefore there is less need to address discipline issues.

Flip to educate parents and other stakeholders.

Administrators, advisors, counselors, tutors, and most of all parents can have access to your digital content resources and can become facilitators and guides to assist the student in the pursuit of learning and knowledge.  

Flip to make your class more transparent.

District administrators, school administrators, advisors, counselors, tutors, and most of all parents can have access to your digital content resources and can see what your teaching and what students should be learning. 

The online portals offer access to the world, bringing experts into your learning environment at zero cost.     

Flip to teach when you are absent.

Do you hate to be absent because it takes more work to create lessons that are educational and do not waste the student’s time?  Is it difficult to create lessons that any substitute can oversee?  Do you avoid professional development opportunities because it takes too much energy to get students back on track?  Flipping your class can eliminate most of these issues as the content has already been delivered and students are comfortable working on their own or in peer group learning modules.  You can even post the instruction in the digital learning resource to make students aware of the expectations for their learning.  

Planning Flipped Video Lessons

Planning the Video Lessons

Key points to address while planning and organizing of your videos.

Introduction -  Introduce the puropose of the video.  Identify the concept and create a connection to previous knowledge if necessary.

Objectives -  Identify 1 or 2 objectives or standards that will be addressed in the video.  Whenever possible list Common Core or State Standards or Next Generation Science Standards met by the concepts in the video.

Overview -  Provide a brief explanation of the concept that will be modeled in the lesson.  Include new vocabulary, skills necessary and other related materials.

Examples -  Model concept providing as many examples as possible.  Keep in mind lesson link.  If necessary make more than one video to provide additional examples and solutions.

Self Assess – Provide opportunities troughout the lesson for students to check their understanding.  Encourage students to pause the lesson in order to answer questions, think about the concept or complete a sample problem.

Going Further – Provide opportunities for students to continue to explore the concept through additional sample problems, further research, articles, websites or additional videos to add to the knowledge base.  Add higher order questions to  help students synthesize the content into a knowledge base that can transition back to the classroom.

Closure – Bring the  lesson to a close by revisiting the objectives or standards that were demonstrated in the video lesson.  There is no need to summarize or repeat the key concepts as this will only increase video time.  Students always have the option to re-watch any part of the video as many times as may be necessary.

 The more organized and prepared you are, the less re-takes and editing you will have to do later.

The editing process can deplete your energy and waste

your valuable time.