Thinking about flipping your classroom? This might be the best option for a blended learning schedule come fall with this crazy 2020 ride we are all on! Having a Flipped Classroom is one of my favorite ways to teach as it really uses time in the best way possible. While I haven’t figured out how to make more time (if I find out, I’ll share the secret!) this style of teaching as left me with the best use of classroom time. Keep on reading to find all my flipped classroom tips!
What is a Flipped Classroom?
In a typical classroom, students spend time in class taking notes while practicing what they learned in class at home. The Flipped Classroom approach switches those pieces. So students will take notes at home and practice in class. This leaves vital classroom time spent on practicing material. If you want to check out a few articles about what it can look like, click here and here.
How My Classroom Runs
Homework: My students will watch a quick video of me walking through an example problem or two and they follow along with a note guide. The video is quick (5-10 minutes) and I use the same note taking sheet that they write on.
In class: students come the next day with their notes from the night before. We do a warm up problem similar to the notes so I can see how they are doing with just the video. I will usually work another example in class with them (the we do together part of gradual release). Then I will have students practice with a partner or table group. This gives me the chance to interact with students and see how they are picking it up. At the end of class, I will give an exit ticket to see who has really mastered it and who would benefit from a small group for more targeted learning.
Sometimes in class we will do stations. One of my stations will be a practice version of whatever they did for the video and that becomes the station I stand at to help with.
When I first did a flipped classroom, my students didn’t really have technology. So I made one of the stations the video notes and I could still pull a small group. By having a flipped classroom, students could keep learning new material while I worked to fill holes and differentiate for my higher learners.
Pros of a Flipped Classroom
I love being able to use class time more efficiently. Class time is used for practicing, assessing, small groups, stations and cooperative learning. Home time is used for an introduction and preview of the material.
Students are practicing with the certified adult. In middle school, parents tend to tap out, especially with math! This leaves the practicing to be done with me (the one who went to college for this). I’m not saying that parents can’t help! But by providing a video for kiddos to watch, parents can also listen in if a kiddo is struggling.
Digital learning is more feasible/flexible. I did a Flipped Classroom before Covid, so I was slightly more prepared to switch to a digital format. This is my method of choice if we end up with a blended learning model next school year. The time that the students are digital, they watch the videos and take notes. The time that the students are physically in my classroom, we are practicing and diving deeper.
You teach once! I hate giving notes in class because after repeating myself 4 times, I forget what I’ve said! This cuts down on the repeats because if a kid needs it repeated, they replay the video and you don’t waste your breath 😉
Absent students are still held accountable for the work. They can complete the homework (notes) at home and be prepared for class. While this doesn’t totally fix the absent issue, it does cut down on part of it.
Flexibility is king of the classroom. If your students don’t have much access to technology at home, you can still flip your classroom. I actually start this model by incorporating the video notes into a station. I could have a station that I worked with, a video note station, and practice. The flipped classroom model was made to be flexible.
Sub days are still useful. By taking this approach to my classroom, I can have a sub, and students can still be learning. My room practically runs without me!
Cons of a Flipped Classroom
Technology curve is real! It took me a bit to figure out how to film a video of myself teaching and then also how to save it, edit it and upload it. I recommend Screencastify for this! Super easy to use and even easier to upload to Google Classroom. Don’t have time to figure it out? My 5th grade math curriculum was made for this! All the videos & notes are done for you!
Holding students accountable for watching the videos can be tricky. The best way that I’ve found is to make kids watch the videos for homework and quickly check the notes during the bell ringer time. Students that didn’t complete them, would use class time to complete them and not do the fun, exciting, project/game/partner work. Make it a super awesome activity and kiddos will be more inclined to complete them at home. If this is a reoccurring issue, maybe find time during advisory/homeroom or suggest doing before school in the morning like on the bus.
Planning ahead is a big part of this model (check out my planning tips in this post). This is not the set-up for a teacher who walks in every day and decides what to teach in the moment. Having notes ready to go, copies made so kiddos can follow along for homework, and creating the videos takes time. If you want it done for you, I’ve got a 5th grade curriculum set up for this!
I’d love to hear from you! Have you flipped your classroom? Tips & tricks to share? What is holding you back from flipping your room? What questions do you have?
[…] in our notes page and have students watch the video on their own. This could be set up like a flipped-classroom approach and it worked amazing in the hybrid setup. Students watch the video and fill in their notes page. […]