Just Keep Flippin' On

Some fear that the idea of flipping a classroom takes the expertise away from the teacher.  Why would one need a teacher if all content is already available online?  On the contrary, the teacher and the design of  lessons is still integral.  Flipping has to be purposeful and deliberate.  The teachers job is not only to engage the students through 10-15 minute long videos (or some other method...video doesn’t always work), but to also design engaging activities for use upon the students’ return to the class the next day.  To feel comfortable flipping my classroom, I wanted ideas for ways for students to first interact with the asynchronous materials I assigned for out of class work to ensure interaction with the material I was going to be presenting.  Students would need to prove their interaction in some way.  These are ideas I discovered:

·         Worksheets

·         Answer questions as they read/watch a video (embedded edpuzzle questions could be used)

·         Write their own questions (open-ended ideally)

·         identify/define words

·         Sind supportive picture/meme/emoji

·         Interactive challenges

·         Formative quizzes

·         Graphic organizers

·         Sentence frames

·         Note taking

·         Highlight key points

·         Emails/online discussion boards/blogs

·         Other active, participatory teaching techniques (Top 10’s, What’s Hot/What’s Not, Found Poems)

Then, as someone who is used to commanding the room for 40 minutes in lecture format, I also started to search for ideas for use upon students returning to class.  I found the following ideas:

·         Review previous work

·         Answer student questions

·         Hands-on activities 

·         Primary source document analysis

·         Thinking routines

·         Problem based learning

·         Simulations*

·         Debates*

The articles also wanted to warn others to show caution when considering the flipped classroom concept.  One can not just throw technology at curriculum and hope it sticks.  You have to walk kids through HOW to interact with the content and use the flipped methodology so they understand how the method is supposed to benefit them.  Kids are going to need to understand their specific role in this partnership.  I think this idea is very important to remember and I can see it as a step that many might forgo or forget.  Just with anything else, at times we need to do some front-loaded hand holding that will make the process more effective in the long run.  

Other concerns would be that there are areas of the country that have limited wifi access.  Some teachers may feel that the video watching could be too passive, citing that hands-on is the way that students learn.  In truth, everything isn’t flippable...debates and simulations listed above need audiences.  There are concerns that the videos (or whatever modality is used) is a one-size-fits-all idea and that there would be no differentiation in the delivery of content.  (In a mastery flipped classroom environment, the opposite is the case.) For some teachers, the in-class activity and student collaboration can be too noisy.  And even though it is best practices, it is not always practical to make personal videos.

These articles helped me brainstorm some ideas for implementation in my classroom.  I still want to see it in action however.  In my next blog I hope to have watched a class in action as well as investigate some of the online tools that can help flip one’s class like Educreations, Explain Everything, Khanacademy.com, and Sophia.org. And though I have some experience with Edpuzzle, I’d like to explore more there as well.

Until then, keep flippin’ out!

Articles Used:

Schmidt, S. M. P., & Ralph, D. L. (2016). The Flipped Classroom: A Twist on Teaching. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 9(1), 1–6.

Papadakis, S., Gariou-Papalexiou, A., & Makrodimos, N. (2019). How to Design and Implement a Flipped Classroom Lesson: A Bottom up Procedure for More Effective Lessons. Open Journal for Educational Research, 3(2), 53–66.

Sammel, A., Townend, G., & Kanasa, H. (2018). Hidden Expectations behind the Promise of the Flipped Classroom. College Teaching, 66(2), 49–59.

Springen, Karen. “Flipping the Classroom: A Revolutionary Approach to Learning Presents Some Pros and Cons.” School Library Journal, 1 Apr. 2013, www.slj.com/?detailStory=flipping-the-classroom-a-revolutionary-approach-to-learning-presents-some-pros-and-cons.

Bergmann, Jon, et al. “The Flipped Class: Myths vs Reality.” The Daily Riff, 2013, www.thedailyriff.com/articles/the-flipped-class-conversation-689.php.