Why You Need to Flip Your Classroom Now!

What does is the flipped classroom?

The flipped classroom is when you take the types of activities that would typically be assigned for homework, and make them classwork.  While doing this, you take the activities that would generally be done in class and assign them for homework.

In a typical middle school math class, the teacher explains a new concept to the class.  She explains the concept while writing on the board and describing the examples.  After the teacher is done with this “lecture” type math lesson, the students do practice activities.  And then they are assigned additional practice for homework.

What’s wrong with that?

This type of lesson has been the norm for years.  But imagine this; you are a student who struggles with math.  In class, you listen to the lesson, think you understand what the teacher is talking about.  You do the sample questions in class, and you get half of them right.  You’re feeling great about this.

After school, you get home and take out your homework.  The same problems that you did in class now look like gibberish!  You try googling the process, but you’re not sure what to call it and none of the websites that come up look like what your teacher did in class.  So you just do your best to get the worksheet done so that you get credit, but you just know that they are all wrong.

Where the flipped classroom comes in.

With a flipped classroom, you have the students watch your lecture online for homework.  They can watch a video that you uploaded or one that was already made that you found online.  In the video, they watch the demonstration on how to do the problems, and then they watch you do some sample problems.

Maybe you can have it, so they do sample problems with you.  And then when they come to school the next day, they work on more problems and extension problems, but now they have you there to help them.

This helps you to prevent the students from doing something wrong repeatedly, and then you would have to reverse this thinking.

Resources for Flipping Your Classroom

Edpuzzle

I have only used this website recently, I found it a month or so ago.  This website allows you to take videos that you have created, or you can link videos from Youtube, Khan Academy, or from their library and assign them for assignments.

This website allows you to track which students are watching the videos, you can insert questions into the video and track their responses, and you can also prevent the students from fast forwarding the movie.  This is a way of making sure that they did their work.

YouTube

YouTube actually has a wide variety of videos that have been already made by other teachers.  A simple search can lead you to plenty of options if you don’t have the time or access to make your own videos.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is another place to find videos for your flipped classroom.  The website Khan Academy is a free resource where you can find videos on almost any math topic.  It also has videos of other subjects.  This is another way you can access videos to assign to your students.

 

There are many more resources that you can use to flip your classroom.  But, I only wanted to mention the ones that I have personally used.  If you have great flipped classroom resources, please share them in the comments!  I will update as I find new ones 🙂

Also, Check Out:

Using Editing Stations in ELA

Accommodations for Students Who Struggle With Executive Functioning