Book Study: Flip Your Classroom - Chapter 4

I have started to read Flip Your Classroom by Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann.  After each chapter, I will highlight key concepts and any other noteworthy ideas that will enhance my understanding of the idea, as well as how to implement it within my 4th grade classroom.

Chapter 4: How to Implement the Flipped Classroom

• Don't make a video just for the sake of it.  Think about what instructional tool would best teach the content to your students.
• Use other teachers' videos if you do not feel comfortable being on camera.  Check out YouTube for videos or other video sharing sites.
• When making your own videos, you can use Camtasia Studio, which is a screencasting program.  It will capture whatever is on your computer screen, as well as your voice, and any annotations that you make with a digital pen.  You can also videotape all of your lessons for one year and then turn them into videos the following year for your students to view. 
• Four steps to making a video:
• Plan the lesson
• Record the video
• Edit the video
• Publish the video
•  Side Note: I will be using the iPad app, Show Me, to make my videos.  This app allows me to draw, upload pictures and describe what is going on in real time.  The videos can then be easily uploaded to the internet and then embedded into Edmodo, which is a site I use a lot with my students, or any other site.  
• Making videos your students will love:
• Keep it short: remember bite-sized pieces of information ... 10-15 minutes.
• Animate your voice
• Create videos with other teachers (I need to remember this!)
• Add humor
• Don't waste your students' time: keep to the topic
• Add annotations
• Add callouts: a text box that focuses on key content/steps
• Zoom in and out
• You must evaluate and redesign your class time once students begin watching videos as their homework.  

Book Study: Flip Your Classroom - Chapter 3

I have started to read Flip Your Classroom by Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann.  After each chapter, I will highlight key concepts and any other noteworthy ideas that will enhance my understanding of the idea, as well as how to implement it within my 4th grade classroom.

Chapter 3: Why You Should Flip Your Classroom

• BYOD - bring your own device allows students to use updated technology rather than the out-of-date computers that may be sitting in some of our classrooms to complete a variety of tasks/projects.
• Students can process material at their own pace.  Students who learn more quickly no longer have to wait to move on and students who need more time can pause/rewind the videos.
• Teachers can build better relationships with their students due to increased teacher-student interactions.
• This model also increases student-student interactions as they help one another learn.
• Parents have responded positively to the flipped classroom model because they are able to help their child more but there has been some concern of parents thinking that the teacher was no longer teaching.

Book Study: Flip Your Classroom - Chapter 2

I have started to read Flip Your Classroom by Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann.  After each chapter, I will highlight key concepts and any other noteworthy ideas that will enhance my understanding of the idea, as well as how to implement it within my 4th grade classroom.

Chapter 2: The Flipped Classroom

• "Basically the concept of a flipped class is this: that which is traditionally done in class is now done at home, and that which is traditionally done as homework is now completed in class." (p.13)
• A typically day:
• Warm-Up Activity
• Discuss the video from the night before 
• Students are given their assignment, which may include a multitude of activities within one class period.
• Spend time training students on how to effectively view your videos by turning off any distractions, rewinding and pausing the content, etc.
• Use the method of Cornell note-taking by having students take notes, write down questions they have, and summarize their learning.
• Student questions can inform you of how effective the material was presented to them so that, if necessary, content can be added to the presentation at a later date.
• Teachers become a tutor and can focus on students that are struggling the most with a concept.
• The class becomes centered around the students and not the teacher.  Students are required to watch the videos and ask appropriate questions.  The teacher provides feedback.

Book Study: Flip Your Classroom - Chapter 1

In my quest to learn more about "the flipped classroom", I have started to read Flip Your Classroom by Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann.  After each chapter, I will highlight key concepts and any other noteworthy ideas that will enhance my understanding of the idea, as well as how to implement it within my 4th grade classroom.

Chapter 1: Our Story: Creating The Flipped Classroom

• A flipped classroom allows students to have a more personalized education experience by watching content multiple times for clarity, staying caught up to curriculum due to absences, etc.
• The video students view is homework so that teachers can spend time the following day extending the learning and filling in any gaps that students may have.
• Initially, Jonathan and Aaron required their students to watch their videos every other night, as well as take notes during the viewing.
• The flipped-mastery model was incorporated into the flipped classroom where students worked at their own pace to master the material before moving on to the next concept/skill.

More on The Flipped Classroom

I'm still looking into this model of teaching and came across some additional tidbits to add to my previous post.

• When a student does 10 problems in a row correctly, they can move on.  Posting these problems on Edmodo would be a great way to assess students because their assessment can be graded immediately.
• Utilize peer tutors by allowing the students who "get it" to work one-on-one with the students that are still struggling.  We all know that sometimes a student can explain a concept in just the right way and it clicks for their peer, even if we said the exact same thing!
• Ten Marks has videos and assignments that your class can complete to show mastery.
• LearnZillion also has videos that your class can view to preview and learn a new concept before class the next day.

The Flipped Classroom

Every Monday we have three hours worth of professional development in our district.  Today's topic was "The Flipped Classroom", which I have heard about through Pinterest, but don't know much else, other than what the chart below shows.  We are expected to use this strategy in our classroom at least once before the end of the school year and then it is the expectation that all classrooms, K-8th grade, utilize it next year.

The idea of the flipped classroom is that for homework, the class would watch a video that delivers content to prepare them for the following day.  For example, I would make a video about multiplying 2-by-2 digit numbers that would teach them how to solve these type of problems and then I would include several examples for them to try on their own.  The following day, they would return to class with the completed practice problems and would be given a short quiz (maybe 5 questions) to see who has a clear grasp on the math skill.  Those students that earn 80% or higher would move onto an extension activity to challenge them.  Students that earn less than an 80% would receive immediate feedback to correct any errors that are occurring.

Here is an overview of what a flipped classroom is:

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Pro's of The Flipped Classroom:

• increase in in-class homework completion
• extension menus/projects
• grades improve due to completion of assignments
• 1:1 teacher support
• build relationships with students
• decrease in negative behaviors

You might ask ... what happens during the time that used to be spent teaching the whole group?

• group discussions
• experiments, projects, debates
• enrichment games
• cross curricular activities
• discuss questions that arose while watching the video the night before
• collaboration with another class

While researching this idea, I thought it was interesting to see one website recommend having one teacher flip their classroom and collect data on its success, while another teacher doesn't flip their classroom and collects the same data.  Then both teachers can compare to see its effectiveness.  I think this would be a GREAT way to get staff buy in if you have data to back up why this model is effective.  Plus, I think it's always easier to roll out a program when you have staff members that have piloted it and worked out all of the "bugs" that could arise during implementation.

One of my biggest questions regarding the idea of a flipped classroom is ... what do I do with the students that consistently come in without their homework completed, even though their parents have been contacted and are aware of the problem?  Thoughts?

Here are some Facebook groups I've joined to see if they have some useful information about the flipped classroom:

• The Flipped Classroom
• Flipped Classroom
• Katie Gimbars Flipped Classroom

I'm going to be looking at trying this idea out next week in my reading block, so we shall see how it goes!  Wish me luck!