The time finally arrived this week - I transitioned to my new position at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College as a Faculty Development Consultant, thus leaving the classroom behind. While my first week was exciting and I am joining an amazing team, I quickly realized I have a lot to learn about the Technical College structure and business plan. While my time was filled with many meetings and planning opportunities, I was able to attend a Flipped Class session for Professional Development of faculty at NWTC.
Whether you are currently flipping, or even considering flipping your class at ANY LEVEL, it's vitally important to remember that flipping a class IS NOT about the video lesson. While the video does need to be filled with content rich material, flipping is more about your ability as a teacher to create unique learning opportunities with your students during class time. Through creating unique learning opportunities, you are creating a learning environment that is open and welcoming to students.
Flipping allows teachers to dedicate more face time to students and help them develop deeper thinking skills, collaboration, and analyzation - three skills necessary in any job. While flipping may not be for every class session or topic, it can be utilized to pre-teach material and test student knowledge when they arrive to class. Many of the flipping principles I've outlined on this blog for middle school math can still be used in any flipped lesson.
Take the WSQ Video worksheet for example. This worksheet can still be a guiding force behind student collaboration and discussion of a specific topic. This note taking format can be an excellent guide for students to follow that are new to flipped learning. Likewise, TWIRL discussion groups can help guide the discussion once a video lesson has been watched.
If creating a video lesson is "freaking" you out - don't be scared! Remember, students want you to create meaningful learning experiences for them. Focus on what you can do in your classroom once students have watched your video lesson. The video itself needs to be straight forward and to the point! Provide time in class for students to ask questions and analyze the information presented together. I bet you'll be amazed by the discussion that will now take place.
Good Luck!
Hi, I am going into my second year trying to Flip. Something that I'm finding hard to give up is direct instruction. I found myself still teaching the meat of the objective to the students. What that hard for you to give up? Do you give them a notebook for notes, foldables, vocabulary, etc?
ReplyDeleteChef Teacher - it is critical to hold students accountable for what was taught outside of the classroom, the flipped part. As the teacher and master of the content, I encourage you to build classroom activities that can measure whether they received the required information. Entrance tickets, small group discussions, or passing the problem are a few examples of activities for students to try. I also have students use a WSQ video note taking guide, which they get minimal points for completing - check out the my classroom page for more specifics.
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