I Flipped My Math Class

 

For about seven months now I've been wanting to Flip my Classroom!  What am I talking about?  The Flipped Classroom.  If you have never heard of the Flipped Classroom before, click here to see what it is and some examples of classrooms using it.

 

When you flip your classroom it means that students are watching videos created by the teacher to learn a concept.  In a true Flipped Classroom, the learning is done outside of the classroom and then class time focuses on having better interaction and engagement among the students through collaboration and creation using what the students have learned.  


I was not able to implement a true Flipped Classroom since we have several students who do not have computers or Internet at home.

 

So I have started a Partial Flipped Classroom.  Here is how I'm doing it.


We started with a Google Presentation that helps students to understand what they would need to do in order to be successful in the Flipped Classroom.  I incorporated information I had gathered from blog posts about the Flipped Classroom into this presentation.






After students understood what they needed to do to be successful, we were ready to get started.


Students first watch a video tutorial, created by me, that teaches a lesson in our Math Expressions text.


I use an app called Educreations to make the tutorials on our iPad.  


The tutorials are embedded into a free LMS (Learning Management System) called Schoology.  


Here is an example of a tutorial I created on solving multiplication problems using Rectangle Sections.


During the video, students are encouraged to start and stop the tutorial and practice the problems being taught.

After students watch the video, they work collaboratively with their classmates to practice what they have learned.  I have made it very clear to the students that working together is a must and that watching the videos many times is essential.   

As the teacher, I monitor behavior, mentor those who need help, assist those with questions, and coach those who need encouragement.  

So far the feedback from my students has been great!  I had a student say to me, "This is my new favorite way to learn!"  


Here is what I like about the Flipped Classroom:

• Listening to the "math talk" among my students has been proof they are learning.
• There is less pressure to teach the lesson since I have prepared the videos ahead of time.  
• I am better prepared for our math class since I have taught the concept in a video tutorial.
• My students are using the videos over and over again and are really learning from them.
• Several students have accessed the videos from home and shared them with their parents.
• My co-teacher uses the videos to prepare for her lesson and will soon be making her own videos to add to my lessons.
• My students are becoming better at collaborating with each other and helping one another to learn.

My goal is to get other teachers on board with using a Flipped Classroom approach and to work together as a grade level to make video tutorials for other units in our math series.  

I hope you might consider flipping a lesson or unit for your students.