–Originally published at Andrew Webster
Teacher Shares his Journey, and Some Results
Being my first post, I thought I would start by outlining my reasons for starting a blog:
1. Having discovered Twitter this year, I feel like blogging is the natural progression.
2. To share and reflect on my practice.
3. To build my online PLC.
4. To experience blogging before incorporating into my classes.
5. Having enrolled in my Masters, I will need to get used to completing assignments again – blogging will help me improve my writing.
I am going to use this first blog post to reflect on my journey into flipped learning in 2016. I will discuss one success I had, one mistake I made, some student feedback and my plan moving forward into 2017.
Success
The best lesson I had when I started flipping my year seven maths class was when I walked into class and asked if anyone would like to come up the front and explain the video they had watched for homework. One student came up to the whiteboard and started teaching the class for me! I then asked if anyone would like to add anything – sure enough, another student came up the front and added to the explanation. Students then went into their work. I think this lesson was the moment I witnessed the power of the flipped classroom. I did not have to stand up the front of the class at any stage – the students taught the lesson for me.
Mistake
Now for the ‘disaster’ lesson – a few lessons into my flipped learning journey I created this amazing lesson complete with five different stations around the classroom. At one station was problem-solving, another was a lego style problem, another was a create your own content station, another was a practical question involving measuring real life objects, and there was something else which I cannot remember. As students moved around the stations in pairs, I also had a small group with me who did not understand the video. The result of this was chaos, a mess, students complaining, students confused, noise problems and generally just way too much going on to manage effectively. Trying to do everything in one lesson was a mistake.
Some student feedback on the flipped classroom (year 7 maths) (collected via Microsoft form)
“I enjoyed that in the flipped classroom I was able to extend on my knowledge, instead of sitting down and listening. I also liked how the video lesson was short but contained all the information, and that I was able to pause in between.”
“I enjoy that we don’t have learn about the subject in class and so when we watch the video we can ask a question that we don’t get in class time.”
“I liked that we do activities in class and I also like the homework videos”
“It’s an easier way of doing homework and you are able to understand the lesson after.”
“I enjoyed the ability to learn at my own pace. And the feeling of not being pressured to keep up, meaning that I could take my time so I could understand these things”
Caution needs to be taken with this student feedback. I introduced flipped learning in term four when students were tired and looking for a change. Perhaps this skewed the results. In saying that, overall, students embraced the change.
Plan for 2017
1. Maths – continue with flipped learning and move to a mastery model by the end of the year.
2. Introduce flipped learning to senior students in Accounting.
