Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Reflection on Flipping

This week, I am pondering the FAQs and possible pitfalls of the flipped classroom as Troy and I prepare for the first webinar on this matter. So I decided to be a tad bit reflective ( very IB of me don't you know) and share my thoughts:


  • time - yes it does take time - lots of time. I research my script, then I write my script, then I create a keynote for the presentation with music and a works consulted page so that I am modeling what I expect from my students
  • feedback - doing the videos without feedback can be very frustrating. How do you make sure that they kids are watching the videos? Here are some ideas:
    • open note quizzes - punitive but effective
    • reflection journal - online in google docs is easy to read, but still time consuming
    • note check- I use Cornel to help introduce students to at least one method of taking notes before they leave high school, it is time consuming to check in class
    • project based on information - great application but trying to create a project for every video makes me tired just thinking about it
  • quality - this is a big one - I spent a lot of time initially on it, and then backed off and now I have found a happy medium. I make the presentations have few words and close caption the videos, include a song from freemusicarchieve.com that is constant for the unit and goes with the theme of the unit, and I use nifty transition
  • length - keep it under 8 minutes! I know that breaking them up is a pain, but you will get better results
  • ownership - I still have a really hard time using other people's videos - I feel like I am slacking off - but as I get older, I realize that my friends and colleagues from the world over thanks to youtube are sharing their knowledge with me and I need to take it

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It seems that the feedback from students is that they'd rather hear their OWN teacher, not someone else.

I use a variety of methods to flip, and some of it is really just what teachers have always done. I use a mix of videos, Prezis, and traditional text (take this home and read it, annotating as you go) based assignments. I try to make the feedback more consistent so the least a student has to do is a WSQ and some annotations.

Thank you for your recording. I didn't really learn anything new but it reaffirmed that I am on the right course. I've been blending my English classes since 2006-2007 but both flipping and blending are so time-consuming (and my schedule/technology) each year that I get lost in the process.