I have been reading a lot lately about the flipped classroom approach to teaching. If you haven’t heard of it, the flipped classroom model basically “flips” the teaching approach. Instead of the teacher introducing and teaching new material and the students then working on an extension of that material for homework, the flipped classroom model has students learn the new concept for homework and then the learning is extended by the teacher the next day in class. The new material is often presented through videos. This gets the introduction and basic learning out of the way so the teacher can then move on to the more challenging aspects of the concept in class.
It sounds great but I wonder how this approach works when students simply don’t do the homework. How can the teacher extend the learning if they haven’t received it? Or, if students don’t have access to a computer at home, how will they be able to watch the video lessons and be prepared for the next day? I like the idea of students watching videos to learn a new concept because they can learn at their own pace. They can rewatch the video for clarification or to guide them through the related assignment.
So what about creating a flipped classroom within the classroom? It can be used just like a traditional flipped classroom, where the teacher records a video lesson or assigns a pre-recorded one, but instead of students viewing it at home, they can view it at a learning center with a small group while the rest of the class works on related activities. The students can rotate through the stations. This will allow the direct instruction to be presented while the teacher can work one-on-one with struggling students or small groups. It’s an intriguing concept and something that I am beginning to work on. Setting up centers and creating videos will take some time so I plan to start slowly. But once the materials are made, I can use them each year. It’s definitely an idea worth exploring. I have created a few video lessons with accompanying work.
Check out my resource for 3 digit addition and subtraction with regrouping here.
