The DuBois Middle School Has Flipped
Written by: Valerie Hayes
With the integration
of Common Core Standards into PA Academic Anchors and Algebra I Eligible
Content now being officially tested through Keystone Exams, more and more is
expected to be taught during the same 180 day school year. As an 8th grade math
teacher teaching both curriculums sometimes to the same class, I started to
feel overwhelmed. Then, I was granted the opportunity to attend a Flipped
Learning Conference in Washington, DC to learn how to “Flip” my classroom.
A Flipped Classroom,
as developed by Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann, takes direct instruction that
is normally given in class and sends it home as "homework" using videos,
interactives and manipulatives through the internet so that main practice of
skills, extension of concepts, and challenging thinking can happen within the
classroom aided by the teacher. The old model used to be introducing the
concept in class, sending the student home frustrated, unsure and often times
not proficient with a concept or skill.
Now students come to my classroom ready to master what they were
introduced to at home with the help of their peers and me every inch of the way
in class.
I have seen many
advantages flipping my classes. (1) The
largest advantage is the amount of differentiation it provides the
students. They can now pause, rewind or
watch lessons multiple times, which is impossible to do during a traditional
in-class lecture. I have seen
significant improvement amongst my struggling algebra students through reduced
failures and better testing results. (2) Another advantage is the opportunity
for students to not fall behind due to absences. Many times I have a student out for vacation,
sick or sports. These students take the
initiative to go online, access and watch the lessons, complete the few
practice problems and as a result are able to not fall behind the pace of the
class. (3) The most obvious change when
you walk into my room is now the students are engaged in true mathematical
discourse, practicing skills, and problem solving with each other and me. The traditional class model leaves little
time for this, as most of the time is spent introducing the topic rather than mastering.
Finally, what does
one of my flipped lessons look like? I
use my school website to create my online class. A lesson on simplifying radical expressions,
for example, has the objective(s) stated, a paragraph introducing the concept
in student friendly language, link to video lesson and three practice
problems. The three problems help the
student begin to synthesize what they’ve learned to be more prepared for
discourse and practice in class. Each
online lesson is 8-12 minutes in length.
Sams and Bergmann suggest 1-1.5 minutes per grade level. I simply teach
the information through the ShowMe app.
The students want to watch the video and learn the information – they
don’t want fluff. As Sams and Bergmann
say, don’t use technology for the sake of using technology. If you aren’t able to make your own video,
though it’s been found students prefer their teacher’s voice, there are many to
choose from through sources like Youtube, KhanAcademy, and TedEd. The next day
in class, comprises of about 5 minutes of review, 35 minutes of engaging
student practice, and 5 minutes of closing review. My lessons are flipped lessons. There are also flipped mastery classes, where
each student is working at their individual pace. I have not found a need for this model in my
classes yet, as I already have classes leveled based on student performance. As
you can see, I’ve flipped over flipping my algebra classes because I’ve seen
that they really do help my students learn.
Contacts: Valerie Hayes
Julie Baun
Jessica Stover
No comments:
Post a Comment