The Flipped Class: Year One

Rather than flip all of my classes in one year I decided to choose only for this noble experiment.  Intentionally I chose a class that all had internet access at home.  For the most part the experiment seemed to go well for myself and the students, however, as with all things there are some wrinkles to iron out.  Hopefully those of you out in PLN world will be able to help me do it. 

Why would I want to flip my class in the first place?  More and more (especially in public schools) class time is lost every year due to a never ending myriad of tests that students have to take.  Between tests, pep rallies, assemblies, and class meetings I would venture to guess that almost a month of school is missed because of distractions.  I believed that by flipping my class I could make up for some of this lost time.  Also, what I was doing was not working.  Most home work was either not done and those that were finished were mostly copying someone's assignment.  I would have to say the vast majority of my students did not do their home work.  Lastly, I don't believe that traditional direct instruction leads to mastery of a subject or skill.  Students need to spend more time doing and less time listening (which they don't do anyway).  For all these reasons and more I felt like this was the way to go.

As a 1:1 teacher I felt like I had a good shot at making this concept work and in many respects it did.  For examples, many students remarked that they enjoyed not having to take forty minutes worth of notes that they could get on their own in half the time.  At first many students chose simply not to access the notes I'd posted, however, once it became evident to them that they other students knew more than them because they got the notes themselves they went and got them.  Furthermore, by posting demonstration videos on an assigned project or assessment I was able to preserve more class time to answering questions about the assignment and helping students that didn't understand what to do.  The students that "got it" were up and running before I started class.  Lastly, students started to ask better questions which led to better discussions.  I would post a video or link in Edmodo and instruct them to come up with their own questions about what they didn't understand or what they wanted to know more about.  Again, this not only saved class time for instruction but gave the students time to watch and watch again if they needed to without me having to go back and reiterate a point made. 

Not everything was biscuits and gravy.  Flipping my class had some pitfalls, but they seemed to be the same pitfalls I would deal with in a regular class. Many students simply did not take the initiative to get the notes, watch a video, or read the instructions on their own time; they came to class totally unprepared.  Fortunately I do teach in a 1:1 class so I could tell them to log on and get what they needed.  This led to more students simply waiting until class to get what they needed which was why I wanted to flip in the first place.  Also, when asked to come up with questions after viewing a demonstration or something similar students would simply copy questions off of someone else.  Many of the problems I was hoping to avoid I ended up continuing to have to deal with.  However, the most difficult problem was technical.  Students often had old browsers at home or haven't updated various programs in a long time and often had no knowledge or parental permission to do so.  This limited students from being able to view and or engage in whatever they were to do.   All of these problems were frustrating, but not enough to ward me off of the flipped class forever. 

This was my year first year utilizing the flipped class concept and overall I was happy with how it went.  There were some ups and downs, but for the most part more ups.  However, I know I can do it better.  Please help!!!!  Feel free to read, comment, leave advice or whatever you'd like to help me improve this concept for next school year.  I hope to hear from all of you!