Twelve More Hours

    So we are officially 12 hours away from the start of my newest classroom innovation - the flipped classroom.  I've spent the better part of the past two weeks planning how such a classroom could work in a math class, and I'll wake up tomorrow, earlier than I'd like, to make this work.  I'm nervous, but I don't think that I'm any more nervous than I would be the night before any other school year.  I don't think I'm too nervous about flipping - I've been perfecting my plans for over a week.  I'm ready to finally execute them.

Why Flip?

    As I enter my fourth year of teaching, I've seen my homework policy radically shift based on my thoughts of students.  I have seen a trend towards "here are some problems - do whatever ones you feel you need to do."  There was increasingly little responsibility placed on the student and, while my AP Calc students did better on their final exam, algebra 2 trended in the wrong direction for the third consecutive year.

    I adopted such a homework belief because I noticed too many students practicing the math wrong, or not doing them at all.  Sports teams practiced together, why shouldn't we as a class?  I fell into the problem that I couldn't teach everything I needed while still supporting my students in the way I wanted.  Enter the flipped classroom concept.

What is my Flipped Classroom?

    I got to do a lot of research online about blended learning and the flipped classroom.  The top quote I found is that there "is not one flipped classroom," but I have combined the best practices of what I have read.  I have to give the biggest thanks to Crystal Kirch at flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com for the an enormous amount of ideas and plans for a math class, and to the active flipping community of educators I have at Matoaca HS.  Here is my initial plan for a flipped classroom:

    We meet each class period every other day for 90 minutes.  I plan on assigning a 10-20 minute video of me teaching a particular topic for the students to watch and take notes as if they are in class.  Students will then write a five sentence summary on the concept they viewed, and write at least two questions.  They need to write one question about the concept that they cannot answer, and one that they can answer (and they think that someone in the class might not know the answer).

    In class, we are arranged in groups of 3-4 students.  We start by discussing the summary as a class or in groups, depending on the day, followed by answering the questions that the students have.  I plan to be moving group to group, aiding in the discussion, guiding students to answer questions, and reading student-written summaries and questions.  Students who have not yet watched the particular concept video will be sent to a computer lab to complete their summary and questions at this time.
    Following the summary and question discussions, we will complete practice problems, hands-on activities, or real-world problems.  The classroom is setup so that we can practice in our groups of 3-4, with a partner, or individually.  Students will turn in this practice for a classwork grade.  I will give each student a grade for their summary when I move around the class in the initial discussion.

Benefits of the Flipped Classroom

    There are many perceived benefits to a flipped classroom: 

• Initially, it provides the student with responsibility for his or her learning, in a method absent from my prior philosophies. 
• Students can pause and rewind me while taking notes - how many students would tell me that I was going too fast? 
• Students can complete notes and summaries for concepts we'll discuss in the future - how many students would tell me that I wasn't teaching fast enough? 
• Students are capable of completing the homework every night - how often did students tell me the homework was too hard?
• Students can sleep on the basic information before more rigorous instruction and activities.  Students watch the video covering the fundamentals, form good questions, sleep on the information, and add to their learning the next day.
• Studying for a test is easier - read your summaries, go over your notes, ask your questions, and re-watch the videos.
• If a student is absent or will be out of class for an extended period of time, they can keep up with the class through the videos.  Being in math class is a major predictor of success.  Now, students who are on a cruise, sick at home, or (heaven forbid) suspended can continue to learn.

I'm excited to see what benefits I see in my students' learning this year.  I've already been able to introduce the idea to some of my AP Calculus students.  They left my classroom saying "I'm feeling a lot better about this year!" and "this really sounds like it will help me!"

My First Week - Plan

    Here's my plan for the first week.  I'll get to see every class twice for about one hour each time.  The only exception is AP Calculus AB - I'll see them every day (usually for 45 minutes, but this week will be ~30).  On the first day with the class, I'll get their basic information, pass out calculators, and do the basic housekeeping.  I've done this every year with little change.  Here's how I'm going to introduce the flipped classroom:
    Each student will receive a blank sheet of paper.  (I'm actually trying to do as much as possible with a blank sheet of paper to promote curiosity among the students - "no boundaries" - thoughts?)  On one side, the student will write everything they want me to know about them.  On the other side, they will work in their group to come up with "Ten Things We Hate about Math Homework and Math Class."  In my small sample of students with whom I've done this activity, they mention almost every reason for a flipped classroom.  This allows us to start the year with every student having a positive attitude about our flipped classroom.
    On the second day, we will model together the Watch-Summarize-Question that each student will do with the first concept video (permutations in Algebra 2 and basic limits in AP Calculus).  We'll begin to write our summaries together and develop good questions (that I plan to have left unanswered until our first discussion next week to promote mystery and excitement for the material and learning).  From this point forward, I plan to move into the flipped classroom model I have for students watching me teach for homework and us practicing during the day.  My students will not know that I have taught any differently in the past - they will only come to know that these are the expectations for the class.

Twelve More Hours

    I'll try to sleep for some of that time, but it's already here.  Let's put this plan into action.  I will use this blog to address some of the issues, positive and negative, that arise with the flip initiative and hopefully provide insight into my planning for someone who is considering a flipped classroom as well.  Finally, I hope to be able to brainstorm about how to improve my ability to help my students learn math.  It has taken me three years to get to a point in my career where I feel so confident that such a big risk will yield a bigger reward.  In the words of Carl Sandburg, "nothing happens unless first a dream."  My dream is ready for tomorrow.  Thank you to all of the educators who have helped to get me ready.