Editor's Note: Due to the viral response to our first post on the flipped class, we asked Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams to do a follow-up post, which is below. Do check out the newest post on this topic, The Flipped Class Manifest, along with more links to posts written by various teachers about this topic featured in The Daily Riff. - C.J. Westerberg
the way teachers talk with parents . . . "
by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams
In 2004, we both started teaching at Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, Colorado. Jon came from Denver and Aaron from Southern California. We became the Chemistry department at our school of 950 students. We developed a friendship and realized that we had very similar philosophies of education. To make our lives easier we began planning our Chemistry lessons together, and to save time we divided up much of the work. Aaron would set up one lab and Jon the next. Aaron would write the first test and Jon the next.
One of the problems we noticed right away about teaching in a relatively rural school is that many of our students missed a lot of school due to sports and activities. The nearby schools are not nearby. Students spent an inordinate amount of time on buses traveling to and from events. Thus, students missed our classes and struggled to stay caught up.
And then one day our world changed. Aaron was thumbing through a technology magazine and showed Jon an article about some software that would record a PowerPoint slide-show including voice and any annotations, and then it converted the recording into a video file that could be easily distributed online. As we discussed the potential of such software we realized this might be a way for our students who missed class to not miss out on learning. So in the spring of 2007, we began to record our live lessons using screen capture software. We posted our lectures online so our students could access them. When we did this YouTube was just getting started and the world of online video was just in its infancy.
Flipping the classroom has transformed our teaching practice. We no longer stand in front of our students and talk at them for thirty to sixty minutes at a time. This radical change has allowed us to take on a different role with our students. Both of us taught for many years (a combined thirty-seven years) using this model. We were both good teachers. In fact,
Jonathan received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching while being the sage on the stage, and Aaron received the same award under the Flipped model. Though as we look back, we could never go back to teaching in the traditional manner.
The flipped classroom has not only changed our classrooms, but many teachers from around the world have adopted the model and are using it to teach Spanish, Science, Math, elementary, middle, high school, and adults. We have presented all over North America and have seen how flipping your classroom can change kids' lives.
Flipping has transformed our classes in so many ways. In this post we will address just two: Student interaction and parent responses to flipping.
Flipping Increases Student Interaction
One of the greatest benefits of flipping is that overall interaction increases: Teacher to student and student to student. Since the role of the teacher has changed from presenter of content to learning coach, we spend our time talking to kids. We are answering questions, working with small groups, and guiding the learning of each student individually.
When students are working on an assignment and we notice a group of students who are struggling with the same thing, we automatically organize the students into a tutorial group. We often conduct mini-lectures with groups of students who are struggling with the same content. The beauty of these mini-lectures is we are delivering "just in time" instruction when the students are ready for learning.
Since the role of the teacher has changed, to more of a tutor than a deliverer of content, we have the privilege of observing students interact with each other. As we roam around the class, we notice the students developing their own collaborative groups. Students are helping each other learn instead of relying on the teacher as the sole disseminator of knowledge. It truly is magical to observe. We are often in awe of how well our students work together and learn from each other.
Some might ask how we developed a culture of learning. We think the key is for students to identify learning as their goal, instead of striving for the completion of assignments. We have purposely tried to make our classes places where students carry out meaningful activities instead of completing busy work. When we respect our students in this way, they usually respond. They begin to realize, and for some it takes time, that we are here to guide them in their learning instead of being the authoritative pedagogue. Our goal is for them to be the best learner possible, and to truly understand the content in our classes. When our students grasp the concept that we are on their side, they respond by doing their best.
Flipping Changes the Way We Talk with Parents
We both remember sitting in parent conferences for years and parents would often ask us how their son or daughter behaved in class. What they were really asking was does my son or daughter sit quietly, act respectfully, raise their hand, and not disturb other students. These traits are certainly good for all to learn, but we struggled answering this question when we first started flipping the classroom.
You see, the question is a non-issue in our classroom. Since students are coming with the primary focus on learning, the real question is now: Is your student learning or not? If they are not learning, what can we do to help them learn? This is a much more profound question and when we can discuss this with parents, we can really move students into a place which will help them become better learners.
There are a myriad of reasons why a student is not learning well. Do they have some missing background knowledge? Do they have personal issues that interfere with their learning? Or are they more concerned with "playing school" rather than learning. When we (the parents and teachers) can diagnose why the child is not learning we create a powerful moment where the necessary interventions can be implemented.
The Flipped Classroom Book
As of right now we are almost done with a book about flipping the classroom. It will be published by ISTE. We anticipate a fall of 2011 release.
Editor's Note: Check out related links to the flipped class below bios.
Aaron Sams has been an educator for 12 years. He currently teaches science at Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, Colorado where his peers consider him to be an innovator in the implementation of technology in the classroom. He has taught many staff development courses, primarily in the area of technology integration. He was awarded the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence for Math and Science Teaching. Aaron recently served as co-chair of the Colorado State Science Standards Revision Committee.
Contact info and further Links
Twitter: @jonbergmann, @chemicalsams
Websites: Flipping: http://mast.unco.edu/vodcasting//
Quality Learning Videos: http://learning4mastery.com/
Originally posted by The Daily Riff 1/12/2011
Related posts from The Daily Riff:
Update: The Flipped Class Manifest
The Flipped Class: Shedding Light on the confusion, critique, and the hype
The Flipped Class: Myth or Reality?
Are you Ready to Flip?
The Flipped Class Revealed: What a good one looks like
Teachers Doing the Flip to Help Students Become Learners
The Best Way to Reach Each Student? Private Math Teacher Flips Learning by Stacey Roshan
The Flipped Class: Show Me the Data! by Stacey Roshan
The Flipped Class=Flipped Homework
This is so great! I wish I had flipped lessons in my chemistry class. I could never soak it in during class, and I think it would have been a great way to really learn it, rather than just trying to absorb some random facts from the chalkboard.
I also think you're offering a fantastic model for collaboration-- neither of you were considered about "who get the credit"-- and all of the wonderful things that it can do for both teachers and students.
The learning-directed questions you are now asking are wonderful as well. Glad you chose to share what you're doing with us. =)
This is a fascinating idea. Do you have any experience using it with special ed. students or students from "underprivelged " homes?
As a teacher of English as a foreign language to deaf students, who has begun giving very brief online homework (I focus each time on one specific thing and keep the homework short) I have discovered all sorts of surprising things. Deaf pupils use computers for communication so almost all pupils have one. But some don't have WORD - I paste exercises for them into the email. Not all have powerpoint. A few use FACEBOOK but are surpisingly illietrate about anything else. And then there are the pupils whose home life is so disruptive that even attractive, short (or easy, as the case may be!) homework is never done. The last group never studies for tests either.
I'd love to hear your input on these populations.
Russ: If you are interested, we are conducting a conference on the Flipped Model this summer. You can find more info at: http://vodcasting.ning.com/events/mastery-learning-the-flipped
Naomi: we have trained folks all over North America on the flipped model and this includes English teachers, special ed teachers, etc. My best advice would be for you to join our NING and ask them. We have over 600 teachers who are either flipping their class or thinking about the flip. Go to: http://vodcasting.ning.com/ and see all the great conversations happening.
I am currently looking at taking over a K-12 charter school as a site director. Our school is in a low socioeconomic area with 60% of the students lacking access to internet outside of the home; what would anyone suggest for my site in order to have success with this plan? I wouldl like to implement this strategy school-wide.
I had the plesure of meeting Jon and Aaron at ISTE through TechSmith and the flipped classroom is the key to the future. We have flipped our ninth grade center and have seen a reduction in our failure rates, improve grades, a decrease in our discipline rates and increases in our standardize testing scores. We are flipping our entire school next year. It properly aligns the students needs with a school's resources. It is a game changer for at-risk students! Find us at www.flippedhighschool.com.
Wondering why you never figured out long before technology that lecturing wasn't the best way for kids to learn about science?
This might be a new concept to public schools but it's not to private. I'm 50 and the schools I attended taught this way. A better term than flipping might be modeling private, or incorporating modern tech.
This is an exciting new learning tool. In looking at the process as well as the organization my one question is how can this be done for all classes? However the ability to provide student support, immediate feedback, collaboration among students, and providing the support students don't get when they do difficult tasks as apart of homework is real encouraging. I have been reading about this technique for a while and am ready to share with staff as an alternative we might take the time to do some research, careful planning, and use in some areas.