Perks of a Flipped Primary Classroom

"Perks of a Flipped Primary Classroom - You can do it too!"

Written by Matt Burns

There are some teachers who think that the flipped classroom is just for high school. I don’t agree.  In a sense – it all depends how you define ‘The Flipped Classroom’.

If your definition of the Flipped Classroom is this: ‘a classroom in which all the instructional content is viewed at that home, and in which the homework is done in class’, then yes, I would agree with you. The Flipped Classroom is probably not for Primary schools.

But I do not think that is an accurate definition of the Flipped Classroom. I prefer Aaron Sam’s definition (a leader in this movement) first posted on his blog in 2011.

When you read anything about The Flipped Classroom mentally substitute

"a class that uses screencasts as an instructional tool" for "the Flipped Classroom" and all will be well.

I hope that opens a few doors for you. All we are really talking about today is the concept of using screencasts, or ‘learning videos’ in order to help your students learn (in or out of the classroom).

I have been doing this for five years in my primary classroom. And I have seen the results. My classroom is transformed. It is transformed for the better. The students learning has improved, and they prefer it. I've got more time to work one-on-one with particular groups or individuals. Furthermore – I am able to differentiate the curriculum to a degree which I was not able to previously.

I suggest it's all down to personal devices being more available to individuals, and the latent growth of Wi-Fi we have seen in classrooms, and a little creative-thinking. That's it. In a nutshell, there are new technologies available that can dramatically (for the better) change how we as teachers teach. It's not rocket science.

How can you do it?  Make some screencasts or learning videos that you think you can use in your classroom (students tend to prefer your own).  The videos do not need to be Hollywood productions.  They just need to be. Here is a pretty basic example of a very low – tech video that I put together recently, that my students found very helpful.

You can incorporate screencasts into the students learning in any way that works for you – and the students.  Perhaps you can have them watch the lessons at home? (This doesn’t really work for me. Though…it might for you.) 

Perhaps you could put them into small groups and have different groups engaged in different lessons pertinent to their specific needs? (I tend to do this a bit.)  A regular practice for me is to perform a pre-test with the students (before the final summative assessment).  In this way I very quickly, in an ad hoc manner -  gather some information with the students about what they are specifically struggling on.  After this, students access topic specific screencast that the pre-test has revealed they need some help with.  The screen casts contain brief lessons and activities within.  I am then able to then wander around the classroom helping individual students as they need, whilst really, the entire class is receiving multiple different lessons pertaining to their specific needs.

Another classic example is the weekly spelling test.  Are you still reading out one list for all the students to write down?  Are you still waiting for the slowest speller to move at the pace of the class?  You don’t need to do it this way.  You could record the spelling list on You-Tube and students could access it, at their own speed on separate devices.

Yesterday I had six girls away at the soccer competition. It was four days before the highly important yearly standardized (NAPLAN) testing we complete across Australia in Year 5. They missed a very important writing lesson.  The lesson itself was broken up into separate parts and took about one and a half hours. The lesson was not all lecture. There was plenty of ‘listen and do’ in the lesson.  I made a very basic recording of the entire lesson in 15 minute segments, as I taught it. I just used my ordinary old iPhone to record and the ‘old-school’ whiteboard (not electronic).  

All the girls came in the next day, put on their headphones, accessed their devices, turned on the lesson, and caught up to the rest of the class. Here’s one small part of the lesson. Please notice how basic it is! :) It didn’t have to great. It just had to be available. (So pleased with the 'still-image' YouTube has captured.)

I asked the girls did they feel part of the lesson? They said yes.  Subsequently, I saw the girls' writing. It was more than adequate.  They were prepared for the exam. Of course, students will need devices. They will also need headphones. This you will have to sort.Technology is changing. And so should teaching. Some people think that students can't learn from devices. That’s simply not true.  Of course they can.  At this point, what student can’t do with devices is debate, collaborate and empathise with. Devices will not be able to facilitate the lesson. Students still need each other, and you. 

But the days of standing out the front delivering one lecture to the class, at one speed, at one time? 

I think, given the Wi-Fi access that we have today and the devices available to many students, those days are probably coming to a close. 

Matt Burns is the Stage 3 Coordinator at William Carey Christian School, Sydney, Australia.

Previously he was the Flipped Classroom Coach K-12 at Inaburra School, Sydney, Australia.

He is a regular speaker at Australia Flip-Con, and is happy to speak at your school as well. He can be reached at mattburns1976@gmail or @BurnsMatthew (Twitter)

Blog - http://flippingmyprimaryclassroom.blogspot.com.au/

A New Challenge...and one or two errors

Part of my new role is to integrate flipped classroom pedagogy into the general culture of education at my new workplace. I have moved on from my previous workplace and find myself employed in a larger school, in a promotional position, with more responsibility than before.

My new workplace involves a school that is low-tech, but very much on the fringes of of what could possibly be a tip over movement into effective digital device use in the classrooms.

Having previous successfully led the implementation of the flipped model, almost by accident, I am now being asked to do it deliberately here.This expectation has got me thinking.

There are some challenges.

1)    Staff – some staff are possibly reluctant to see any digital device usage in their classroom, let alone see this become a common tool in everyday learning.

2)    Parents – the might be said for some of the parent body, which given the level of distraction devices can generate in the classroom if not managed effectively, is quite a reasonable view. 

3)    Affordability – digital devices cost money. My new workplace is in a area of less socio-economic advantage than my previous school. 

To my concern I may have come off a little stronger than I would have otherwise preferred during my BYOT presentation to the parent body. During the presentation I could feel parts of the room thinking…’What is this guy saying?’

Fail. 

The lesson for me? Smaller steps. Better communication. 

Flipping the classroom can be done poorly. Or it can be done well. That said, Jon Bergmann would argue that if it’s not being done well…you are not flipping the classroom. There is merit in this position. The Flipped network provides the following as a definition for flipped learning:

Typically, screencasts are used to deliver this content within the individual learning space.

I have seen that flipping the classroom results in improved learning outcomes for students, which for me, is what it's all about.

I think the question for me in my new role is: can I help others see this as well?

The Meta-Principle is the 'Active' Classroom

I met an intriguing character at FlipCon Adelaide, and he challenged me to blog weekly. He said to me, as long as it is authentic, and it reflects your struggles, people want to hear.  He directed me to the most popular program on his radio network…’My Bad’ which is basically a program about high profile educators sharing their biggest mistakes.

Given that evidence, it was hard to disagree with him. So, to that end, here I am again. I’m going make a brave attempt at blogging weekly. Thanks for the encouragement Errol.

I think I can do 4 paragraphs a week.

It has been awhile hasn’t it? I write this in late November, and I can see my last post was in August.

A few things that have got in the way of my blogging include: two beautiful children (one who doesn’t sleep), one arduous but worthwhile Highly Accomplished Teacher accreditation process, being a part of a dynamic but incredibly demanding team here at Inaburra, and yes, who could forget – a university degree on the side.

The latter has been deferred…just too much going on! Must sleep.

Did I mention I have also been busy preparing my presentations for FlipCon Brisbane and FlipCon Adelaide? I should have. Perhaps you caught them.

Briefly – I presented on the viability of Flipping the K-6 Classroom and used my own Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms as a template for the struggles and success of this strategy.

In my second presentation I conducted a mini-meta analysis of some of the available literature concerning the efficacy and satisfaction rates of the Flipped

Classroom.

(Which in English means … do students like it and does it lead to improved results?)

You can find the data here: https://sites.google.com/site/efficacyversussatisfaction/conclusion

The short answer?

The flipped classroom generally leads to improved results, but students don’t always like it. Unless the strategy itself leads to an ACTIVE classroom environment students may be equally satisfied with the flipped or traditional models, or even dissatisfied with the flipped model.

The lesson?

Flip your classroom, in order to make your classroom an active classroom.

(JonBergmann would probably argue that if your classroom isn’t active, then you are not ‘flipping’.)

There’s the goal.

Or as Aaron Sams cheerfully put it -  ‘Active Learning is the Meta-Principle’.

On that note - so long Aaron. You will be missed from the FlipCon circuit. It was great hearing from you. Looking forward to reading your Doctorate.

The Flipped Classroom - A Paradigm Shift

Dear Reader,

I hope you will permit me to share an article that I wrote recently for ETS magazine.

Please find the link here.

Alternatively - read on below!

The Flipped Classroom: A Paradigm Shift

A change is here. It is not coming. It is here. It has arrived. And like the wind, teachers can feel it on their skin, and in some classrooms. The way teachers have taught for the last 100 years is undergoing a significant transformation. This article is about a paradigm shift.

Readers have almost certainly heard about the flipped classroom. It is a concept that has been in the educational sphere for at least five years now. At its most basic definition, the flipped classroom is this: the lessons are viewed at home and the homework is done in school. Hence, the standard classwork/homework pattern is ‘flipped’ or inverted. There are more sophisticated and better definitions than this, but that is for another article.

What effect does this homework/classwork shift have on the traditional paradigm of teaching? How does creating video lectures for students open up a classroom to be more engaging in homework-style activities? What sort of effect does this have on the classroom? The answer is, a significant effect.

In the flipped classroom, a paradigm that has remained unchanged for around 2,000 years is transformed in an instant. No longer is the teacher out the front, dispensing his or her wisdom and intelligence, in quantifiable packets, at a prearranged times, at a set pace and at a certain point in the unit. No longer do students have to be there, in the classroom, at that place, at that time, to receive teacher-dispensed packets of wisdom and content. The age of teaching from the front of the room, like drawing on rock with charcoal, or writing on blackboard with chalk, or scribing on an interactive whiteboard, are over. The teacher is no longer the ‘sage on the stage’. Rather, the teacher is the ‘guide by the side’. This is not a catchy phrase – it is a literal description.

The teaching content is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, when the student is ready. It is available at any place and on any device. It is available at the student’s preferred pace, and can be watched and re-watched as many times as is necessary. The content can also be fast-forwarded if the student deems it necessary. Student agency over student learning has been increased. Students are no longer passive recipients of the teachers’ intelligence or wisdom. Rather, they are active hunters for information they require in order to master or pass elements of the assessment.

For teachers who like to lecture from the front and have students hanging on their every word, it may be time to pursue a career in politics, because in schools, the soapbox has been smashed by the digital revolution and educators must move with the times.

An uncomfortable truth is this: if a teacher can be replaced by a YouTube video, perhaps he or she should be. Everyone may have noticed fewer cashiers in supermarkets lately. They have been replaced by the rising use of ‘self-service’ shopping machines. The same sort of thing is happening in education right now. Developing technology is driving a paradigm shift.

Obviously, some lessons require person-to-person interaction; discussions for example, or debates. A video cannot provide much in the way of empathy, or a sympathetic ear to a distraught student. But any lesson that is content driven can be recorded, uploaded and available permanently for students at their convenience.

Educators must change, or else a change will be foisted upon them. It is not realistic to say that teachers will not be teachers anymore. Only a trained and present teacher can effectively maximise, mediate and moderate online instruction. At this point, only teachers can guide students to different resources, or simply help their students who are stuck on a particular problem – though ‘adaptive learning’ may speak to this area in the future.

Educators must change. If they do not change, or grow, they will literally become redundant. The wind is blowing. It is time to set the sails.

MATT BURNS

K-12 Flipped Classroom Coach at Inaburra School

Matt Burns is a Primary Teacher, HSIE Coordinator, Flipped Classroom Coordinator at Inaburra School, a Christian, co-educational, K-12, independent school in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.

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