Flipped Classroom is “Cool”

You may have seen Wake Christian Academy featured this morning as NBC17’s Cool School of the Day! Meteorologist Bill Reh, who “always loved math,” was particularly interested in our High School’s Flipped Classroom Model for math.

Here’s more from Math Chair Justin Leonesio…

“A ‘flipped classroom’ is simply a reversal of the traditional teaching/homework model. In the traditional model, students are first presented with a concept during a classroom lecture, and then they complete their homework assignment concerning the lesson content outside of the classroom.

“With the ‘flipped classroom’ model, students are introduced to concepts through viewing an online lesson/tutorial before they enter the classroom. During the normal classroom time, the respective homework assignment is completed by the students with direct guidance from the teacher.

“Class time is also used to address any questions the students may have with the content and to clarify concepts that were not completely understood from the online lesson/tutorial.

“I began implementing this idea on purely a trial basis in my AP Calculus BC class last year. The main reason for my interest in this type of classroom was due to the vast amount of material that needed to be taught and the limited amount of time available to teach it during the school year. Before my use of the flipped classroom model, a typical class period consisted of a good portion of the class time being used to answer questions from the previous night’s homework assignment. Once many of the questions had been answered, we checked the homework assignment in class, leaving me about half of a class period to teach a lesson. By flipping the classroom, I was able to teach lessons through online videos that were longer than a normal class period would allow. This provided me the ability to condense a lesson that might have originally taken several days to teach down to one day, enabling us to cover he material faster. Also, with my guidance, the students were able to complete their homework assignments with greater confidence and understanding, rather than working on it for hours alone, only to quit in frustration. I have now fully implemented the flipped classroom model in both my AP Calculus and AP Calculus BC courses.”

The benefits of this type of model include:

• More effective and efficient use of daily class time.
• Greater understanding by the students regarding their homework assignments.
• Increased interaction between student and teacher during class time.
• Increased collaborative work by the students, as they often form small groups while completing the homework assignments.
• Students teaching other students – as students complete the homework assignment, fellow classmates are asking questions about the reasoning behind a solution and receiving help from their peers.
• Previous lessons can be viewed and reviewed at any time during the year, especially before quizzes, tests, and ultimately, the AP exam.
• Allows those who may normally struggle with the traditional classroom model to succeed with a more guided approach.

“I have seen several students who I was originally hesitant to place in AP Calculus have success with this model. It does require diligence on the students’ part, because they are regularly assigned online videos to watch. If the lesson is not viewed by a student before class, he/she will be at an extreme disadvantage when attempting to complete the homework assignment. Through the interactive whiteboard program (“Educreations”) that I use to record my online lessons via an iPad, I have the ability to create a class for my students and monitor their lesson viewings through the Educreations website. This increases student accountability with lesson viewings. At the beginning of the school year, each student creates a username and password through the website that he/she uses to log in to watch the lessons that I make available. Although I believe that the flipped classroom model can be used effectively, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to every class and/or grade level. It requires a certain level of student diligence in order for it to be successful.”