Evolution of the Flipped Class
At the 2013 National Flipped Class conference, Jon Bergman and Aaron Sams hammered the idea that there is no such thing as "THE" flipped class. You cannot simply follow a template because every class is different. Last year, I followed a pretty traditional flipped class model. The kids watched videos at home and then came into class ready to complete activities and take part in discussions. It was quite successful and my AP scores showed that!
However, I still struggled with getting the students to watch the videos each night. So, I learned about a different type of Flipped Class this year called Explore-Flip-Apply and am giving it a try this year. Here is a glimpse into what the first week of school looked like in my classroom. Will it evolve throughout the year? Of course!!
Day 1: Students watched a video syllabus created on Camtasia and practiced taking notes to this syllabus. We talked about coming up with questions about the video each night as well. Then, students were given several resources showing the probable future of social security. Here is the link to my google powerpoint that shows what resources I gave to students. Without any direct instruction, students were asked to determine what they could do to affect the future of this program or what the government could/should do about this problem. After I presented the problem, I walked around to listen to some of the converstions. It was quite amazing. Students were talking about the income tax, about Congress vs the President, and many other ideas (some being quite humorous).
At the end of the block, I informed them that the video for that night would include information that would help them understand how people and linkage institutions affect the policy agenda and what the government actually could do about it. The next day in class, we looked at this problem again, but with all of the information from the video and reading. Students discussed the role of each branch in solving this problem as well as what linkage institutions were for and against social security.
