Hi everyone and welcome to the effective teaching podcast. I'm your host Ann. Today we are going to be looking at why you should give flipped learning ago why you should flip your classroom. And if you're new to this is you have heard of it and you're thinking maybe I'll give it a go actually want to start off by telling you that I have a free 10 step guide that you can go and grab its at teachers.PD.net/10stepflip. So the number 10 and then step flip all one word together, You can land there, grab yourself, 10 steps to flipping your very first, flipped classroom lesson and I would love for you to grab that and let me know how it goes for you.
But today, Today I'm going to talk to you about maybe seven reasons, really, seven reasons why you should actually flip your classroom. We start off by going out on a limb here, Everyone thinks that flip learning. It's so much time. It takes up a lot of time to make videos and to go about all this process and set stuff up in the back end.
Actually doesn't take that long and when I compare it to my normal, what I used to do for lesson prep, it actually it's about the same if possibly even less particularly when you think about the long-term. So I'm actually going to say the flip learning saves you time. That's my number one reason for using it as a teacher, I love saving time.
I have a whole book about how to reduce teachers workloads and save them time so they can have a balance life and it's called work less. Teach more, you can go and check that out. But I think flip learning saves you type. Particularly when you think long-term the long-term once, I've created the content, right?
Whether that be a recorded video like this one or like audio, like if you listen to the podcast of this version as well. Yeah, there's lots of ways to create content can be written content, it can be audio. It can be video at any way that you would normally get students to consume content.
Just not it's just not live, right? It's just not live content, but it means that you can then use that content year after year, after year until your region, your area, your people in charge of your curriculum decide to change the curriculum and then even then you only have to change the video if it's actually still doesn't cover.
What's in the curriculum? So That for me is number one. It does long-term, it saves you, so much time with that prep, because once you've made it, it's prepped and then you just doing the lessons and the lessons, then actually are going to be just completely transforming and be so rich.
They be so engaging because suddenly you have all of this tie back something that used to take up you know 30 minutes of class time. Now, students are getting that in a 10 to 15 minute video and you don't even have to have them do this at home but you can do.
And what's called an inflip, where the students watch the video in class at even by doing that, you are getting 15 minutes of your class time back by getting the students to watch it in class. And also, freeze you up to go around, answer individual, students, questions and help them to understand stuff that they're struggling with.
So amazing thing you really should, but number one saves time, right? We'll get to more. Now, number two gives you back time in the classroom, right? Which I've already started to mention there but you're no longer trying to cover content. So often, I talk to teachers, like I don't have time to actually do the fun lessons to actually spend time with my students, to differentiate the sit down with them and give them the feedback that they need.
I'm too. I'm too stretched trying to get through the content. There's so much content that we have to cover in or whatever subject area it is that you teach generally speaking. You know, you're government where you are wants to pack your curriculum full of content. They want you to teach to the students, but by flipping your classroom, you no longer have that problem.
The students are asking a consume the content either outside of your classroom or in a shorter version in the classroom where they're not interrupted by other students questions. And so you're going to get all this time back in your class to do the things that really matter because when you ask a teacher, what is the number one thing that you should be doing in your class?
It normally is not presenting information. Okay, it's normally something like engage their my students, giving them the feedback that they need really allowing my students time to do to develop their research skills or to develop their ability to learn but I don't have the time to do that. Well this flip learning is going to give you back that kind of time.
Now, flipping your classroom will also allow you to do the fun lessons that you have always wanted to do, right. You're gonna suddenly be able to come into class and go, you know, what? Today for a whole chunk of this lesson, 15 minutes, 20 minutes we're gonna do this activity, which we would never have had time to do if we weren't flipping our classroom.
And so now we're gonna have fun, but I have lessons where I bring in a whole bunch of balloons and the kids make stuff out of the balloons of relates to what they're learning, but it's fun. The kids have fun doing that, they run around the classroom explaining it.
I get them to reenact things that they're learning from the curriculum and that they need to go around. So, for example, like when we look at how the blood travels around the body, I actually have the students free blood cells, travelling through the blood system, and they've got to call out where they are as they run around the room.
And I have designated areas for different things and it's great fun. And so flipping, your classroom allows you to bring the fun back into learning to have that time of their students where they're actually enjoying school and enjoying being in your class, not sitting there being bored listening to another teacher, taught them about a new piece of content.
Number four, You can educate beyond your students. So if you are creating content that can be consumed all over the place, right? They can consume in class, they can consume it during recess and lunch or at home. You're opening up the possibility for educating beyond your own students that are in front of you, which is particularly important for students who are going home to parents who are less educated as well.
And so you're actually allowing the parents to sit there with this children and to watch your videos or listen to your audio and to learn with their child. And then that enables the parent to also help the child with the things that maybe they need help with, because they haven't better application skills for the real world.
For what the student is learning in your class. And so, that's an amazing. Just amazing bonus that comes with flipping. Your classroom is the impact that you have beyond the students in your classroom. Number five is the ability to differentiate And I think this is probably the number one reason for flipping your classroom after after saving you time.
But the ability to differentiate we so often as teachers talk about you, we have 20 30, sometimes 40 students in the classroom and you're trying to work out. How do I change what I'm doing in my classroom to meet each of these students and where they're at? Some of them are really struggling with their beginners, some of them don't speak the language that you're trying to teach.
And so you've got to actually help them with their translation and all that kind of stuff as well. Other students are just they're so far beyond what you're meant to be doing in that classroom that they really need to be let loose and be able to go and enjoy the learning beyond what you're currently doing.
And so flipping, your classroom, really frees you up to be able to do this. Well like you can Use your videos, right? So there's students can watch videos or whatever speed they like, Students can pause your videos, they can rewind, your videos, they can be remind audio, they can reread sections of content if you're giving them text, but they can go through that content at their own pace, which is amazing for them, It means they can go over things multiple ties, if they're struggling and you can see there are actually really cool tech devices, so things like ed puzzle or insert learning, which are fantastic tools that enable you to put quizzes on top of videos or on top of websites and stuff like that.
So that you can actually find out whether the student understood what, you just taught them in the video or what they just read on the website and you can get them to give to a little quick quiz. You can check before you even get the classroom. You go okay.
These students know it, these students don't know it and these ones, well, they didn't even get around to watching the video so and they'll have different things that they you're going to do with them as you start the lesson. So you might walk in and say, all right, you guys, you understand this.
This is the next thing for you to do, go and do some application. You might have a group activity for them to work together. The couple that really struggled and didn't quite get it, you might sit down with them and explicitly, teach it to them in a different way.
And the students, and this is a big question, actually, a lot of teachers always go well about the students who don't watch it right? Because suddenly not completing their homework. But if you're doing a at home type flip actually not doing their homework, suddenly has high consequences for that student.
And so the reality is students have always not done homework, right? There's always been students who haven't finished off the homework. That's been set and you would follow a similar procedure except because you can differentiate because you're free and you don't have to be presenting in during class. You can actually say those students say, you didn't get a chance to watch the video.
You didn't get a chance to do the reading or whatever so you set up for them at the back of the room where they're in their own little spaces, they're not in a group right where they're going to sit down and go through the content first thing as they come into the classroom and that if it's a video, get breaks where you got something earphones for them.
So they sit down, plug the earphones in. They can watch your video, answer your quiz, or whatever you put on it and then they can come and join the class once they finish that or if it's a reading assignment they can sit down, they can go through and read by themselves and then come and join in the lesson.
Once they've done the homework, basically that you're set up and because you can differentiate, you can do that, right? You've got the time, okay? You guys do that. Well, these guys keep going and then you can come and join them once they're done. And it means they're still going to get that minimum of the content being covered, right?
Which you've been trying to get through as a presentation. Anyway, they're just now going to continue as a video by themselves without you and you can do all the other stuff you can still go and help the way. If they get stuck you still go back over them and say hey you know I can be explain this to you I can help you with that.
You can see that they can actually questions, you're free, right? You're free as a teacher to move around your classroom because you're not the one at the front of the class with all the attention on you. So number five, that increases your ability to differentiate your classroom. Massively Number six, increases student engagement because now you can differentiate, because now you're available to help students who need it.
Because now you're bringing in the fun aspects to lessons, suddenly students are going to become more engaged in the learning and therefore they're actually going to more because they're engaged because things are differentiated, and you're meeting them where they need it. You just really setting things out. Well, to help them to become successful learners.
You have the time to teach them the skills of learning. There's so much becomes into this but yet just increasing that student's engagement in the learning, in your classroom, in what's going on and that has a big impact on them. Long term Number seven, the last one is that you get to know your students better because you've got the time in your classroom.
You're actually get around to seeing each of your students. In fact, sometimes I'll have lessons where I'm so planned out, what's going to happen in the classroom? One of the things that happens is I actually sit at my desk and I'm calling students to me, one of the time and I go through all my students across maybe a double period, right?
Or if you've got that across a week or something Going through and seeing each of my students to check in with them, doing a little interview with them and finding out where they are at what they need, most help with all that kind of stuff. But I can plan that now and I because I don't need to be the one who's the centre of attention.
I can teach the students how to help each other. I've got all these extra things that I can now do just because I've flipped my classroom and I am no longer the one at the front talking so much, So that brings to the end of this episode. So my seven benefits were it saves you time?
It gives you back time in class. It allows you to have fun lessons with your students. You can educate beyond, just the students in your classroom and labels you to differentiate better. You can increase student engagement. And also you get to know if your students better and of course, if students don't watch it, this is what a lot of teachers say.
What they don't do the homework, right? You just have a system set up whether they're going to do it in the class during normal time that way. They still getting through the minimum of getting taught the content. Yeah. If you would love to give flip learning a go, you'd like to flip your first classroom.
Don't forget head over to teachersped.net/10stepflip. Grab that 10 Step guide to flipping your very first lesson and let me know how it goes. I'll catch you next week.
