Flipped Lesson

In Math today I tried my first ever flipped lesson!  First my students solved two puzzles (a review of yesterday's concepts) using the Stick Around app (@stickaroundapp).  After that, they watched a short video (Explain Everything) to review the concepts taught yesterday.  Then, I introduced today's lesson (estimating sums and differences).  I explained that they would be watching and interacting with my lesson using Explain Everything (@explainevrythng).  A lot of my kids were excited to try this new way of learning. 

After they finished watching and interacting with the video, the kids showed me their work (problems within the Explain Everything video I created).  Next time, I am going to make sure I include an answer key after the problems they solved.  I feel like that would have saved class time (a lot of them had to wait in line as I checked their problems) and provided instant feedback.   Shortly after I checked their problems, they worked on two Stick Around puzzles that allowed them to practice today's concepts. 

Next, I posed this question to my students: What are some of the benefits of a flipped lesson?  Here is what some of my students had to say:

"I like that I can go at my own pace."
"I think it is good that I can pause and go back if I am confused or need help." 
"I can go back and use it when I am working on my assignment."
"I like that it is easier to focus and there are less distractions.  Sometimes people interrupt you when you are teaching and it is hard to stay focused and pay attention to what you are teaching us."        
 "It is easier for me to see what is being taught because I can pause, go back, and it is right in front of me."                  

I told them that I could also turn the Explain Everything video into a YouTube video and share the link with them so they could watch it at home.  My students seemed to like the idea of having access to a video at home.  This would be a great resource for parents as well!   I am glad I decided to have them share their ideas as to how they could use this video in the future and how it helped them.  It was a great discussion and it really opened my eyes as to how my students feel when I am teaching a lesson. 

I feel like my students enjoyed moving through the lesson at their own pace.  They were engaged the entire time while they were watching the video.  I think it helped that they were required to practice and interact with the video as they continued to watch. This will be a great resource for them to have on their iPads.  

Although I don't foresee myself doing this with every lesson or concept in Math, I do believe flipped lessons can be helpful and beneficial for many of my students.  Students are always at different stages of learning and understanding throughout Math, but using a flipped lesson format allowed me the opportunity to meet the needs of all of my students in a more efficient way.  I was able to work one on one with students that were struggling with the concept, while others that were understanding it moved at their own pace and completed the challenge of creating a Stick Around puzzle that involved the concepts they learned about today.    They shared these puzzles with a peer and then had to solve.  There was a lot of engaged, focused, meaningful, and active learning and thinking taking place today during Math.    I am excited to try this again!  Thanks Emily Salie and Sharae Geldes for inspiring/challenging me to do a flipped lesson!