Your Flipped Classroom Story

[Amanda Korell Fuder]

Share your flipped classroom story with us!

- What made you decide to try a flipped classroom structure?

- What subject area(s) have you implemented it with?

- Has it been (or was) it successful?

- What challenges do (did) you face?

[Karen A]

Hey!

Ok, so I'm a K-8 PE teacher and have been doing this for over 20 years.  Flipping my classroom came unexpectedaly almost!  I coach the MS girls basketball team and I started sending them videos of drills and plays to watch before coming to practice, so we could spend more time implementing them.  Because this was so successful, I gave it a try first in my MS PE classes, where I had students watch videos of certain game rules or information about the body and exercise.  I didn't realize how much time we were spending talking about the rules of the game until we no longer had to!!  Now I flip 3rd-8th classes, since they all have devices at home that they can watch the videos on.  It's been great.

[Amanda Fuder]

What a cool story, Karen!  I love how your journey to flipping your classroom (aka gym) came about so organically.  Are there other PE teachers at your school that have have followed your lead?

[Kelly Weininger]

I flipped my classroom one year for AP Macro/Microeconomics about 10 years ago. Although I absolutely loved the idea of it, I found myself doing A LOT of reteaching. I thought it would be so great to do more hands-on activities in class and do most of their work in class, so they could ask questions. They would watch YouTube videos at home, and come ready to class with the knowledge and could practice implementing it. Overall, it didn't work well for AP Econ. The content was just too difficult for them to simply watch videos and then be ready to do the work. And not only that, if they didn't do their homework then we were really in a bind. 

On Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 11:03:12 PM UTC-4 Amanda Fuder wrote:

[Amanda Fuder]

This really comes to show how much resources have become much more widely available and are much more improved than they used to be!!  Despite these advances, I think your point still rings true- sometimes the content is really tough or sometimes the students don't take to it as well.  It could be that a flipped classroom works one year, but not the next!

[Karen A]

I'm the sole PE teacher at my school, since it's quite small!  My sister is also a PE teacher and I have shared my structure and resources with her though!  I think she plans on giving it a try this year.

[Amanda Fuder]

Cool, Karen!  You'll have to keep us updated on how it goes for her if she does end up choosing to flip!

[Karen A]

For sure!!  I am actually visiting her school in a couple weeks, so I will get the scoop and share!

[Hillary Grummer]

What a great story, Karen!  I really enjoyed reading more about your process and look forward to hearing more about how things are going with your sister!

[Karen A]

Update: my sister just started her flip!  She started this week and plans to do it for this unit only (initially) to get a good idea of how it's going and decide whether or not she wants to continue.  For now, she's having students watch videos via EdPuzzle, where they're quizzed as they watch.  She said the kids have enjoyed it so far since it's given them more time in class to be active!

[Flipped Classroom PLN]

Very cool, Karen!  Thanks for the update!  I'm sure you're a great resource for her to have access to as she works through the process.  Please feel free to send her the link to our PLN if you think she would benefit from it.