I purchased a book called “Flipping Your Class”. It is very inspiring and by reading it, I
find myself more excited to implement my project and flip a class. I have observed a fellow teacher who has
flipped her math class. I plan on
observing her class again before I put my own plan into action.
I have researched the flipped classroom model online and
started following the blogs of fellow teachers across the country who are also
beginning the same journey.
A teacher at my former campus records her lessons and posts
them to her Edmodo page for students to view later at home. I watched her video to see what the students
would see. My instructional coach used
Microsoft Movie maker to record her voice as she progressed through a power
point slide show. She then sent the link
to her video to me and explained how easy it was for her to do this. I am again intrigued and excited to begin
myself. I have had a few obstacles to
overcome. One very big obstacle has been
the fact that I was teaching two grade levels.
My normal job became two jobs!
Finding the time to plan with each team of teachers proved to be a
struggle for me. One grade level plans
two days each week. The other team plans
two days each week. The only day left
for me to complete tasks at school was Friday!
No one wants to stay late on a Friday!!
Finding time to complete my assignments in my Lamar courses was
difficult as well. Just finding the
time, which became later each night, to read, watch the videos and work on
assignments was creating more stress in my life. Couple the work with the grad course,
followed up with two teenage sons with homework and sports practices, a husband
who works out of town, and you have one tired lady who was functioning on less
than 5 hours of sleep each night.
Thank goodness for my day that contained 186 students and my
department chair realizing how crowded my classes were! This led to our campus hiring new teachers to
help the overcrowded classrooms! I was
teaching 2 grade levels, and I had more students than any other content area at
our school. My department chair was
shocked when she came into my room and asked the principal, “have you seen
Scharla’s room lately? She’s crammed
like sardines with those kids. How in
the world did she get 186 students in a day and I only have 140?” This led to the hiring of new staff, which
resulted in my schedule being changed.
With my schedule change came the loss of
teaching 6th graders.
I now teach only 7th grade science. This has alleviated some of my stress each
day and will allow more time for me to implement my project. My original plan was to flip a 6th
grade class, but I will now flip a 7th grade class.
I will begin my project by sending information to parents
about my plan to post videos on Edmodo for students to view. I will explain the process and ask for
comments and questions. I plan to
involve the parents as much as possible so the students are successful. I will survey the students and the parents
regarding the access of computers at home.
I plan on recording my voice talking through a slide show presentation
in the beginning. I will provide
students with notes or guides while they are viewing. I will encourage questions by the students
and discussions on the class Edmodo page.
After flipping a class and providing a hands on activity for
students the following day, I will then survey the students and parents
again. I will ask again for comments and
questions to determine the success of my first flip. Based on the comments I receive, I will make
any necessary changes and record another video for students.
It is my hope that I can become more efficient with practice
and incorporate this model into each of my classes. I would love to incorporate the flipped model
with my students to introduce each new unit we begin.
