Summary of Progress of my AR Project

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 6^th graders.  I now teach only 7^th 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 6^th grade class, but I will now flip a 7^th 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.