How does parental involvement play a role in a flipped classroom? 

Parents’ attitudes towards flipped learning will help ensure that the student’s educational experience is a positive one. A flipped classroom will allow parents the opportunity to can watch and learn with their student and engage in meaningful discussions at home. This should eliminate the (‘what did you do at school today?’ question). 

 

How could schools go about getting parental support to make sure students are held accountable beyond the school setting? 

·         One step to bring in parental support is to send home a letter about Flipped Learning to the parents. 

·         Brag about what is going on in  your classroom by sending weekly news letters filled with pictures of what you are doing in the classroom (for upload those to social media like Twitter). 

·         Flip your back to school night/open house/parent teacher conferences to show parents how their students will be learning. 

 

What challenges does this pose for low-income families who may not be able to monitor students at home due to other responsibilities? 

One of the positives about flipped classrooms is that content is learned at the student’s own pace. In general, most students will have access to internet through a cellphone, laptop, television, or gaming system.  If there is a student that does not have access to internet (or one student forgets to watch), students will be able to have access to that video during classroom instruction with the privacy of having their own headphones to review content. The video lesson is not strictly done at home, it is available in the classroom to review.  Students can also have the ability to communicate with teachers and can get the lessons via thumb drive, or set up a time to come to school earlier or later to watch the lesson. 

Because home computer access is directly related to household income, how can students who come from lower income homes be accommodated to take part in the flipped classroom approach? Would there be alternative ways for students to access the activities or perhaps a “check out” system for devices? 

 There are several ways students from all socioeconomic backgrounds are able to participate in the flipped classroom model regardless of their personal home access to technology. Schools who participate in flipped classroom models and have one to one technology may allow students to check out their assigned Chromebook, laptop or tablet for use at home on evenings and weekends. If students do not have internet access at home local libraries provide free access to members. CNN recently reported in the article lined below that some school districts are equipping school busses as mobile hot spots so students can work while riding to and from school. These same districts are then parking the busses at community centers to serve as wifi providers on weekends. Students may also utilize flash drives to download content at school to study offline at home if they have a device but no access to broadband, often required to stream content. Student who have access to a device but no broadband service are also able to stream at many locations throughout communities for free in places like McDonald's, Starbucks and other restaurants. 

 
CNN article: https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/31/tech/homework-gap/index.html 
Personal group work reflection: The group works and communicates well. My job this week was to set up the collaborative tool. I suggested since padlet was modeled to us we use padlet. Everyone agreed and I set up the padlet as a streaming text. I shared the link with members and ensured everyone could post and modify all content on the padlet. Members have communicated frequently through the padlet and several if not all have downloaded the app to their phones. 

How can a "flipped classroom" be implemented in a co-teach setting with students from so many different ability levels and students with many different disabilities? 

Co-teaching, is typically done in a classroom with students at a variety of different levels and that often have different learning abilities.  The flipped classroom was originally designed for the general education classroom, however, it has been shown to be extremely effective in providing differentiated instruction.  In fact, studies have shown that students that are typically lower achievers tend to benefit more from the flipped classroom than higher achieving students.

Flipped classrooms are designed to be more self paced to assist with content mastery.  The students in a flipped classroom already benefit from additional one on one support from their teacher.  A flipped classroom that has co-teachers, would allow for the teachers to provide this on an even greater spectrum.  Flipped classrooms are capable of providing tiered learning, which can only be enhanced by effective co-teaching.

Altemueller & Lindquist (2017)

 

As a result of the flipped classroom model being an almost blank canvas of opportunities for teachers, students in elementary, middle and high school can benefit from this type of learning. In an elementary setting, “flipping” the classroom does not have to mean that students are learning and completing assignments at home. An elementary flipped classroom model could be where during whole group instruction, students are learning and interacting with their chromebook, using manipulatives or other strategies while the teacher facilitates or provides more scaffolded instruction to certain students. Jacot, Noren, and Berge convey that “essentially, the flipped classroom should best be understood as a method of maximizing class time with students, and this path leads to very different roles for both instructors and students” (Jacot, Noren, Berge, p. 24, 2014). Sites like Khan Academy make implementing a flipped classroom model easier for teachers. The site provides online content to help boost students understanding starting at elementary grade levels. Teachers can differentiate their instruction by assigning students different topics to practice, and different videos to watch through sites like Khan Academy. 

In middle and high school, as students become more independent, the typical model of students learning outside of the classroom, and then using their classroom time to better understand the content taught works better due to the age level of those students. As students continue to grow and develop, their autonomy also advances, leading them to be more successful students in this type of classroom model. Many high school classrooms have seen marginal success following a flipped classroom model that has led to higher attendance and graduation rates. Clintondale High School in Michigan increased their graduation rates to over 90 percent with college attendance improving from 63 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in 2012 (Jacot, Noren, Berge, p. 25, 2014).  Overall success for students at this level leads to the model working best for students at a high school level. 

Jacot, M. T., Noren, J., & Berge, Z. L. (2014). The flipped classroom in training and development: Fad or the future? Performance improvement, 53(9), 23–28. doi: 10.1002/pfi.21438 

Khan Academy. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/

 

A flipped classroom can be successful with any content. There is not a certain subject that works best with this structure of teaching. Implementing a flipped classroom will be successful and engaging if the teacher plans accordingly, prepares their students for this type of learning, and sets them up for success so when they come to school they are prepared to discuss what they previously viewed. 

 

The engaging aspect of a flipped classroom starts with the students being able to use a device and do their learning on their own time. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide the class with fun and engaging lessons and activities that support the lectures they participate in before class. Studies have shown that students who participated in a flipped classroom compared to students in a traditional setting were more engaged and prepared. It gave the teachers a chance to be more collaborative with their class and the students and chance to take control and have more responsibility for their own learning (Elmaadaway, 2018).

 

Elmaadaway, M. A. N. (2018). The effects of a flipped classroom approach on class engagement and skill performance in a Blackboard course. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(3), 479–491. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12553