Sunday, August 9, 2015

DigiLit Sunday - Flipping the ELA Classroom



      I love that Margaret Simon has started a Sunday Link Up for posts about digital literacy at her blog to challenge us to share our technology journeys.
 
     I've been quiet this summer on DigiLit Sundays.  It's not that I haven't been using technology; I just haven't been writing about it.  A lunch with a colleague, a high school English teacher, on Friday, though, got me excited about something I've thought about before, but have never implemented.
 
     Andrea Nichols and I got together because we wanted to talk about reading workshop and incorporating, managing, and assessing an independent reading program.  Of course, when you get two educators together who share philosophies and a passion for student choice, innovative teaching practices, and reading/writing workshop, ideas start to flow.  She started talking about flipping her classroom.  I was introduced to this concept several years ago and was intrigued, but felt like it might be more useful for math and science teachers (and I have a friend who uses it in her ceramics classroom - she videotapes her demonstrations); however, the more we talked, the more I could see it fitting perfectly in the ELA classroom.  We both felt our biggest constraint in ELA was time - we want to read aloud, allow independent reading and writing, confer, teach mini-lessons, use mentor texts for close-reading and craft lessons, immerse students in word work, teach grammar, and the list goes on and on, and we both have our students for only an hour.  HOW do we accomplish all we need to accomplish?!  Enter...flipping the classroom. 
 
 
 
      She told me about an app she discovered: YouTube Capture.  She's going to use her iPad to record videos of herself teaching mini-lessons that the students will watch at home, and then they can work on the skill with her at school.  I thought about how I use picture books to teach many of my mini-lessons, and how much time that takes up.  Then I end up sending them home with work that can sometimes cause stress because they have no support with it.  If they watched the mini-lesson, then I can provide the support they need while working on the assignment at school.  I think my parents would love it, too, because they would have access to the mini-lesson and can also provide support on the concept when needed.  We brainstormed how we will handle keeping the kids accountable for watching the video (entry tickets, small quiz, notes, etc.), and there would need to be alternatives in place for kids who don't have access to technology.  We're going to start small - maybe just one flipped lesson a week at first.  I got really excited, though, thinking about what a time saver this could be!  I enjoyed this PowToon video made by a Language Arts teacher about her flipped classroom:
 
 
I know I'm a little behind on this concept and many of you are already using it.  I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried this strategy in the ELA classroom!

8 comments:

  1. Can't wait for the year ahead. I think we will find a world of possibilities with this practice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I look forward to hearing how the flipped classroom works for you and your students, Holly and Andrea.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope you'll share your experiences as you incorporate a flipped classroom. It's always so great to have a friend on a new journey!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This intrigues me. I haven't done this, but this year my schedule os so wacky that none of my students will be together for any real length of time. This may be the answer I need. What platform will you be using for the videos? YouTube? I'd love to talk more about this. Could we share lessons?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrea is going to use YouTube Capture (link is in my post). I'm going to try that out. I'd love to share lessons!!

      Delete
  5. Holly, I've been flipping my creative writing classroom for a couple of years now. I love it. I also flip certain lessons in my other classes. It just depends on the situation. I love flipping my class--gives me so much time to spend with my kids!

    Here's the website I use for most of my flipped writing room--I add some other things to our schoology site. http://dayscreativewriting.weebly.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Deb, for sharing your schoology site!! Can't wait to take a look! Andrea is a creative writing teacher, so I know she'll appreciate this resource, too. Thanks again!

      Delete
  6. I have thought many times over the last few years that I would like to flip my classroom - for just the same reason as you - TIME! But, I too, thought it would really only work for the science or math class. Your idea of recording mini lessons is great! I'd love to do that. My co-teacher teaches math and has used this for her 5th grade. This will be her first year in fourth but I know she's planning on flipping for them, too. I'd love to be able to provide something valuable for the kids to use and learn from at home. I hope you share some of your lessons and how it goes. Now, I'm thinking of just how I could get this started for my kiddos! Thank you for sharing and inspiring!
    Janie
    Are We There Yet?

    ReplyDelete