It's a tough time flipping a class

Back in July I announced to my readers that I was flipping my class. Sorry to say but time is not on my side to do this. I started placing files per chapter into a one note document that I shared with my class but I came across some downfalls. First of all, Microsoft only allows a certain number of people to create a skydive account with the same IP address. This makes account creation an absolute nightmare when a portion of the class lives in an Internet free environment. Yes I have kids without Internet access! In one class alone four of the 12 have no Internet. Mostly because the only options are very slow dial-up.

I tried having a few a day set up accounts but it interfered with class time so I had to quit. I was able to integrate some components of flipping into my lessons and now that I know the steps to take and how much time is involved I will spend my summer next year developing a program that allows me to flip a class.

I know some have had great success with the flip. In fact, a colleague of nine did it last year and said she would never go back. She spent her prep time taping the training videos. I have been so busy during my prep I am lucky to grade! (I teach French and run the library so my time is spent working with kids and tech.)

I think my future in flipping the class could happen but it is going to take some downtime from being a librarian to do it. For now, I will stick with edmodo and posting notes and lessons online as we do them for later reference. That is the best I can do in the flip.

I am going to flip my class

I have decided after a lot of research, reading and chatting with others, I am going to take a jump in the deep end and flip my class this year.   I have spent numerous hours this summer talking to people on twitter, reading chats and reading blogs about the topic.   As a little background information, I am a French teacher.  I also run the school library. There are many times I am in the middle of class and someone stops in needing technology help. Yes, I have an aid, but sometimes the needs are things only I can do.  I think if I flip my class, a three minute interruption won't impact the kids learning.  I spend only a little bit of time each week doing lecture.  I have found that a short intro of the topic to the whole class and then small pod lessons works best with my kids.  I think what I am already doing is a little flipped, but, I intend to stop the in class lecture and move into the video mode.

I don't intend to make kids watch the videos at home unless they want to.  Since French is not a core class, most kids don't do homework anyway.  They often put it on the back burner to get their core work done.  I can't compete with math, science and English.  Both content areas often require a lot of night work and kids have so many other things to do outside of school.  They spend seven hours a day at school.  Why should they spend their entire evening doing more school work?  Plus, I have to grade it. 

Here is how I envision my class:
Kids will come in and log into Edmodo for their daily starter. (we are 1:1 so all students have a laptop.)  I will be using today's meet or poll everywhere to do warmups.  They will also see links to their videos.  They will be instructed to download the video and be given their daily assignments.  One of the assignments will be watching the video.  While that is happening, I will be in small group talking to the students, using the target language and answering questions.  As they watch the videos they will be taking notes which will be used for their grades.  I also anticipate a lot of projects and group discussion in French.  We are also going to be connecting with Francophone schools via skype and ePals.  I see my kids gaining a lot of their knowledge through communication.

I am looking forward to trying this and seeing how it works.