Update on Flipped Classroom Blog

During week 1 of this course, I found the blog "Flipped Learning, Turning Learning on it's Head!" I was immediately intrigued by the title of this blog because I was interested in learning more about how flipped learning works and how to be successful with it in an actual school setting. When I initially read the posts on this blog, the idea behind the "Flipped Classroom" model sounded awesome, but I immediately had the question of how the "Flipped Classroom" would work in an elementary school setting. I could definitely see the benefits of using this model in teaching middle school, high school, and college, but I was concerned that it would raise some problems with elementary-aged students. When I revisited the blog this afternoon, I was amazed to find that the author posted a message on the blog directly addressing my very question! When asked whether the flipped classroom would work with younger grades her response was "yes, sorta." She elaborates by saying that she feels teachers of elementary students should focus on flipping a few lessons at a time rather than a whole curriculum. She recommends starting by taking a concept that the students are struggling with and make a video focused on that lesson. Keep the video to less than 10 minutes. The video length should be determined by the age of the students. Make sure the parents are on board and will help the student to access the video. Make sure there is a way for the teacher to know whether the students have watched the video. She also suggests making the flipped video a center in the classroom. That is always a great way to guarantee the students watch the video and it allows teachers to monitor student use of the internet and what they do as a follow-up activity. This is exactly what I was hoping she would say! I can clearly see now how the flipped model WOULD be beneficial with elementary students. I also appreciated how she provided two approaches to the flipped classroom. She showed how it would work in a home setting as well as, how to make it work during the school day if students do not have the technology to access the lessons from home.