Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Flipped Classroom

I know if you are a parent you are thinking huh?  But this is for the parents.  There is a new wave of methods for teaching children in the classroom.  This week we are discussing the flipped classroom.  Mostly when I have read about the concept it has been talked about mostly in the upper grade classrooms.  I am going to continue researching the idea and hopefully implement it this spring with our geometry unit.  The idea of a flipped classroom is that the majority of the lesson is completed at home most often using the internet via website lessons, webquests, videos, blogs or social media.  The students will then come to school for the following class and discuss the lessons and work with the teacher in any area where they may have struggled.
My plan for kindergarten is a family approach.  The lessons for the week will come home the Friday before and the family can work through them together.  Since many of my students do not have regular access to the internet, the majority of the lessons will be paper with additional support added with use from the internet. The lessons will not be difficult but conceptual such as this is a square, let's find examples of squares around our house.  The following day in class we may use squares to build a picture.  Maybe use brown, green, red, yellow, and blue squares to make a picture.  The concept will be taught at home and reinforced in the classroom.
This is a blog about the flipped classroom that I hope you will take time to read.
So tell me what do you think about a flipped classroom in kindergarten?

2 comments:

  1. Michele,
    I think what you have planned is a fantastic idea. Coming from the parent of a kindergartener, knowing what my son is going to be learning the weekend before would be beneficial for him and me and my husband. We are constantly asking what he learned in school and he always tells us about specials, recess/lunch and center time. It usually takes 20 minutes of me asking to find out what he learned in math, reading, social studies, science, etc. he will then tell me what he did in those subjects. Knowing about what he will be learning the weekend would be great. I think the parents will like it better than the kids. :)

    Good luck with it.

    Michele Bodine

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  2. Hi Michele,
    First, great job on the lecture this week! I think you did a good job keeping your discussion question organized and on topic. I think as a whole our group did a superb job guiding educational discussions by our classmates. I am looking forward to seeing how other groups approach the discussions and if they are able to generate as many responses as we had. 
    It was interesting to see such varying opinions towards flipped classrooms. It seems like the class was pretty divided on the issue. Elementary school teachers seem to be the most opposed to the model saying it would be too much responsibility for students of that age. Some of the middle and high school teachers seem to see possibilities for the idea in their classrooms. It will be interesting to see where the idea goes going forward, whether it’s just the newest fad or it is here to stay.
    Have a great weekend,
    Ryan

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