Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Flipping Out!

For the past few years I have been working with my staff at Weaver Middle School on one of the most exciting best practices in all of my years of service.  For those staff that were interested, and those that were drawn into the experience along the way, the work has brought with it some amazing results.

Flipping a classroom was not something that we had conjured up, rather it was something that we had been exposed to by the educational system, by colleagues, by time.  Teacher interest drove the decision to implement the concept and it was our turn to give it a go.  Teachers dabbled in videos, activities and power points for their students to watch and to practice and then come in the next day to apply.  The teachers were amazed at the early results.  Many of the original group stayed in tact to the present day.  We lost some and picked up even more.  Great conversations came about as we discussed the Flipped classroom as compared to the Traditional.  Powerful.
What we did though was make it better, just like you have.  It was refreshing to stumble upon this post from Jon Tait who shared the results of his flipped classroom.  He, like us, had done our work with effect size and the work of John Hattie and new how to get the best return on our investment.
A portion of his findings (which we conquer with in our own work) are below:

An effect size for the class of 0.86 is extremely positive and would rank this intervention strategy 6th in terms of its impact out of the 138 different interventions that John Hattie tested. It is also double the average effect size (0.40) from Hattie’s research. This is extremely pleasing and backs up what I have seen week by week in the class itself. The work rate of the students, along with their engagement and enthusiasm has lead to significantly better output. Given that I’ve spent a lot of time both researching flipped learning and then recording my videos, I’m over the moon with it’s impact in such a short space of time!

The entire blog can be found at:  http://www.edutait.com/?p=727

As we continue our work at Weaver and evolve in what a flipped classroom should look we also stay committed to its purpose and we find affirmation that the work we are doing is not going unnoticed.  We are feeling validated that our students needs are being met and for that we are continuing on the path of implementing this practice.

We have now moved into the next phase of our work and have tackled our websites (http://wms.hilliardschools.org/) ensuring that they are more than just a listing of our assignments.  Instead, our teacher webpages need to become an interactive location to share all parties knowledge and ask questions and expand on our learning from the school day itself.  It's a work in progress and one we are determined to refine.

So in the end, keep finding creative ways to flip.  And, try to find another practice that needs an innovative spin.  It's worth it!

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