Where To Begin?
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Wow! So much to think about! Where to begin? Can I even make a video? Can I start flipping in the middle of the semester or should I start at the beginning of a semester? How will students react to the videos? Can I make videos fast enough to keep pace with the curriculum?
I learned about flipping in the middle of second semester and had to decide if I could flip my class the following year. I knew I needed to be consistent having videos ready to assign as homework if I wanted my students to become accustomed to watching the assigned videos. I started by making videos for lessons I was currently teaching since the topics were fresh in my mind. At the same time, I continued lecturing as usual in my classes that semester.
I made most of the videos for second semester before the end of that year. The week before final exams, my students watched these videos during class in the school’s computer lab as part of their review. It worked well for students to pause the videos and rewind as necessary. Students had favorable responses to the videos. Some even continued watching videos at home as they reviewed for the final exam.
The favorable reactions I received gave me confidence and over summer break I recorded most of the lessons for first semester. I still had a few lessons later in first semester to record after the new school year began. I admit I much preferred having videos ready to go well in advance. While it might work for some teachers, I do not like the stress involved with “just in time flipping”.
By having my videos prepared ahead of time, each week I could focus on planning the classroom activities for that week’s upcoming lessons. I discuss more about planning the classroom activities in my blog posts "A Typical Day In My Flipped Algebra Class" and "Some Of My Favorite Algebra Activities". You can also see my FREE video for teachers "How To Use Class Time When No Longer Lecturing".