As I head into my final COETAIL course I am excited to experiment with flipping some of my lessons in my Intro to Art class. This particular class is very much focused on helping students to build their observation and drawing skills. In this course there are many little tricks that I teach my students in order to help them slow down and become better at observing. At times teaching these tricks can be a bit confusing in a live setting. From time to time when I am giving a live demonstration students are asked to pay attention to my drawing that is being projected, the object I am drawing somewhere in the room, and listen to what I am saying. This can cause the students to practically become dizzy as they direct their attention from me to the screen to the object. Although it is usually not too much for most of my students to handle it all depends on the lesson and the kids in the class.
This is where I started to imagine how occasionally flipping my lessons might help the students to stay more focused and hopefully retain more of what I am saying. If I use a simple split screen and talk over the video I can easily eliminate all of the focus obstacles that so often take place during my lesson.
I want to flip a couple of lessons in this class to see if there is any noticeable difference in the product that students develop. I’m hoping to see better understanding of the concepts being taught. I will be looking to see if more or less students are demonstrating understanding. I am also curious to see if the quality of the work changes. I am hoping to have more in class time for my students to work due to the fact that they will be watching my demo at home. Will this help the quality to go up and go down? They will also have a device in front of them to review the lesson if needed. This could also help for quality and understanding. These are not the only factors that could change in my classroom as I begin to flip lessons. Although these are things that I will be looking at first and foremost. I will also be sure to take note of other changes that occurred in the lesson due to the flip. I went into a little more detail about why and how I will flip my classroom Final Unit for course 4. Now it’s time to get rolling.
Cassandra Pupovac 
Hi Cassandra,
It sounds like flipping your classes will work really well for the types of lessons you’re talking. I started flipping some of my classes a couple of years ago and I’ve seen some really good results. I’ve always tried to minimize the time students have to sit and listen to me and maximize the time where I’m helping students individually or in small groups and flipping has really helped with that. Just like everything though it’s not the perfect solution so I just want to share a few things that I’ve noticed in flipping my classes.
– There has to be some kind of “motivation” for students to watch the videos at home, especially once the novelty factor wears off. For my flipped lessons I’ll usually start with some sort of check to make sure they’ve watched the video, this could be a quick q&a session, entry cards (just like exit cards), or even a very quick and simple pop quiz. As soon as they know you’re checking to make sure they watched the video they’ll get into the habit of watching it.
– Flipping a class takes a LOT of work, especially the first time you do it but it is worth every second you spend on it. The good news is that it does get easier, you’ll figure out a good system that works for you and before you know it you’ll be producing videos like a pro. And once you have that video you have a resource that you can keep using for many years to come.
– I would also encourage you to look around online to see if someone has already made a similar video. It’s usually a bit harder to find videos for non-core subjects like art but it’s worth a quick Google search to see what’s out there.
Good luck and I look forward to reading more about your Flipping experience, you won’t regret it!
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Hey Cassy,
Nice post on the flipped classroom. I was and still am hesitant on the flipped classroom in a mathematics class. I do like the idea in theory, but not sure in practice. I really think math is one of those subjects, where I’d feel more comfortable in my students learning from direct instruction rather than a video that I’d create. I also think it would take away from the learning journey and curiosity that comes with learning new content in math. In addition, it also takes a lot of prep and time for it.
I am really interest to see how your project turns out and maybe it can change my mind about the whole flipped classroom idea!
Good luck!
Brian
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