How can the teacher make “homework” achievable and class time meaningful for all learners?
In this busy time where people often have too many things to do in a day, some learners found that making it to class was constantly in competition with sports schedules, dance competitions, science fairs, or dentist appointments. Consistent completion of homework also proved challenging for all learners. Too often, those who took time at home to work on math problems were unable to move forward due to the difficulty of the content. Progress was only happening for those learners who could learn math easily and quickly or who didn’t have extracurricular commitments competing with their studies for time.
In response, along came the flipped classroom model.
Using this pedagogical approach, learners were given access to anytime learning with teacher-made math videos matching their typical classroom lesson or direct instruction. Using this model, learners managed their own time around their busy schedules with the goal of staying up to date with classroom progress. They were assigned two to three videos a week to watch at home, with each video being about 10 to 15 minutes in length. This approach also involved weekly homework connected to the videos that learners could accomplish without the help of a teacher or tutor. The dynamic nature of the videos meant that learners could also pause and replay the content or explanation as needed, thereby meeting the learners’ individual learning needs. This was an exceptionally powerful component of the videos in this French immersion context where the language can at times be a barrier. Learners were offered suggested deadlines to watch the videos and complete the corresponding work to assist them in staying connected to the classroom pace.
Class time became dedicated to whole-class or small-group discussions and getting learners to solve problems. Sometimes directed by the teacher and sometimes led by the learners themselves, problems would be solved by groups at the whiteboard. Learners could also work individually on a task or ask questions that were pertinent to their learning. Often, they organically found themselves in a discussion on how to progress through a difficult problem. They were offered the opportunity to manage their own time in and outside the classroom to best fit their world. Learners had to think critically about how to best fit their learning into their schedule while still maintaining classroom progress. They had a responsibility to work on what was important for them to learn that day. No longer told what and when they were learning, they were co-designing their own learning.
The teacher also prepared outcomes-based problems for learners to test themselves when they felt they had gained sufficient knowledge of the content. They had to make a judgment on their understanding for assessment readiness. Feedback was provided at the next class to encourage them to either move forward or to clear up misconceptions or misunderstandings. They were allowed to make multiple attempts to encourage the understanding that mistakes are an important part of learning.
Using this model, learner investment was high, as they were all learning different things at different times, but all were working towards the same goal in ways that met their individual needs as learners.
Teacher-led activities to incorporate with the flipped classroom include the following:
