Welcome back to Flipping the Focus.
In the last post to this blog, I described an internet-based service, EDpuzzle, for hosting your own videos--videos that you can edit and to which you can add assessment items. Altogether, this service has the potential to help educators help their students make the most out of the videos they're watching both in and out of the classroom. In conjunction with the post, a professional learning opportunity was posted and is accessible by all--this opportunity is still available ... feel free to check it out.
This week, Sandy Pignon--Grades 4 and 5 teacher at Kemptville Public School, Upper Canada DSB--shares her experience re: a flipped model of learning in the elementary grades (see below). I am thankful to Sandy for sharing her experiences with you, in this forum, as I believe that there is much to explore and much for teachers and students to gain by considering how flipped learning could tranform the teaching and learning experience in the elementary years.
In advance, I thank you for your interest in our writings and look forward to your comments to this and other postings.
Questions? Feel free to contact us at flippingthefocus@gmail.com.
Sincerely Yours,
Chris Stewart, OCT
Program Resource Teacher-Mathematics
Upper Canada DSB
Brockville, ON
In the last post to this blog, I described an internet-based service, EDpuzzle, for hosting your own videos--videos that you can edit and to which you can add assessment items. Altogether, this service has the potential to help educators help their students make the most out of the videos they're watching both in and out of the classroom. In conjunction with the post, a professional learning opportunity was posted and is accessible by all--this opportunity is still available ... feel free to check it out.
This week, Sandy Pignon--Grades 4 and 5 teacher at Kemptville Public School, Upper Canada DSB--shares her experience re: a flipped model of learning in the elementary grades (see below). I am thankful to Sandy for sharing her experiences with you, in this forum, as I believe that there is much to explore and much for teachers and students to gain by considering how flipped learning could tranform the teaching and learning experience in the elementary years.
In advance, I thank you for your interest in our writings and look forward to your comments to this and other postings.
Questions? Feel free to contact us at flippingthefocus@gmail.com.
Sincerely Yours,
Chris Stewart, OCT
Program Resource Teacher-Mathematics
Upper Canada DSB
Brockville, ON
SANDY PIGNON, OCT
It is not a secret that in the elementary school setting, parents are truly the key holders to a successful Flipped Learning model. Yes, I tell my students that it is their responsibility to go to my website, open the homework tab and watch the videos posted there for them. But the truth remains: they are young children who need their parents' support to ensure that they are using the internet in a safe way and that they are completing their 'homework' requirements. To my parent community, I am very grateful.
But here is what surprised me most so far about Flipped Learning in a junior classroom: It not only facilitates student learning in a quiet, 'safe' environment, but it allows PARENTS to learn alongside their child. I know ... that sounds a bit ... "over the top". It even sounds that way to me, as I write it. Let me explain.
During the second week of Flipped Learning, I had a parent approach me and ask whether my flipped lessons were covering grade-level material. "No, as it stated in the video; we were reviewing some of our primary, adding strategies such as doubles facts for single digit numbers," I explained.
He was truly not aware that this was a 'lagging skill' for his child.
Armed with the new information, building basic math facts became a priority in his and a few other households in September.
At our school Open House, I was curious to hear reactions to the Flipped Learning. Almost all the parents were supportive and a few asked me to clarify how adding strategies (such as double facts, compensation, etc.) would help with multiplication later in the year. They had only considered repeated addition as an alternative to memorizing multiplication facts. Why? Because rote memory and algorithms are the way they learned multiplication.
Finally, just last week, I had a parent explain to me that when she was in grade three she missed almost her entire school year due to illness. She now watches each and every video with her child and is learning strategies alongside him. She commented that, even as an adult, she had no idea that there were strategies to make adding easier.
Flipped Learning is a rewarding, and sometimes, surprising journey. When I started, I knew that parents were a key stakeholder in their students' success. I never stopped to consider, however, that some parents may be on a journey of their own.
The bottom line is that although parents have a big role to play in the success of Flipped Learning in elementary school, one should consider the value it may hold for the parents personally or in their ability to support their child's learning.
Sincerely,
Sandy Pignon, OCT
Grades 4, 5
Kemptville Public School, UCDSB
But here is what surprised me most so far about Flipped Learning in a junior classroom: It not only facilitates student learning in a quiet, 'safe' environment, but it allows PARENTS to learn alongside their child. I know ... that sounds a bit ... "over the top". It even sounds that way to me, as I write it. Let me explain.
During the second week of Flipped Learning, I had a parent approach me and ask whether my flipped lessons were covering grade-level material. "No, as it stated in the video; we were reviewing some of our primary, adding strategies such as doubles facts for single digit numbers," I explained.
He was truly not aware that this was a 'lagging skill' for his child.
Armed with the new information, building basic math facts became a priority in his and a few other households in September.
At our school Open House, I was curious to hear reactions to the Flipped Learning. Almost all the parents were supportive and a few asked me to clarify how adding strategies (such as double facts, compensation, etc.) would help with multiplication later in the year. They had only considered repeated addition as an alternative to memorizing multiplication facts. Why? Because rote memory and algorithms are the way they learned multiplication.
Finally, just last week, I had a parent explain to me that when she was in grade three she missed almost her entire school year due to illness. She now watches each and every video with her child and is learning strategies alongside him. She commented that, even as an adult, she had no idea that there were strategies to make adding easier.
Flipped Learning is a rewarding, and sometimes, surprising journey. When I started, I knew that parents were a key stakeholder in their students' success. I never stopped to consider, however, that some parents may be on a journey of their own.
The bottom line is that although parents have a big role to play in the success of Flipped Learning in elementary school, one should consider the value it may hold for the parents personally or in their ability to support their child's learning.
Sincerely,
Sandy Pignon, OCT
Grades 4, 5
Kemptville Public School, UCDSB
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