The video includes the explanation of a particular academic subject with exercises designed for students to watch online at home and complete as part of their home work.
Endeavor math teacher Caitlin Huxel made sure all her students had digital access at home before embarking on the flipped approach to learning.
While at home, students view the video, which includes Huxel’s narration and her pointing with her fingers to pertinent parts of math formulas. The video lesson, which 12 to 15 minutes on average, then involves students solving the final equations based on the teacher’s explanations.
“So I’m going through notes as if I was standing up in the classroom but I’m doing here (video) they watch my hands and hear my voice. Then they do the exercises at home,” Huxel said.
Students can control the pace of the video too, unlike a teacher’s traditional classroom presentation of a lesson.
The advantages, said Huxel, come the next school day when students who successful solved the math problems at home can then continue to advance in the lesson while working independently in class.
Students who had difficulty with the at-home lesson can then get Huxel’s aid in one-on-one sessions in class so they can maintain pace with their classmates.
“The whole point of this is for me to get one-on-one time for the kids who aren’t understanding,” said Huxel. “That’s why I flipped it.
“I was using a ton of my time standing up and teaching and not being able to spend time with the kids who weren’t understanding.”
Esther VanAs, a student in Huxel’s class, is glad her teacher tried the ongoing experiment in learning.
“It’s very interesting because we get to do the main work at home. My grades are a lot higher and I can understand it a lot better,” said Van As . “It’s a lot easier to do the work.”
Endeavor school parent Meredith Wronowski said her daughter has thrived while learning in the flipped classroom strategy.
“It has helped my child grow tremendously. My daughter is able to watch videos that have been created by Ms. Huxel while she works through practice problems and homework,” Wronowski said.
“My daughter says the videos help her because they walk her through different kinds of problems step-by-step. This helps her figure out what she is still struggling with so that she can ask for help; the videos also help her review strategies that she is still learning.
“In just a single semester, our daughter has experienced significant growth in her mathematics skills and understanding. And as a parent, the videos allow me to see the strategies they are learning in class so that I can work with her at home.”
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