Flipped Learning - the Beginning.

This week I created a range of flipped learning tasks for my students. For those of you who do not know what flipped learning is, it is a form of learning where students watch instructions or informative videos online at home. They then work through the problems in class. This approach allows me to spend more time interacting with students individually and helping them when they become stuck, rather than spending the time conveying the initial lesson. 

When completing a flipped learning task, students first study the topic by themselves by watching videos or listening to audio provided by the teacher. When students are in the classroom the time is used to apply the knowledge by solving the problems and doing practical work. 

I started by creating a video about different story genres. I created a large table and outlined eight genres that I wanted my students to focus on. I created a definition for each of these genres and thought of a book for each one. I made sure that the books I used as examples were ones which my Year Five students would know. 

I uploaded this video onto my YouTube channel and then embedded it on Edmodo. I scheduled it for the end of the school day so that students were not distracted by it during the day. 

This style of teaching fits in beautifully with my problem based learning tasks as it allows for students to work at their own level and pace. Having it on Edmodo meant that students could refer back to it the next day during class and pause it at different points whilst they completed the assigned tasks. 

The discussions that came from these videos where fantastic. As soon as students walked in the door they were sharing their knowledge and understanding with each other. 

I'm looking forward to implementing many more flipped learning tasks with my students.