3 Must-Have Flipped Classroom Procedures

This week I want to be sure that I'm giving you as much practical flipped classroom strategies as possible.  No matter the flipped classroom model you choose (which you can learn about in the Ultimate Flipped Classroom Starter Kit here), you want to rely on solid procedures in your class.  

In this post, I will be bringing you the major three themes and desires behind procedures I had in my classroom, and what I recommend to all of the teachers in my online course, Flipped Classroom Formula.  These are absolute musts for any thriving flipped classroom.

1. Student Content

In my online course, Flipped Classroom Formula, there is an entire MODULE on just this topic... student content and what that looks like.  Here's the big secret... student content is NOT your videos.

Shocker, I know.

Here's the thing, you HAVE to have a procedure for what your students will be doing when they watch your videos.  You can't just leave them out for the wolves and hope they make it through.  Nope, you've got to provide them some scaffolding because, for most students, this is the first time they'll be watching an academic video and actually need to get something out of it.

They WILL need some help.

You've got to give them guidance on what they should be doing while watching your videos and on what they should be doing.  That could mean you take some time to teach Cornell style notes.  That could mean you create guided notes for them (although I advocate you find those online and tweak them for your purposes if necessary).

Which leads to the next one...

2. Student Accountability

... what will they then do with those notes they take?

It's nothing new if you've been hanging around here on the blog or in our Facebook group, the Flipped Teacher for any amount of time, that in the flipped classroom you MUST hold students accountable for taking notes from your flipped videos.  You can NOT take on the assumption that many teachers do when they say, "Well, it's on the test, so they'd better take the notes or they'll fail."

In my opinion, that's just not acceptable in the flipped classroom.  Your students are human beings... they aren't just kids, they are humans, and when you give humans a mile (especially young ones), they take a mile.

You must have a procedure around how you will hold students accountable for their notes.  And here's my big recommendation here... you CAN'T collect their notes.  You just can't.  It's not worth the time and effort to do so, and there are way more efficient ways in doing this.

I use stamps in a binder system that I lay out in FCF, but have also used forms of cold-calling (I know, ultimate evil teacher), and even notes quizzes that are sometimes pop quizzes.  

The system must be manageable for you, and there are totally ways you can do this that allow you to see every student's notes every single day without requiring hours on end of your time.

3. Student reflection

Lastly, I want to bring your attention about something in the flipped classroom.  It is meant to streamline and simplify your classroom.  That's what these procedures are all about.

But, something else it does very well is magnify the holes in your students' understanding that have always been there, you just didn't know it.

Enter the even more crucial, student reflection. 

There so many ways to do this and, thank goodness, because students need to do it A LOT!  So many students think that learning just happens with a click of their heals and they either get it or they don't.  Whereas reflecting on the effort AND work they put in helps them see that learning is an incredibly active process.  And that's what you're here for, right?  To get your students to be more active in your classroom.  You can totally do that by flipping it, and you can do it really well.

Here are some points within your classroom where I recommend your students are reflecting in some fashion.

1. When the course first begins - set goals, reflection on past performance, and expectations for this course.
2. After every quiz or shorter assessment (needs to be quick).
3. In individual conferences with you as often as possible (I recommend once per quarter - IN CLASS, because ain't nobody got time to conference with EVERY child once per quarter outside of class... and that's all possible to flipping).
4. After EVERY unit (or larger) assessment.
5. BEFORE every largest assessment, like midterms, exams, or end of course exams (state testing, AP Exams, etc.)

I will be incredibly honest with you here... flipping your classroom is IMPOSSIBLE if you don't have these procedures (and more) in place.  Frankly, teaching is impossible without procedures that run like well-oiled machines, but so many of us go about our days without them, and eventually it catches up to us.

Especially in the flipped classroom.  

I would even go so far as to say that your flipped classroom will never thrive like you want it to without the procedures helping it be successful.

And that is what the Flipped Classroom Formula is all about.

My online course, that I built after flipping my own classroom for almost 10 years, will be opening for enrollment again officially TONIGHT in my first FREE webinar called 3 Behind-the-Scenes Insights to Flipping Your Classroom.

In this FREE, one-hour professional development session from your COUCH, I will pack in all kinds of insights that will help you get your flipped classroom off the ground and running.

Yes, I'm going to tell you about my online course, but that's only one-tenth of the hour.  The rest of it will be spent on tangible, practical, use-tomorrow strategies because I will NOT waste your time with anything less than that.

And, because I really don't want you to miss a thing, join me over on The Flipped Teacher this Thursday where I'll go LIVE, no registration required to talk more in depth about this post and give you a chance to ask questions as well.

There's so many opportunities for us to connect, and that's really the only way that I will be able to support you in your endeavors of your classroom - no matter what they are.  That is truly what I'm here for, is to support YOU, because I believe without support, our career field will be even more undervalued, understaffed, and even less effective.

We can do this.  And I can help.

All my best,