Who would have known almost a year ago that we would all have experienced such a monumental change in our lives that showed us just how important and effective having students in the classroom with us is for student engagement.  Who would’ve known?

Somewhere in the middle of my second year of teaching, I vividly remember a moment when I realized, it’s got to get better quickly - meaning, I’ve got to stop engaging more and working harder than my students when it comes to understanding the content.  I’m not the one taking the test and I care a whole lot more than they do.  Side bar - of you course you do, you’re the teacher in the room, but feeling exhausted at the end of the day because of all your hard work just to have black screens or non-engaged students is not what’s going to keep you going in this career field.  

No matter how long you’ve been teaching, this year and your experiences with distance learning have...

Hey there teacher friend!  Today I’ve got a bit of a different episode for you.  A few months back I sat down with Catherine Whitcher, the Master IEP Coach of specialedinnercircle.com and catherinewhitcher.com to chat about the possibilities of the flipped classroom in today’s education context and how the flipped classroom can serve teachers at the IEP table and their students.

This interview was done for Catherine’s podcast which I encourage you to go check it out, it’s called Special Education Inner Circle, and so she is actually interviewing me.  I loved our conversation so much that I wanted to share it on my podcast as well.  At the end of the episode you’ll hear me talk about dates long past for the Sustainable Teacher Challenge, but have no fear you can still go check that out here.

From a basic understanding of flipped learning to how the flipped classroom can serve you and your students long after distance learning, this...

I am so excited to officially join the conversation around many great topics involving improving your classroom environment.  The one I want to contribute to here is the flipped classroom.  As I've helped teachers flip their classrooms over the years, one of the most asked questions is how do I start???

What I hear when someone asks this is... I know the benefits of the flipped classroom, I know why it makes sense for me and my students (by the way, that is so amazing!  I know that more teachers could benefit from flipping techniques, so the fact that you are already in the know is an awesome step one), but I just need some guidance on how to make that happen, particularly at the start.

And you know what - I hear you.  When I first started my journey flipping my classroom back in 2012 it was a mostly lonesome road, as most journeys are for teachers who decide to make a big change in their classroom from one year to the next.  And that's ok, but...