Half-Flip? Un-Flip? Pre-Flip? Lot's of Options for Flipping Your Classroom

At TCEA13 there have been a ton of sessions discussing the Flipped classroom.  Generally speaking, "flipping" refers to assigning the major portion of the new assignment as homework in the form of a video or other on-line front-loaded work the student does outside of classroom and then using the time a teacher would normally be introducing the new concept for students to collaborate or for the teacher to clarify misconceptions, work with students who are struggling, or guide students through a more elaborate project.  However, through our discussions this week, the CISD staff has actually come up with some pretty interesting variations on flipping that may be more appropriate for teachers new to the concept, lower grade-levels, or classrooms without as much technology as we would like.
Our first idea was discussed in an early blog post.  It involves flipping a lesson for a smaller amount of students, our gifted and talented (GT) class of first and second graders.  If you have not read that post, please feel free to read it here.  This is a great way to allow our advanced students ample time to work on a project in a collaborative environment with little to no direct teach from an instructor during class time.
A second idea involves grouping students into Skill Builders and allowing the top three echelons of these students to work on a Project Based Learning lesson while the others are in remediation sessions.  We are discussing doing this with our first grade students.  Essentially, any student in first grade would be able to work on this PBL lesson with the consent of his or her teacher.  We have a schedule that lends itself very nicely to this sort of grouping because we have a 45 minute period built in 4 times a week for tutoring--isn't that amazing?  Simply put, one or two first grade teachers and myself (the Reading Specialist) and possibly the computer or library teacher would direct these students in a PBL or Inquiry Circle Project during that 45 minute block,.  The rest of the students would be grouped by skill gap and pulled by the rest of the first grade team or they would stay in rotation--PE, music, etc.  This would allow extra time for these students to collaborate and complete their end products.  How would this be fllipping?  I'm glad you asked!  We would front-load the information the students would need to know to research their topics and complete their projects either through videos they would need to watch at home or during their regular reading/social studies/science lesson time in class.  Many of these students finish their assignments quickly and they would have plenty of time to work on this while they are at school.
Yet another sort-of-flipping idea involves creating a lesson for students to watch at home or for students without the technology to watch during the beginning of the class period.  If our students have already watched the lesson, they can immediately begin working on the assignment while those who need to gather together to watch the lesson in one grade-level teacher's classroom.  This would also foster a learning environment of collaboration among the grade-level students.  It would no longer be necessary to look at students as belonging to a specific teacher per se, as we take the premise of "we own all students" one step further.
These are just a few of the great ideas we have had while collaborating at TCEA. Isn't it amazing how some great presentations and time to discuss can get brilliant minds creating?  We are thinking well beyond the walls of our classrooms, looking at the needs of all students, and creating an environment more suitable for the 21st Century Learner!

What ideas have you and your professional learning team come up with recently?  We would love to hear!

Let's Talk About Reading!

If you are able to read this blog, you probably had at least one outstanding teacher who invested a lot of time and energy into helping you develop your ability to understand the basic principals of reading.  If you are able to understand this blog, you probably had at least one teacher who taught you the fundamentals of comprehension. If you are really enjoying reading this blog, you certainly had an amazing team of teachers who instilled in you the value of acquiring knowledge via the written word. This blog will be a platform for me to share all of the wonderful teaching methods and strategies I learn through my role as Reading Specialist at an elementary school in suburban Dallas, Texas.  I am so lucky to have been mentored, trained, and given feedback by dozens of amazing teachers over the last 12 years and I've also been blessed to serve in this coaching capacity for the last 6 years, which has allowed me to visit the classrooms of outstanding educators and to participate in critical conversation about what works and what doesn't work.  I will be discussing phonics, decoding strategies, guided reading, comprehension techniques, project based-learning, technology and apps,  best practices in teaching and a number of other topics designed to help educators and parents assist the children they love in improving their reading skills and become life-long lovers of literature.
I will also be inviting you to join in the discussion!  Through your comments, questions, and even guest posts, you will become the architect of this blog and a valued contributor.  I love the saying, "What seems obvious to you is amazing to everyone else!"  You are an expert in many things and your contributions will always be valued here so please feel free to join the conversation.
Follow me on twitter, if you'd like at AmyVanHornCISD and be involved in the amazing conversations the teachers at CISD are having as we create the 21st Century Learner.  Education is growing more and more exciting each day and we all need to do our part to keep the momentum moving forward!
Tomorrow, I will be posting about the TCEA conference I am currently attending in Austin, TX.  Today's sessions were full of amazing apps, websites, tips, and strategies that can help our students not only learn at a faster rate but have fun while they are doing it!  I am very excited about the prospects this blog will provide and I hope you will follow along and join in!