Module 5: Flipping Out

Our assignment for the class’ fifth module was creating a classroom flip video. A classroom flip model turns the traditional model of instruction around. In other words, instead of the teacher presenting new content to students during class and then having the students complete assignments after class, the “lecture” part is presented online before face-to-face meeting. The content we had to present in our flip projects needed to be subjects that will eventually be used by the students in our field placements. They also needed to align with a standard for the grade that those students are in. My placement was in a special education school called Elim, and the classroom had students who were in 2nd through 5th grades and who all had autism. During my time in that placement, I noticed that one of the students did not seem to know how to identify the different parts of sentences (nouns, adjectives, verbs). Because of this, I chose to create an Adjectives presentation based on this third grade Illinois standard: L.3.1.a Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences. With PowerPoint as my tool for the lesson, I explained the three questions for adjectives (What kind? Which one? How many?) and went over some practice sentences at the end. I also recorded the presentation, with narration, by using PowerPoint so that my students would be able to watch the lesson on PowerPoint. I was not able to upload it to my portfolio, however, so I converted it to a Youtube video which you can watch by clicking here. After making this presentation, we had to create a Google Quiz for the students to take after watching the lesson. This was easy because I only included the same level of questions in order to match the developmental needs of the students in my placement. Overall, the presentation and quiz were easy to make and I could see this as being a benefit for some classes. One concern I have about it, however, is the possibility that not every student will have complete access to Internet at home which would prevent them from learning the lesson before the next class period. Another concern is the possibility that students will not watch the entire video and just skip ahead to where the answers are displayed for the example questions. Therefore, I think it is best not to rely too heavily on flipped classrooms.