Flipped Math Classroom
MSBA Conference, Session 1, Questions/Answers
On Thursday, January 12, 2012, two back-to-back presentations were given at the Minnesota School Board Association (MASB) annual conference. The presenters included Wayne Feller and Kristin Daniels (Technology Integration Specialists), Denise Cote (classroom teacher), Mike Dronen (Technology Coordinator), and Amy Jones (Curriculum Specialist). This is a transcription of the question/answer part of the first presentation.
Question: How many total students are involved with the Flipped Math project? How was the Summer Institute funded?
Wayne: We have six teachers participating, and each classroom has about 25 students each. About 150 students participate altogether. The funding for the Institute came from the Teaching and Learning Department. Considering that we are facing a shortfall of funds due to a failed levy referendum, we will need to be creative about finding sources of funding for the next phase.
Question: In your presentation you said the current pilot teachers do not want to return to the traditional way of teaching math. Why not?
Denise: With the flipped classroom, I have about 70 minutes to work with the students. In the traditional classroom I have 10 or 15 minutes to work with students.
Amy: The flipped classrooms are about a unit ahead of the other classrooms, and their unit test scores are showing higher levels of achievement. The students are spending more time with the content and getting it more quickly. The power is not in the videos. The power is in the instruction. That has been the amazing thing for me. The students are getting more content and mastering it at a higher level. We also have a lot of anecdotal information from parents that tells us they are learning this information with their kids. That has made a huge difference. We kept this pilot very tight. We didn’t let others see the videos. Only the students and their families were allowed to watch these videos. I have had requests from other fifth grade teachers and special education teachers. They want to know why they can’t see the videos as well. We decided to keep it very tight during the pilot phase so that we could evaluate and have true control classrooms. We hope that, in the future, we can open it up so that we can offer it to others. We have requests for very good educational reasons.
Kristin: In Mrs. Hoskins class, students who were “highfliers” worked in a small group to create their own math video for the other students.
Wayne: For me, the bottom line is differentiation. Instead of presenting the content at one pace for everybody in a class, the teacher manages a hands-on experience where there can be small group work with different paces and different activities in the same classroom. That differentiated experience creates a more rich classroom environment.
Kristin: One of the pictures in the presentation shows students working at a flip chart. Every day the teacher creates a chart with tough concepts and pulls out specific students to do work at the board there. This is an example of paying more attention to students who need higher levels of challenge.
Question: What role did your superintendent and school board members play?
Wayne: Initially when we developed the pilot project we didn’t need their permission because it was an experimental thing that we are doing with a few teachers. We then made a presentation in the first week of school to the school board in a work session. We told them what was happening and what we wanted to do. We exchanged numerous questions and answers and dived deep into the mechanics of the project. They were very enthusiastic about it. We gave a second presentation about three weeks later in a formal public school board meeting. At the end of that presentation the board chair told us the board was “giddy” about the work we were doing.
Question: Do you see applications beyond math? If your class sizes were to grow, would it make the classroom more difficult using the flipped model?
Denise: If the class grew to a larger size, the flipped classroom would be even more advantageous.
Wayne: Regarding the first question, why wouldn’t it be applicable to just about any content area you have? We have had these discussions and are considering other areas. We have talked about how and when. We have talked about the urgency with which we want educational change to be happening in our schools. Our perspective is that educational change is needed that matches the resources that we have and the needs we see in the world. We feel that we cannot afford to delay. The questions that we have center around how soon and how fast we can move, what resources can we muster, and what kind of buy-in we can get from our client teachers to embrace this. How quickly can this happen? We are struggling with the question of how we can offer what we have learned to others so that they can pick it up and run with it. How can we facilitate that?
Amy: We get a lot of questions about why we start with math. We have revised, revamped, and renewed our math program over the last few years. We could not have done this if we had been working on new standards, new content, or new materials. We have a very tight math program with a rigorous pacing calendar. We have some intervention pieces in place and some gifted/talented pieces in place. We had some things going already prior to this time.
Question: For the classroom teacher, does this require more time to plan and implement? How long did it take to create the videos?
Denise: There was a lot of upfront time in hours to make the videos. Thinking about the structure of the class is very different. You have students doing many different things. Finding things for those students to do takes time. What am I going to use to remediate? I use as much of the curriculum as I can, but there is still a need to do more. This first year has been a little more work. I expect that will be true next year as well if we continue. Typically, there is more work up front, but it has paid off now. On average, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to make the videos. Part of this time includes setting up the flipchart, getting out the manipulatives, and planning. The actual recording, however, only takes 5 to 15 minutes.
Question: With all of the videos being made, are they being shared?
Denise: Yes they are. The students in my class saw only 11 videos that were made by me. The rest of the videos were made by the other teachers.
Question: If you do expand your program and include your control groups, you pollute your control groups. If you don’t do that, and it turns out to be a worthy cause that advances students learning, in hindsight, how can you justify keeping out students that might want to take it the second half of the year?
Wayne: From our perspective, our intentions from the beginning were to keep an open mind. We had the belief that there was a great deal of potential with the flipped classroom, but no guarantees. We wanted to find out. The way to find out was to do a controlled project. We wanted to have a pilot group of teachers and a control set for comparison. We finished that phase. We are ready to make a decision about what to do next. As far as polluting the control group for the next phase, we are ready to look at the various assessments. When our data comes in, if we make the decision that this is in the best interest of children, and we decide to expand this project with buy-in from teachers, we will consider the pilot phase and the control phase to be done. Phase two would be an implementation phase for all if that is the direction we go.
Question: How to you decide who is going to be in the pilot and who is not?
Wayne: Initially, we went up to individual teachers and asked them if they wanted to be part of our pilot group. We deliberately recruited one teacher whose technology skills were well below average. A couple of teachers approached us because they wanted to be part of an innovative experience. We also wanted a distribution across schools. If we decide to expand, the invitation will be open for all to participate. Students do not participate at an individual level unless their teacher participates.
The pilot phase ends with the conclusion of Unit 5. For most teachers, Unit 5 concludes this week or early next week. The decision about phase two will be made soon.