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Flipping Out Over Flipped Classrooms

The concept of a flipped classroom seems scary. Students doing the "lecture" portion at home and homework portion at school seems crazy, but it works. John Graney perfectly describes a flipped classroom setting in his article, Flipping Your EL Classroom: A Primer. He says "Learners gain control over their learning." I am a firm believer in that statement. When I first heard about the idea of a flipped classroom, I too, thought it was crazy and could never work. Once I was able to observe a flipped classroom in action though, I realized that by allowing students to do the "more cognitively demanding activities in class", the teacher was able to reach all students where they needed help most. It should not be assumed that students can go home and complete homework in a proficient manner. Not all students will be proficient. In my class, that statistic is closer to 25% proficiency at the end of a lesson. With a large ELL population, my students require more. Instead of sending home homework, I started sending home review sheets. The sheets are usually a half page and simply summarize what we learned today. I usually include a short practice activity that should be manageable for all of the students in my class.

With a flipped classroom, students also gain more time with their teacher. There is no doubt that this is only beneficial. Helaine Marshall describes how this time is beneficial in her article, Three Reasons to Flip Your Classroom. Helaine talks about how through a three step process, our ELL students gain the necessary skills to learn language successfully. By actively participating with their peers in class, instead of listening to a content lecture, ELL students are already building language and collaboration skills. In my own classroom, I have a similar concept. My students often watch a video prior to learning areas and then they go and complete an activity. It is truly amazing what a video or song can do for an ELL student. Many of them quickly understand concepts because they are presented in a different manner.

The concept of a flipped classroom may sound outlandish at first, but for many ELL students, it is the key to success. By extending time with the teacher within the classroom during key cognitive activities, ELL students have a higher chance of mastering concepts that they may not have mastered with regular, direct instruction.
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  1. UnknownOctober 28, 2017 at 6:03 PM

    I think adaptation and knowing your population is the key to making anything a success. It sounds like you are doing both. Students benefit from a wide variety of techniques and this is another one that can be used to their success.

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