A Practical Timeline for Flipping Your Classroom

So you’re interested in flipping your classroom but aren’t sure how to get started? Or you’re wondering how much time you should really expect to dedicate to creating videos? Settle in – you’ve come to the right place!

If the idea of flipping your classroom is giving you nightmares, take a deep breath – there’s no need to panic! The great thing about flipped learning is that it doesn’t have to happen all at once. In fact, it’s better if it doesn’t.

We’re breaking down what year one of flipped learning would look like by marking period, so you can start flipping your classroom at any time during the school year. You’ll see it’s not as overwhelming as you might think!

First Marking Period

Whether you want to start flipping your class at the beginning of the year in August or September or it’s your New Year’s resolution for January, how to get started will be the same.

For the first marking period that you’re implementing flipped learning, you’ll be starting off slowly. Begin with flipping one lesson per chapter or unit, depending on how your course is structured. Then comes the fun part – putting together your video!

If the idea of recording your own teaching video seems daunting or too time-consuming, you can always go for a ready-made video.

With the selection available on Edpuzzle, you can choose videos from popular channels like TED Talks, National Geographic, Crash Course and, of course, YouTube.

Just make sure that you don’t forget to add your own questions and even audio to personalize the video for your students and make it a dynamic, interactive experience. That way, you’ll be able to check your students’ progress through Edpuzzle and see who followed the lesson perfectly and who needs more help!

Second Marking Period

After you’ve gone through one full marking period using flipped lessons with some regularity, it’s time to up the frequency.

Now instead of just one flipped lesson per chapter or unit, increase this to two or even three if you’re up for it. Here are some of the impacts you should be noticing on your class by this point:

• Students have become familiar with the format of video lessons and the idea of learning at home and practicing in class.
• You have more class time to dedicate to practical exercises where you can circulate and help each student who needs it.
• Students prefer watching video lessons at home to traditional homework!
• The process of creating a video is getting easier for you (and hopefully, you’re also enjoying it!).

Remember to be patient with yourself as you navigate your new flipped class, and if you find yourself stuck at any point, reach out to your coworkers or the huge network of teachers on Twitter who are the perfect resource for advice and ideas!

Third Marking Period

Now that you’ve been implementing flipped lessons for half of the school year, it’s time to increase the stakes and record your own teaching video!

Depending on what you teach, if you’re camera-shy, you can always start out with screen-recording a video lesson using Edpuzzle's screen recording tool. This could mean recording yourself doing a new type of math problem, going through a presentation you’ve put together, reading a short story aloud as you go through the audiobook on your screen, or even going on a virtual field trip.

If you’re interested in how to record a teaching video of yourself, you’ll just need some basics like a camera, microphone and lighting. It could be as simple as using the tools built into your laptop or smartphone, or you can get more advanced if your school has its own equipment.

Once you’ve recorded your lesson, upload it into Edpuzzle, where you’ll add your comprehension questions, voiceover, etc. as always.

Like with anything new, there’s a learning curve, so your videos will get better and better with practice!

Fourth Marking Period

By the end of a full academic year of flipping lessons, try making one of your own videos per chapter or unit along with the ready-made videos you’re using.

That should bring your total to 3-4 flipped video lessons for each unit – you’ve come a long way in just a year! What you may be noticing at this point:

• Your students are fully on board with flipped learning and look forward to your video lessons.
• It’s taking you less time to put together a video lesson.
• You may be dedicating more time out of class to prep if you’re creating your own videos, but keep in mind that you’ll be able to recycle them from year to year!
• You’ve freed up more class time putting your students ahead of the game, and their results are improving!

The most important thing to keep in mind is that flipping your class is a process. A great way to increase your motivation is to get some of your fellow teachers on board, so you can borrow ideas and inspire each other along the way!

What Comes Next

After you’ve been at it for a year, your workload should ease up quite a bit. While it is a considerable time investment in the beginning to make your video lessons (especially if you’re recording your own), the payoff is that it’s content you’ll be able to use from year to year!

What you’re building towards is flipping all of your lessons, which you may be able to accomplish sooner than you think. You might also like to start replacing more of the ready-made videos you’ve used with your own videos if you pick up the knack for recording.

Remember to always keep your eye on the prize – the goal of flipped learning is to help free up more time for differentiation and personalized learning and give your students the best learning experience possible.

The Experts Say

Looking for more advice from the experts? There’s plenty to go around! Director of innovation and educational technology at Bullis School, Stacey Roshan, has published a book called Tech with Heart which is full of useful tips, like getting parents on board first during back-to-school night.

She’s also included a super helpful flipped class timeline on how she went from the traditional teaching model to becoming a flipped classroom all-star!

If you’re worried about screen time and the balance of online versus offline content in your classroom, check out blended learning expert Catlin Tucker’s advice on how to achieve the perfect balance.

As a final note, when in doubt, you can always throw out a question to the Twitterverse with the hashtag #flipclass and watch as the responses roll in...the online community of teachers will never let you down!

Speaking of Twitter, let us know how your flipped classroom journey is going with a shout-out to @edpuzzle. We can’t wait to hear how you’re doing!