Thoughts and musings
I remember hearing the term ‘flipped classroom’ much later than I actually started implementing the core ideas behind the practice. Flipped Learning, in its official stance, is a pedagogical approach attributed to Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, who found that handing over autonomy to their students for engaging with their learning increased interaction and engagement. Although in its beginnings, a flipped classroom centred more around home learning, pre-teaching and the purposeful use of technology, the power of assigning the responsibility of the learning to the learners can be expertly embedded throughout a school day.
Over the course of my journey developing as a teacher, I have been incredibly fortunate to work with a number of diverse, inspiring and dynamic educators. The golden thread running between these practitioners has been that every teaching and learning conversation revolved around the most pertinent focus – the children. As a result of this, I have seen (and therefore myself implemented) a number of ways to naturally flip learning. The intention for this has to come at the lesson designing stage. You would be hard pushed to now find a classroom without an interactive board, where teachers diligently share their lessons directly from a screen. Some would say that the Covid-19 pandemic (where a number of us delivered content over a video call and, when returning to the classroom, pupils had to stay glued to their seats) increased the practice and frequency of “delivering a lesson” rather than encouraging the idea of flipping the steps to achieving the objective.
Learning experiences should be enjoyable - both for the teacher and the student. I am sure I stand with the majority when a number of lessons easily spring to mind which felt like a bit of a slog! It is true that there is undoubtedly pressure to teach a number of lessons in a day, a week, a term, a year! I invite you though to reflect on these tough lessons. Was it the objective that made the lesson feel so difficult or was it the lesson design? It could take just a small shift in the lesson planning and resourcing to promote collaboration, active learning and autonomy.
‘Talk-Less Teaching’, the name of a fantastically practical book written by Isabella Wallace, is a term which has stuck with me when exploring, considering and appraising my lesson design. The idea of ‘responsible teaching’ (as explored in the ‘Pivotal Podcast’ featuring Isabella linked below) I feel sums up the importance of reviewing the percentage of how much children are “doing the learning” and the extent to which the learning is being “done to them”.
Ideas and practical suggestions
So, how can opportunities for handing over learning to the pupils be embedded into daily practice? Below are two suggestions which I hope could be actioned with minimal time spent preparing. Think of these more as a shift towards intentionality when planning the delivery of your lessons. The objective, the content and the outcome will not need to change, it is the curation of the flow and organisation of, and preparation for, the lesson which will require your attention.
1. Flow and organisation
Nowhere is it stated that a lesson must start with the teacher leading the learning. A traditional lesson plan may follow these steps but this may not always be the best way to motivate and engage your students.
Why not try:
o A starter activity at the table? This may be an opportunity for the class to make predictions about new concepts or consolidate previous learning. You can scaffold discussion by making this into a quiz, a matching activity or even a treasure hunt!
o Staggering the learning? This is where your AfL knowledge is imperative. Groups need consolidation from the previous learning? They can start with a task at the table. Learners needing a challenge within the learning sequence? Facilitate this by presenting an open-ended activity which they can collaborate on. Consider the role of the adults in the room here. Are they rectifying misconceptions? Teaching a concept in a different way? Observing and making notes on a discussion?
o Making intentional use of home learning and morning tasks? Consider what the pupils need to know ahead of the lesson. Think about dynamic ways to use time outside of timetabled hours to support this. Designing investigative-style activities that may revolve around experiencing new vocabulary, calculations and conceptual ideas will warm-up the learning ahead of the lesson. Think outside the box here. Think awe and wonder! Consider ways to make this acquisition of knowledge purposeful and meaningful.
2. Preparation
So, you have the lesson slides and/or plan for your lesson ready to go. You have considered how the lesson will begin, what opportunities for staggered learning may take place during the course of the lesson and how learning outside the timetable will support it. So what about your resourcing? Are the children sticking in their tasks? Are they using an interactive learning device? It may be worth considering small alterations/additions you could make to increase engagement and movement during independent task completion.
Why not try:
o The little pots of choice? If you have a range of questions which can be answered in any order or are of a similar question-type pop these in a little pot. It is a small shift but I have seen first-hand the impact of this (my eternal thanks go to my University Mentor Teacher, Jen, for this one – 16 years of implementation and still having impact!) The children love the choice, are motivated to grab the next question and if you have the pots scattered around the classroom they can get a bit of a movement break to grab the next one. My favourites are from Ikea (linked below - sadly still not affiliated!)
o Deliberately considering classroom environments to “zone” learning areas to support staggered learning? Claire Gadsby’s book ‘Dynamically Different Classrooms’ is a firm favourite of mine for purposefully designing your classroom set-up to elevate student autonomy. The classroom becomes a fluid environment which supports and promotes independence. Fixed zones include ‘curiosity corner’ and ‘prove it place’ and there is also scope to consider your table set-up to allow for more transient, responsive zones such as a ‘coaching conference’ and an ‘expertise area’.
o AfL trays for the end of the lesson? This works best in line with your school’s assessment policy/approach. Instead of collecting the children’s books up, they carefully consider to what extent they feel that they met the lesson objective and place their books in the corresponding tray. This gives you so much tangible information about how children self-assess themselves. Are they over-confident? Lacking in confidence? Or not yet possessing the skills to evaluate their own learning? Tracking which tray the child puts their book in over time/in a certain lesson/at a certain time of day opens up a whole new portal of understanding about the child.
This is a fantastic article with so many actionable examples for the classroom. Flipping the classroom also works great with our ELL students who are able to take their time a little more and research in their own language to come to class with some content knowledge. It reduces cognitive overload during class time. I love your little pot of choice idea, definitely going to use that. Thank you
I loved reading this, Laura. I completely agree that allowing children to take ownership of their learning leads to far greater engagement and purpose, and creates a delicious buzz in the classroom!
Little adjustments can make all the difference.