Ten Questions

On his website, author and flipped learning guru Jon Bergmann recommends that anyone who is setting up a flipped class answer 10 questions.  They can be found by clicking here.  I have paraphrased the 10 questions and included my responses:

1. What will you flip?  I am teaching 5 classes this fall: 2 seventh grade English, 2 eighth grade English, and 1 public speaking class.  I will flip the 4 English classes.
2. Who will make your videos?  I will make them myself.
3. What software will you use to make your videos?  My budget dictates that I use free software for the time being.  I have narrowed it down to two programs: Jing and Educreations.  I intend to try them both and use the one with which I feel most comfortable.  (Someday, I would love to use Camtasia.)
4. Where will you place your videos for student access?  I have decided to use at least one of the following four options: my school LMS (learning management system), Google Drive, YouTube, or Edmodo.  My school is in the process of moving to a new LMS, and I have to wait until I return to school to determine if it is capable of meeting my flipped classroom needs.  Fortunately, there are many free or low-priced options available if my school's new LMS is not satisfactory.
5. How will you monitor student interaction with the videos?  I think I'll start low-tech and print guided question pages for students to use while watching the videos.  I may switch to using Google Docs in the future.
6. How will you communicate to your students how to access your videos?  I will demonstrate how to do access them in class as part of an introductory lesson on how Flipped Learning works.  I will also provide the students with the printed steps for accessing videos on the LMS that we end up using.
7. How will you teach your students to watch your videos for comprehension?  I will demonstrate how to interact with the video and answer the guided questions that I will provide.  I can differentiate this for each of my classes.  If most of the students in a class understand how to watch the videos, then I can move on to flipping the class.  I can work with any students who need extra help understanding how to watch the video in a small group while the rest of the class is working.  If most of the class needs extra time to make this adjustment, I can model this for several lessons, until most of them understand how to watch the videos.
8. How will you communicate to your students how flipped learning will change their experience at school?  I will communicate this to them verbally during the first video-watching lesson.  I will remind them of how often they understand something in class but struggle with it while they are doing their homework.  Flipping the class will mean that the video lecture and guided questions will be part of their homework, and that the majority of what is usually their homework can now be done during class time with the teacher and their peers available to help build or deepen understanding.
9. How will you communicate to your students' parents how flipped learning will change their child's learning experience?  I will either send a group email or a printed letter (possibly both) to my students' parents.  In it, I will explain what I explained to the students.  I will also include benefits for the parents: knowing exactly what their child is being taught, understanding their child's specific difficulties, and being better able to discuss their child's specific difficulties with the teacher.
10. How will you reorganize class time, now that lecture will not take up part of your time?  I intend for students to work either in groups or independently on assignments.  I will be able to circulate and assist students who need help, and I will be able to pull guided groups.  I see this becoming highly differentiated very quickly, so I think there will be time devoted to helping students set and reach goals.