The Flipped Classroom: Parental Information

Dear Parent(s)/ Guardian(s),

I am sending this letter home with your child to explain to you a new teaching concept that we will be implementing in our classroom this year.  The new method of instructional approach that I will be using this year, in our classroom is called a Flipped Classroom.  This approach may be unfamiliar to you as it is a fairly novel approach to teaching.  The main concept behind this approach is that lesson instructions will be provided in video format and will be given to the student the night before.  Student’s will then come to school the next day and work on an assignment based on the previous nights lesson.   

One of the benefits of the flipped classroom is that it allows students to learn the material on their own time and at their own pace.  Student’s can view the video as many times as they like and are encouraged to speak with their parent(s)/guardian(s) or consult other internet resources for further clarification if there is something in the lesson that is confusing to them.  Another benefit of this approach is that the videos will always remain available for viewing, allowing students to review a previous lesson(s) before a test.  

The flipped classroom eliminates the traditional one-way, one-time approach to instruction.  Students will understand the lesson at a more meaningful level than what a one-time, one-way in class instructional approach offers.  It is also the hope that they will come to class with questions that otherwise may have been skipped over and never answered.

As eluded to earlier, after viewing the lesson the night before students will come to school they next day and will work on assignments that will reinforce what they have already learned.  By learning the concept at home and doing the assignment in class the idea of “homework” is flipped so that work that would traditionally be assigned for homework can be completed in class with the assistance and expertise of the teacher.   

As an initial introduction to the flipped classroom I have instructed the students to view this Khan Academy video explaining long division.  The link to the video is  http://goo.gl/UwtPpA.  To watch this video, simply type the link into the address bar of your internet browser.  I encourage you to watch this video with your child and help clarify any areas of the instructions that are giving her/him problems.

I will be primarily using Khan Academy for my instructional videos throughout the year.  However, there are additional websites that provide the same services as Khan Academy that I will be using occasionally.  These additional sites are Teachertube (http://goo.gl/e7d9NH) and Edutopia (http://goo.gl/9AVDsT).  I encourage you to explore these sites with your child so you both may familiarize yourselves with them.

Finally, I am sensitive to the fact that home internet access may not be available for everyone.  However, the public library as well as the community centre both have computers that can be used to access these websites.  

If you have any additional questions or concerns please feel free to contact me so we can discuss this exciting opportunity.  

Sincerely,

Mr. Hiller