As more and more schools and classes are using Google Classroom for teaching, there are new and innovative teaching trends and methods that are becoming more popular. Flipping the classroom is one such trend that a lot of teachers are adapting. So what is “flip the classroom” and how do you flip a classroom on Google Classroom?
Flip the Classroom
Flipping the classroom is a method of teaching in which you flip the traditional strategy of teaching in a classroom. Traditionally, you would teach something in class and the students would do exercises about what they have learned at home. By flipping the classroom, you assign the students to learn the stuff beforehand at home, and then do the exercises in class.
A flipped classroom aims to increase student activity and engagement in a class by giving them activities to perform. Students get to have a mentor or a guide there to help them solve problems, instead of having teachers during the learning process which is less engaging and more about listening.
3 Ways to Flip a Classroom on Google Classroom
Google Classroom is perhaps the perfect aid to flip your classroom. It allows you to assign students to learn at home and then they can come to class the next day and solve problems based on what they learned. It also allows you to organize and reuse your content, so it’s the perfect tool for flipping classrooms. Here are some ideas that you can use.
- Assign a video to watch, discuss the next day
You can prepare lectures and presentations and upload them to the Classroom on the day before your class. This way students can watch the lecture and get a good idea of what you’re teaching beforehand. When they are with you in class, you can just dive right into answering questions and solving problems.
There's no need to waste time on delivering the lecture, and you can have more time addressing topics that the students need help with. You can hold a discussion and allow conversations in class. This way, everyone can go at their own pace, and students who are a bit behind can use your help in class.
- Assign lecture video and problems, solve the next day
Another thing you can do to flip your classroom is to assign a few problems or a worksheet along with your lecture video. This way students can do the learning at home, in a quiet environment, and start working on problems to get a better understanding.
The next day in class, you can just help them solve the problems they are having trouble with. This way the students have access to you when they need you the most. You can separate them into groups and they can also help each other. It’s a much more interactive and engaging class, compared to a boring one-way lecture.
If you are worried about accountability and cheating in allowing the students to learn at home. Then you can use Safe Doc which comes with tons of features that can help you keep your students accountable. There are ways to filter content and make your students focus on the work and so much more.
- Assign different lectures to different students
A very cool feature of Google Classroom is that you can assign different tasks to different students. This is known as differentiated instructions and it allows you to account for students who are perhaps neurodivergent or slower to catch on with certain topics.
Everyone moves at a different pace when it comes to learning. Differentiated instructions allow your students to go at their own pace. And they can come to you in class to discuss their problems. Different students can discuss different chapters in the same class, as long as they are keeping up with the lectures at home. This way no one has to feel left out.
Conclusion
So now that you know what is flip the classroom and how to flip a classroom in Google Classroom. You can use this strategy to make your teaching more engaging and effective. It’s high time we let go of the traditional methods, and start using these more inclusive ideas to teach and make learning fun again!
