I am a Math Educator from Kelowna, BC, Canada. I use the Flipped Classroom as the method of instruction for my classes, in this blog I will share about the Flipped Classroom and much more. Enjoy and please comment!
My Website: www.mathjohnson.com
My YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/mathjohnson
flippingmath 
Hey math_johnson,
Thanks for putting up this blog. Very inspiring. I just started a flipped classroom test group. One class, one quarter. To see if I like it or not, turns out I love it. The only issue I have with it is how to grade the kids. Currently I am grading by progress and requiring mastery of each lesson/quiz/test before moving on. But I would like to know of other grading strategies as well to compare/incorporate/or just flat out steal. So… would you mind sharing? Thanks
Tyler Davis
Hey Tyler.
I wrote you an email but I haven’t heard back from you.
I just saw this blog and I love it! I have been transitioning to flipped and flipped mastery since the beginning of the school year. I have questions. What do you mean by saying students “write tests”? Do they write their own test? How do your students know what to learn? I currently use a learning guide/packet that I create with guided notes that match my videos. However, students (in their seemingly never ending search to spend more time avoiding learning than actually learning) sometimes just copy each others’ guided notes. So, I liked your idea of journaling. Do they do this for every lesson? I think if they can express the concepts in their own words they will have a better understanding than simply filling in blanks one guided notes. However, I had to start somewhere to ensure they were actually learning something and my students need lots of help with notetaking. So, I guess what I really need are some specifics as to how you do this mastery part of learning. I may need to copy or adjust for my own situation, but I need help. Thanks!
Hi Heather,
My students don’t make their own tests, they do them on their own. Maybe it is a Canadian way of saying students take a test!?!?!
I give my students a lot of flexibility. If they don’t want to take notes then I let them. I want them to learn if they can be successful with this method or not. No different than if students want to learn by reading the textbook or watching a different person’s videos. I have found that by lengthening my leash on some of my students their have been some crash and burns but more often than not student learn to take responsibility of their learning.
My students journal I would say a couple of times a unit. They do their quiz corrections in their journal, we do summaries, and sometime I give them prompts to write about off the top of my head.
I have had a number of questions lately about how I assess so I think my next blog post will focus exactly on that. Hopefully it’ll be done by the end of the week.
Thanks for your comments and questions!!! 🙂
hello!
i am new to trying out flipped model in my 7th grade math class. i would like to try the mastery flipped model but i have a couple questions. first, how do you give them a grade? is it all based on how they did on the summative test? or do you give them a grade for notebook and rewritten quizzes? also… since it is self paced, do you ever have a group work activity so on? or are all activitiess/lessons/wks made to be an individual activity and they can get help from partners or you, so on? thank you once again im thinking of moving towards a mastery model if i can get it to work for me. oh, last question. if they dont pass the quiz, is there some sort of intevention lesson? or they just do corrections and have options to rewatch video, so on?
Hi Alethia,
My grade comes exclusively from the summative assessment tests students take at the end of a unit. The other activities in class (quizzes, assignments, in-class work, etc.) are for formative assessment only. My philosophy is that all the other activities are practice and where the learning happens. So if a student struggles on a quiz as an example I want them to learn from that experience and not feel like they have lost out on credit.
Almost each class we have a class activity where all students answer questions together or interact with the content in some way. Since it is self-paced, for some it is a previous, other it is a review, but for the majority it is where they are at. I have found that this works quite well for everyone.
If a student don’t achieve mastery on a quiz, then they touch base with me and we look at what the ebst course of action is. Often it is just going over the quiz together, sometimes I’ll get them to do a couple more practice questions…really just depends on the situation. Then once we feel they are ready to try it again they can have at it!
I hope this helps. All the best!
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
My pleasure!!!
Hello Graham,
I am an instructor from Manitoba and I have been in the process of flipping my linear algebra classes and I am getting lots of positive feedback on this! A colleague and I are looking into using the flip-mastery system for a pre-calculus workshop that we offer here and I was wondering if I could ask you a few things via email? Looking forward to hearing from you 🙂
Absolutely Bryan, my email is graham.johnson@sd23.bc.ca.
Hey,
Just website seems to be down. Just giving you a heads up.
Thanks for everything you’re doing.
Take care
Cheers William.
Doing a bit of a renovation right now! 🙂
Flipping my classroom this year and enjoyed your presentation on your classroom. How long are your class periods? My classes are 50 minutes, 4 days a week.my class is run very similar to your with the exception of flex time ( which I feel like I have time for). My videos are assigned outside of class. Any time management suggestion. I would love no homework but don’t know how feasible it is.
Hello!
Thx for the comments. Our class periods are unique. They are 80 minutes and we have them back to back. So on any given morning or afternoon students have math for approximately 2 and a half hours split up by a short break. It has its pros and cons. In regards to your question I found that the Flipped Classroom learnt itself nicely to a self-paced environment. So some classes are very structured where we are doing activities together but other blocks students have a chance to work on what they need to get done and what is a priority to them. At first I didn’t think I had enough time for this or that it would be beneficial but over the last couple of years myself and my students have grown to love flex time. I think it really gives students the opportunity to take responsibility for their learning and also work on learning what works for them.
All the best.
Meant do NOT have time for Flex.
Hey Graham, your idea of a math class is awesome! This is where we should all go. In order to get there teachers need the support from people like you. If your interested in presenting/keynoting about your philosophy and skill set let me know. E-mail me at wes@deeplearners.com Cheers!
Thanks for the kind words Wesley!
I’ll be in touch.
This blog is perfect. I am a 7-12th grade learning support math teacher. I just finished a course on teaching with an iPad. It inspired me to try flipping my classroom. I can’t wait to give it a try and look forward to your blog to help me do so!