Hey there!  Did anyone notice that I have fallen off the blog planet lately?  You know how the first several weeks are perfect and you have everything planned, copied, and ready to go…then real life hits you and you are SwAmPeD?!?!?!  That has been me these last couple of days!  But today, I had to share a post about my flipped classroom set up!  
Several weeks ago, I posted a FB question that asked if anyone out there uses a “flipped classroom” model.  I wanted to see what others were doing, what programs and routines they implemented, and so on.  Well guess what, NO ONE even knew what it was!  Therefore, I had to do a little post to share a peek inside my flipped classroom!

So what a is a flipped classroom anyway?  It is a basically taking the idea of what is typically done in the classroom (teacher instruction) and what is usually done at home (practice problems for homework) and FLIPPING them!

For homework each night, my students have a short video that they must watch for their homework.  I create my videos using Educreations but you could also use videos from YouTube or Kahn Academy.  As they watch, they take notes and record any definitions, examples, or problems that I complete throughout.  My videos are typically between five and ten minutes.  Students often need to pause in order to write down the definitions or rewind if something doesn’t make sense to them.  In total, most of my students spend approximately fifteen to twenty minutes per night working on math related homework.

When they walk in the door for math class each morning, I check to see that they have completed their notes, address any blaring issues that I see at the time, and pass out an Exit Ticket.  The students will complete their Exit Ticket without any help or assistance from me.

As I collect them, I sort them into groups.  Typically, the skill typically determines how I sort them.  For example, on the day that I snapped this picture, I sorted tickets by:
 *Students who were able to correctly answer all three questions
 *Students who missed questions due to math fact issues
 *Students who didn’t add in a number they carried
 *Students who were completely clueless to the process.

On other skills, I might just sort them by who got them all correct, who missed one, who missed two, ect.

From there, I have activities designed to target each group.  Sometimes, all groups have the same activity and the only thing that is different is addressing their specific needs whereas other times I need manipulatives or other resources to address them.  This varies, of course, by the skill.  
From there, I am able to easily make use of my special education support, RTI support, and cadet teachers.  When they walk in my door, I am able to hand them a few exit slips and an activity.  What I LOVE about this is that on *most* days in my classroom, I am able to have at least 75% of my students working in a group of less than four students and addressing their specific needs.  
When students are not being pulled into a group, they work on Bubble Pages in order to keep them doing meaningful activities without needing to be closely monitored by others.  
I have also heard of many teachers including videos into morning work, math centers, or other independent work time if the technology is not available for students to take home the iPads for homework.  This still allows “math class” to be used for addressing specific needs!  

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