Sometimes, my kids get sick. Sometimes, it snows. Sometimes, half my class is missing for an away game last period. In each of these situations, I have found it’s hugely helpful to have some digital content in my back pocket so that students can still have a useful class experience, even when we’re not in the same room together. Because the curriculum keeps advancing and students can work through this part of it independently, I am able to spend the quality time we do have together discussing at the Harkness table. The VLE affords me a great opportunity to do something productive with the students while we are apart, enabling our time together to be as effective as possible.
My favorite way to flip the classroom is to use SMART recorder to record an opening lecture for a unit or some other form of video lesson. This year, when it snowed just as we were about to start A Midsummer Night’s Dream in English 9, I was able to buy back valuable instruction time by recording my introduction to Shakespeare using SMART recorder, uploading it to youtube, and embedding that lecture on the VLE. For homework, the students watched the lecture, which meant we could read Shakespeare together in class. Rather than asking students to muddle through the first scene of the play on their own, I was able to provide hands on assistance as they worked through the text in the classroom. Delivering the lecture through the VLE bought me that time. It also allowed students to go back and check parts of the lecture when they had questions. While this method was a happy accident this year, I plan to always deliver the lecture virtually in the future.
I also once used the online discussion tool on the VLE to allow AP students to lead class discussions in which I could participate when I was away at a conference. I set aside our regular class time for students to read the novel, and then asked students to check into a digital discussion within a 6 hour window that evening. Students needed to post a minimum of one comment, but they wound up really engaging each other in dialogue, checking back several times over the course of the evening to see what others had said and respond. I was able to be online from my hotel in Boston and participate with the students in real time. While I definitely prefer to have these conversations in person and during the school day, as I prefer face-to-face interaction and am mindful of my students’ time in the evenings, in this instance, the VLE enabled me to remain connected to my students from another state.
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