Flipping Without Video

I see one of the most common questions about Flip being "can it be done without video" a la Dean Shareski's tweet today:

Can you flip a classroom without video? And if so was assigning reading like my teachers did in 1977, a flipped classroom?
— Dean Shareski (@shareski) July 3, 2012

So, as a non-video-creating flipper, I figured I should write about what I do to make my classroom flipped.


First, why don't I make videos? Vanity and practicality. I don't like my voice on video (let alone my ugly mug! kidding, I'm actually devilish handsome!) and I don't see my students having success trying to take notes from a video. Grade 6 is simply too young to take notes as a learning method, at least without some serious training, which defeats the purpose of flipping, imo.


So, what do I do? Well, I set up the structure of my class like a college class, with each unit being given in advance, syllabus style. I post my "I can" statements for the class, explain each of them and then let the kids know they will be able to explain all of these to me by the end of the term. And, then I let them know they get to approach whichever outcomes they want, in whatever order they want, in any way they want. This means my students who are physically oriented could make dances or models, kids who are musically oriented can make songs, boys (often) can make Minecraft representations to support what they are doing. 

And for each of these outcomes, I am available to help with as much or as little as they need. I provide all the resources, all the classtime (and lunchtimes if desired/needed) and all the encouragement they need. Then I can ask them to adapt or change what they have done if they do not head in the right direction (part of this is that the kids have certain outcomes they must meet for provincial testing). Plus, the goal is that for each outcome they meet, I can provide a assessment so they know how they are doing against the provincial requirements.


I feel it is the right balance of freedom and structure which my students need as pre-teens and for the parents who send their children to my school for high achievement.


You can check out my (pre-refurbished) flipclass for the unit I did for Air & Aerodynamics here