Flipping your classroom is not easy. Not only do you need to create screencasts, which can be time consuming, but you need to prepare for your class each day. I am lucky as I along with some members of my math department at Lawrence Academy created most of the screencasts that we will need for our math 3 (Algebra 2) class.

To have a well-designed flipped classroom, you need to plan way ahead. Screencasts need to be prepared well in advance. Each day I need to prepare student-centered lesson around a screencast. Sometimes I will give the screencast for homework and then prepare a collaborative, creative lesson in class as a follow-up. Sometimes I plan a collaborative, project-based lesson where students have to discover the mathematical concepts that are the goal of the lesson. The screencast will then be offered for homework as a summary of what happened in class.

This all takes a lot of planning. At this point in time (4 days before the start of classes) I have planned out 8 lessons around my existing screencasts. Planning screencasts and lessons way ahead of time is not easy. The best method is to get the members of your department to work collaboratively. I will be meeting regularly with the members of my math 3 team each week. The hope is that we will all exchange good ideas for implementing flipped lessons.

Flipping takes a lot of work and a lot of time.  You need to prepare your screencasts as well as the class lessons.  However, the rewards for you as the teacher and for your students can be amazing. I am looking forward to Monday.