So in 2014, I decided to try and convert my Freshmen Civics class to a Flipped classroom model. It failed in that, I wasn’t ready. Six years later, flipped classroom is my only choice to finish the school year. While I was looking through my blog and cleaning it up as my end-of-the-year activity I found this neat little list that talked about all of it. So much has changed in the classroom since then.

• Forbes: What is the Flipped Classroom
• Reuters: Moving beyond our vacuous education reform discussions
• Educause: 7 Things to Know About the Flipped Classroom
• Edutopia: Collection of Articles

For one thing, both schools have almost universally moved to a 1-to-1 format and become hyper dependent on cloud-based resources. Additionally, the school has heavily integrated technology in both the delivery of content and the assessment. I remember being one of the pilot classrooms in 2008 for the online version of KPREP testing in Kentucky. Starting last year, students at my school took all testing online via their Chromebooks. (Funny thing is that one of the students had set up a VPN to use at school and it locked out his computer during testing. He had his computer taken and replaced with another one.)

All that being said, I think we are seeing the fruit of this classroom experiment playing out. Parents and students are at home, working through school, and developing learning at their own pace. As a result, mentor educators are coming alongside and helping when asked and needed. Students are flourishing. Yet, we need to be aware of the other side of Flipped Classroom and Distance Learning Some students are social creatures. They thrive on the interaction at school and use it to fill their Emotional Quotient. In true they become leaders in the classroom. Right now that is not the case for those students. They are isolated, saddened, and barely holding on because the social aspect of school life is gone.

Teachers keep a weather eye on the horizon. Keep calling, texting, chatting, and communicating with the kids as we head into summer.