I was never a fan of the “flipped classroom” idea. You know, the teacher records the lesson, the students watch it at home, and then they can “do” homework in class the next day just in case they have a question.

Well, today is a different story.  Today, I cannot be in the room with the learners in my care to facilitate their learning.

I will confess that I dabbled with the “flipped classroom” idea as both a middle and high school math teacher back in the day.

Joking (halfway) with me, my students would comment that it was easier to pause me on video than in person.

So, here we are in this universal situation. How might we leverage video to offer students the time they need, the ability to press pause, and the luxury of replay and rewind? What might be gained if everyone watches the mini-lesson once, twice, or as many times as they need before they meet with their peers and teachers? How might we learn and grow together while apart?

I love this feature in Seesaw.  Students can take notes and go at their own pace. They can watch and listen more than once if needed.

Now, our face-to-face time has a more level playing field. Everyone had the opportunity to take the time they need to take notes and think about their structure as well as the regularity found in the repeated reasoning.

A quick check to begin class is to have partners compare their predictions for Figure 4 and refine if needed.

Here’s how I anticipated student work. Also, I know that Kristi is going to have them plot the order pairs (figure number, number of orange squares) on the Cartesian coordiante plane, so you’ll see that in my notes as well.

As I said… I dabbled years ago, and I am so grateful that I did.  The “flipped classroom” did not fit my philosophy then, but we sure need it now.

We love our students and our colleagues. We could not have imaged teaching and learning in this way, but it does now offer learners the time they need to think, to draw, to write, and to discover.

While we want to be together sitting side-by-side, we are harnessing the power of technology to afford learners the time they need.

Important time.

Deep foundation building time.

Learning is the constant. Time is a variable.