My school is planning to implement flipped classes this year. We will need to plan how we will implement this change in the school. I will lay out my plan on how we can successfully implement these changes.
Training
In order to have an honest dialogue and build support for a change, we will need to inform the teachers what flipping a classroom means. “Support for change efforts can come in two forms: information that provides reformers with a solid knowledge base to work from, [and] advocacy from those inside and outside the school.” (Campbell, 2012). The initial stage of training will simply be having the teachers do some learning about the method we plan to implement and why. Having a base of knowledge on the idea, teachers will be able to participate in the next stage more effectively. This stage will be the initial stage, and the teaching staff will be informed that this is a proposed idea. We will lay out the reasons why we want to try this, but leave the final decision to actually implement this method to the next stage.
Brainstorming
“Restructuring can begin only with the initiation of honest dialogue at a school” (Campbell, 2012). After the teaching staff has been trained on what a flipped classroom is and how it works, we can have a dialogue about how to implement it, or if we want to implement it. Any good idea should be able to stand up to scrutiny, so an open discussion of the pros and cons of the method will be a positive step for implementation and create buy-in for the teachers and staff involved because they are a part of the process of change. This stage is where we as a groups can hash out our ideas on what we think needs to be solved and how.
Plan
Once we have an agreed upon set of ideas, we can begin the planning stage. We will plan our lessons with the ideas we agreed upon in mind and make sure we are all working together. Depending on the brainstorming, we might have a set of lessons we will flip this year, or we might flip certain classes, or even flip the entire school. We will have to plan according to those decisions. We might need to plan for online help, access for certain students, and new materials as well.
Implementation
After the planning stage is completed, we will put the plan to the test. Implementing these ideas in the classroom environment and online. A flipped class, assuming that was agreed upon in the brainstorming stage, will need an online element, so we will have to help the students learn how to use the LMS or other online elements of the course. After the planning collaboration, all the teachers should be on the same page with these things. If they are having trouble, there will always be help from other teachers or the teacher trainer to help smooth the transition upon initial implementation. We must make sure to track any relevant data while implementing the new program as well, so we can use it in the next stage.
Review
Collecting data throughout the process of implementation is important. Then “change leaders collect and analyze data in order to identify those who need help” (Roy, 2013). After collecting and analyzing the data we can take that information into the beginning of the stages again with brainstorming. Having a cyclical pattern will allow teachers and administrators to constantly review and adjust based on the data from this review stage.
Teachers will also discuss the pros and cons of the in-class implementation and the online elements of the course. Collaboration at this stage brings more data to collect for brainstorming purposes later. After reviewing, we start the process over with the new data and ideas we learned from in the first cycle.
Below is an infographic showing the process of change.
References
Campbell, L.M. (2012). Facilitating change in our schools. Creating the Future. Johns Hopkins School of Education. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/future/creating_the_future/crfut_campbelll.cfm
Roy, P. (2013). School-based professional learning for implementing the common core. Learning Forward. Retrieved from http://learningforward.org/docs/default-source/commoncore/tplchange.pdf