The Most Important Info You Need to Know About Flipping Your Art Room

I flipped my classroom as a solution to the lack of direction/instruction in my choice based art program. It allows my students to create at their own pace and choose the project that speaks to them the most without my having to sacrifice direction instruction. I started my flipped classroom this past September and then went on maternity leave at the end of November so I’m so excited to continue to develop my flipped classroom this year. I’ve even been recording my youtube tutorials for all of the new fiber arts lessons I want to teach while my little one naps! My district is almost entirely 1:1 with chromebooks so this works out great in my classroom. If you work in a district where your students have consistent access to laptops or ipads I can’t recommend this enough to other art teachers!

I’ve set up Edmodo class sites for my 3rd-4th-5th graders and will post links there to further enhance my classroom instruction. I frequently link to a Padlet wall for each project which allows students who are finishing up a project, the chance to preview what is coming next and also allows students to engage (and re-engage) materials throughout the project to support their learning. I let my students and classroom colleagues know that I consider the computer just one more art tool and request that they bring their Mac to every art class so that it is available if they need to use it. We have a basket for each table that students can place their computer in – if it is not required for a particular lesson or we are working with materials that might pose a problem for instance. Most students really like it but I still suggest creating an exit slip or quick formative assessment to encourage student engagement with this strategy. My elementary art colleagues and I are collaborating on flipping our sketchbook unit for 5th graders this year so that it becomes a year-long project for them to explore/expand their learning.