Middle School math teacher Linda Hogancamp’s lessons are taught before she even walks into her classroom.
In fact, she teaches them the night before when she makes a virtual visit to her fifth and sixth graders via webcast.
Since last September, Hogancamp, of Hamilton, has been pioneering the “flip classroom” method, which essentially turns the home into the classroom. Much like a traditional class period, her students go home and watch a 10 to 15-minute video clip of her teaching a math topic while they take notes, pose questions and answer a few problems that gauge their understanding.
With the lesson all ready complete, Hogancamp is then able to use her in-class time honing their various skill levels through differentiated exercises and assignments.
“The next day in class, every minute is spent one-on-one with the students and addressing their individual needs,” explained Hogancamp. “I haven’t found any downfall with this approach to teaching and the kids love it.”
Hogancamp cited other benefits such enhanced interaction and collaboration with students, the flexibility of the short video clips and the convenience for students to re-watch the clips as many times as needed, which also serves as a way to review for an exam.
Sixth graders Christian Bae and Alexandre Wolff also agreed that “flip” was the way to go when it came to math classes.
“You have a whole classroom in a video and if I don’t understand something, I can ask Mrs. Hogancamp online,” said Wolff, of Skillman. “It’s very useful to me when I’m doing my homework.”
Bae, of Pennington, echoed his classmate and said he particularly liked being able to pause the video when he wanted and have the freedom to take his time and learn at his own pace.
“I see all these positive things and when you try to think of the negatives about it, well, you really can’t,” he added with a smile.
