Reaching Every Student in Every Class Every Day - Flip Your Classroom

An excellent guide for all new "flippers" out there. It begins with the why and ends with the how. It is short but concise so it doesn't require days of reading - which unfortunately most teachers don't have the luxury of during the school year. If you are truly interested in flipping your classroom, buy this book!

Bergmann and Sams already has lots of wonderful reviews, but something that I found this book useful for was actually learning ways to reach all of the students in my classroom. My school recently just went 1-to-1, and teaching the way I was taught is no longer an option. Some days I feel that you have to actually put on a show for my students to be engaged and follow along with the lesson. By flipping a classroom the learning is essentially placed in the hands of our students. This book broke down segments into small understandable information. While this book is small it is mighty and gives the reader options for starting a flipped classroom. Bergmann and Sams has had a wonderful impact on my teaching style and in my classroom. My students now have more time to ask questions and I have time to connect with them, rather than spending 30 min of my 45 min class lecturing in front of them, we can spend those 30 min taking the lesson deeper.

Lots of practical advice for how to flip your classroom, not just why. It convinced me to try (start, gradually) flipping next year. Well written, entertaining (humerous is places), and informative.

"Flip Your Classroom" contains some great ideas for improving education. The basic concept of students watching videos for homework, and the teacher being the support for the completion of work has been taken up by a number of people, including the Khan Academy. Of course, some people still believe that the only way to teacher is the teacher out the front of the room giving inspiring lessons to a group of attentive students. Such people have rarely been in a classroom in the last ten years. This book is a must read for teachers!

excellent resource.....used it to complete a summer college course final assignment...written by "practicing" educators...practical, hands on, ready to use for my first attempt at flipping hs chemistry.

While the info offered is really quite interesting, this method of classroom teaching is not suitable for my country. Maybe one day in the not to distant future it will be. I still teach in a classroom with 3-seater desks; I have 30 students some of whom do not have computers at home. Still, it is a really good idea.

My husband ordered this book after hearing from a fellow teacher about the idea of "flipping your classroom." He says he wishes he hadn't spent the money because it was all common knowledge, or what he would have done on his own without reading the book.

Based on practical experience of working in high schools, FLIP YOUR CLASSROOM offers a practical guide to student-centered learning in which the focus of attention shifts away from the educator onto the learners. This is not just "student-centered" practice in the traditional sense, where learners work in groups on activities set by the educator; but a far more radical approach, where learners become responsible for determining the curriculum and how it will be studied, as well as participating in their own activities. The element of co-creation is especially significant here: learners and educators participate in a community in which everyone derives equal benefit. The authors are especially concerned with the ways in which educators can relinquish control of learning and thereby empower their learners, irrespective of the learners' educational level. This is especially significant, as it flies in the face of much educational received wisdom that dictates that only the most intellectually proficient of learners can successfully accomplish group activities. Here the authors argue that individual learners can help one another by creating a series of activities for themselves; the educator acts as a coach rather than a pedagogue.

Liberally illustrated with examples from the authors' own teaching practice, FLIP YOUR CLASSROOM offers a series of practical suggestions as to how classrooms can be transformed in any and every educational context. It should be required reading for all ambitious educators.

The Flipped Classroom by Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams is unique but also revealing of the technological world we commonly already live in.

The main theme of this book is education by using technology with an endeavor to have more student centered learning.
It comes from high school teachers who simply were trying to find another way to reach their students. They found a problem and were trying to solve it. Their problem was simple: " We were spending inordinate amounts of time reteaching lessons to students who missed class and the recorded lectures became our first line of defense." So they recorded their lessons so student could get their content outside the classroom. Over time this became their primary method of teaching.

This is when their class became a "flipped" classroom. They said they did not coin this phrase but used it in the title of their book because "flipped" is the popular way to call this teaching method.

Bergman and Sams state that recording videos is not the only way to have a flipped classroom. I would have liked to see some examples of this. But I guess because they do not use any method outside of videos, they could not offer any examples. I guess that kind of information could be found in another book somewhere.

They point to the advantages of having a flipped classroom like more time for one on one instruction. They also point out that they can allow students to learn more at their own pace. Another advantage is simply the flexibility that allows students who miss class to be able to keep up with the lessons (which was the reason they started flipping their lessons in the first place).

What I like the most about this book is the transparent honesty that is shared. There are many positives of a flipped classroom but there were problems that did not go away with flipping either. They plainly state that percentage wise, as many people failed their courses after they flipped as before. They also said they do not know what to do for a teacher who's administrators do not support a flipped classroom. These are negatives but I like the fact that they frankly are not trying to hide any negatives and do not claim to have all the answers. I like this kind of honesty and it makes this book more readable to me. But if you want to find out if the flipped classroom is for you, then you should get the book and read it!

I have already been flipping my classroom for the last school year, but I was still excited to read this book and hear what Jon and Aaron had to say in writing. In fact, as soon as I got through the first chapter, I knew this was going to be much more than just a book to mark of my "to read" list. I actually stopped reading and went back to the very first page with a highlighter and started marking up the book and taking notes, something I don't do very often. There is so much meat in these 112 pages that you will want to go back time and again to refresh.

Jon and Aaron do an excellent job of telling their story of how/why they chose to start flipping their classroom. Their anecdotes are ones that I think all teachers can relate to. Then, they go through what seems like unending reasons why you should consider flipping your classroom as well as consider the flipped-mastery classroom. They address the successes as well as the failures of their experiences, which reminds us that no educational "ideology" is the magic bullet that is going to reach every student. However, they have found the flipped classroom to reach more students than traditional and help them learn the content more deeply and richly than before.

One of the biggest emphases is on the fact that flipping your classroom is not just about "flipping" the traditional order of teaching (what used to be done in class is done at home, and vice versa). Rather, it is about "flipping" the focus of teaching and learning from the teacher to the student. Using videos as instructional tools is just one method that Jon and Aaron have found to help them achieve those goals.

This is not a long read, so I highly suggest picking it up, grabbing a highlighter and a notepad, and getting to work. This book will only start you on your journey to transforming your teaching career into something you never dreamed of. Enjoy!

Flip Your Classroom: Teach Every Student in Every Class Everyday is essentially a nonfiction story from two high school teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Adam Sams, who flipped their classroom. In the book, they tell their story and the process that was undergone. First, the teachers went to a flipped classroom and then they moved to a flipped mastery model. They also include what they believe to be key aspects and strategies on flipping your classroom, like how to set up the classroom.
Although the book has instructive parts, I found the book to focus mostly on the story of these two science teachers and how they specifically underwent the transition to a flipped classroom. I felt too much time was spent on unnecessary backstory information. The authors provide us with instructive sections. However, overall it felt more like a story of these two men and their journey to flipping their classroom with some strategies and ideas how thrown in places.
In addition, the focus of the book seemed to be on secondary classrooms and more specifically science. I think anyone who wants to flip their classroom can find important things to take away from the book but I will say that if you are an elementary teacher, it may be wiser to purchase a book that does this and also addresses your specific area more. I can count on one hand the time the book referenced the elementary classrooms. The reason I feel that a differentiation between elementary and secondary is because of the freedom the students have in the classroom. Elementary students need a little more guidance.
The authors affirmed to its readers that a school does not have to have all the resources in the world to make this change. It was nice to see the authors addressing this common misconception that I, too, agree with. Schools can flip their classrooms without the most expensive technologies available. Also the teachers addresses that this kind of classroom allows for much differentiated instruction, which I think, should be a critical role in reasons to flip your classroom.
I enjoyed reading their story but if I plan to flip my classroom, I would need another book to help me accomplish it. But as I said, elementary teachers are hardly addressed and I think many of the strategies in the book benefit secondary educators more. Even still, for secondary teachers, I would think that this book would not be enough information to help them flip their classrooms especially for a content area other than science.

I have already been flipping my classroom for the last school year, but I was still excited to read this book and hear what Jon and Aaron had to say in writing. In fact, as soon as I got through the first chapter, I knew this was going to be much more than just a book to mark of my "to read" list. I actually stopped reading and went back to the very first page with a highlighter and started marking up the book and taking notes, something I don't do very often. There is so much meat in these 112 pages that you will want to go back time and again to refresh.

Jon and Aaron do an excellent job of telling their story of how/why they chose to start flipping their classroom. Their anecdotes are ones that I think all teachers can relate to. Then, they go through what seems like unending reasons why you should consider flipping your classroom as well as consider the flipped-mastery classroom. They address the successes as well as the failures of their experiences, which reminds us that no educational "ideology" is the magic bullet that is going to reach every student. However, they have found the flipped classroom to reach more students than traditional and help them learn the content more deeply and richly than before.

One of the biggest emphases is on the fact that flipping your classroom is not just about "flipping" the traditional order of teaching (what used to be done in class is done at home, and vice versa). Rather, it is about "flipping" the focus of teaching and learning from the teacher to the student. Using videos as instructional tools is just one method that Jon and Aaron have found to help them achieve those goals.

This is not a long read, so I highly suggest picking it up, grabbing a highlighter and a notepad, and getting to work. This book will only start you on your journey to transforming your teaching career into something you never dreamed of. Enjoy!

Flip Your Classroom: Teach Every Student in Every Class Everyday is essentially a nonfiction story from two high school teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Adam Sams, who flipped their classroom. In the book, they tell their story and the process that was undergone. First, the teachers went to a flipped classroom and then they moved to a flipped mastery model. They also include what they believe to be key aspects and strategies on flipping your classroom, like how to set up the classroom.
Although the book has instructive parts, I found the book to focus mostly on the story of these two science teachers and how they specifically underwent the transition to a flipped classroom. I felt too much time was spent on unnecessary backstory information. The authors provide us with instructive sections. However, overall it felt more like a story of these two men and their journey to flipping their classroom with some strategies and ideas how thrown in places.
In addition, the focus of the book seemed to be on secondary classrooms and more specifically science. I think anyone who wants to flip their classroom can find important things to take away from the book but I will say that if you are an elementary teacher, it may be wiser to purchase a book that does this and also addresses your specific area more. I can count on one hand the time the book referenced the elementary classrooms. The reason I feel that a differentiation between elementary and secondary is because of the freedom the students have in the classroom. Elementary students need a little more guidance.
The authors affirmed to its readers that a school does not have to have all the resources in the world to make this change. It was nice to see the authors addressing this common misconception that I, too, agree with. Schools can flip their classrooms without the most expensive technologies available. Also the teachers addresses that this kind of classroom allows for much differentiated instruction, which I think, should be a critical role in reasons to flip your classroom.
I enjoyed reading their story but if I plan to flip my classroom, I would need another book to help me accomplish it. But as I said, elementary teachers are hardly addressed and I think many of the strategies in the book benefit secondary educators more. Even still, for secondary teachers, I would think that this book would not be enough information to help them flip their classrooms especially for a content area other than science.

The book, Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day, by Johathan Bergamann and Aaron Sams is a perfect introduction to learning more about flipped classrooms. Throughout this book the authors give insight into their experience of transforming their high school chemistry classroom into a flipped mastery classroom.

Bergamann and Sams share their successes and failures that occurred while creating their own model. They give tips on how to create videos and how to ensure students are watching those videos for homework. Flipping a classroom frees class time; this book will give ideas of how to effectively fill all that extra classroom time. Lastly, this book addresses the fact that not all students learn at the same pace and how mastery learning is made possible in a flipped classroom.

This is an informative book, which introduces the idea of the flipped classroom. The authors wrote from their own experiences in a high school chemistry class, therefore many of their examples would not help an elementary teacher implement them in his or her classroom. Their examples tend to be very vague as well, suggesting that this book is not meant as a practical tool to guide a teacher’s flipped classroom journey.

However, I still enjoyed this book because it was well organized and kept me engaged through personal stories. I would recommend this book to anyone interested learning the basics of a flipped classroom. After reading this book I am definitely motivated to learn more about how to implement some of their methods into my own classroom. I would recommend this easy read to any teacher searching for a way to add a non-traditional spin to their classroom.

Flip Your Classroom- Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day

Authors: Jonathan Bergmann & Adam Sams

Background Story: In 2007, two science teachers, Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams realized that they were spending an excessive amount of time on catching up students when they missed class. There were many reasons for students missing class, mostly athletes who struggled to keep up and be in class when they had to miss school for competitions. These teachers began creating lessons together and grew tired over the absent situations. To his pleasure, Aaron discovered he could record his lessons using technology tools. After enlightening Jonathan, the two began recording themselves to prevent having to re-teach so often to absent students. To improve learning in the classroom, they decided to flip theirs! This book describes what did and did not work within their classrooms.

This easy and quick-read definitely provided lots of helpful trial and error tips coming from two teachers' own experiences. Understanding that this is a true story and coming from teachers who truly want to share their ideas and help other teachers makes the book all the more wonderful. The audience is able to learn a lot about how to flip their own classroom.

The authors mention several stories about losing face to face interaction, increasing the interaction with their students, teaching all learners, etc. Any approach to successfully flipping a classroom was noted and further discussed. I really enjoyed that the authors spoke from experience and noted what they learned to do, as well as suggesting it to their readers. Teachers really need a variety of ideas, and they definitely touched on numerous!

In conclusion, I greatly benefited from reading this book and agreed with everything it suggested. Having knowledgeable authors write about something that is passionate to the audience makes all the difference in memorable writing. This is definitely the type of quick read I will read several times while preparing for my future classroom in just a few short years! The right reason to flip a classroom is to enhance student learning!

Here is my favorite passage/quote that really stuck with me after reading Flip Your Classroom: "The time when students really need me physically present is when they get stuck and need my individual help. They don't need me there in the room with them to yak at them and give them content; they can receive content on their own." Aaron's realization, a flipped classroom is born!

"Flipping the classroom is more about a mindset: redirecting attention away from the teacher and putting attention on the learner and the learning." Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, the authors, gave a great introduction and elaboration to the flipped classroom approach. As a student centered classroom approach, flipped classrooms give teachers the ability to work individually with students and create personalized learning environments for students in the classroom.

Authors Bergmann and Sams started using this approach when they realized they spent more time catching their students up on classes and activities they missed than actually planning for future lessons. They sought out a tool to use to help students who miss class, and for their time management. They came across flipped classrooms, where they found multiple technology tools to use and ways to personalize it for their individual classrooms.

This book is an informative, educational book that gives ideas and stories on how to effectively transition their classroom to a flipped classroom approach. The book gives the reader great ways to start their own flipped classroom, and ideas on how to mix it up and keep the material fresh and interesting for the students. It also gives personal accounts to what worked in the authors past classroom and what was a complete flop. Most of the examples are for home video viewing of the information the night before, so before considering using this approach, make sure all of your students have the ability to use technology outside of the classroom.

Flipping a classroom is a topic that is foreign to many teachers. A new technology based teaching approach that allows students to learn the information outside of the classroom, and then come to class prepared to discuss the information and further their ideas on what they learned outside of the classroom. This book dives into a personal experience on how flipping a classroom can be beneficial, and gives teachers who are trying to find a new way to stylize their classroom one change.

This book really focused on flipping classrooms for secondary classrooms. Which is expected because the authors are secondary teachers. Though as a elementary educator I would really have liked to see more examples and ideas at an elementary level.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a very easy read and kept my attention throughout. Though it was easy for me to understand, it might be a challenge for those who are not as tech savvy. This approach, flipped classroom, is very heavily technology based, and being comfortable with technology is a must. As an educator I have been on both sides of the flipped classroom, being both the student and moderator. I find this method of student based learning very effective and a great approach for teachers to use if they are interested in creating individualized, personal education experiences for each of their students.

Johnathon Bergmann and Aaron Sams write the book Flip Your Classroom and while reading this book, I thought the book had some drawbacks, yet was very well written and overall was a good book. The nonfiction book is about their personal experiences flipping their own high school chemistry classes and how to implement these into another classroom. Overall the book was very informative to help secondary teachers who have no idea where to start with having a flipped classroom.
The first chapter starts with the teachers explaining why they decided to flip their classrooms and it would probably be a reason similar to why most teachers start to flip their classroom…because their students are having difficulties and want to give their students a different learning experience. The book shows that the flipped classroom worked for their students. The book also showed some of the aspects that didn’t work for them as well. This is a part that I really enjoy about the book, it is easy to talk about your successes as an author but it is difficult to talk about your failures. However since they address their failures, they are helping more teachers and making other teachers aware of their challenges that they faced. One challenge that they faced was that students were still only understanding the material for a test and not able to use what they had learned for a final project, which is a problem that they go on to address later in the book.
While this book is well written, it is very secondary education driven and as an elementary school teacher it is very difficult to have a flipped classroom with an elementary class. The book directs towards having students watch lectures at home and even offers many different subjects that this could work in and how to do it correctly, however having younger children doing this would not be as effective. Younger children do not have the same attention span that secondary students have and providing lectures for students would not maintain their attention during the video. Also younger children do not have the same capabilities to take notes like high school and even middle school students have.

Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams share how they transformed their classrooms in the book, Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day. Bergmann and Sams do good job of outlining their take on the popular trend of flipped classrooms. They start off by making a compelling case and then provide some practical methods and tips for flipping your own class. They spend the second half of the book sharing ways to create a flipped-mastery model that they developed and are currently using. The book is a pretty easy read, but becomes repetitive at times. As a technology integration consultant at the high school I would recommend this book for those who are considering implementing a flipped or blended model. One drawback I see is the lack of any research based studies or references. While I agree with many of their examples and anecdotes additional research would make for stronger argument. Enjoy but don’t expect your mind to be blown!

"Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day" by Bergmann and Sams is a good read for anyone, such as an administrator looking for ways to design their school, teachers wanting to differentiate their classroom, and students researching this topic for class or on their own. It's an interesting book and they do a thorough job coving the topic.

They talk about all of the students who have benefited from this redesign of classroom structure. They also give lots of personal examples from either their own experiences or other teacher's experiences. Not only do they share successes but also failures. This task may seem daunting to anyone unsure of whether this new classroom structure is for them, but Bergmann and Sams do a really good job of taking it step by step and making the task seem manageable. They explain how this method of teaching is applicable to all grade levels and all students and give personal examples for all. They address almost every question the reader could come up with.

My one concern about this classroom structure is pacing. Some students work quickly while others work slower. As a teacher, how do you keep the fast learners busy at the end of the semester when they are finished with the course work? And, how do you motivate the slow learners to get everything finished in time? Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about flipped classrooms.

I recently read the nonfiction book “Flipping the Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day.” The authors Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams are both recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching and together have accrued nearly 40 years of teaching experience. In their book they describe their experiences in “Flipping” their classrooms, a process that started somewhat unintentionally. They also include information about the benefits of flipping your classroom, what technology can be utilized, and how to flip your own classroom.
So what exactly is flipping your classroom? The concept is simple: What is traditionally done in the classroom (lecture/content delivery) and what is traditionally done at home (Homework/projects) are flipped. This means the lectures are taking place outside of school and the homework, activities, and problem solving is done in the classroom. Why take this approach? Well Bergmann and Sams explain that lecturing takes up a large portion of valuable class time that could be used to address issues students might be having with the content. If a student is having problems they will most likely have to come in before or after school to meet with the teacher to address the problems. In a flipped classroom the instructor’s role changes from a “sage on the stage” to a “guide on the side”. In a flipped classroom teachers can work one-on-one with students who are struggling during class time. Class time can also be utilized to do more in-depth time consuming activities. Flipping your classroom can helps busy students! If a student is absent, the video lectures are available for them at any time to scrub through, pause, and rewind. This keeps students from getting behind in class. It also helps struggling students because teacher/student interaction is increased. With in-class time being used to guide students, problems can be addressed with more attention and in a timely manner. How can you flip your classroom? Bergmann and Sams describe how to make lecture videos using different screen-casting/pen-casting software. They also suggest using other teacher’s videos in case creating your own is intimidating. They address how the videos should be laid out, keeping them focused on certain topic and keeping them SHORT. The reason for keeping them short is to keep the attention of the students. They continue in the book by describing a Flipped Classroom Mastery Program where every student is doing work at his or her own pace. The benefit of this type of classroom environment is that students are able to work at their own pace. This is great because not all students learn in the same way or at the same rate.
I appreciated the brevity of this book. All of the information about a Flipped Classroom was included but it was concise and to the point and could be read in one sitting. This is great because educators are very busy!
There was also a great reality to this book, and by that I mean in was very true to life and the authors spoke with great experience regarding the topic. In the beginning of the book three students were introduced all who were experiencing different problems in their own educational paths. Throughout the book these students were used as examples. Each of the students seemed to possess a “stereotypical” problem in their education that can be applied to many students. The book explains that these “types” of students can not only benefit from a flipped classroom, but a flipped classroom would actually cater to these students and enhance their educational experience.
There was also a notable emphasis on collaboration with other teachers. The two authors went through the classroom flipping process together, and described the benefits of working with other teachers.

This book was intended for educators who are looking to experiment with a different type of classroom environment. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about what flipping a classroom really means. It is short, concise, and to the point. I would consider this text a great introductory text to the Flipped Classroom Model.

Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann's book Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day describes an approach to teaching where lectures are recorded and students watch the lesson at home and teachers are accessible to their students during class time to help aid them while working on assignments. Flip Your Classroom is a great book to read for an introduction to learning more about flipped classrooms.

Both Bergmann and Sams share their successes and failures of using the flipped classroom model in their own classrooms. This method of teaching and learning allows students to work on the material in class while obtaining the information outside of class. The teacher will be there to support the students when they have questions. Often, students will attend a lecture and later in the day while working on homework will have a complete disconnect to the material learned earlier in the day. The Flipped Model approach allows for the teacher to be present in the classroom when general questions about the content arise. Bergmann and Sams give tips on how to create videos for students to use while doing homework. The book also highlights the notion that not all students learn at the same pace and that optimal teaching can be achieved by using the flipped classroom approach. In a Flipped classroom, students will begin with a warm-up activity. After the teacher will lead students in a brief Q-A over the video lecture from the night before. Finally for the remainder of class students will have guided, independent practice, or a lab activity. This approach not only allows students to work on the material in class, but also promotes differentiation in the classroom. Students will be able to work at their own pace or at different levels or group instruction based on their needs.

Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day in an informative book outlines the model of a flipped classroom. The authors gave examples from their own experiences as high school chemistry teachers. The book does not delve into a lot of detail, but more serves as a general overview about the basics of a flipped classroom model.

As a future Elementary teacher, I feel that although the flipped classroom approach sounds ideal not all of my students would benefit through this method of teaching. Not all students will necessarily have access to recorded lectures and will be able to watch the videos at home. Also, younger aged students can need more guidance and reassurance in the content and what they are learning which can not always be achieved through the Flipped Model approach. In all I believe that the Flipped Model approach should be implemented into classrooms. Whether flipped classroom approach is 100% implemented or aspects of the model are implemented, this style of learning helps students cover the content in class and promotes more of a differentiated, hands-on approach of learning.

"Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day" by Bergmann and Sams is a good read for anyone, such as an administrator looking for ways to design their school, teachers wanting to differentiate their classroom, and students researching this topic for class or on their own. It's an interesting book and they do a thorough job coving the topic.

They talk about all of the students who have benefited from this redesign of classroom structure. They also give lots of personal examples from either their own experiences or other teacher's experiences. Not only do they share successes but also failures. This task may seem daunting to anyone unsure of whether this new classroom structure is for them, but Bergmann and Sams do a really good job of taking it step by step and making the task seem manageable. They explain how this method of teaching is applicable to all grade levels and all students and give personal examples for all. They address almost every question the reader could come up with.

My one concern about this classroom structure is pacing. Some students work quickly while others work slower. As a teacher, how do you keep the fast learners busy at the end of the semester when they are finished with the course work? And, how do you motivate the slow learners to get everything finished in time? Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about flipped classrooms.

The book, Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day, by Johathan Bergamann and Aaron Sams is a perfect introduction to learning more about flipped classrooms. Throughout this book the authors give insight into their experience of transforming their high school chemistry classroom into a flipped mastery classroom.

Bergamann and Sams share their successes and failures that occurred while creating their own model. They give tips on how to create videos and how to ensure students are watching those videos for homework. Flipping a classroom frees class time; this book will give ideas of how to effectively fill all that extra classroom time. Lastly, this book addresses the fact that not all students learn at the same pace and how mastery learning is made possible in a flipped classroom.

This is an informative book, which introduces the idea of the flipped classroom. The authors wrote from their own experiences in a high school chemistry class, therefore many of their examples would not help an elementary teacher implement them in his or her classroom. Their examples tend to be very vague as well, suggesting that this book is not meant as a practical tool to guide a teacher’s flipped classroom journey.

However, I still enjoyed this book because it was well organized and kept me engaged through personal stories. I would recommend this book to anyone interested learning the basics of a flipped classroom. After reading this book I am definitely motivated to learn more about how to implement some of their methods into my own classroom. I would recommend this easy read to any teacher searching for a way to add a non-traditional spin to their classroom.

Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann developed the flipped classroom model after realizing that students do better when their teachers are available to answer questions. They decided that it was time to switch the way classrooms were run. They started recording their lectures and had the students watch them as homework. Then during class, the students would do homework and labs that would have originally been done at home. This immensly helped the students because their teacher was readily available to help them and it also allowed for more 1-to-1 help between the teacher and student.

There are two types of flipped classroom models that the authors' introduce in the book. The first, and my preferred of the two, is the flipped model where the students are tasked in watching prerecorded lectures at home and then doing homework and discussions in class. The other method that is introduced is called the flipped mastery model. This is where the students work at their own pace and do not rely on the teacher to provide a pace for them. I have a bit of a problem with this model because there are students that work really fast and those that work really slow. I like the idea of kids working at their own pace but I would also like to have some control over the pace that they are working at.

I decided to give the book 4 stars for only one reason: I felt that the book did not provide me with any information that I could not have found on the internet on my own. Classroom flipping is a pretty simple concept to understand to begin with, in my opinion, and the book did not give me anything that I could not find on my own. However, it does provide a great explanation for someone that does not know what a flipped classroom is or what it entails.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is looking for ways to change up their classroom model. A flipped classroom takes a lot more time than it seems but it can be worth it in the end. If you are looking into trying out the flipped model then I would read this book. It is a great book for aspiring teachers and current teachers alike and it also is an easy, short read.

I am very interested in the Flipped Classroom Model, especially the Flipped Mastery Model, discussed in Flip Your Classroom. I think both models are great for kids. Both models are student-centered and encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. Furthermore, both models encourage the use of modern technology, which is highly appropriate given the nature of today's learners.

Although, I did not employ the use of videos, I had been using a version of the Flipped Classroom Model, in my own classroom, for years. According to authors, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, there is no set way to establish a "Flipped Classroom". However, one thing all "Flipped Classrooms" have in common is, "... the desire to redirect the attention in a classroom away from the teacher and onto the learners and the learning." I tried to do this, on a daily basis, throughout the entire school year. However, I only truly succeeded in doing so, on a daily basis, during the novel unit that I taught each year. I did it by employing the use of literature circles in my classroom.

I've had the opportunity to use the "flipped classroom" method since 2008. The problem is, I didn't know it was called that, since I was just using common sense on how to best reach the students, and help their understanding of the material to succeed. I started hearing about the "flipped classroom" through these gentlemen online, and have reworked my class to emphasize the benefits of this approach. The best part of the books, besides all the assistance to creating this environment for the student, is the emphasis in the book that there is no set way to implement the program. This gives us an opportunity to adapt to our class, the discipline, the environment and so on. Reading this book, helps you justify what you are trying to do for the students, and that's what it's all about. I recommend this for all teachers, whether implemented or not, because I think there's something that can be taken away for everyone concerning innovation, and removing that time-honored, but broken, tradition of "one size fits all." It doesn't, and this book helps us meet all the "sizes" by need, strength, weakness, ability and ultimately success.

We are actively looking to introduce this pedagogical model to our school in the fall of 2013. This book is very accessible, and can be read at one sitting. Does a great job of introducing the subject, but does not do all the heavy lifting for you. If this is new to you, there are a lot of resources you will have to track down, lots of people to find and talk with, and a massive amount of preparation to complete to ensure you are ready for the first (and 180th) day of class.
Quentin Johnston
Headmaster
Chamberlain-Hunt Academy
Port Gibson, MS