Stephanie Sheridan uncapped her dry-erase marker and started scribbling on the tabletop in the middle of her classroom.
She then called over a few fourth-graders to demonstrate their skills. The criteria: whether they had done well on an online quiz taken at home, after watching a short lesson on YouTube.
“She makes a video for us and she makes a quiz,” said 9-year-old Justin Velez, who got called over because he forgot to do the lesson. “Then, depending how we do on the quiz, we get separated into groups the next day. I like it.”
Sheridan is among a growing number of teachers using a “flipped” classroom structure, in which students learn concepts outside class, leaving more time to practice with teachers and peers during school. She adopted the model last year, and positive results led to an expansion this year into the second and third grades at Sand Pine Elementary in Wesley Chapel.
