Chemistry teacher Patrick Kirby decided to start making YouTube videos as a way to switch his teaching style. He started making YouTube videos and posting them for his students to watch and learn from them.

“I got the idea to do a flipped classroom thing. Instead of students wasting a ton of time during class and just listening to me teach and then having to go home and do it on their own, I figured the way to get to this is to come into class and do the work. Then, go home, watch the video and then be ready to work during class. That way, whenever people have problems and questions, I can help them during class,” Kirby said.

Kirby’s way of teaching changed a few months ago.

“Before I made the videos, I did the old way of teaching where everybody would come in. I would lecture for 5-10 minutes, sometimes a whole class period, and then they would have a little sliver of time to do their work and the rest was time to do homework,” Kirby said.

Kirby makes the videos during his prep time, sometimes he makes the videos at home when he doesn’t have time in the classroom.

“I make them a few different ways. Sometimes, I will just scribble on an iPad and record what I’m doing with the voice over. Other times though, I like to set up my phone on a tripod and have proximal things. I will usually make little paper props, use equipment to set up my phone, record and then usually just have my voice over so I can manipulate things with my hands and actually have demonstrations and fun things,” Kirby said.

Kirby never had a reason to make YouTube videos before his job as a teacher.

“I enjoy making the videos. I always wanted to make videos, but I was never a YouTube type to put up a ton of videos and get famous. So now, doing it for work and actually having a reason to do it is really fun,” Kirby said.

Sophomore Thomas Rudy prefers video lessons because he feels he learns better from them.

“I prefer the videos because if I don’t understand something in the lesson, I can just replay it over and learn it at my own pace,” T. Rudy said.

Kirby’s students recently made their own videos explaining the work they know and have learned to do.

“So this [assignment] is completely switching it around to make everybody else make a video instead of me. A lot of times, people say you have to be able to teach it before you can now say that you actually know it at a proficient level. Basically, I want everybody to prove to me that they have mastered the content from chapter seven, by being able to teach it in an actual video themselves,” Kirby said.

Sophomore Johnathan Rudy talks about the assignment of making his own homemade video.

“I’m pretty excited because we don’t have to take a test, and it will be fun to make a video of our own,” J. Rudy said.

The assignment covers the whole chapter. The students have access to the answers, each other, the work they have completed before, the teacher and any materials in the room.

“They have been given a random set of seven problems. Each one is a different type of problem we’ve covered and it covers a whole chapter. And then, what they have to do is solve that, which should be easy because they’ve already done it, but now they have to explain it and they also have to have a creative component with the video,” Kirby said. “So, they need to use a demonstration or use a whiteboard or explain it in some way. But, they have to show that it’s not just here’s the answer, but I’m going to go through steps and teach somebody else how to get to that answer.”