What's in a Name?

Parents eagerly anticipating a new addition to their families will spend many hours making preparation for their bundle of joy.  A lot of thought goes into things like picking the perfect crib or the perfect car seat.  Just as much, if not more, time is spent picking the perfect name.  A name which will, in most cases, stay with them forever.  When we picked names for our three boys we picked names that would represent who we wanted them to become.  Names that were distinguished.  Names that had been in our families.  Names that made a statement: Christopher Lloyd Fisher, Brian Howard Fisher, and William Drake Fisher. 

When I picked a name for my blog, I also wanted that name to make a statement.  I wanted it to reflect what this bog was about.  But unlike the names for my children, I could change the name of my blog and I have.  I started with "Flipping Out in Fifth Grade" because when I started flipping, I was flipping out!  I had questions like:  How am I going to do this?  Will this work in my class?  How do I make a video?  What is Edmodo?  What if my kids don't learn? What if it doesn't work? 

Then as time passed and I felt a little more comfortable, I took off the "out", just "Flipping in Fifth Grade".  I think that changed happened around about the same time I actually was able to post a video on Edmodo and the kids didn't send me messages saying they couldn't view it. 

Now there has been another change.  When I started flipping, I only flipped lesson in math.  What I have begun to realize is that I can flip lessons in other subjects as well. I don't have to entirely flip those content areas, just some of the lessons.  Which is what Jon Bergmann advises for teachers who want to begin flipping in Flipping the Elementary Classroom,  "Don't flip a class . . . flip a lesson".  So, to reflect my change, my blog's name has also changed.  I'm still "Flipping in Fifth" but now it's "Flipping in Fifth: mostly math sprinkled lightly with social studies, science, and language arts". Now that's a mouthful.