My goal, both in and out of the classroom, is to daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly improve as an educator and bring students to levels of success in all areas of life, not just mathematics. I hope to inspire those students who have just gone through the motions to truly take control of their learning and realize that anything is possible if they set their mind to it and are willing to put forth the time, effort, and hard work required to succeed. I want to make math both meaningful and memorable to my students. I have flipped my classes to make class time more enjoyable, engaging, and effective for my students.
Crystal Kirch has been an educator since 2007 and involved with flipped learning since 2011. For seven years, she taught high school math to students in Santa Ana, California. After several years teaching in a traditional, teacher-centered model, she stumbled across the flipped classroom idea and began transforming her classroom into a more student-centered, active learning, higher order thinking learning space where students were supported more effectively and challenged in ways that were not possible before.
Crystal is well-known as a reflective practitioner through her blog Flipping with Kirch, which she began in January, of 2012, as a way to reflect and share her journey with the flipped classroom. The blog documents her weekly successes and failures, as well as lessons learned along the way, that helped her build a successful flipped learning environment structured around a model called the WSQ (Watch - Summarize - Question).
Crystal’s goal as an educator is to constantly be improving and bring her students to higher levels of success in all areas of life, both in and out of the classroom. She hopes to inspire those students who have just gone through the motions to truly take control of their learning and realize that anything is possible if they set their mind to it and are willing to put forth the time, effort, and hard work required to succeed.
Since 2012, Crystal has trained teachers worldwide on Flipped Learning and Technology Integration in Education through webinars, conference presentations and workshops, and consulting. Most notably, she has spoken at ISTE in 2015 and 2017 and at CUE in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She is the author of Flipping with Kirch: The Ups and Downs from Inside my Flipped Classroom (2016) and contributing author in the book Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement (2014),
As a math teacher, Crystal was named “Educator of the Year” at Segerstrom High School in 2012 and proceeded to be heavily involved in the school’s Math Department Leadership for two years as well as district-level Technology Committees for several years to follow.
In 2014, she transitioned out of the classroom to become a Digital Learning Coach in Tustin, California. Crystal had the opportunity to work with teachers of all subject areas both one-on-one and in group settings to find ways to enhance the learning environment by utilizing the power of different technologies and discovering how they can make teaching and learning more effective, efficient, and engaging. Over the course of three years, she worked individually with over 30 teachers in a coach-fellow relationship and saw transformational growth in both their classrooms and reflective, professional practice. Through her experience as a coach, she has become an advocate for consistent, ongoing, job-embedded coaching models in schools and shares often on her experiences through her blog and Twitter.
In 2017, she transitioned yet again to a new role as the Secondary Math Curriculum TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) in Tustin, CA. In this role, she had the privilege of supporting math teachers at ten secondary sites, helping them to continue improving in their practice in order to increase student engagement and learning. She also supported instructional shifts across all content areas district-wide, including leading discussions around grading practices that best support student learning.
In 2017, she transitioned yet again to a new role as the Secondary Math Curriculum TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) in Tustin, CA. In this role, she had the privilege of supporting math teachers at ten secondary sites, helping them to continue improving in their practice in order to increase student engagement and learning. She also supported instructional shifts across all content areas district-wide, including leading discussions around grading practices that best support student learning.
In 2022, Crystal took on a new role as a high school Assistant Principal. She loves being back on a school campus with students and teachers!
Crystal studied at Vanguard University of Southern California and holds a BS in Kinesiology, with an emphasis on Teaching/Coaching, and a minor in Mathematics. She holds a California Single-Subject Teaching Credential for both Mathematics and Physical Education. Crystal went on to earn a MA in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction and became a certified instructor of Technology in Education. She also holds a Preliminary Administrative Services Certificate of Eligibility for the state of California.
Crystal currently lives in Southern California with her husband Shawn and two sons Grayson (June 2013) and Cayden (June 2016). She is a highly committed participant at Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo, CA and is constantly learning more about what it means to live a life pleasing to God in today's world. She'd love to answer any questions you have about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
Outside of teaching, Crystal enjoys spending time with her family (which right now consists of making Marble Runs, Domino creations, doing puzzles, or other various things appealing to a 6 and 9 year old), hiking (so many beautiful trails in Orange County, CA), growing food (on our tiny porch in pots, but it's fun!), cooking (freezer cooking, crock pot cooking, instant pot cooking, or just regular cooking!), reading (she enjoys inspiring educational books and those that challenge and strengthen her faith), and watching her favorite shows when there is time, which currently America's Funniest Videos (thank the kids for that) and Shark Tank.