Flipping Class
I love that with the Flipped Classroom idea the class time
becomes a place for students to process and interact to put that knowledge to
practical use rather than it being just a lecture hall of sorts. As stated in
the Flipped Class Manifest, “…students become active learners rather than
receptacles of information”. Also fantastic is the way in which this Flipped
Classroom allows the class time to be used for asking direct questions of the
teacher and receiving more one on one instruction after the students have
already familiarized themselves with the content.
If feel the most advantageous outcome of this model of
teaching is any student who needs can watch the video over and over again until
they really feel they have it. Others who were able to grasp the information
the first time do not have their time wasted hearing it repeated and they may
move on to the next project. It is quite practical as well in enabling students
who must miss class to be able to keep up.
Mary Beth Hertz points out in her blog that these are not
video games as people perceive videos. The video made for the Flipped Classroom
is “a mixture of direct instruction and constructivism”. As the Flipped Manifest indicates,
teachers cannot expect to create a video on a subject one time and use that for
all time. The effectiveness of
that video will change as quickly as all the rest of technology. I’m sure that teachers using this
method will find that they need to “update” and make changes often to make it
fresh but we are learning in this class just how many amazing resources there
are out there to allow teachers to be current and find new tools of information
that will enable them to make those changes quickly. Mary Beth Hertz also makes the point that “videos used in
the flipped classroom model must include a variety of approaches in the same
way a face-to-face lesson would”.
Again, there are a vast variety of resources, methods, and tools of
technology that can help us to make this happen.
In support of these ideals I have to say this is meeting the
kids right where they are at today.
While the videos, etc., are instructional, the format is one that they
are not only used to but are grasping onto faster than any of us. It is time that we catch up and make
our instruction relevant for today but we must also keep teaching our kids to
be responsible learners. As the
Manifest states, “We are actively transferring the responsibility and ownership
of learning from the teacher to the students in a Flipped Classroom.”
One final thought from someone who has not taught in a
classroom in 16 years. As I was reading these articles and reflecting on how I
might put this into use if I was still teaching today I realized…I was doing
the Flipped Classroom model 20 years ago. I was a music teacher and I while I
taught my choirs and ensembles to read music in class, I also made recordings
of our music, often with my voice dubbed over the top singing their part. (yes
this did take HOURS of my own time outside the classroom, as did making 68
copies. With the technology tools
of today it would probably take me half the time now). I did this so they could learn their
part on their own time as homework.
By doing this I was able to spend the class time focusing on the whole
group and their blend, the dynamics of the music, all the nuances that make the
piece beautiful rather than spending our whole hour plunking out individual
notes on the piano. This way we
were also able to learn, perfect, and perform more.
No comments:
Post a Comment