I've done my research. It's not for me.
Flipped Classrooms take a lot of work to maintain their "flipped-ness". I'm not opposed to work but I'm still not convinced that this trend is going to last long enough to make it worthwhile.
Why do I so vehemently dislike flipped classrooms? I'm not a fan of homework. Yes, I assign out-of-class literature reading, but not much else. I have kids. I know what their afternoons are like filled with sports and other activities.
Flipped classrooms are only as good as the instructors creating the asynchronous materials. Let's face it... not all screen casts are created equal.
So what am I getting at here? The answer to "fixing" the educational system is not flipping, or squeezing, or what-have-you. I don't have all of the answers, but I do know that a good classroom is one where:
- the teacher has a real, meaningful relationship with his or her students
- the students take ownership of their learning process
- assignments are purposeful and engaging
- curiosity is encouraged
Sometimes, we teachers become so entrapped in trying to do things the right and best and most innovative way (does this remind you of any of your students?) that we forget to focus on what's at the heart of good teaching. All these innovative systems have different wonderful things to offer, but they are not the answer.
Your bullet-points on what comprises a good classroom exactly describes what a flip-mentality approach focuses on and helps to accomplish. I would add that, for flip-mentality, the classroom is student-centered and not teacher-centered. Since these ideas have been around in one form or another for decades, I'm taking the opposite bet, i.e., that flip-mentality is here to stay, even if it changes labels down the road or evolves into something even better.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I believe that work done outside of the class needs to be meaningful. Like most teachers I've talked with who claim not to have homework, I've noticed that you still give outside-of-class assignments, so I'm assuming that you are making the distinction between busy-work homework and meaningful homework. It would be bad if we DIDN'T want our kids to continue to think about the important concepts in our subject outside of class; isn't that part of our goal of enabling life-time learners? Flip-class done correctly is always thinking about what is the best use of the student's time and how can I make sure I'm not wasting it. The flippers I talk to regularly always keep their out-of-class work to a 5-20 minute time span and allow students to do it at school if home life or activities prohibit completion. The issue of homework being a problem with flipping is a bit of red-herring as well as a canard.
Quia Non Audemus (nice Latin, by the way),
ReplyDeleteI think we will have to agree to disagree. The homework that I give outside of class is reading (I teach English) - and even that is only a few times a year (most of the reading is done in-class).
I would argue if the flipped homework is so short and can be completed in school... why even bother with flipping? Why not do it all in the classroom?
I don't agree that classrooms have to be flipped to be student-oriented. I would argue that my classes are student-oriented, yet I don't flip.
We may be disagreeing more about terms than practices. I don't like the term flipping, because I've seen many educators latch on to it and think they are changing their pedagogy when they deliver content via video outside of the classroom. This is still a lecture, even if the students are engaged! I'd rather see classrooms where students take charge of their own learning (note: this does NOT mean that they watch, read, do the same thing as everyone else, just on their own time schedule). They construct their knowledge. They create a path to discovery and sharing. This can all happen within the classroom and beyond, without any need to flip.
Perhaps my biggest discrepancy is the blog posts I've read of teachers desperately trying to flip their classes and struggling to figure out how to flip every little thing. If the shoe doesn't fit...
This is bad practice. As teachers, we should always start with the content and then attempt to find and use the best methods to help students reach mastery. I find teachers trying to stuff content into an unyielding flipped box disconcerting.
It must have a lot to do with the teacher, because in our experience it seems as though the teacher gets out of "teaching" and leaves it for us (the parents) to teach in the evening while she sits on her rear eating and belching during class, instead of circulating the room working with the students. Sad! Sad! Sad! We have gone to the principal with this information, we have also had a parent teacher conference. At this point in the year we are resigned to teaching the subject predominately at home. My daughter is making all A's in the class because she/ we put in alot of effort. It is extremely frustrating. I agree with the teacher who posted this article. Instead of being taught in school much time is spent in the evening making it very difficult to fit everything in. So, it seems this is idealistically a good thing but not so great when implemented. Needs more oversight!!
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