T here is one thing that must be cleared up regarding the flipped classroom. It is not about the videos. It is more than just doing homework in class. It is more than answering questions in class. My dear friend, Crystal Kirch (@crystalkirch) , recently released her book "Flipping With Kirch: The Ups and Downs from Inside My Flipped Classroom". This is a great resource to understand what truly is the purpose behind the flipped classroom and what is possible when you do flip the class.
Purpose of Flipping Class
When I sat in a conference almost four years ago listening to Jon Bergmann talk about how I can reach every kid at every level, and do it every day! I said..."Tell me more!" For seven years I had tried not leave my advanced students bored, or leave my special education students lost. This guy was now telling me it was possible?! What had I not tried?
So I listened intently. I decided that I would go back and learn more. I don't do many things without researching and finding examples of success stories. The success stories were convincing. The research was too! That was the purpose for my motivation to flip my class: To reach every student in their learning, where they were, and do it every day. That is exactly what flipping allowed me to do.
After three years of a full flipped mastery English class, I now see the greater purpose of the flipped classroom was that it led me to true differentiation. The technology allowed that differentiation to be possible.
So I listened intently. I decided that I would go back and learn more. I don't do many things without researching and finding examples of success stories. The success stories were convincing. The research was too! That was the purpose for my motivation to flip my class: To reach every student in their learning, where they were, and do it every day. That is exactly what flipping allowed me to do.
After three years of a full flipped mastery English class, I now see the greater purpose of the flipped classroom was that it led me to true differentiation. The technology allowed that differentiation to be possible.
how is it not about the video?
The video is a piece of my flipped classroom. I have helped and guided many teachers through their flipped classroom process. Some of them were not successful.
What a flipped classroom is not:
Flipping your classroom should not be easier than teaching traditionally. It should be more effective though!
What a flipped classroom is not:
- It is not a flipped classroom if you find yourself with more time to grade.
- It is not a flipped classroom if you have a quiet and mundane classroom environment.
- It is not a flipped classroom if students sit in their desks and work on a worksheet.
- The video removes the repetitive instruction.
- The flipped lesson should provide the teacher with information to drive their instruction.
- The flipped classroom should allow the teacher to create productive collaborative groups.
- The flipped classroom should allow time for peer instruction.
- The flipped classroom should provide class time for project based learning.
- The flipped classroom should allow the teacher to differentiate and individualize learning.
- The flipped classroom should allow a teacher to clone themselves and teach different lessons simultaneously.
Flipping your classroom should not be easier than teaching traditionally. It should be more effective though!
Flipped class and flipped learning
Anyone can flip the homework into the classroom. Anyone can record direct instruction and send it home. That is simply changing the homework. That is not Flipped Learning. Flipped learning is when students CHANGE the way their learn. There are benefits to using a video in place of direct instruction. It does give the student more control of the instruction. It doesn't necessarily change the learning until the teacher learns how to use the class time effectively. The teacher needs to get the students actively learning. They should be asking themselves "What are the students doing to learn this?" "What am I going to do to personalize instruction?" "What active learning will occur?" These are questions that teachers should ask every night before they lead the next day's lesson. Questions such as these can drive the learning to change.
Flipped Learning in a Nutshell
Flipped learning is more than just putting instruction on a video and sending it home. That definition of flipped class, honestly, insults the many of us #flipclass teachers that have worked so hard to create rich learning environments in our rooms. Flipping your content, but not enriching your class environment is not flipped learning. Seeking those meaningful interactions between teachers and students, the world and students and student to students....THAT is what #flipclass is all about. Changing the environment of learning and the method of the engagement. It is so much more than just a lesson on video. Please strive for the purpose in the flip, and may you find the face to face time you gain valuable and the student differentiation successful!