Flipping Classroom--Revolutionary Look at Teaching:)

The 21st century is here and the pressure is on teachers to prepare their students for careers that don't yet exist:)  Today's students are digital natives.  They live and breathe technology.  So why not have them use their skills in the classroom?  Imagine the potential for engaging even the most reticent student in the learning process.  Further, since young people tend to be quite tech savvy, they could support their teachers in creating lessons using technology. 

One major transformation in the class is flipping it.  What does it mean to flip the classroom?  In such a setting, the lectures occur at home on a computer.  Lectures are done via You Tube and are generally no more than 10 minutes in length accompanied by questions for students to answer.  When students appear in class the next day, they arrive with "prior knowledge" (from videos) which they are ready to use in discussion, team projects, small group activities, etc.  For those who didn't understand the lectures, the teachers could build mini-support sessions for them while the rest of the class continues with projects.  This way no one is left behind or bored with reviewing work that they already know.

SIMPLY SPEAKING--FLIPPING YOUR CLASSROOM  Here is a quick overall view of the process.  It will take some planning initially, but with subsequent lessons, it gets easier.  If done as a collaborative approach with either teachers of the same grade level and subject level or with teachers of different disciplines but who share the same students, it will be less overwhelming.  In fact, since great minds think alike, it could be fun:)  The benefits for kids would be extensive.  They would be in a far stronger position to do well in college since university professors are not known for spoon feeding course content to students.  Students will become independent thinkers!

FLIPPING CHEMISTRY CLASS In this clip, a chemistry teacher shares his successes with flipping his class.  Both the teacher and the students are very enthusiastic about the process:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS