"Flipping" Classrooms

           A topic in the realm of educational theory that seems to have become popular recently has been "flipping" the classroom. For those that don't want to follow the link, flipping is basically the idea of switching activities for the students between the classroom and outside school. For example, in a traditional classroom, the teacher delivers a lesson, whether through direct lecture instruction or planned indirect instruction. In a flipped classroom, the teacher will have uploaded that lecture session or content that was to be taught in the classroom to a database the students can access. Some teachers use blogs, some have YouTube channels for their lectures, and some create dropboxes and things like that for students to follow along with the curriculum. Students, in theory, watch the lectures and read course material as homework prior to coming into class the following day. Then, the teacher is free to facilitate discussion and create projects that students will work on in class where they used to have lecture.

           There seems to me to be a number of pros and cons to flipping your classroom. First, you would have plenty of time in class to work on creative work and skills applicable outside the classroom. You could have students basically running their classtime, with the teacher only existing as a facilitator of discussion and monitoring work. Also, the lectures and course material would always be available as a guide to students who were behind or absent. In this sense, flipping your classroom seems like a great idea. However, I do see quite a few cons to the practice. First, you would have to absolutely, positively sure that your students are self-motivated enough to keep up on lecture videos and work outside of class. If even a few students ignore the out-of-class work, you would have to provide them direct instruction in class, fracturing your best-laid plans. Also, it would require a huge amount of work to provide lectures that fit all learning varieties. You would have to plan separate lectures for ESL students who might have extra questions or difficulty understanding, as well as students with IEPs. Also, you would have to become an expert on presenting a lecture format that students actually like. If you've ever tried to watch forty-five minutes or an hour of someone just talking, it is painful. Overall, I think to be successful in flipping a classroom, it takes a teacher who is extremely motivated, students who are extremely motivated, and a really well-thought out infrastructure for providing material. The video above shows a teacher who is really good at delivering material, and who seems to have success with her practice. It is an intriguing process, but one I might not touch for a few years, until I get comfortable planning great lessons and managing the classroom effectively.