Flipping over a Flipped Classroom!

     We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Walt Disney

     Sometimes new ideas and innovations in education can feel like reinventing the wheel.  Changing the pedagogical model of the way that we instruct students seems dangerous and a little crazy at first glance.  I started to think about the way that we learn as adults in general.  If I want to make a dish for dinner that is unfamiliar to me, the first thing that I do is web surf to find an interesting recipe. I may find a video or pictorial to further assist me before I prepare the meal.  Once I’ve made the meal, it may not be perfect on the first try.  I will probably need to practice making that meal a few times before I get it just right.  Sometimes I may even need a friend or loved one who is familiar with the dish come in and act as a sous chef.  I think that sometimes in teaching we give our students a lecture about the ingredients and send them home and expect that they will come back the next day having prepared the perfect meal.  The flipped classroom allows students to have exposure to content before they come to class, and use classroom time as a time to work with the teacher as a facilitator.

     The more that I read about the ‘Flipped Classroom,’ I realized that this was a very innovative way to learn.  Allowing students to come to class with their own questions and reservations that they have about the materials, and being able to work through those problems with their peers and teachers. 

     I thought about the many benefits that the flipped classroom offers. It gives the teacher the ability to help the students who need further support, but it also allows for pushing our gifted students to further their knowledge in ways that wouldn’t be possible if the student were at home with ‘homework.’

     I could see how this method would also greatly alleviate the stress of parents who have students who come home with homework that they do not know how to support them with. This especially rings true in the 21^st century, with all of the new math innovations, such as everyday math that many parents are completely unfamiliar with.

     I love the idea of pushing our thinking, and finding new ways to help our student’s learn.  Ways that may make us feel uncomfortable at first in their uncommonness, but understanding that we are willing to do whatever it takes to see our students to succeed.