Thursday, January 15, 2015

FlippedClassroom

I have recently learned about a new teaching style called the flipped classroom. The idea is that a teacher would video his or herself teaching a lesson. The students would then watch the video at home in preparation for executing the lesson the next day in class. I have a love/ hate opinion about this concept.
I like the idea of freeing up class time by teaching a lesson online. I like the idea that the kids would view this before class and they would be ready to discuss the next day. And I like that this would allow more time for one on one instruction with students during school hours.
hiwever, I feel like we don't live in a world that is ready for this type of learning. Many of my students don't own a home computer or have home internet. This would cause the teacher to have to set up time in the day for the kids to come to her room to use a class laptop. I also think that it would cause my students a lot of confusion. I answer a lot of questions while I'm teaching a lesson. By watching the lesson online, the kids will miss out on instant answers if they are confused. Many middle school students live in the moment. I can't imagine them remembering their reason for asking a question by the time they see me in class the next day, especially if they are in my last class of the day.
This is a cool concept but I'm not sure it's something I would implement into my classroom routine.