With reading the article on Forbes called "What Is the Flipped Classroom Model and Why Is It Amazing? (With Infographic)" and the Educause article "Things you should know about: Flipped Classrooms," I was able to get the idea that "flipped classrooms" are classrooms in which instructors create video lectures where students will be introduced to a new topic. These videos are assigned to be watched the day before they enter the classroom, allowing them to start thinking about the new topic before they even enter the classroom. After viewing the video, students are given quizzes and the responses are then sent to the instructor so that he or she can get an idea of what students need clarification on. When the student finally enters the classroom the next day, instead of sitting through an additional lecture )or any lecture at all), they are given a collaborative assignment which requires them to demonstrate their understanding of the material. By having the instruction take place the night before, the role of the teacher is significantly changed to him or her taking time to lecture live, to acting as a guide to the assigned activity. It is important to keep in mind that there is still a lecture involved and there is still an assignment which will reflect the student's comprehension of the material. Both articles mentioned the pros and the cons about incorporating the flipped classroom methods, which was nice because some of my concerns were already addressed and answered such as the issue of there being an even bigger digital divide. While Gobry, the contributor to the Forbes article, says that if flipped classrooms were to be implemented in classrooms, the government would have to step in and make sure that electronics would go down in price so that everyone could have an electronic device in order to accomplish their school work. This assumption is dangerous, because as we've seen before, the government might not exactly do much when it comes to bettering our education system.
As a future elementary school teacher, I plan to work low SES students, and to ask them to have access to a computer with internet every night seems unfair if they do not have a computer at home. I think that this method of teaching were to in fact be implemented and there are students who do not have access to the internet, then a solution might be to assign the lecture to be seen within a longer period of time like over a weekend or within a week so that they can find a way to view the lecture and not fall behind. Many of the classrooms where this method is used in a “higher education” classroom which means college; I can’t help but wonder where in the world I would find the time to make a lecture for every night of the week in every subject that I would have to teach? As I am now finding out through assignments for this course, movies take a lot of time to make! I could definitely see myself taking the time to make a killer lesson plan using the flipped classroom method, but only occasionally or for larger projects.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post about the flipped classroom. I think that we had similar concerns and thoughts about the model of the flipped classroom. As I was reading the articles I thought that this type of classroom seemed like a good idea, but my one concern was the issue of all students having computers. I would feel the same way you do about each one of my students having to have a computer. Especially if they are students that come from a low socioeconomic background it wouldn't be fair if I expected all of them to have computers. I also agree with you that it would be hard to get the government to provide funding for the computers for the "flipped" classroom model. Overall this type of classroom seems like it could work, but there needs to be a few adjustments in the model before it becomes implemented in the school systems. You also made a good point that videos can be tricky to make at times, so this way of teaching may be good every once in a while.
Hi Elizabeth, I appreciated reading your realistic perspective of how the flipped classroom could be a challenge to elementary school students. You're right that it isn't fair to assume everyone has access to computers at home and that if this type of learning were implemented that it could potentially contribute to a more dangerous aspect of the digital divide. I thought in a similar way, that I could use it occasionally as a lesson supplement to offer different styles that appeal to the visual and auditory learners. I thought a great characteristic of the flipped classroom was that it was not one single concrete model, that it was open to creativity by the teacher. So, one could use a variety of already prepared clips, but like you mentioned and as I have discovered as well, even at that, movies do take a lot time to make. I also thought a risk could be that this reduces the teaching role to being just a facilitator. Thanks for your post, it gave me a lot to think about!
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