Menu
Flipped Learning
How will Flipping your classroom empower you as a teacher? What are the benefits of a Flipped Model?
As a teacher there always seems to be so much to do. We have a certain number of outcomes that we are expected to finish by the end of the school year. Each one is important and contains incredible opportunities for our students to experience, but I always felt as if I was rushing through and missing chances for meaningful learning. Within this new flipped model, I can deliver content to students outside of the classroom and guide student collaboration and inquiry during class time. I could change the way students see and experience school, and allow them the chance to make real world connections to what they are learning. I struggled with math all throughout my primary and secondary school years. It never really made sense. When I was assigned a math classroom after I obtained my teaching degree, I was unsure of how this could be a success for me. It turns out it's my favorite class to teach. My students always ask how this math will affect their lives and where they will ever use it again. Within a flipped model students can experience whole group instruction outside of the classroom, and not only master the math, but apply it through project based learning. If this model would have been an option during my education I know that I would have grown to love math much more quickly and see the benefits and implications it would have on my life. Flipped learning allows me to help students work at their own pace. I feel like a video can be a form of differentiation in itself, especially when students have access to it. By sharing the flipped videos with my students, they can work through sections of content at their own pace and can stop, rewind and re-watch anything that might not have made sense. I also like the idea of parents having access to what we are learning. Math is no longer taught the way that former generations learned to use it. Now within a flipped model students can learn along with parents, which offers a whole new level of support from home that can be motivating and incredibly helpful. Where ever students struggle, I can now work one on one with them more often, because the instructional piece of the lesson is ready and available to students that are ready to move forward. I also see flipped learning as an incredible way to motivate students before they even get to school. A motivational set is one of the most important parts of a lesson. I imagine students walking in each morning excited for what they will get to do with the things they learned the night before. Reading textbook pages the night before an activity, does nothing compared to the power a great video can have for our students. Flipped learning is empowering to me as a teacher first of all because of the level of organization and the amount of time I will gain in implementing this method. Flipping my lessons ahead of time means that I have large sections on content planned in even more detail then I would have before. I have to be prepared for students moving quickly and those moving more slowly all at the same time. Being prepared to manage that is a big task, but one I will be far more prepared to do. I am also excited to have more time with students to complete meaningful tasks that translate to real world usage. For example, instead of simply having students add and subtract decimals we can play games, create activities and learn how to balance a checkbook, all while meeting outcomes. The opportunity for more time is an incredibly powerful tool that can be a game changer in the classroom. I am excited to start implementing a flipped learning model within my classroom as soon as possible. By ensuring I have all four pillars, and looking to my new PLN I can begin changing my classroom and sharing my growth with a larger community that will hopefully find the same benefits that I already have. |