Saturday, October 29, 2011

Is Your Classroom Flipped? Yes and No

I was asked that question today by a teacher that I respect greatly and I replied "no". Today's definition of a flipped classroom is one where the teacher gives students a quick (usually video) lesson to be viewed outside of the classroom so that class time can be used for practice. I don't do that, my students don't have the access to technology it would require.

After thinking about the question though, I think maybe the answer should be "yes". While I don't give my students work to do outside of my room, I put my lessons on my blog. The students go there to see what activity they will be working on. The instructions, links to additional sites/materials, and any necessary explanations are found on the post itself. This allows my students to access the assignment throughout the time they are working and frees me up to be available to help.

The main reason I see this as a "flip" is that when my students ask me specific questions about the assignment I simply point them back to the post. (Of course there are times when they ask questions I have not answered which requires me to either modify the post or simply answer the question to the class as a whole.) I don't spend time "teaching" the lesson, I spend time observing and pushing my students.

Does this mean my classroom is "flipped"? I guess you can decide that. All I know is that my students have more time to practice and I have more time to observe.

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