I need to stop myself from engaging in the same conversation over and over.
Take this Tweet from my online colleague, Amber, who is an elementary school assistant principal:
#edcampdallas flipped classroom allows you to meet the needs of all of your students..ALL…while ensuring student success!!
— Amber Teamann (@8Amber8) September 29, 2012
Amber is one of many virtual colleagues with whom I connect frequently and banter about all things related to education, technology, and even family. Her Tweet offers some strong support for the idea of the “flipped classroom”; an idea which has gained a lot of momentum among progressive, well-intentioned educators in the last couple years. It ensures success for ALL students, she states.
I have three main cognitive hurdles that prevent me from fully jumping on board with this idea:
- First, we lack the common language to meaningfully engage in a dialogue about flipped classrooms. Many times I try to tweet back at someone to probe their thinking further. Unfortunately, no matter how softly I try to couch my questions, they are often met with fierce defense of the Flipped Classroom.
- Next, amidst much debate about the effectiveness of any kind of homework, proponents of classroom flipping generally frame it as an opportunity for students to view the “lecture” portion of class as homework. The rationale, as I have understood it, it so that there is more class time for “fun stuff” like labs and hands-on activities. Doing so carries a load of assumptions, including (minimally) the fact that students (1) have access, (2) will bother to watch it, and (3) have the skills to process and make meaning of what they’re watching (note-taking, summarizing, and the ability to ask good questions about what they don’t understand for starters). In my experience, these skills often need to be explicitly taught and scaffolded for students.
- Finally, I have not seen any evidence that suggests that a flipped classroom is better than a traditional classroom with all other things being equal (same content, same instruction, same teacher…). I often read words like “better” and “improved” (again, laden with assumptions about what’s going on in other teachers’ classrooms) without any qualifiers. Better than what? Based on what? Improved compared to what?
Taking a great lecture and “flipping” it removes the interaction and shared experience of being in a classroom or lecture hall with a strong teacher who can read the room — a teacher who knows how to coax the best out of students through purposeful, intentional verbal and non-verbal cues. Flipping a lousy lecture just tortures kids at home instead of in the classroom. There are just too many variables missing from the conversation around flipped classrooms.
If we want to create relevant, problem-based, constructivist learning opportunities for our students, simply rearranging the “old way” of doing things won’t be enough.
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Hi Scott, Great to see that the Flipped Classroom is on your radar screen and you are considering the pros and cons. As as a teacher who has moved to the Flipped Classroom model I would like to address one of the queries you mention above. There is no doubt that students do not come fully equipped with skills to just watch videos at home. I don’t think anyone using the Flipped Classroom model has said it is an easy transition, to shift responsibility of the learning slowly but determinedly unto the shoulders of students. It takes time and scaffolding of skills over a period of time to develop such skills. As my Flipped Classroom has grown and evolved students will tell you (me) with no prompting that they 1)have less homework in a Flipped Classroom, 2) feel less stressed and, 3) feel they have more access to me as their teacher.
For me this is all the evidence I need. c
For more info on the Flipped Classroom I invite you to follow #flipclass on Twitter. I also write regularly about my Flipped Classroom at http://flipperteach.com.
Hi Carolyn -
I’m glad to see that you have put so much thought into the transition to a flipped model. Perhaps what I continue to fail to understand is exactly what is a flipped model. I have heard everything from the extreme to the example that doesn’t sound any different from what a traditional teacher-centered model would look like.
With respect for shifting the responsibility for learning to students’ shoulders, I think Dewey’s and Vygotsky’s theories from the early part of the 20th century would support this.
Thanks for sharing your anecdotal evidence about students feeling less stressed and having more access to the teacher. Student perception is definitely a critical component of the perceived success of the flipped classroom. I’d definitely be looking for additional evidence of student learning.
I think that all of us who blog, tweet, or present on a local or national (or even international) stage about these topics have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a high standard when it comes to validating the ideas that we are advocating. What I’d love to see (and perhaps you share it on your blog) is a “week in the life” of the flipped classroom. I think that might help me get my arms around this concept a bit more.
Thanks again!
Interesting thoughts. These are also my, would I say, reservations, to jumping on the flipped bandwagon. As a fourth grade teacher, I’m not sure I would flip my classroom much, if at all. What you said about being able to read the room – so true. And it is with any group of students. Even when I am teaching a room full of adults in an #artsint workshop, it’s the same. If you don’t know your audience, your reach becomes minimal.
However, I see no issue in flipping here and there. I see it more as a means to spice things up, give a little independence and teach students the skills of learning with online tutelage. Let’s face it, in later years, they will begin to learn more and more online, so practice is key. But as long as there is a willing and able human (a good teacher to instruct), they should take advantage of the opportunity to learn the lessons as well as practice the skills with him/her present.
Hi, Eliza -
Thanks for commenting. I like what you said about flipping “here and there.” I wonder how that would be different from what we’ve always done aside from the new moniker of the “flipped classroom.” We’ve always sent home stuff for kids to do, whether a reading assignment, a project to complete, or a paper to write. In that sense, much of the pro-flipping argument seems to revolve around, “Well, we’ve always sent work home,” point.
I absolutely agree about kids using online resources more and more for their learning. I think what you’re saying is that they need the support to do that. I couldn’t agree more.
Have a great week!
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Great post and I also like your reply to the first comment. So to give a little context to the tweet you posted, I was in the same session as Amber at EdCamp Dallas this past weekend. The session was led by a guy named Todd Nesloney. I wrote up my thoughts about the presentation on my blog the other day.
Going in to the presentation, I was a naysayer of flipped classrooms. I just didn’t understand how moving lecture to the home was going to revolutionize education. I have a lot of the same reservations as you in that regard. However, I have to say I was struck by how passionate and enthusiastic Todd was about the changes this model brought to his classroom. Since the lectures are at home, he has felt the freedom to do many more open-ended activities and projects that he never had the time to do before.
Does this mean the flipped classroom works? Lectures at home are the way to go? I don’t think a few anecdotes make the case. More than anything I got the impression that having the lecture portion of instruction at home gave Todd the confidence to try out activities in his class that he normally shied away from in favor of direct instruction. And I’m happy for him. He seems to be having a great school year so far. He’s energized and I’m sure his students are thriving on that energy.
One thing that really interested me about his presentation was how quickly the other teachers in the room bought into it. The edcampdallas hash tag was ablaze with statements about how teachers were sold on the idea and flipping is the wave of the future. It’s amazing how one enthusiastic speaker can quickly change peoples’ minds. It’s kind of scary, too. He presented no evidence beyond his own personal experiences, and that was enough to convince a room of professionals that they need to make a change to their practice. Granted, I have no idea how many will actually pursue this change, but it worries me nonetheless.
Hi, Brian -
Thanks for reading. I don’t think I can say I’m a “naysayer” about anything that has the potential to push kids’ learning. More a “wonderer” and “questioner” who is looking for a little more than, “It works for me therefore it’s AWESOME and everyone should do it!”
I’m also weary of those who would frame “wonderers” as advocates for straight-lecture or direct-instruction. I think, as with anything else in or out of education, there is a middle ground. A lousy lecture at home is still lousy. A great lecture in school is still great.
Sometimes I worry that, with increasing pressure to “cover” curriculum for state tests, we are outsourcing our instructional time to family time.
I recently saw a Clay Shirky talk on Ted about using open-source services to share information, often from widely divergent sources, on a common hosting service.
I wonder when teachers are going to start sharing their winning lessons. Seems like it might help assuage proponents of standardization if we start using common lectures and allow space for teachers to develop techniques for exploration with students.
Course, there would need to be a way to categorize the lectures that would allow for flexibility.
This would also allow for a much stronger base of mentoring among teachers. Imagine if the learning community were comfortable enough to allow for initial teachers to use lectures by master teachers till they could develop up their own repository of lectures.
An idea to ponder at least.
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I’m just wondering why all this flipping needs to be viewed only at home. Why not have teacher and student created videos/tutorials on a CMS and let students view the videos as they progress through the daily agenda in the classroom? This still frees the teacher up for one on one or small group instruction/discussion/activity. Perhaps the flipping needs to occur within a teacher’s mindset and classroom practices instead of between home and school?
Hi Lisette -
I don’t really get it. And this conversation tells me that there are others in the same boat. Teachers have always assigned homework, but if it’s watching a video then it’s new and novel.
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Hey there Mr. Scott…
I feel like I should add something to my “tweet” from above. It’s hard to get into context within 140 characters…
What I think TechNinja Todd’s point hat I was trying to make was…by “flipping” his classroom and having the majority of the “whole group style” teaching done at home, it freed him up to be pout and about and IN the classroom working with all of his students. He was able to individualize his attention based on where they were b/c the vast majority of the lesson had been taught. So the kids who got it? Got it and worked forward. Those who didn’t, he was able to get right too.
I don’t believe in silver bullets in education…in any form. I think some things work for some teachers the same way some things work for some students. There isn’t a lesson style or pedagogy that supports or ensures mastery for every kiddo, else we’d have all bought into by now,
Todd’s passion for what he does MAKES it work for him. The same way I’d like to think when I started blogging with 4th graders some 5-6 years ago, it impacted my classroom. Someone without the passion or where with all to MAKE it be successful, wouldn’t feel the same way.
A flipped classroom may be fun and trendy but it won’t work for everyone. It’s just up to a teacher to decide if it can work for them!
(Ps: why yes, i googled my name and found this blog TODAY, why?
)
Hi, Amber -
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your contribution. Have a great weekend!
This is Flipping interesting…the discussion, and the number of people who still believe that learning at home is such an important part of the school experience.
Some thoughts, and questions: – If learning can so easily happen at home, why do we even need schools, or need to staff schools with highly trained professional educators? – What part of the home-learning experience is controllable…i.e., how can we be sure it is happening, let alone happening effectively? – Is the increase in re-teaching (observed and researched), really a benefit to the class as a whole? In other words, if teacher time is not really freed-up to work with students on practice and hands-on activities, why do it at all? – Flipping the classroom is not a clear benefit for the student, and seems to have a root in creating more “time” for a teacher. This issue of “coverage” is an evil that will continue to prevent a growth mindset in our classrooms. – Homework, of almost any kind, is a horrific way to treat students who should be working hard during the regular school day. It is a constraint in the teacher-learner relationship…..almost nothing of school-driven educational value happens after 4pm, and homework actually prevents some high quality, non school-driven learning. – Show me a teacher who sends the important learning home, and I will show you a teacher with more problems than just student growth.