Flipping the Classroom on its Head

We’ve talked a bit about ‘flipping the classroom’ on this blog before.  Today, Joanne gives us her first-hand experience of working over the Internet with students and the benefits of having students do the instructions online from home and go over the material with the teacher at school.

By Joanne Arcand

Students look at me funny when I tell them that I sent my first email in university, or that my High School didn’t have internet access until the mid-nineties.

Apparently, I’m getting old.

Technology travels so fast, it’s hard for teachers to keep up with it sometimes.  I teach online, and have more than the average teacher skillset of online tools.  Even I have found myself surveying the class for an AV monitor when the LCD projector won’t communicate with the laptop I brought. 

Today, more than ever, the more you learn the more you realize you don’t know nearly enough.

We need to work together and combine resources.  The students know more about maximizing hard drive space and programming in Fortran than I do (especially when I teach High School students) because they have more time to tinker with the computer… not because they are necessarily smarter (though some of them are).   They don’t have anything to do at home other than learn.  Admittedly, some of the learning is in less than desirable ventures, but students prefer learning at home because it’s often faster.

Five benefits of flipped classrooms

I don’t have my own classroom yet, but I have given learning exercises as homework.  I can imagine this working in a grade four/five classroom.  Here are five reasons why.

1.  Parents are more likely to be able to help.  If they know the video is required viewing every night, the “I don’t have homework” comment won’t fly with them.  Parents are also more likely to help with the ‘I don’t get this’ if what they don’t ‘get’ is a sentence or two and they can re-watch the video with the child to help sort it out.
2. Busy families who do not have the energy/time to help with homework will feel more comfortable knowing that the teacher will have a smaller instructional group the next day.
3. The students always have front row viewing of the lesson.  No more ‘I couldn’t concentrate because I could read ‘victoria’s secret’ on the top of (her) underwear when she leaned forward’(that’s an actual excuse from a Grade 7 boy).
4. Computer-based testing following the viewing of the lesson can give the students a blank in which to type questions they still have about the material.  The teacher can then know in advance of the class which remedial materials might be needed.
5. If a student is sick, he/she can still listen to the lesson and chat with peers to get practice with the concept.

Joanne Arcand is trying to juggle her role as a math teacher with her other life as mom of twin boys.  She lives in Oakville, Ontario.