Flipped Learning
Flipped Learning
Flipped learning holds the biggest potential for my current and future classrooms. Flipping the high school ELA classroom brings the environment closer to the university environment, where the readings are done outside of class and class time is used for discussion and exploration of the text. In the secondary classroom, the flipped learning model will allow students to read the texts/material at home and then come to class to have discussions, Socratic seminars, take part in collaborative writing assignments, participate in writing workshops for assignments relating to the text being studied, and many other options. It allows the valuable instructional time to be oriented completely around interacting with the content rather than laboriously covering the content.
Additionally, flipped learning allows for the coverage of grammar, mechanics, and style conventions through video lectures, powerpoints, or other presentation tools. Students can view the "lecture" and then come to class where they can apply and master the skills and content. This method allows for more efficiency as the teacher isn't spending precious instructional time lecturing to students. Instead, the students can get to grips with the material they covered the night before, allowing for a much larger amount of practice "reps" that will increase mastery of the skills and content.
While flipped learning possesses many benefits for the high school ELA classroom, it also has major pitfalls. The biggest issue with flipped learning is that it presupposes access to technology (as do blended and personalized learning). While total technology saturation may be ideal, many school districts are nowhere close to being 1 to 1. Until that point is reached, it is hard to argue for full implementation of flipped learning. While most students have access to at least a smartphone, if that is their only device it is unfair to ask them to do all of the learning on that, as it is insufficient for academic work. Doing so exaggerates the divide between the students who have access to devices and those who do not and unfairly penalizes the student without access to those devices. Flipped learning, in my mind, is a binary concept. Either the classroom is flipped completely or it isn't. I should note that this binary doesn't apply to students taking home physical books/readings to complete. A half-flipped classroom disadvantages students without access to technology and does more harm than good.
Flipped learning holds the biggest potential for my current and future classrooms. Flipping the high school ELA classroom brings the environment closer to the university environment, where the readings are done outside of class and class time is used for discussion and exploration of the text. In the secondary classroom, the flipped learning model will allow students to read the texts/material at home and then come to class to have discussions, Socratic seminars, take part in collaborative writing assignments, participate in writing workshops for assignments relating to the text being studied, and many other options. It allows the valuable instructional time to be oriented completely around interacting with the content rather than laboriously covering the content.
Additionally, flipped learning allows for the coverage of grammar, mechanics, and style conventions through video lectures, powerpoints, or other presentation tools. Students can view the "lecture" and then come to class where they can apply and master the skills and content. This method allows for more efficiency as the teacher isn't spending precious instructional time lecturing to students. Instead, the students can get to grips with the material they covered the night before, allowing for a much larger amount of practice "reps" that will increase mastery of the skills and content.
While flipped learning possesses many benefits for the high school ELA classroom, it also has major pitfalls. The biggest issue with flipped learning is that it presupposes access to technology (as do blended and personalized learning). While total technology saturation may be ideal, many school districts are nowhere close to being 1 to 1. Until that point is reached, it is hard to argue for full implementation of flipped learning. While most students have access to at least a smartphone, if that is their only device it is unfair to ask them to do all of the learning on that, as it is insufficient for academic work. Doing so exaggerates the divide between the students who have access to devices and those who do not and unfairly penalizes the student without access to those devices. Flipped learning, in my mind, is a binary concept. Either the classroom is flipped completely or it isn't. I should note that this binary doesn't apply to students taking home physical books/readings to complete. A half-flipped classroom disadvantages students without access to technology and does more harm than good.
Thank you for bringing up the gap technology creates for students without access. I think it just proves that we need access for all. Not only is it a disadvantage in the classroom, but if students are not using technology daily, they are more likely to do poorly on a standardized test (given on a computer) the SAT (given on a computer) or even filling out a job application online. These students are at a disadvantage all around.
ReplyDeleteBeing a teacher who is interested in working with students who have disadvantages, I too appreciate mentioning the fact that there is a gap.
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