Upside Down Educating (Flipped Learning)

How would you feel, as a parent, if your child came home from school and told you that the teacher didn't teach them.  You would probably be a little confused, and maybe even a little angry.  But don't fret, maybe your child's teacher is using something called "flipped learning."  What is flipped learning you ask?  Flipped learningis when the teacher hands over responsibility of learning to the students.  They have control over how they learn the subject, how fast they learn, and how they assessed.  (The Flipped Class Manifest)

Flipped learning has many benefits but also has drawbacks.  Benefits of this style of teaching can range from teaching time management, team work, independance and responsibilty.  One reason, maybe the sole reason, to flip a class is the time management aspect.  There is more class time for learning.  (The Flipped Class: What Does a Good One Look Like) Students learn independance and responsibily from the way homework is addressed.  In a normal classroom, the teacher lectures during class time.  Where as in a flipped classroom, the lecture is part of the homework. Students are given teacher created videos to learn subject matter. In a normal classroom, homework consists of assigned problems and in a flipped classroom, those problems are completed in class. (The Flipped Classroom Myths Vs Reality) In the video that follows, the principal is addressing how fliping the classroom helped students' grade improve, which is an awesome thing! School Principal Flips Video  (Flipteaching.com)  Drawbacks of a flipped classroom can include lack of student involment, parental misunderstanding, some students being left out due to lack of technolical supplies at home.  If there is a student that does not do the assigned lecture homework, or screws around in class, then it can bring down the efficiness of the teaching technique.  Some parents consrue flipped learning as an online course where students are staring at a screen all day, where videos replace the teacher, and that students are working without structure.  That is not the case however.  Parents need to be shown how the flipped classroom works and what it is not.  A huge drawback can be lack of technology at home for some students.  If a student does not have access to these lectures, then how can they achieve they best?  (The Flipped Classroom Myths Vs Reality)  I believe that flipped classrooms can not work in lower income schools. (Are You Ready To Flip?)
Flipped Classrooms have an amazing future ahead of them.  If they are structured and ran properly, then the way students feel about learning can change for the good.  How many students hate school becuase it's boring?  A lot of students think school is boring becuase all the teacher does is stand in the front of the room and talk.  But if the students are in charge of their learning, they may be more willing to expand the notion of school being fun and exciting.  I could, as a future teacher, use the flipped classroom in an Earth and Space Science class.  Students could do experiements or activites during class and then watch lecture videos at home to learn about the next class' subject matter.  However, there are some subject matters that can not be efficulely taught using videos. Such as grammar.  ( Are You Ready To Flip?)  So, in conclusion, I believe that flipped classrooms are on the front edge of the learning frontier.

Here is a wonderful source that offers other teachers' videos and conferences of flipped teachers:  The Flipped Learning Network