Committing to flipping your classroom can seem quite
daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Many instructors feel that the notion to
“flip” is all or nothing. When in reality, it is not. Below is a quick and
dirty on how to get into the mindset of flipping your classroom.
1.
It’s all been done before.
So many think that the flipped classroom is a new innovative
strategy for the classroom that will answer all instructor questions. It’s not.
It’s something that’s been done—by you perhaps—it just has recently gained a
lot of attention, and for good reason. Most likely you have been practicing
some form of flipped methods within your classroom already. Now that the
pressure to try something new is off your shoulders, we can really dive into
refining what you’re already doing.
2.
If you flip, you still have to teach.
Flipping your classroom is not a substitute to your lectures
or taking the place of your job as a teacher. A video or reading cannot replace
the value of the interactions you have with your students. The implementation
of a flipped lesson or classroom is a supplement to your teaching. Even though
you have students attending to new knowledge outside the classroom, you are
still exploring the understanding and application of that knowledge inside the
classroom. There will be times that a lecture will be required, perhaps not a
full blown lecture, but a mini-series may be needed to help students along in
the learning process. You as an instructor are not being replaced.
3.
Start small.
Course design/redesign takes time, and it’s not going to be
perfect the first time around. Think about the first course you ever taught.
Does it still look identical to when you started? Developing a course that is
meaningful to you and your students takes refinement. Don’t bite off more than
you can chew. While you gain your confidence in a different teaching method,
start slow. Choose one lesson or activity that you feel will be good to start
with, and do it. Once you get your bearings, pick another lesson or activity. As
you incorporate more lessons, don’t forget to assess what you’re already doing.
Is it still relevant? Are you still engaging students? Are tweaks needed to
improve? Do not start a semester with the intention to flip the entire course.
This could be overwhelming and cause much anxiety for both you and your
students.
4.
Prepare to devote time.
Preparing a flipped lesson takes time. Be prepared to devote
an adequate amount of time for preparation. This will be a service to your
students to ensure they are getting quality information. If you are wanting to
incorporate new or different technologies in the classroom, be sure to
understand the technology before assigning it to the students. If you plan to
make videos, you may want to put some time aside to learn about the process of
making videos before you start. Familiarizing yourself with the technologies
before beginning might curve some frustration when you get started for your
course.
5.
The goal is to engage.
When considering where and when to implement a flipped
lesson into your curriculum, be mindful of WHY you are implementing a new
concept into the classroom. Are you exploring different strategies because they
will add value to your instruction or adding a new method because you want
something flashy for the students? Remember the goal of education is not to
have student like the class, but rather to engage them in the content and
learning process. Make sure your instructional practices match your learning
outcomes.
6.
Take risks.
When trying something new in the classroom, take risks. It’s
okay—it’s actually a good thing. Doing something different should push you
outside your comfort zone. We grow as individuals when we push our personal
boundaries. Implementing something new will stretch you as an instructor as
well as your students in their discovery of knowledge. What’s fun is that you
might learn something along the way as well.
7.
Embrace the chaos that can (and will) ensue.
Many flipped classroom models incorporate group work or group
discussion. This may be led with a challenging prompt from your mini lecture or
a question that is brought to light by a student. Allow your students to get
into small group discussions. The noise level might get above the normal
classroom whisper, that’s okay. That means they are engaging in conversation.
Use this time to invade that space beyond the lectern, and converse with the
groups. See what they are talking about, contribute to the conversations, and
pose questions to continue their conversations.
8.
Allow, or even encourage, movement within the
classroom.
So many times our classrooms are not conducive to movement.
Unspoken rules have been established that movement from the seat is not
allowed. Why? Who says so? Get students up and moving around the room to get in
smaller groups. This might mean moving to an empty space in the room and
sitting on the floor, rearranging desk to have better eye contact among group
members, or even venturing out into the hallway for more space. Students,
believe it or not, take cues from you, the instructor. Encourage movement; let
them know its okay to become unglued from their seats at different points in
class. Plus moving around the room will promote more blood flow stimulating more
brain activity.
9.
Be comfortable with questions.
If students are asking a lot of questions, you must not have
taught something correctly, right? No! Students asking questions shows their
interest in the content and gives them an outlet to process what they are
learning. Welcome the questions; embrace the questions. Let them know you
encourage their inquiry for more knowledge. Don’t be afraid that students will
ask questions. If they ask something to which you might not know the answer,
that’s okay too. Use it as a learning experience to find the answer
together—sage on the stage vs guide on the side.
Flipping your classroom does not have to be scary or
daunting. It can be a fun exploration of creating new learning experiences for
you and your students.
How are you keeping your students engaged in the classroom?
If you are thinking about flipping your class, do you have
any apprehensions? What are you most anxious about? What are you most excited
about?
Share! I want to know (and so do others)!
Resources:
How ‘flipping’ the classroom can improve the traditional
lecture
The flipped classroom: online instruction at home frees
class time for learning
Five best practices for the flipped classroom
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the
Brain (John Ratey)
The flipped classroom: A survey of the research
Good stuff!
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