Why should teachers reverse instruction? Or shall I ask why you should consider flipping your classroom? Can you literally turn instructions upside down? Well, this is a very interesting topic today, right here on this page!
Students should be actively involved in learning and not just passive recipients of content and information. They should be the main characters in the learning process. If not, your story of teaching and learning is flat and dull.
As a teacher, you should find ways to make the learning environment student-centered. This is possible using the flipped classroom approach. Hence, you are just on the right page and realize why you should consider flipping your classroom.
<<Want to make your class interactive? Aside from flipping it, here are effective ways to make your classroom engaging.
What is a flipped classroom?
Flipped classroom is a teaching approach and a type of remote learning strategy that reverses the traditional classroom settings as a way of maximizing class time. With this approach, students view instructional videos and content posted by the teacher online or given to them offline. They do it at home. They study and master the material at home and do their projects, participate in the discussions and prepare homework in the classroom.
Literally, it’s the model of having lectures at home and homework in the classroom. It’s a great diversion from what’s used to be done in the traditional teaching and learning process.
Hence, it’s essentially known as an ‘inverted classroom”. This strategy also amplifies a learner-centered classroom and students are all given access to instructional content to improve their academic performance.
The flipped classroom is a teaching approach introduced by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams. They are high school chemistry teachers at Woodland Park High School who explored the heights of this effective teaching methodology which has been accepted and adopted by schools all over the world.
According to Jon Bergmann, one of the pioneers of flipped teaching and learning, this instructional strategy is ‘making the most of face-to-face class time.’ Interestingly, he encouraged teachers to answer the question: “What’s the best use of your face-to-face class time”?
By answering the question, you can visualize yourselves of how you teach your students in the classroom. Do you feed them with information and content by lecturing all throughout the 60-minute period? Do you just go on and on?
By flipping your instructions, you can have students access direct instruction by moving it ‘through the individual space where students can watch them, giving them the opportunity to pause and rewind.
For the flip classroom to be effective, Bergmann advised teachers to teach students how to watch instructional videos and interact with the material. ‘You can move the instruction or lecture into the individual space of the students so they can watch them and consume them at a pace that makes sense to them,” Bergmann shared.
Bergmann added, “Make sure you take the time to teach your students how to watch instructional videos and content. Have your students pause the video, write questions, and take notes to build interactivity.” In this manner, a flipped classroom is more than just recording your instructional videos. It’s a way of helping students acquire knowledge and skills and make meaning to content.
5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Flipping Your Classroom
1. Differentiate instruction effectively
Since lectures are to be done at home, students’ different learning styles and levels are considered. As there are learners who are advanced and there are some who are average and slow.
With that, you have to prepare video lectures and learning materials according to the different learning styles of the students. Students are certainly given the best chance to explore content and learn. In this methodology, content is introduced prior to its in-depth discussion.
In other words, you have to consider the lesson content and learning objectives. Are they most fitting to be flipped? Would making a video lecture or screencast best give meaning to such a learning material? Is it better understood using the supplementary video lesson?
After exposing them to content prior to discussion, students boost their understanding of the lesson and they are ready for in-depth and differentiated activities. Moreover, advanced learners are given the opportunity to work ahead because instruction is given via video or if a student missed class due to unavoidable circumstances.
It’s most notable if students are grouped and assigned different tasks according to their learning styles. For example, a group may be tasked with role-playing while other groups may perform other tasks but are hitting the same instructional goal. Delightfully, collaboration is emphasized.
2. Students can access content anytime
In a flipped model, teachers are given the best ways to deviate from traditional teaching and give students access to content through instructional videos. You are’ lecturers no more’. This is a quantum leap from the usual practices of lecturing and standing in front of your students.
Today’s students are inclined to technology and can access digital resources through different online platforms. They easily adapt to what’s advanced and new. In particular, most of them have access to the Internet and are well-versed in using gadgets.
Teachers can make use of this recent scenario of advances in technology and digital learning. By giving students access to content, they can watch the video anytime, study it, analyze it, and get prepared to participate in the collaborative activities in the next class session.
By flipping instructions, students are able to make use of digital learning tools to enhance their performance and increase their engagement because they can watch instruction via video at home.
3. Improve student engagement
As mentioned, flipping your classroom is a way of improving student engagement because they are exposed to learning material or content before the grand arena of higher-order activities in the classroom. The methodology is to prepare students for collaborative activities in the classroom so they can ask questions intelligently and participate in the discussion diligently.
And because students are given ample time to study and master content, they are made ready to participate and to get ready for collaborative learning to gain a deeper understanding of content.
Since students are ready with their perceptions of the course material, they are confident to express their thoughts and get involved in the discussion because they already made meaning of the material.
4. Allows students to pause and rewind teachers
A flipped classroom is also very effective in online learning. Since students are given enough time to watch lectures via video, they have the best time of ‘pausing and rewinding their teachers.’ You may have experienced this too. When you watch a video tutorial isn’t it that you pause, scribble down, rewind for missing details. Practically, it’s just that way.
With that, students already get hooked to the learning material before the class period and so they are more active in higher learning activities in the classroom. In this way, students can read and reread, watch and rewatch and get ready for the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis in the classroom.
5. Increase student-teacher interaction
When students already know the learning content by watching online lectures or reading materials in advance, they can interact with their classmates and teacher the next class period. This methodology boosts students’ confidence in interactive and collaborative learning.
Hence, I consider it a big deviation from the traditional paradigm of teaching where students are to listen to passive lectures first and they are to evaluate content at home. For me, the biggest scenario of learning which fits Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive development should be done in the classroom with the supervision and guidance of the teacher rather than doing it at home as homework or assignments.
Hence, students are being prepared to develop higher-order thinking skills with you! In other words, if you flip your classroom, students are to develop complicated skills with your guidance rather than creating new material at home.
The online learning elements or the act of watching video lectures have a positive impact on students’ understanding of the course material which makes it easier for them to synthesize and evaluate collaboratively. Hence, they can interact with their teacher and gain a deeper understanding of the lesson.
We flip because we always aim to increase student engagement to further increase their performance so they become successful. Furthermore, the student’s greater engagement in collaborative class activities will boost their confidence and bring in better results.
If the curriculum or the lesson content is suitable to be flipped, then go on. If you think that a particular lesson is best understood through video presentations or another digital approach, then consider flipping your classroom. As long as students are given ample time to read and to watch beforehand, then they are most capable of an interactive discussion after that stage.
Even though the flipped classroom is one of the best methodologies for remote learning, still it can be used in face-to-face regular instruction. For it to be successful, you just have to make adjustments to the curriculum and the class schedule. Moreover, your best teaching preparations still matter.
Although the traditional didactic classroom may have its own strengths, why not consider flipping your classroom and experience more delightful benefits.
So if the straight model doesn’t work, why not flip it?
Why you should consider flipping your classroom? We might have missed some delightful reasons, you can share them in the comment section below.
Happy flipping 🙂