A win-win situation with Flipped Classroom

Each and every week that we advance in this subject , I am facing with so many ways of improving 

teaching methods and finding the best way to adapt to 21^th century perspective regarding teaching.

I, as a present student and future teacher , hopefully, learnt about ‘ Flipped Classrooms’ and how to adapt this new method in my daily teaching. This isn’t the first time that I hear about this new method but it was the first time that I participated in one of it during our seminar classes in this subject.

Whilst reading about Flipped Classroom , I found out that it was one of the most popular trends in education in recent memory. In these classes , also known as inverted classrooms, students review lecture materials before class as homework. In-class time is dedicated to interactive exercises , discussions and independent work that would have previously been completed at home. These new in-class activities are all completed under the guidance of the teacher , who is present and all the time available for any misconceptions or difficulties  that may arise during class.

Different from a traditional classroom , a Flipped Classroom seems to create a win-win situation for both students and teachers . Teachers don’t have to struggle themselves into explaining for long hours and on the other side , it has to be admitted that it is an entertaining way for students to learn and for students to become self-directed learners.

What makes me use this method is the fact that I want to focus more on my students experiences , by improving their classroom experience in a number of ways.

Firstly , I would take this new method into consideration for my future classroom experiences because I think that students have now understood that this is a new era of learning and as such , it also requires for new methods. By using this method with them , I intend on making them view and review  lectures, videos or whatever assignments they are about to be given at their own pace. This means that they will have all the time needed to consider and reconsider the materials  and to solve problems coming into their way and all their misunderstandings about the assignments given would be treated in-class .

Secondly , students are to apply new knowledge using the teacher as an instructor, meaning that students can ask questions , get immediate targeted answers , explore subjects in a deeper manner and catch up with their peers easier and faster.  So , unlike the traditional method of teaching , for students bringing their homework  into the flipped classroom , they can get help quickly and  I would identify common mistakes and issues to dwell on later faster than with the traditional method.

Thirdly , this method totally functions taking into consideration the fact that sometimes internet connection in schools fails and doing this at home, gives more chances to students to prepare better than they would with the present problematic wireless connections at school . But the importance lies mostly on the media used so that the intentions on using this method are fully achieved. I would choose for my students media that are known to them , but also experiment a little bit with the unknown , because they are here to learn ,after all. I would use sites such as Google Classroom – to deliver assignments and to provide feedback. Blogger , as the one that we are using now, would also be another media , where they could make reflections on a given topic  and also Quizizz – playing games individually, always for learning goals and assessment activities.

All in all. , I can say that judging on what this method tends to transmit to anyone who decides on using it , it is a valuable method, time saving and a really appropriate method for those students who feel more comfortable in working alone.

“ Students should be taught how to think , not what to think” , so let’s embrace this method .