Flapjacks? Flip me a few!

My husband of 37, almost 38, years made me pancakes the other night for supper. They were delicious, blueberry, hot and buttery. Yummy! What possessed him I'll never know, it was truly an unexpected treat.  Maybe he finally got tired of my cooking.

Hey teachers, isn't it time we got tired of the same old thing we've been cooking up year after year? Stand and deliver, sage on the stage? Homework assigned and excuses made for not having it done?  Enough is enough, don't you think? How about cooking up an unexpected treat for our students?

Flipped classroom is a term that refers to a philosophy on delivery of instruction. When we think of assignments to be done at home the term "homework" comes to mind. Let's take the word "work" out of learning accomplished at home, or at least away from school. Try thinking of activities completed or engaged in at home as initial learning, the instruction. Before the students enter the classroom they have already engaged in the learning needed to participate in the day's activities. The classroom becomes a place for discussion, invention, interaction, and innovation. It becomes a place where students work together towards the goal of using what they have learned.

I like this idea, I think it is the next step in taking education beyond the four walls of the school. It opens up the opportunity to take knowledge into practice, it creates the need to learn with a reason or goal in mind. But how do our second language learners fit into this philosophy? I have been rolling this around in my mind all day. The need to build background and develop vocabulary before approaching a lesson is essential for ELs to understand and learn, but how do we do that if the first encounter with a  topic is at home away from teacher support? How do we create the level of language needed to comprehend the lesson?

I don't think it is impossible, and not terribly difficult. However, it will require planning and creativity. Teachers are good at that. As teachers prepare their students to participate in the new learning of an at-home activity they must remember to incorporate background knowledge and vocabulary development into the process.  Choosing home activities must engage as well as educate.

My next concern is the availability of the devices to access content at home. Will our EL families have the internet connection, the space for viewing the evening lessons, the knowledge to operate and maintain a computer or iPad?

Using this approach to classroom organization isn't something you can decided to do overnight. Research and logistics must be explored. Every detail must be taken care of.

And where do these online lessons come from? Does the teacher have to create everything on their own? Some of it yes, but one great resource that has great possibilities of providing what you'll need is the Kahn Academy. Take time to explore

 http://www.khanacademy.org/

Another site, one that is brand new and evolving, is TED-ED

http://education.ted.com/

Is a flipped classroom something that will work for you and your students? I think it has great possibilities but I know I need more research. I'm keeping my mind open to it's possibilities.