Flipped Learning

Flipping Out Over Flipped Learning

Let's play a little game called "Haaaaave you met Ted?"

Outside of HIMYM, TED is a website that I call an intellectual YouTube, meaning it's got a lot of good stuff by really smart people talking about problems and solutions for the world, or new theories, or cool research, or thinking models...basically I go on there and scour the site for innovative teaching ideas.  I look for things that really resonate with me that I perceive as truth about issues such as standardized testing, the structure of public education, or student motivation and their ideas for next steps...where to go from here.  The now whats. 

Today, I jumped down the rabbit hole with this: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html.

First of all, the presentation of this video is pretty awesome.  I wish I could hire someone to do it for me...I'd have a pretty banging class website! 

But more than that, I agree some of Ken Robinson's key points:

-There's this gap between the "academics" and the "nots" that isn't helping anyone, and has to go.

-ADHD is this crazy epidemic that shouldn't be...in the sense of over-medicating children to access often bland curriculum in an overly stimulating fast-paced world.  Is this really helping them? (C'mon, how many of us were ticked off that we couldn't browse on our smart phones at the 45 seconds we spend at a red light?  Times are changing!)

-Schools tend to squelch students' innate ability towards divergent thinking (cough-standardized testing-cough) and thus limit their capacity for creativity.

-There is a need for multiple pathways to learning that are not currently available to students , at least not to the degree to which it would benefit their diverse needs (i.e. working independently or in a small group or in a larger group depending on interests/capabilities/personal preference).

-These problems are not stemming from teachers' inability or lack of understanding/desire for change; it is rather a result of societal and structural make-up.

Watch it.  Really.  The whole 11-something minutes.  You can listen and text if you want...but you probably won't even feel the need to.

Okay...so Now What?

So after watching, I browsed through some of the comments and was led to YouTube videos about flipped classrooms.  Have you heard of this?  I had, but I want to delve a little deeper.  So in true 21st century learner fashion, I'm researching YouTube style.  (It's Spring Break, I'm allowed.)

 

She has a ton of great follow-up videos based on teacher questions.

 

I'm thinking about implementing this next year with my classroom, but I know that the transition would mean a hefty summer project, and am slightly concerned about modifying this idea for elementary school students.  Something to chew on for the next few months, though!