Today we were privy to the inter workings of the mind of Jonathan Thomas-Palmer, a fellow Wolverine and the founder of FlippingPhysics. "Flipping" a classroom is something that I had never heard of until one of my students (I am currently student teaching at a 1,200 student high school outside of Ann Arbor) mentioned that their Calculus class (I think) is a flipped classroom. I had to stop the student and ask them, "Hey! What does that mean?" And I was then that old person in the room who didn't know why something was funny or how to use the surround sound in the room (Yes, that happened like three weeks ago when my mentor was absent. Darned hardware had too many knobs!)
Let's. Move. On.
The concept of flipping a classroom is one that I think is really interesting that I would like to learn more about specifically how it can be used in a French classroom. Vanderbilt University provides a fantastic definition and concept summary of classroom flipping if you are not familiar with the idea. Essentially, students get the traditional "lecture" type information at home by watching a video and then spend class time doing the homework, labs, etc.
After I got home from my 13 hour day I googled "Flipped Classroom, French" and got quite a few results. Many teachers that are flipping their classrooms are writing blogs about it in addition to the hours and hours they probably spend making videos and other nifty stuff for their students. Mme Burton's blog can be found here. She even has a video on the home page to parents so they can learn a little bit about their child's classroom.
Flippin' French
I think the main way to flip a French classroom would be to use the videos to teach grammar, vocabulary, and culture and use class time for interpersonal dialogues and group discussions about topics in addition to students asking questions of course. My only questions are: Will students actually watch the videos? Will they complete notes and be prepared for class? At what point in a student's education does the student take responsibility for their learning?
Flipping a classroom is handing the responsibility of learning to the student-which is why I sort of think flipping a classroom is best for juniors and seniors or lower grade students that are on the fast track to an early diploma or something. I also think that sometimes students just don't care and you will have those students who will not do the homework regardless of what it is.
However, that being said- I love the idea. <3
Thanks for finding and sharing the link to Ms. Burton's video, Destiney. It's interesting to see how the practice can be employed by a world language teacher, and it seems important to consider that her instructional videos are so short. In that sense, maybe one key affordance of the flipped idea in a world language classroom is that you're already wired towards spending significant time in class working with the material, and perhaps a bit less time teaching new content. I would think that it would make a difference if, rather than having to take in 60 minutes worth of material, students could watch/review a 5 minute tape. I'm glad that this idea intrigued you, Destiney...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree Jeff! I myself would not look forward to a 60 minute video about French Grammar. Also, in the classroom I am working in right now, there are videos that come with the textbook that we use to introduce new grammar topics and that also have continuation videos of grammar to further students' understanding of the topic. I don't think distributing those to students is legal but its a start. I think guided notes as a part of these that students would have to "check-in" for participation or a weekly grade of some kind would give them motivation. I worry about the students that don't have access to the internet or a computer. I know that them coming in before school, during lunch, and after school is a possibility but I don't want them to have to sacrifice high-valued personal time simply because their home life is different. How would you approach that situation? If I could I would install internet and give them all computers. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of having class time be immersive rather than teaching grammar. In undergrad, I went through the Residential College's language program at UM. We had a LOT of class...essentially, we had 8 of 16 credits for a full year were all language. 4 hours a week, we had "lecture" (Mon, Tues, Thus, Fri) in the morning and a discussion session in the afternoon. The "lecture" portion focused on grammar and vocab and could easily (ish) have been "flipped". The afternoon session, we discussed various texts in Spanish literature, which was awesome. Even further, we had three times a week a Spanish lunch hour where we ate lunch...in Spanish. Being able to take the vocab and grammar from the classroom frees up the day for conversations, the most useful, in my opinion, part of learning a language.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post!
Destiney, I'm sorry to have lost the thread on this conversation, but I did belatedly want to offer a response to your question. I wonder if good old-fashioned DVDs could be part of the answer to the issue of students without web access? I know that some of these series provided multiple discs back in the day, and it might be possible to burn a few...
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