When I read the title of our discussion topic “to flip or not to flip”, I became curious as to what that phrase referred to. In my teaching experience, I had never come across the term “flipping the classroom”. What is this? I asked to myself. As I saw the videos and read the articles suggested, my curiosity turned into deep interest in this topic. Since one of the textbooks suggested for the writing of this essay is actually about flipping your classroom, I decided to read it and learn more about this technique. I had no idea that Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, the authors, were the founders of this revolutionary model. In this essay, I will analyze the information I read, what I learned, and how this model could make an impact in my own teaching experience.
For years, teachers have thought about the best way to make their classes less teacher-centered and more student-centered. Even though Bergmann and Sams were not the first ones to come up with the idea of flipping their classrooms, they were the ones who spread the model when they started to share their class videos via internet and many schools became interested in their model. Basically, the idea of the flipped class is, according to Bergmann & Sams (2012), that in which everything that was traditionally done in class is now done at home and vice-versa. That way, the attention in class would be more on the student and less on the teacher. Bergmann and Sams had the wonderful idea of preparing videos of their chemistry lessons so the students could watch them at home whenever they wanted, as many times as they wanted, learning the material at their own pace, and writing down annotations, doubts or questions that would be clarified during the following class. Voilà! There would not be any more long in-class explanations which sometimes would take more than half the class time leaving very little time for hands-on activities or other important work. As I was reading how they did it, at the same time, I was thinking about how this model would be so useful in my classes to avoid too many in-class grammar explanations.
As the authors suggest, moving from the traditional classroom to the flipped classroom model and then to the flipped mastery program has to be a gradual process. In chapter 4 of their book, Bergmann and Sams explain about how to implement the model in our classes. They give tips on how to make our own videos using the necessary equipment and programs. Here is where I stick to their advice about moving gradually. At this moment, I would not feel very comfortable creating my own videos, so I would use other teachers’ videos in such case. Besides as they describe it, making our own videos takes some time and technology knowledge that I do not master yet.
This model of teaching has taught me several interesting things that I had not realized before. First of all, by applying this technique in my classes, I will save time in class, and I will have more time for different kinds of communicative activities. The students will come to class better prepared and readier to work on practice and production. Furthermore, I will be able to work closer with those students who have more difficulties. I could have different groups of students working on different tasks at the same time depending on their needs. The authors only mention the videos made by them as the material for students to use before going to class, but there are other options that we can find on the internet too. With the technology that we have available, I can also get rid of the burden of grading tests because the computer can do it for me. More importantly, I have to be aware that in order to use the teaching videos, I have to have clear learning objectives, analyze if the video is appropriate or not, and I have to make sure that the students have access to the material online. For this, I think that the Schoology platform that we use in my job will work just fine. All students have access to it so they can look for the material there. Finally, flipping my classroom does not mean that I will sit back and relax in class. On the contrary, I will have to be very active moving around, helping students where it’s needed, clarifying doubts, and guiding them as they work on their tasks.
As a conclusion, I would definitely want to start flipping my classes from now on. I am aware that I need to have more expertise in the use of technology, but I know that with time and dedication I will accomplish it. In this era of advanced technology, where most students have access to all kinds of digital devices and resources, introducing this way of teaching in my classes will make my students more motivated, engaged, and for sure the results will be very positive.
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