Facililating English Learning and Teaching

Flipped learning: A response to five common criticisms

By Alan November and Brian Mull

 Over the past two years, the Flipped Learning method has created quite a stir. Some argue that this teaching method will completely transform education, while others say it is simply an opportunity for boring lectures to be viewed in new locations.

While the debate goes on, the concept of Flipped Learning is not entirely new. Dr. Eric Mazur of Harvard University has been researching this type of learning since the early ’90s, and other educators have been applying pieces of the Flipped Learning method for even longer.

Read the rest

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/03/26/flipped-learning-a-response-to-five-common-criticisms/?ast=46&astc=3530

By CHRISTINA HOAG 01/27/13 06:37 PM ET EST

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- When Timmy Nguyen comes to his pre-calculus class, he's already learned the day's lesson – he watched it on a short online video prepared by his teacher for homework.

So without a lecture to listen to, he and his classmates at Segerstrom Fundamental High School spend class time doing practice problems in small groups, taking quizzes, explaining the concept to other students, reciting equation formulas in a loud chorus, and making their own videos while teacher Crystal Kirch buzzes from desk to desk to help pupils who are having trouble.

It's a technology-driven teaching method known as "flipped learning" because it flips the time-honored model of classroom lecture and exercises for homework – the lecture becomes homework and class time is for practice.

"It was hard to get used to," said Nguyen, an 11th-grader. "I was like `why do I have to watch these videos, this is so dumb.' But then I stopped complaining and I learned the material quicker. My grade went from a D to an A."

Flipped learning apparently is catching on in schools across the nation as a younger, more tech-savvy generation of teachers is moving into classrooms. Although the number of "flipped" teachers is hard to ascertain, the online community Flipped Learning Network now has 10,000 members, up from 2,500 a year ago, and training workshops are being held all over the country, said executive director Kari Afstrom.

Read the rest

http://huff.to/VLuV0n

December 6, 2012 - by Guest Author

Kylie is a 12^th Grade Student at Clintondale High School, in Clinton Township, Michigan 

My first two years of high school were a continuous struggle. I wasn’t very engaged during class, had a difficult time doing my homework, and was unable to get help from my parents because they didn’t know the material that I was being assigned. After my sophomore year I took the ACT test and scored a 13 – which was not good enough to have many options after high school. I began preparing myself to work at McDonalds because I didn’t think there would be anything else I’d be qualified to pursue after I finished high school. It wasn’t what I wanted – but it seemed to be my only option.

On my first day of class junior year, everything changed.

Read the rest

http://gettingsmart.com/cms/blog/2012/12/how-the-flipped-classroom-turned-me-into-a-better-student/