I, Joy Kirr, am a middle school teacher, author, and speaker. My 7th grade ELA (English Language Arts) classes are working to improve their lives through student-directed learning - without marks throughout the year. This is a log of my learning experiences... Want to have me speak with your staff or facilitate a workshop? Here is my PORTFOLIO.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

"New" Definition of "Flipped" Classroom...

From Steve Wheeler... Steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-flip.html
If we want higher quality learning experiences, we simply flip traditional roles. Flipping learning for me means teachers becoming learners and students becoming teachers. I have already elaborated on this in a previous blog post. If teachers assume the role of a learner, and accept that they are not the fonts of all knowledge, but are there to facilitate learning instead of instructing, positive change in education would happen. Similarly, if we ask students to become teachers, and we encourage them to independently create their own content, share and present their work - either in the classroom, or on the web - we place them in a position where they must take responsibility to learn and develop their understanding of their subject. This is active, participatory learning. Students can aspire to become specialists in their chosen field, because in order to be able to teach, you first need to become intimate with your subject. We learn by teaching.

2 comments:

  1. I like your definition of flipped learning, Joy! I've really been trying to make this happen in my classrooms.

    Thanks,
    Denise

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, now I see it's Steve Wheeler's definition (I just went and finished his blog post) Oops!

    Anyway, may it inspire all teachers to be the chief learners in their classrooms. Kids are inspired and geniuses. They should be able to share their knowledge.

    Thanks,
    Denise

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for adding to the conversation!