I read an interesting article recently, from sophia.org titled “Parent Perspective: Can a Flipped Classroom Help Introverts Learn Better?” and it brought back memories from my school days…
I was the really smart kid who…
- didn’t want to be called on in class
- wanted to work individually because, well I just didn’t want to work with a group
- did the assignment, read the reading, but would rather not talk about it in class
- occasionally misunderstood a concept, but hoped another person would ask the question
I’ll never forget my undergraduate African American Slavery class. We read five books, wrote reflective and research papers, watched videos, and had class discussions. I loved this class. The content was moving and engaging, the professor was awesome. It would have been a perfect class…if it weren’t for those class discussions! I was in a class with a few shy students like me, and then at least ten extroverts who were constantly posing great questions, answering the professors questions, etc etc.
This article made me think about that class, my educational experience, and the experience of the students I teach. Do the extroverts really learn more? Do they get better feedback than the shy students who cower to avoid the teacher’s gaze?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQWvc6qhTds]
We all have the students who are actively engaged and excited about taking part in classroom discussions. They are the leaders, sometimes the class clowns, but are always discussing, and most likely getting feedback (positive or negative) from the teacher.
What happens to the rest of the class? Do they get lost in the crowd? Do the shy students (those students whose name it takes forever to learn because you’re not constantly answering their question or reprimanding them) learn less?
Can flipping the classroom help with this issue?
I plan to begin my flip at the beginning of the next school year, and I am SO EXCITED about it. I can’t wait to free up valuable instructional time with actually HELPING my students understand and apply concepts. I can’t wait to take myself out of the center of the classroom, and be the facilitator instead of the gatekeeper of knowledge.
How will flipping help my shy students? I don’t know for sure, but here are some way I think ALL students, and especially the shy students, can benefit most from flipping:
- the benefit of direct, purposeful instruction
- no more filling up instructional time with useless stories (some are useful, but most are not) so slower students can finish copying down information from the board
- rewinding the teacher
- students who have questions about the content can “rewind” me…and not have to raise their hand and potentially be mortified in class
- constant access to content
- if a student is absent or needs a refresher on a specific concept, they can access the course videos
Students will obviously still have to learn to interact with each other, and at least get past their “shyness” at least to some degree. However, if gaining more of a solid foundation of content (which will hopefully be achieved by flipping) can help our introvert students gain more confidence…that’s a win-win? Right?
Interested in learning more about flipping your classroom? Click here for the link to Sophia.org’s flipped learning course.
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Thanks for reading 🙂
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