Journal #9
Flipped Classroom and OERs
Flipped Classroom is a high leverage teaching practice that involves switching classwork and homework. Students would watch a video containing the lesson material at home. Then, during class time, the teacher would answer questions and complete a "homework" activity, like a worksheet. The idea behind this lesson method is to decrease lecture time and increase time the students get to interact with the material. I'm going to be very honest, I hate this method, and I think a lot of teachers have concluded that it doesn't work. First, you can only use it with older kids. You can't trust younger kids to learn material on their own. That reason points out another flaw with this lesson format. It is unfair to force students to learn the material themselves. You can teach the material in class and encourage engagement. You can restructure your planning to include less lecturing without forcing your students to teach themselves. The third problem with flipped classroom is that there is no accountability for students watching the video. There is no real way to know that the kids really watched it. Even if the website you post on could tell you if the student watched, they could very easily play it through without watching. Seriously, there are plenty of other classroom and lesson methods that work for students. This one doesn't.
OERs are Open Educational Resources (they could be used for a flipped classroom). The OER website is full of videos and websites for teachers to use with their students. OER's goal is to release content that educators and students can use without being scared of violating copyright rules. They are trying to make high quality resources accessible for everyone, which I think is pretty admirable. They have thousands of videos for elementary school and beyond, and a myriad of subjects.
I found a video about liquid science tricks for first and second graders. It was a really cool video with a ton of different experiments to show your students. It gives your an opportunity to show your students a variety of experiments without actually having to do them all.
I also just feel compelled to mention that I really just enjoy scrolling through their website and looking at everything they have!
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