Learning in a Flipped Classroom

         There are many ways in learning new subjects or teaching new objectives.  New methods have way over passed the old traditional model where the teacher was the center of attention.  Nowadays students learn in many different interactive ways.  One of these ways is the Flipped Classroom model where the homework happens in school and the school work at home. 

         Although I am for the interactive instruction and more hands on activities in the classroom I do not agree with the Flipped classroom approach.  Students are supposed to watch a video of the day's instruction at home with or without their parents and continue in class the next day applying what they have learned.  I think that this approach is a little dangerous in terms of work completion.  How do we make sure as teachers that students actually went ahead and watched the video?  And even if they did how do we know that they comprehended the material?  I understand that they will interact with their schoolmates the next day in class and some learning will happen then while the teacher will explain some questions from the video but if the teacher spends time in class for answering questions why not to teach it at the first time.  

         The truth is that I am a little hesitant about the Flipped model classroom because I have not tried it.  It would be better if I had some more experience with it to have a better formed opinion.  I realize though through experience that even though I show a video in class students still have questions and someone, as the teacher, has to be present with them to answer these questions.  From this week's recourse I only read positive comments regarding this theory and maybe in terms of technology is a great idea but again technology should be used as a tool to teach and not to replace instruction. 

           In addition by using Flipped Classroom methodology I do not feel comfortable with testing.  In the resources I learned so much about creating a test.  How am I going to use all these information if I did not teach it at first hand?  I am going to access students' learning from a video?  I do not think so.  In some case though like the article I read with the students who have no time because of sports maybe Flipped classroom is the only way to help them.  I think this is the only case I would use such a model.  

Electronic Schools of the Future

                       Reading the resources of this week I was amazed of how fast things change in Education through technology.  Students sometimes know much more than their teachers in terms of how to use new technology tools on the internet such the Web 2.0 tool.  Students like to explore and find out new things and since they are already familiar with technology it is very easy for them to adjust to new technologies. 

                      Nowadays the majority of the schools use internet and technology is a big part of education.  Since 2007 while I was a teacher in a charter school, I had to submit HW on line and students had to downloaded from home.  There was no excuse for not doing the HW since there was posted on the school's website.  I also had to use the program I SHOW U in the class when I explained Math problems which is like a Smart Board with the only difference that this was MAC computer and uses a projector.  A few years later I observe students in High school having I Pods in the classroom and with their teachers' leading they do almost everything.  

                  A great concern though is the fact that students know so much more and they are able to explore and and learn so fast using technology that even teachers fall behind.  What is really interesting from the article "How to Bring Gadgets Back" is that even employers are aware of the situation and they want to shift this to their advantage and have students learn the necessary skills in order to use them later in their companies.   But how is this will be achieved if teachers and school administration does not upgrade to newer Web technologies?  In this picture we have to add the budget that a school may spend.  Even if school administrations have the best intention to be technologically advanced, they cannot have everything ready the next day.  

                  By continuing learning with computers the future shows bright.  The day will come when students will just learn from computers and the old model from the teacher will not exist anymore.  Although I disagree we cannot stop life from happening.  It does not mean that students do not learn.  They do learn and they experience a lot, it is just that the personal relationship with a figure model teacher might be lost.  I understand that teachers will be present to help students implement what they learn but I strongly believe that technology should only used by teachers to make things more interesting not to replace teachers. 

The Power of Storytelling

     There are many times that we have read and shared stories with our students.  When we tell a story we see their eyes open and their attention to us.  It is amazing how children learn thorough stories and tales.   Stories can be read in any subject even in math.  Students will make connections of the teaching material and the story and that is when learning really happens.  But stories are not related only in teaching subjects but also in real life morals.  All folk tales leave children with the moral of the story that has taught them how to behave, to think, to love etc.  

      According to the article from this week's resources, The Science of Storytelling,  story telling is really a science.  It really impressed me the fact that according to the information from the article, when we present a subject with a power point presentation the mind only decodes words into meaning where with a story all the senses participate to form a mental experience that we can remember for sure.  

      I am glad that this past summer took a class about children's literature as an elective fro my certification in Elementary Education.  I learned so much about stories and folk tales and how to read them to children, at what pace, as well as, the proper material for each age or ethnic group with respect to diversity.  I learned from that class that students from a certain culture become associated with the story and become more comfortable in the classroom setting, they feel welcomes and their minds are open to receive knowledge.  In the meantime other students create pictures in their minds of that culture and relate it with their own.  As you see the benefits are great.  

    As a teacher in Greek school I have a great variety of stories to choose.  The best of them were Aesop's myths that kids loved so much.  Always in the end of the story there were thinking of what the moral was and how to become better people. Soon after the story we played a small play related to the story and children had to repeat certain expression in Greek from the myth.  they were laughing so hard and they created new experiences that they will always remember.