Perhaps you have heard the term “flipped classroom” bandied about in the past year or so. In a nutshell, the concept centers around the idea of delivering instruction of new concepts at home – typically via video tutorials – and practicing application of those concepts in class.
This has the potential to engage all levels of students because, with an engaging, fun, relevant activity in the classroom, students are compelled to “brush up” on the required concept the night before. They can watch the videos at their own pace, ask questions of their peers through social media, and access new content without the distractions of a typical classroom.
In my opinion, its success hinges on having engaging activities in the class that require the students to do the homework of watching the tutorials. These activities should put to authentic use those skills which were covered in the videos. Engagement in this manner makes the student want to learn the skill sets that traditionally are seen as dry or irrelevant.
This is easier said than done. Many teachers, myself included, have tended to “put lipstick on a pig” and dress up essentially drill-style activities in the guise of a game. While this type of activity has its place, it really shouldn’t be the main focus in a flipped classroom setting. Drills, repetition, memorization, grammar, and syntax are all means, not ends, and should be resources for students to actually apply the nitty-gritty in context.
The flipped classroom is nascent. Teachers worldwide are waking up to this idea. In some ways it isn’t new (engagement has always been the driving force for pedagogical change.) I have found other Latin teachers (such as @thegeesetra) on Twitter who share my curiosity for this new way of thinking. We want to change the way Latin is taught and used. We want students to know and feel its relevance on every level.
This post is a call to arms. OK, not so drastic…
Our idea is this: can we design a Latin curriculum from the bottom up that uses the flipped classroom model? We need to create video tutorials that are modular, adaptable, open access, interesting, and useful. They are augments and/or replacements for textbooks. On the other side of the coin, we need to create classroom opportunities to stretch students’ skills and allow them to be applied. The task is Herculean. But we want to crowd-source it.
If you are interested, take a peek here. We have started to brainstorm ideas for videos, but the next action steps over the summer are actually creating videos and discussing strategies. You will notice that those already involved or interested range from all over the United States. We want more input, more ideas, and more people getting their hands dirty. We don’t guarantee anything nor do we necessarily think this is the end-all be-all of pedagogy. It is just one more idea that seems worth exploring. I hope you’ll consider exploring it with us.
Please leave comments below. I would love for this to evolve into a discussion of the pros and cons of this idea. If you’d like edit access to the document above, leave a note in the comments or email me at magister.revkin at gmail.com.