The flipped classroom

My colleague Chris beat me to this in his post earlier tonight. So this post is a little of a cheat in that it is a day late and was originally a response to another blog, but I will count it.

The flipped classroom really speaks to me...the first time I heard of it was in 2011 as well. I was on the Go Train coming home from OISE watching Salman Khan speak. I was awestruck...literally yelling at my iPhone in excitement...I am sure people thought I was crazy.

I have tried it and love it...it was recently that I had an epiphany.

My son is now in gr. 1 and he is getting homework. I have some pretty strong feelings around (read against) homework - especially in primary. I should not be having this six-year-old sit at a desk and copy patterns and practice matching pictures to french words. We should be out, exploring this in the world; that's authentic, meaningful learning.

Flipping the classroom makes for rich in class learning, but what about the out of class time it requires? How do we ensure it will get done and/or not turn off the learner (who, in Chris' case, might already be completely disengaged from school) ? What about a student who can't do the work at home - one who has a job to support the family? The student who does not have a home, or work space, or good home life? What can we do (or maybe how do we scaffold) to flip the classroom for these students?