Flipped Learning

In the summer of 2012, I attended a symposium at OISE wherein I learned about flipping the classroom. On the Go Train ride home, I watched Salman Khan's TED talk "Let's use video to reinvent the classroom".

I was mesmerized. I could not believe what I was watching. I was so excited. I'm pretty sure I was talking to my screen like a crazy person.  It revolutionized the way I thought about classroom instruction.  I tried it (albeit only a few times), and had, what I would consider, success.

In the fall of 2016, my oldest son started gr. 1.  My views of homework changed drastically.  He likes school...he hates homework.  Evenings, which used to be fun play time, now involve us arguing over him completing a worksheet that was send home, or a book he needs to read (and more than likely has already memorized).  So I haven begun to question, why aren't we giving homework the students want to do? (Have a look at Peter Mullen's great TEDxTalk on students controlling the learning - it's inspirational.)

This got me back to thinking about Flipped Learning.  Was it not just mandated homework?  I understand that there is value is being able to have time to percolate learning, ask questions of you teacher while engaged in the work, students working at their own pace, etc, but, what are we modelling?  Where is the work-life balance?  Flipped learning is built on the foundation that work has to be done beyond school hours.  In an age that we glorify the state of being busy and complain how run down we feel in the same breath, does the flipped learning practice really teach students the skills, mindsets, and value we want to impart on our children?  I hazard to say it does not.

New idea:  Mandate family time.  Mandate curiosity.