Random Thoughts

Flipping for Mr. Bennett

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brianbennett
brian bennett

The more presentations I give and see the more it takes to impress me. I’m constantly looking for that teacher that is doing what I believe the Internet allows us to do…that is flip the classroom. Otherwise known as reverse instruction

There are a couple things that really get me excited about Mr. Bennett who I met for the first time today. 

  1. He’s only in his second year of teaching! Which means he’s young, full of energy, and when he says things like “Just upload it to YouTube” the rest of the audience looks at each other. He’s the next generation of teacher and he gets the power of the connection….what’s not to get excited about.
  2. He sharings EVERYTHING he’s doing
    1. His vodcasts (iTunes link)
    2. His Notes (Class site link)
    3. How his class works
    4. His YouTube Channel
  3. He’s connecting himself and creating a PLN 
    1. The Flipped Class Network
    2. His Twitter Account
  4. He’s constantly changing and modifing his lessons
  5. He’s willing to put in the time on the front end, knowing/trusting it will pay off later.

You know a presentation is good when people are leaving the session with remarks like, “He’s got to much energy” and “I don’t have time to create all that stuff”.

It was fun to watch the audience react to what he was saying….nobody disagreed with his pedagogy or approach…what they were disagreeing with was the time it takes to do it right. Yes….good teaching takes time, reverse instruction takes time, but the payoff comes in the quality conversations you have with your students. Conversations you can’t have when you’re busy teaching content. 

I strongly recommend you watch his 3 part YouTube videos on how he runs his classroom. Well worth your time…and a great conversation starter in departments.

I have to say….it’s hard to break into my RSS reader and make it into my must read section…but I added Brian’s blog before I left his session today. Looking forward to learning more from this new international educator.

I started blogging in 2005 and found it such a powerful way to reflect and share my thinking about technology, this generation, and how we prepare students for their future not our past.

5 Comments

  1. Wow! Wish I could’ve been at this session! However, I’m rather glad all of his information is easily accessible. Thanks for reposting the links!

  2. Keishla Ceaser-Jones Reply

    Here’s the thing.I agree. Good teaching does take time. The only problem is, most teachers only get 45-50 minutes a day. And even right now, when I am not taping myself to flip my classroom, I am working 3–5 hours outside of my contract time. But nevertheless I am intrigued by the prospect, and because I consider myself a good teacher, I will be spending my soummer looking at some of his techniques. But I am very resentful of the lack of respect and consideration that most people think teaching takes.

    My husband and I are both teachers and we both spend hours each evening “breathing” our profession. We rarely have time to just be, to take up a hobby. Our job comes home with us EVERDAY…I couldn’t imagine how long our marriage would last if we weren’t both teachers and understanding of the amount of work it takes to be just “good” at your job.

    And I have teenage children, I can’t imagine people with younger kids that require more time and let me tell you…my teenage boys had moments of resentment for the amount of time I worked at home.

    Because we work with human capital, we are expected to go to any lengths for our work, without question, without complaint because to do any less would be thought inhuman, un-caring. So while Ilove all of the teachers who are doing the next great thing like it’s nothing….let’s be honest. Doing some of that does often require an enormous undertaking and sacrifice. And most teachers are willing. But I will say that in the face of the great disdain from the public for what we do, or least the perception presented bynthe media, it will be difficult in the long term to get teachers to continue to sacrifice their personal lives for the profession.

    And this comes from a teacher reading education blogs from her PLN on a Friday evening because she is ALWAYS looking to improve her craft…often to the detriment of her personal life. But such is the demanded sacrifice of teachers without question.

    • Hi Keishla,

      I totally get where you’re coming from..and I think the things are Mr. Bennett is doing is now “More” it’s different. He still puts in as much time as any other teacher does after school, at home…his time is just spend in a different way. What if you could take the exact amount of time you’re putting in now, but only do things differently with it? That’s what Mr. Bennett and many other teachers using this technique are doing….and in fact many teachers are claiming that after they get the routine down, and get through the learning curve they are spending less time then they did before the flipped their classroom. A big part of this is because the students are responsible for the content. They go learn on their own, they find the sites…taking that off the plate of the teacher, allows the teacher to focus more on students and teaching the skills they need to find good content.

      I know teachers work hard….I’m one of them…..and this approach doesn’t look to add more time, just change the way teachers use the time they already have.

      • Keishla Ceaser-Jones Reply

        Jeff,

        I get that…but we have to be careful as fellow educators not to malign each other because we are concerned about time. It may very well be that something that other teachers are spending “time” on is just as valuable as “flipping.” I love learning new things, I plan on adding elements of “flipping” to my class, but I think we need to be respectful of each other and our concerns about time. Flipping may very well be the best thing for Mr. Bennett and his classroom, but not necessarily “the way” for all teachers. The way I look at it, I don’t prescribe to any one aspect, I like to put as many tools in my belt to deal with many situations. I appreciate your blog and exposing new ideas.

        Thanks

  3. Neely Courtney Reply

    I had never heard of “reverse instruction” before reading your blog. I am in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama majoring in elementary education. This class is teaching methods of teaching with technology. I had never used twitter, PLN, Blogs, podcast and many other things I have learned before this class. I can certainly see how it would give a teacher advantages in the classroom. I have to admit though that I never really thought about it until reading this blog post. I can only imagine the reward Mr. Bennett feels himself and witnesses from his students learning more from his method of teaching rather than the traditional lecture method.

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