As with previous summer vacations, I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to find new ways to engage my students (and myself for that matter). I have toyed with the idea of a Flipped classroom for over a year now but have yet to make the jump. Simultaneously, I have been dabbing in Project-based Learning (PBL). I decided a few months ago that I was definitely giving PBL ago for the upcoming school year.
I continued searching the web for ideas and it brought me back to the concept of flipping my classroom. This time, I took the idea more seriously and started to find the best resources to use to get started. Even though I was steering more closely in that direction, it wasn’t until I saw my new class schedule that ultimately persuaded me to turn to the Flipped Classroom Model. Why this year? Well, I found that I had a split level Spanish 1/2 class. Now, with Spanish, most of your upper level classes are combo classes because the students are more independent and much of the material is much more communicative in nature. However, levels 1 and 2 are DRASTICALLY different. This combo pretty much sets the students up for failure because there is too much guidance that each level needs and the concepts cannot be combined in any way. This is beyond differentiation because there is no common goal for the two classes. In essence, the instructor will be differentiating two totally different classes simultaneously. This is almost the equivalent of asking a Math teacher to teach Algebra I and Calculus in the same class.
The bottom-line, the Flipped Model became the most logical solution even though it is still going to take a lot on my part and on the part of the students. I just hope my students are successful and they understand that sometimes we have to make do with the hand that we are dealt.
What does that mean for summer vacation? Well, it has been changed from focusing on getting my dissertation approved before the end of the semester to finding a way to maintain my sanity throughout the school year. ¡Qué Dios me bendiga!