The Flipped Classroom

After watching The Flipped Classroom (above), I thought about the pros and cons of such a classroom.  Aaron Sams is obviously doing something right by the looks of the video, but I don't think that such a thing would work in every classroom or school.  To give you a little bit of a background of what a flipped classroom is, let's first think of a regular classroom.  In a regular classroom, the teacher stands in front of the class and delivers information, of which students are expected to receive and understand.  In a flipped classroom, students are assigned a topic the night before a lesson for homework.  Mr. Sams gives students a lecture in which they are to watch via technology, which guides them in completing their assignment.  The next day, students continue to do their work and Mr. Sams acts as more of a "tutor" than teacher.  It is his goal to have students learn for themselves, and not have such a teacher-centered classroom.

While it seems like it is working in his classroom/school, this would not work in every classroom.  Some students may not have access to technology to watch Mr. Sams' lectures, or the motivation to figure out homework for themselves.  While, yes, students should have the motivation and desire to learn on their own, I could easily see students give up and not do their homework, or even get angry that the teacher is not doing their job in "directly teaching" them what to do.  I am interested to know what Mr. Sams' administrators originally thought of his idea of flipping his classroom. While I think that it is great and ideal, most students need structure and need to be told exactly what to do. I can see students who do poorly on homework, quizzes, or tests blame the teacher for "not teaching" as a result of this technique.