Even after our class discussion last week, I still don't have my thoughts on the flipped classroom concept nailed down. The more I think about it, the more aspects I find appealing, but my enthusiasm quickly is cooled by the experiences I'm having in my own classroom. I think that students could benefit from the more hands-on/real world application practice provided by the flipped classroom, but only if they are willing to work. My biggest fear about a truely flipped classroom is that the students wouldn't do their outside work and that their lack of outside work would like to having a classroom on kids who are each on a different level of readiness with the assignment; thus rendering me unable to provide the best possible instruction to any of them. That being said, I think that a flipped concept is possible, but, in my opinion, it would have to be a shift in the culture of the district/school in order to be successful.
As frustrating as social media can be in the classroom, with drama resulting from its use among students, I do believe that it could be beneficial in the school environment. Allowing students to interact using social media (like Twitter, Facebook, etc.) brings our classrooms into the 21st Century. It isn't practical to expect our students to solely interact via traditional methods anymore. Even the most professional people in our society use social media to communicate, not only with their colleagues, but also to keep their fingers on the pulse of their audience. The key to using social media in the academic realm is teaching our students to be responsible-- not only for the content they put 'out there,' but also for themselves; teaching digital responsibility and citizenship MUST be a part of a teacher's lesson plan if he or she is going to incorporate the use of social media in the classroom.
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