Flipping the W. History Classroom

There is a lot of talk about flipping classrooms, however, when you hear about flipping a classroom most of the time it is related to Math or Science classes. My question is why not do the same thing with History? This year as a part of making the Global World History Project work I will be flipping my classroom. What is flipping a classroom you might ask???

Flipping your class is doing what students would normally do in class at home and what would normally be done at home in class. My plan is to limit classroom lectures during the class period but instead doing my lectures and posting them online through YouTube in 10-15 minute segments. Students homework will generally be to watch the lectures and take notes of the lectures through watching the videos. This way students will have the chance to watch the videos as many times as they would need based on their understanding. They will also be able to watch the videos in many cases on the go through their cell phones if they have a data plan. They will come to class and have random periodic CPS Clicker (see eInstruction.com if you aren't familiar with these) quizzes over what they have been learning at home. While in class they will then take the knowledge that they have been learning and explore it deeper in small groups or as a whole class. While doing this exploration of the time in history we are studying they will also have time to take what they are learning and apply it to the Global World History Project in a variety of weekly lessons that we will be putting together throughout the year. (some of these will be described in my next blog posting) 

Through the Global History Project students will then teach each other the history subject they are learning in class and to their global partners for a greater understanding. When a student is able to teach another student something they have a better understanding of what they have been learning. It will also give the teacher the opportunity to hear the students share what they are learning so the teacher knows if the students are really grasping the subject. While the students are teaching their global partners what they are learning they will also often hear a different take on what their partner schools are learning.

In my next blog I will give some sample lesson plans on how the Global World History Project will look.