We have all done it....read and article on any of the major internet news sites and what do you see at the end of the artcile......................the dreaded reader comments.
One one hand, the internet is an amazing forum to express ones first amendment rights. Web 2.0 capablities have given people a voice that were at one time not heard. It is a great evolution in communication. It is a great expression and can spur amazing dialogue and discussion.
However......................
People/Readers/Commentators think they can say anything and hide behind an anonymous post. And while I agree with their first amendment rights....I question the basis in which they make comments. Here is an article from the Huffinton Post on 6/14. The following was a comment about the flipped classroom:
Since the computers are now "teaching the students" and the teachers are
essentially
becoming facilitators or babysitters, I don't think they
should be receiving high salaries.
I'd expect to pay teachers who teach the class a higher salary than one
who just facilitates.
There could not be a comment more further from the truth. I teach MORE with a flipped classroom. I work with my students individualizing in a one to one format on a daily basis. I cannot get more exhausting than that!
Just becuase someone stands in front of a classroom and lectures does not mean they are teaching.
Just becuase someone gives a multiple choice test does not mean they are teaching.
Lecturing IS babysitting.
Using the old factory model of schooling is babysitting.
Denying that students live in a different world and trying to educate them with a square peg and round hole IS educational malpractice.
I will, however, stake claim to the title of facilitator. If I were a teacher that "just facilitates", then I would be doing the most important job that a teacher holds, requiring students to think...I'll do that all day!
If computers can teach students well then I will be the first in line to find a new profession...............
I am not a person that leaves comments on news stories. But I am one that needs to ignore them....to keep my own sanity.
I am new to teaching and going to take the plunge to flip my classroom this coming school year. I agree that the teacher should be the facilitator. They are not mindless individual that we should just spoon-feed them information. Teaching them how to think critically on their own is so crucial to their sucess in the future!
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