Flipped Class Room- Carpentry style…

In practice

After reading several articles on the concept of flipping the class room, i began to see a real and genuine use for this practice in the “shop”.

There have been many times over the last 10 years that i have had the opportunity to teach, that while trying to instruct on proper usage of certain types of equipment; or proper usage of  hand tools; or proper sharpening techniques- that a class of usually 12+ students are NOT able to properly see the instruction.

I inevitably end up repeating the steps or procedures individually at least 6 or 7 times!  Its a frustrating endeavor.  Its duplicity on a grand scale and time could be better served if the students had access to a simple process in a class room setting through media availability, or personal tech tools.

Specific examples for me that i will likely employ this new teaching idea- is when I am  instructing on how to sharpen chisels; using a bench grinder; operating a band saw; and or any smaller tool or equipment that requires the mass of class to huddle close. The problem is that  by doing that, asking students to close in,  it directly flies in the face of safe work practice! Tools and equipment demand a safe distance when operating.

It is somewhat embarrassing how odiously helpful  this teaching tool / style can and will be for me in the future.

Student Centered Approaches

Article-What Does Student Centered Approach Really Mean

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This particular grabbed my attention for a number of reasons:

It somewhat boldly challenged the seemingly natural evolution of technical advances that are available today.  The direction of the class room environment seems to be “evolving”.  But is it necessarily a good thing. He  stated that some of the technical advances and new tools of delivering age old messages, can muck up or even distract the learner from the message that the instructor is trying to get across.

A great line is: “ Good educators recognize that teaching is more art than science; more of a calling than a profession. And that true “collaboration” is achieved not among students working together or with computers, but among students and teachers (and parents) working together, with teachers serving as mentors and role models, guided by a vision of education as a stimulus to individual and social betterment.”

By no means am i trying to suggest slowing down the technological advances pertaining to education training, but rather looking for a way of covering over and validating and soothing  my insecurities and inabilities in this tech world.