In the traditional classroom model (i.e. what happened for the last 100 years), learning happens on a schedule, and because of that, the teacher can control a class easily.  When students are taking notes passively, they have a clear role and task in the classroom.  The application and discussion of that information happened in study groups, at home, or not at all.  School was about gaining a body of knowledge that was held by "gate-keepers" who apportioned it out as and when they saw fit.  Students were receptacles of that knowledge and were required to reiterate it on a test to prove their success as a learner.  Failure to succeed was blamed on lack of effort or poor study skills.

In the modern classroom model, learning still happens on a schedule, but the world has changed.  Now, teachers are supposed to differentiate and engage all students in learning at a designated time.  But without a passive engagement model, teachers are encouraged to build a lesson that actively engages all kids at the same time.  And with the common diversity in the classroom - of background, Socio-Economic Status and ability level - students are not expecting the same thing a student 50 years ago expected.  Now, students rarely work on schoolwork outside of class - while they spend vast amounts of time online (maybe even learning), they see school as a place that keeps them occupied, rather than fills them up with knowledge.  And the retention of knowledge, which used to be the realm of homework, is not something that happens for all students at the same rate.  With a de-emphasis on homework in recent years, it puts further pressure on the teacher to meet all their students’ needs in class…and, as all teachers figure out eventually, there is no way to do so well...and often no way to even do it adequately.  

So teachers, most of whom were raised in the traditional model in which the teacher is the master and controller of all learning in the classroom, now have to learn how to do something they never saw modelled for them.  They have to learn how to take 30-40 kids and figure out what they need, how to get it to them, what will engage students, how to keep them accountable, how to assess their learning, how to reteach what students didn’t learn…so it is no wonder that many quit within the first five years.  Teachers who expect to teach students from 50 years ago will always be disappointed, because the world has changed, and so have the students.  

And so the need for change is obvious.  Without a change in paradigm, good teachers will grow disillusioned and quit, and students will fall further and further behind.  That is not acceptable.

However, in the flipped classroom model, it becomes possible to make the realities of the modern classroom model  something that works for modern students.  Instead of delivering information and hoping students can apply it outside of class, teachers can differentiate and engage all students IN class while students make meaning and engage with the content.  It becomes possible to meet the needs of every student, every day.  When all students are active, rather than passive learners, the class becomes more like the world students ALREADY live in - one where things happen asynchronously, where any fact is available at their fingertips, and where learning happens at all times, in all places.  Teachers can spend the class time they have with students in the way that best meets their needs, and help them grasp the higher level thinking skills they need to understand the world and job market they are in today.  Teachers no longer try to do the impossible, which makes the job far more sustainable for the long term, thus ensuring that those who have a heart for teaching are able to make it in the profession.  Flipping your class will not only give your students what they need, but you need as well.