Turning the tables on tradition
April 22, 2015
With the rising use of the Thayer Method in schools, Diamond Bar High School teachers are also experimenting with the unconventional way of teaching in the classroom.
Also known as the flipped or inverted classroom, the Thayer Method is a reverse teaching style that takes place in normal classrooms; instead of listening to teachers lecture during school and doing homework at home, students do the exact opposite. Instructors upload video lessons onto the internet while the pupils interact with their peers and teacher via internet discussions. After watching the tutorials, the students write down any questions they may have for the teacher. During school hours, students do their work, such as labs or interactive activities, while the teacher stands by the side supervising.
“Actually, last year I had a science teacher who taught in a similar way. She uploaded tutorials on the website, and we did labs during class. Surprisingly, it was a lot easier because I was able to pause the video whenever I wanted to,” freshman Priscilla Chang said.
Although each student has his or her own learning pace, teachers often lecture only once for every lesson. If the instructor teaches too quickly, students may fall behind and not understand the lesson. However, online lessons allow students to watch a lecture as many times as needed in order to get a full grasp on the topic.
According to knewton.com, a study conducted in Michigan’s Clintondale High School reported that half of the freshman class failed English while 44 percent failed math in a classroom using the normal method. However, a year after the teaching style was changed, only 19 percent of freshman failed English while 13 percent failed math.
“I think flipped classrooms are advantageous to teachers as well as students, especially to those who are hesitant to share out in class. For them to be held individually accountable for expressing their thoughts so teachers can check for understandings of all students,” English teacher Connie Chen said.
Chen instructs her English honors classes using the flipped method, and prefers it compared to the traditional method.
“I think there are elements of the traditional classroom that I feel as though still need to be held on to. But on the other hand, I have been more effective in monitoring students that normally may have gone overlooked for longer periods of time before I notice,” Chen said.
However, the Thayer Method teaching style is not perfect, as it comes with many negative aspects as well.
“I don’t believe in pure flipping. Sometimes, teachers will just give you the online videos and expect you to do a project during class, and that’s too hard,” science teacher Chris Holmes said.
Holmes teaches his biology classes in a combination of flipped as well as traditional ways.
Some students may not have internet access at home and have to spend their lunch watching the videos while their classmates are out enjoying their break. In other occasions, a sudden internet connection problem may arise and the student would end up not learning the subject required for the next day’s assignment. However, in the traditional method, most homework assignments are done by hand so the student would still be able to complete the assignment even without an internet connection.
“I prefer teachers teaching at school and doing homework at home since we have more time to do work at home than school. Also, there can be internet difficulties at home for some students,” freshman Brian Ng said via Facebook.
In addition, the ability to focus at home, with all the distractions there is another problem that students deal with. Without an instructor’s supervision, some students may skip out on the work and show up to school not knowing the lesson.
