Teaching in a Vacuum

Nature abhors a vacuum, says Aristotle, opining on the natural state of matter way back before my European forebears managed to quit building houses with mud. And to a certain extent he was right. But on the other hand, we as teachers prefer to follow Robert Boyle in the belief that a vacuum can exist, though we disagree with him by believing if we work hard enough in a vacuum we can make enough noise to be heard.

Wow, that was a tortuous metaphor.

What I am currently discovering in my flipclassroom is that if I am to continue this long-term, I need an 'atmosphere' to work in. Much like a flame burns out when in a vacuum, sorry, I'll try that again; I as an individual teacher will quickly burnout if I don't find or create a community of teachers who I can share, collaborate and co-create with in my school. There is really only so much one person can do, and the curse/blessing of flipclass is that it can save a lot of prep time, if you do the necessary prep time (which is tremendously more than organising a traditional classroom, let me tell you).

That is why I am glad to see a number of teachers who are not only interested in flip at my school, but an admin team who are very positive about the benefits of bringing flip into the classroom. Which gives me hope the goal of a flip atmosphere will be reached where I am.