Stowell's Reflection on The Flat Classroom video

I took away many good ideas and action items from The Flat Classroom Project video. The teacher is a coach and doesn’t know everything ahead of time, and that’s all right. Different teaching methods are needed for this type of collaborative learning. The teacher is online and learning right along with the students. And that’s more than all right. The flat classroom uses the power of the group to find solutions in a project based learning environment.

The idea that student collaboration is better when students can’t see their partners in the same room really surprised me. I’m willing to try it, but I never would have guessed it to be the truth. Trying collaboration didn’t sound so difficult when it was described as first, creating connections, then friendships, then working relationships, and finally cementing all these steps with face to face encounters. I agreed with one of the presenters when she said that communication and collaboration are such important skills and that everyone needs to start practicing and learning these skills when young. This is real preparation for everyone’s biggest and most important project – life.

I paid particular attention to the list of obstacles for teachers who want to create a flat classroom (hoping I won’t fall into these traps, if I’m not already in some of them). I was very impressed with what the students had to say about their experiences. One student said that he learned more doing this project in a relatively short time than he had learned in a year of school. These students had their view of what education is radically changed, and, in what I would like to pin hope on, learned not to make stereotypes. Yea! Now, if someone could just help some of us slightly older folks as easily. It could happen!

And, I loved the parting words – words to live by, in my book – “Look for what connects us, not what divides us.” I can start using that idea in my classroom right now.