Flipping for Mr. Bennett

brian bennett

The more presentations I give and see the more it takes to impress me. I'm constantly looking for that teacher that is doing what I believe the Internet allows us to do...that is flip the classroom. Otherwise known as reverse instruction. 

There are a couple things that really get me excited about Mr. Bennett who I met for the first time today. 

1. He's only in his second year of teaching! Which means he's young, full of energy, and when he says things like "Just upload it to YouTube" the rest of the audience looks at each other. He's the next generation of teacher and he gets the power of the connection....what's not to get excited about.
2. He sharings EVERYTHING he's doing
   1. His vodcasts (iTunes link)
   2. His Notes (Class site link)
   3. How his class works
   4. His YouTube Channel
3. He's connecting himself and creating a PLN 
   1. The Flipped Class Network
   2. His Twitter Account
4. He's constantly changing and modifing his lessons
5. He's willing to put in the time on the front end, knowing/trusting it will pay off later.

You know a presentation is good when people are leaving the session with remarks like, "He's got to much energy" and "I don't have time to create all that stuff".

It was fun to watch the audience react to what he was saying....nobody disagreed with his pedagogy or approach...what they were disagreeing with was the time it takes to do it right. Yes....good teaching takes time, reverse instruction takes time, but the payoff comes in the quality conversations you have with your students. Conversations you can't have when you're busy teaching content. 

I strongly recommend you watch his 3 part YouTube videos on how he runs his classroom. Well worth your time...and a great conversation starter in departments.

I have to say....it's hard to break into my RSS reader and make it into my must read section...but I added Brian's blog before I left his session today. Looking forward to learning more from this new international educator.