Flipping the traditional definition of ‘homework’

Every classroom at Havana High School has an online website.
Every classroom at Havana High School has an online website. WBEZ/Becky Vevea
Every classroom at Havana High School has an online website.
Every classroom at Havana High School has an online website. WBEZ/Becky Vevea

Flipping the traditional definition of ‘homework’

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As a parent, one of the most frustrating tasks may be helping your child with his or her homework. After all, it’s been years since you opened a calculus textbook or diagrammed sentences.

Teachers in the Greater Chicago area and across Illinois are experimenting with a new teaching method that flips homework on its head. Instead of asking students to do high level thinking for homework, teachers assign video lectures and then work on problems and projects at school.

WBEZ producer Becky Vevea visited a school downstate—Havana High School—that is flipping instruction. Her report aired on the Morning Shift on Dec. 18, 2013.