CON: CON:

by Asa Ostrow

A tangible transformation is taking place in classrooms across the country: the traditional method of education — daily in-person instruction — is fading away as a growing number of educators replace it with an inverted or “flipped” classroom. Within this model, students first learn material at home from pre-recorded videos and presentations provided by their teachers. Students then use class time to ask questions and complete assignments.

The inverted classroom’s proponents tout the model as the modern, optimal solution to minimizing learning gaps, sidestepping school and classroom inequity. However, inverted classrooms create major roadblocks in the learning process while also placing unwarranted burdens on students.

During the pandemic, the flipped classroom proved necessary since schools were struggling to personally deliver material to students via an online platform. But even as students returned to in-person learning at Whitman, teachers of classes such as Chemistry, Precalculus and Calculus AB and BC have continued to implement the inverted classroom structure.

While some students have grown to like this system, the implications of an inverted classroom go far beyond a student’s individual preferences.

In advanced STEM classes, homework can be difficult, onerous and time-consuming, often requiring far more time than a 45-minute class period at school. When this happens, students are forced to take the work home in addition to having to watch and understand the video for the next lesson. This pileup of work can quickly snowball, creating a massive hole for students to dig themselves out of.

Proponents of the inverted classroom claim that it increases equity because students can always learn at their own pace. However, this argument neglects students with learning disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia, who might have to work harder than others to meet deadlines. Since the inverted classroom allows such a small window for completing homework, students who already struggle to complete their work on time may now struggle even more. This means that when it comes to the crucial task of practicing new material, the inverted classroom spells disaster for many students who rely on formal classroom structure. A teacher bouncing from desk to desk to help everyone individually is no substitute.

Since the inverted classroom in effect rushes the completion of homework, the students who require more time to understand or complete assignments can fall even further behind their classmates. As a result, it actually deepens the learning divide between students instead of narrowing it.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to streamline the learning process, more often than not, the structure of an inverted classroom actually leaves students with more confusion about the material. Having students consume material at home prevents them from asking questions immediately as confusion arises. A confused student is left with two options: either go trawling around the web for an explanation or save the question and cut into their valuable homework time during class 12 hours later.

Junior Tynan O’Donoghue feels that the gap between learning the new material and the ability to ask questions is a significant obstruction for learning difficult subjects, he said.

“I think when you’re going through the process of learning the material, it’s easier to have a teacher to ask questions right away rather than keeping your questions for a whole day and then going in and asking later,” O’Donoghue said.

Still, the inverted classroom is not an exclusively negative approach to teaching. The model makes it easier for students who miss class to quickly catch up, since videos corresponding to individual lessons are immediately available online. In addition, in the event of school cancellations, flipped classrooms can simply fall back on videos and other online resources. However, these positives do not outweigh the cumulative loss of education quality that takes place when the foundation of learning permanently becomes digital instead of personal.

The inverted classroom model takes a bur- den off of teachers only to place it on students. It asks students, not teachers, to guide their own instruction, while simultaneously restricting the window for completing assignments. This effort to modernize teaching has turned more than the classroom upside down: it’s capsized the entire learning process. It’s time to right the ship.

by EVA SOLA-SOLE

D.C. residents continue to protest Iran months after Mahsa Amini’s death

In Sept. 2022, police killed a young woman named Mahsa Amini in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Amini was not wearing a hijab, violating a 40-year-old standard across the country. Amini’s death sparked public outrage, leading to global protests against the cruel actions of the Iranian regime and its oppressive, patriarchal standards for women. Over 500 Iranians have been killed in these recent anti-dress code protests. While those in other countries feel that distance, individuals have continued to protest Iranian women’s oppression through organizations such as the National Solidarity Group of Iran. Connor Curran, a Whitman junior, has been heavily involved in advocating for the cause and remembering those killed in Iran. He attended a D.C. protest where hundreds of people marched to the Delegation of the European Union to fight for women, life and freedom.

Advocates participate in chants promoting freedom for Iranian women and citizens. Signs reading “stop execution in Iran” and “be our voice” populate the crowds.

Familiar faces embrace after the conclusion of the weekly Iranian protest. Many of those involved in the NSGIran have attended gatherings every Saturday to advocate against the Iranian regime.

Protestors hold up smoke sticks and the Iranian flag on the corner of K street and 22nd on their second stop en route to the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Weekly protests like this one have provided a sense of solidarity and community to those with friends or family in Iran, as well as people who simply want to help fight injustice. These meetups have continuously worked to create unity and spread awareness about the Iranian regime’s excessively brutal punishments. The protests in D.C. and across the world may not directly influence Iran’s government, but they aim to inspire those fighting for rights in Iran and strive for change from the ground up.

When Ryan Desoto stepped onto an ice rink for the first time, he pushed his mother away and immediately glided by himself. Although it was hard at first to stay balanced, he quickly excelled. Once he started to improve, the cold air whipped around his face, as he felt almost as though he was floating over the ice. Desoto’s ability to skate by himself was a feeling of freedom he had never felt before. Ever since that day, Desoto has never gotten tired of the feeling of coasting across a fresh sheet of ice.

Now, over a decade later, Desoto wakes up before the sun at five a.m. and laces up his skates in order to attend his seven o’clock practice with his hockey team, the Cheetahs.

The Montgomery Cheetahs Special Hockey Club is a team where kids with intellectual and physical disabilities can learn how to play ice hockey and gain valuable social skills. The team practices at the local Cabin John Ice Rink on Saturday mornings, with practices broken up into three groups by age and skill.

The club started from a Bar Mitzvah project by two Whitman Hockey alums, brothers Corey Burke and Jake Burke. Corey and Jake have a cousin with autism and wanted their project to benefit not only their cousin but the community around them, while also involving their passion for hockey.

Since its founding in 2006, about 500 kids have skated through the program and currently there are around 80 athletes enrolled. Since there are no age limitations, some athletes have been with the Cheetahs for over a decade.

Sean Trombley, the team’s executive director, knows the importance of a team for kids with disabilities and sees firsthand the impact it makes on their lives.

“You can see the confidence that they have in interacting with their peers, both their peers with special needs and their peers that are neurotypical,” Trombley said. “Their strength and responsibility of control [in] their body has grown, their willingness to take direction and to be flexible has grown.”

Each week of practice gives new challeng- es to the players. In each practice group, coaches split the athletes into three smaller groups for a skills rotation. They practice shooting from different spots on the ice, work on skating skills and habituate defensive readiness. Every few weeks, the coaches will split the practice group into two teams and scrimmage.

19-year-old Aramis Crane has been a player for the Cheetahs since 2009, finding not only a passion for hockey but also lifelong friendships through the team. Crane’s older brother participated in the club, so Crane saw the team’s inner workings and decided to join the group himself. He hoped to gain the same hockey skills and lifelong friends he saw his brother acquire. As a result of joining, he has formed relationships with his teammates on the ice and outside the rink.

“Cheetahs to me is getting to know other people and form allies, and start playing as a team to hang out with them,” Crane said. “I have been able to get very close with almost everyone on the team — we also have ‘get-together’ parties and just have fun hanging out.”

For member Spencer Stern, the club is the perfect outlet for him to express his competitive nature, his father Dan Stern said. Dan praises the team and how it has created more confidence in Stern. Even though Dan’s other son Maddox is more skeptical of sports, he has also been able to break out of his shell and enjoy the game of hockey, Dan said.

“Maddox is [now] more willing to engage in any physical activity [even though] he’s more of the lazy bones of the two,” Stern said. “And for Spencer, it’s another outlet for his competitive spirit. He really likes to play sports, so he’s really enjoying the opportunity to go out and play and be a part of a larger group and understand hockey and learn how to skate. It’s been really great for both of them and in very different ways.”

The team has not only benefited its players, but also the student volunteer mentors who aid the team. These volunteers are teenagers from the area who have some previous knowledge of hockey. Junior Jacob Lerman knew about the team from a network of people and was excited to join as soon as he turned 13, the minimum age for mentors, he said.

At first, Lerman found the position challenging, but the more he signed up to help at practices, the more he learned valuable skills for helping out kids with disabilities. He was able to help the kids become more confident on the ice. Lerman has been able to see the direct impact he has on the players’ lives, which encourages him to keep coming back, he said.

“When I first started out, I definitely wasn’t as comfortable, and it was a little bit challenging,” Lerman said. “Over time, you kind of learn how you can help them grow as a player and grow their own communication skills. Not only have I been able to help them and see that direct impact I have on them, but it’s also helped me become more understanding and become a better teacher in other aspects of my life.”

Colleen, Desoto’s mom, coordinates the mentors and sees all different types of students come to volunteer, she said. There are college students who attend the University of Maryland who drive to the rink every week to keep helping the skaters.

“We get the kids to come in who think they just want to get their SSL hours and fall in love with the project and keep coming back,” Colleen said. “We have a gentleman out there skating who goes to the University of Maryland — he’s a junior, he comes back every Saturday, he loves his program and he loves the kids. We [also] have mentors who come in seventh to eighth grade, who stay until they’re seniors and come every week and just totally love it.”

Desoto has watched firsthand how mentors and players form real connections.

“It’s awesome because the mentors are all from the local high schools,” Desoto said. “Some of the kids who go to the public schools see their mentors in the hallway, so it’s been nice that it’s given some of the kids a connection in their school.”

Trombley hopes to communicate that the team is a lot more than just a regular hockey club, he said.

“We want people to know that we exist, we want people to know that our athletes are skating with their children,” Trombley said. “Whether it be in Montgomery youth hockey or in the high school community, this is an opportunity to create sorts of better connections between the special needs community and the neurotypical community.”