Did you ever watch Sesame Street? Remember “The Word of the Day” segment? I loved how they would highlight a single word, define it, pronounce it, and have viewers repeat it. This was a fantastic way to build vocabulary, as learning a new word often requires an average of ten repetitions (and can be up to twenty for MultiLingual Learners). Introducing a Word of the Day is an excellent strategy to expand vocabulary across all subjects. Take a look at the example lesson below, from Lori Cullen, a computer science teacher in Raynham Public Schools.
Warm UP 🌡
A great way to kickstart the repetition process with new vocabulary is through interactive activities. Think-Pair-Share is an excellent strategy to get students engaged. Notice in Lori’s lesson she has the word of the day displayed, and in the lesson, she has discussion questions. Have students discuss the Word of the Day with a partner, sharing their own interpretations. Sharing these discussions with the class can further reinforce understanding. Encouraging students to draw the word can deepen comprehension as well through visual representation.
Interaction 🤝
Journals 📑
Continue the interaction with vocabulary through a journal, whether it’s online or digital. This allows students a resource to come back to and also assists students in making meaning of the words. The Frayer Model is a favorite of mine when journaling. You can also have a LIVE journal that the teacher creates and the student can add to.
WORD WALLS 🧱
Word walls are another way students can interact with new words. There are also great websites like WordWall.net that have many free activities for interaction with vocabulary.
Visuals 👀
Having a visual with new vocabulary can assist all learners. Tools such as a picture Dictionary, math Dictionary, or emojis are great ways to pair visuals with new words. I find emojis work really well, and they can be FUN too! Who doesn’t like a 🌮 emoji? I put emojis in almost everything I produce. See a quick shortcut of how to do that here:
Repetition 🏋️♀️
Lastly, have that repetition with the new vocabulary. Simon Says with gestures of the new words (if appropriate) is a great way to deepen understanding. Flippity Flaschards, Quizizz Flashcards, and Knowt are all great sites that allow for digital flashcards with a visual that will increase the repetition of new vocabulary. A (FREE) favorite of mine is 🍐Pear Deck Flashcard Factory, and recently, these sets even export to Gimkit 🤖!!! Read more about that here.
In closing 💙
One word a day can add up to a whopping 180 new words a year! That’s a lot of potential learning, but it requires a lot of practice. Are your students getting those 1800+ interactions with each word? If you’re not sure, try some of the tips discussed!
With the explosion of AI tools in recent years, a new challenge has emerged in student writing: is it truly their work? In the South Shore area, this issue has even made headlines, prompting teachers and districts to closely examine best practices. I believe AI can be a powerful tool and a valuable scaffold in the writing process, but we’ll need to find the right balance between authentic student writing and writing supported—or generated—by AI. In the meantime, I’ve been helping teachers develop strategies to prevent inappropriate AI use while we all learn the best ways to incorporate AI into the writing process with students.
Accurate 💯
One important thing to demonstrate about generative AI tools is that they’re not always accurate. These language models source information from the internet, and as we all know, there’s a lot of incorrect—and sometimes harmful—content out there! For a quick example, try asking your favorite AI tool for a list of vegetables—you might be surprised by the mistakes.
Even when using AI to assist with writing, it’s crucial to include the human element and do your research. Generative AI can also carry biases, which is another critical factor to keep in mind when using these tools.
Tips 💡
We’re all doing our best to integrate these tools with students in effective and meaningful ways, and that process takes time. In the meantime, though, students still have writing assignments where teachers need to assess their individual abilities. Check out the one-pager below for quick tips to help students produce authentic writing.
I’ve heard about some powerful ways AI has been integrated into the writing process with students, and I’m excited to see how we’ll continue to use these incredible tools in the future. Stay tuned for more posts on THAT! What an exciting time to be in education!
Are you using generative AI tools throughout the writing process? I’d love to hear it! Throw me a line 🐟🐟🎣 Thanks for reading 💙
Generative AI has made me question the purpose of my writing. It feels like anyone could use AI to do it for them, so why bother? But then I heard Greg Kuloweic speak at a conference. He said he never uses AI for human-to-human communication, like emails or presentations.
I loved that idea. Writing and sharing my thoughts on EdTech is something I genuinely enjoy. So, I’m making a promise: no AI for my blog posts. I might use it to organize ideas or edit, but the words will always be mine. This is MY human-to-human interaction, and when I think about it like that, I’m excited to write again and share my ideas and stories!
And boy, do I have a story to for you!
Connections 🔗
For the past seven summers and during after-school hours, I’ve taught EdTech courses to many local teachers. Meanwhile, my husband, Scott, has been coaching soccer ⚽ in Bridgewater for the same amount of time. Last week, I got an email from a Bridgewater teacher who had taken one of my courses.
Challenge 💪
I called the teacher and we chatted. The new student’s transition hasn’t been easy. Neither he nor his family speak English, and they’re struggling to feel connected. His teacher suggested that soccer might be his ‘in,’ both in the classroom and the community.
We planned to attend a middle school soccer game with the teacher and new student. This would give us a chance to chat and figure out how to get the new student involved in town travel soccer
Community ❤
When we arrived at the game, we found the teacher and student waiting. Luckily, another soccer family was there who could speak multiple languages. They offered to help us communicate with the new student’s family.
The student was excited to join a team, so we used WhatsApp, an international texting application, to contact his family. The teacher shared their contact information, and we were able to discuss the tryout with them. It took the teacher, the other soccer family, the student, and my husband to bridge the communication barriers with the student speaking two languages (Spanish and Haitian-Creole), but his family only speaking one (Haitian-Creole).
Communication 🗣
Technology played a crucial role in this process. The family’s native language is challenging to translate in writing, making communication difficult for the teacher. My husband used ChatGPT, an AI language model, instead of a traditional translation app. He translated what he needed to say into Haitian-Creole, which our bilingual friends then translated into their language, Brazilian Portuguese, to test it.
This was a real test for the translation app. It had to accurately translate from one language to another, and then back again. Often, traditional translation apps lose some of the meaning in the process. However, ChatGPT preserved the language, allowing Scott to communicate clearly.
Technology 📱
ChatGPT is also a phone app with a built-in microphone. You can speak into it and ask it to translate into any language. The app can then read the translation aloud, or you can copy and paste it into other apps like email, text messages, or WhatsApp. This is just one more tool that can help break down language barriers.
ChatGPT is designed to interpret context more deeply, making it better suited for translating nuanced sentences or idiomatic phrases that rely on cultural context or tone (according to Google). While other translation tools often focus on direct word-for-word translations.
I worked with this site and app with my MLL Coordinator, and she said it is a game-changer!
Dedication 💯
The new student’s teacher truly went above and beyond. Aside from soccer, she’s actively worked to connect him to the Bridgewater community. He’s joined a team, made friends, and is now involved in both soccer and school. The soccer kids have started seeking him out at lunch and using technology to communicate with him.
There are teachers at every school engaging in this Above-and-Beyond dedication, everyday. Know one? Send them this post. You are one because you’re here ♥
As educators, our minds are often racing with a multitude of tasks, much like a computer with countless open tabs. Lesson planning, professional development, emails, schedule changes, weather updates, phone calls, personal matters, and the list goes on. It’s a reality that our students face as well. Navigating this mental maze is crucial for our own well-being and effectiveness, and I’ve discovered a few simple strategies that help me stay on top of things.
Bookmark Folders
As someone who regularly visits numerous websites, I’ve discovered that organizing them into bookmark folders significantly streamlines my browsing experience. One particularly useful feature is the ability to open all bookmarked sites within a folder simultaneously with a simple right-click. This proves especially handy when preparing for teaching sessions, as I can instantly access all relevant resources with a single click.
Search your Tabs
Struggling to locate a specific tab among a sea of open ones? Fret not, you can easily search through your open tabs to find the one you need. Additionally, you can access a list of the last ten tabs you closed, making it easy to revisit them if needed.
Pin Tabs
Keep your essential tabs organized and easily accessible by pinning them! Pinned tabs remain neatly tucked away, preventing accidental closure and freeing up space for other tabs. Pin as many tabs as you need without any limitations.
Group Tabs
For enhanced organization and efficient use of space on your Chrome Web Bar, consider grouping tabs. This feature not only bundles related tabs together, but also color-codes them for easy identification.
Last but not least, Control+Shift+T is my best friend. It reopens the tab I just closed very quickly! That one doesn’t need a title or video 😜
I hope these tabulating tips help out your computer, and brain, so you can move along just swimmingly!
Here we are, once again, about to return to school! There are so many emotions, it is both an exciting and anxious time.
Am I ready? What will this year bring? How will I juggle everything? Will they like me? Will I like them?
I’m always reminded at this time of year of one of my favorite tunes, from a band I grew up with: Green Day. When September Ends was always my anthem as a classroom teacher. Not that I would ever want to wish away time. However, I find that once September does end, we are in a groove! The chaos of the first few weeks has passed, and I feel like I have really gotten to know my students….which brings me to the focus of this post. It is most important that we SEIZE the moment those first few days and get to know our students (Carp-e Diem!). We need to learn who they are, their likes, dislikes, and learning preferences. Getting to know our classroom family lays the groundwork for engagement and success.
Get to know each other
Slides Activity:
There are so many great activities out there for you to get to know your students, but it is also important for them to get to know each other and build a strong learning community.
This activity below is a new favorite of mine from Tyler Tarver. Click here for the template to use with your class and File>Make a Copy.
I really like how students get to know each other and students will get to know their way around Google Slides. BONUS: Tyler included videos that show the students how to do EACH step! This frees you up to move around the room and have some of those great one-on-one conversations.
Identity Charts:
This article has a great activity with student identity charts. These could be a great visual to have up in the classroom and encourage relationship building. This could be done with paper or digitally, and lends itself to lots of creative ways to display one’s identity.
Survey:
Of course, I always love a Google Form survey. Ask your students about themselves in a way where they can tell you something that maybe they don’t want everyone to know. Ask them about their learning preferences as well! Maybe one student loves group work, where group work may cause another student stress. Here is an example of a Google Form you could use, and/or change, to your liking! This comes from another favorite teacher of mine, Sabocat!
For Fun:
Although this is a fun activity, it will encourage classroom bonding and get everyone up and moving. These slides (there are THREE different decks!) are a take on four corners, where each corner is an answer. Have students choose their answer (and maybe even write it down), before announcing the corners. This way, peer pressure doesn’t hinder their choice. Have students discuss once in the corner of their choosing.
I hope you have a GREAT first few days back, getting to know your classroom family and that these activities can help!
Rubric-based grading promotes fairness and consistency in the evaluation of student work. You can use a set of clear criteria and ensure that all students are held to the same standards. Additionally, rubrics can be used to provide detailed feedback to students, which can help them understand the strengths and weaknesses of their work and identify areas for improvement. Common rubrics can be a great resource across grade-levels and departments, so students learn the common language and expectations.
If you’re using a digital workflow with students, such as Google Classroom, having common rubrics and using them with students is both easy and effective. Bonus: providing mastery-oriented feedback is also a checkpoint in the UDL Guidelines. You can read more about that here.
Let’s take a look at how you can use common rubrics AND possibly pair it with a digital workflow.
Template Gallery
Google Workspace provides a template gallery in all the Workspace applications. The Template Gallery allows for common items that may be used repeatedly among your school. Common rubrics would be a great item to have in your school-wide gallery. When you upload an item to the gallery, it allows your organization to automatically make a copy of it and edit it as their own, in their own Drive. The template does not change your original, you can have the gallery create a copy of the original. This gallery would be useful for school-wide or district-wide charts, logs, rubrics, slide designs etc.
Finding the Gallery
Are you reading this and asking, where IS this gallery you speak of? Well, the waffle comes in handy on this one. Long into Google Chrome, go to your waffle, and click the desired app where you would like to store or access a template.
Turn on the Template Gallery
If you don’t see the gallery, visibility of this gallery may need to be turned on in the settings first.
Choose the app where you want to work on templates (if you don’t see them…)
Choose the three lines, click settings
Check the box to display Templates
Click Save
Now you should see an option for the Template Gallery
Click the words Template Gallery for the drop-down and access to your organization’s Templates.
Submit a template for district or organization-wide use.
⭐️The Magic: Using Template Rubrics in Google Classroom ⭐️
Now THIS is where the magic happens! First, you must use the Google Classroom Rubric Template for this to work! You cannot write in any of the areas that are blank, or the rubric will not upload. Input your indicators, criteria, and then delete out or add any rows you may need. Be sure to including the spacing and formatting that already exists in the template.
Additional Ideas of how to Use Templates:
School Wide reading log in Docs – each teacher can take the template and add custom information
Prepare a Google Site template for student portfolios! By setting up a skeleton, students will have guidance as to what evidence they would need to provide.
Prepare a template survey in Forms that you want all stakeholders to use and send out
Digital Student Agenda – create the template to share with all staff, who then can use this master in Google Classroom>every student gets a copy!
In Closing
Google’s Template Gallery is a great resource all on its own, but pair it with common rubrics and mastery-oriented feedback and BOOM 🎆, that’s MAGIC! Not only will we have the benefits of rubric-based grading, but you also add a collaboration and consistency piece when sharing these rubrics in the gallery.
I hope you can grade with gills, and use these new skills to catch some great work!
Like my title? I put the following prompt into an AI site...”Write me a creative title for a blog post about passwords using Fish puns.” Incredible. My current post comes from personal experience (AI cannot write this, lol).
In December, when I was doing lots of Christmas shopping, I was hacked in one of my personal accounts. It was very creative on behalf of the hacker, and I’m sure I’m one of many in the scam.
It was a Tuesday at 4am, and multiple orders were placed at a popular store for same-day delivery on a store account of mine. Normally, I check my personal email in the morning before school. When I checked it that morning, I had hundreds of emails that were spam, that did nothit my spam folder for whatever reason. I was so confused. Spam never hits my inbox, it has always gone into the spam folder of my personal Gmail. There were so many emails sitting there. It took me so much time cleaning them out, and I was so perplexed, that I neglected to check my “promotions” or “updates” folders, plus I had to get to school. I shrugged it off.
Then once I was at work, at about 9am, my cell phone started ringing non-stop with spam numbers, which distracted me even more from thinking about my personal email. Off to a meeting, I left my personal email until later when I was done at school. While in a meeting, my cellphone (and watch) buzzes with a picture, “Your items from popular storewere delivered.”
I quickly glance at the picture on my wrist, and it’s not my home. I knew I hadn’t ordered the item (a bookcase). That’s odd, I think, and quickly check my popular store account. Sure enough, it had not been just one, but four different orders placed with my account using my credit card on file. Since they were same-day delivery orders, by 12pm most items had already been delivered. I called popular store fraud department and since the items were delivered, there was nothing they could do. However, the did suggest removing my payment information, changing my password and contacting my credit card. How did this happen? Well, honestly, I’m embarrassed to say it – but I can tell you exactly how and why it happened and let it be a lesson for you.
HACKED 😳
My popular store password was certainly one of the ones that had that ⬆️ famous pop-up appear. It was one of my run-of-the-mill passwords that I used for everything, and I knew it. Additionally, I had this password on this particular site FOREVER, and today it doesn’t even follow most password rules as it is too short. After contacting my credit card (yes, I got all my money back) and reporting the fraud, it was on to changing my passwords and ensuring my cyber safety. It had nothing to do with storing my password, but had everything to do with the fact that I used this SAME password in so many places.
Password Manager 🔑
Do yourself a favor, and take a look at your password manager if you store your passwords. It will show you what sites your password was used on that had a data breach. Warning – it’s not pretty! Also, just because you do not store your passwords does not mean they were not in a data breach. Password managers actually come recommended for this purpose.
Password Tips 💡
THIS I generated from ChatGPT, and I couldn’t of said it better myself:
Use a long password, ideally at least 12 characters.
Use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Avoid using easily guessable information such as your name, address, or common words.
Consider using a passphrase made up of multiple words separated by spaces or special characters.
Avoid using the same password for multiple accounts.
Use a password manager to store and generate secure passwords for you. (I like the free Google Chrome Password Manager).
2FA 👀
One tip, NOT given above, is 2-factor authentication. As cyberattacks become more commonplace among schools, 2FA is gradually being rolled out as it now becomes required for cybersecurity insurance among schools. What is 2FA? Anytime you are sent a text passcode to access a site, that is 2FA. It is an additional layer of protection, and I highly recommend it. Many financial sites offer it, and schools will start rolling it out eventually as well if they haven’t already.
Text Alerts 💬
In addition to changing my passwords, turning on 2FA, canceling my credit card that was compromised, removing stored financial information, I also turned on text alerts with my credit card. Had this been on previously, I would’ve had to approve the charge prior to it happening. I would’ve noticed the fraud BEFORE it hitting my card, thus saving me hours of phone calls (but not hours of changing passwords, lol).
Credit Report 📋
Lastly, and I know this because I am a banker’s daughter, you are entitled to one free credit report a year from the three big credit agencies. So, upon seeing this fraud, I ran a report with the big three. You can learn more about obtaining a free credit report here.
In closing – How this relates to education:
According to Edweek (click here), it can be one leaked password that can lead to a cyberattack on a school, which can be a very serious matter (School Cyberattacks Explained).
Many of the passwords we use on our education accounts are the same we use on personal accounts. It may be an education site that was in a data breach and that same password may be the one you use for banking; conversely, it could be your banking password that was compromised, and you use that same password for school, all of which could lead to a cyberattack.
Secure passwords are a MUST for everything we sign in to. It’s not meant to scare you, only meant to assist in this world we live in! Be cautious with your passwords and also where you’re using them!
I truly hope that my experience and tips can help you. ☺️
With the FISH sound right in the word, I would be remiss if I didn’t make a long-overdue post about Artificial Intelligence and the explosion it’s had on Edtech, and education overall, over the past few weeks. Personally, I am very excited about all the hype and new tools popping up, as I see it as a HUGE opportunity for us to move in a new direction as educators.
👀 Check out an Example
A new site that came onto the scene is the reason for all the recent chatter. AI is not new, and in fact you can read about many of the ways we’ve been using it here, but ChatGPT is new and has made quite the splash.
🤔 How will AI improve Education?
Well, according to ChatGPT, an AI tool:
There are several ways in which artificial intelligence (AI) can improve education:
Personalized learning: AI can be used to tailor the learning experience to the individual needs and abilities of each student. For example, AI-powered learning platforms can track a student’s progress and adjust the content and difficulty level accordingly.
Improved efficiency: AI can help automate certain tasks, such as grading assignments or providing feedback, which can free up teachers to focus on more important tasks, such as engaging with students and providing support.
Enhanced accessibility: AI can make education more accessible to people with disabilities or learning challenges by providing alternative ways of interacting with course material, such as through voice or touch.
Greater scalability: AI can enable educators to reach more students, both in physical classrooms and online, by allowing for more efficient and effective delivery of course material.
Enhanced learning experiences: AI can be used to create interactive, engaging, and immersive learning experiences, such as simulations and virtual reality environments, that can help students better understand complex concepts and ideas.
Overall, AI has the potential to greatly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of education by providing personalized, scalable, and engaging learning experiences.
🤖 AI is here to stay, where do I go from here?
In my own graduate course I teach, my final project is for my students to persuade their administration or a colleague to use a Blended Learning approach in the classroom. I give students a variety of ways to do this, however, one option is an essay. I realized, my prompt could easily be entered into an AI tool such as ChatGPT, CaktusAI, or Magic Write in Canva and then students could just turn it in. How can I alter this….
Connect to Personal Experiences 💜
I quickly added to my prompt. It now reads, “Using examples and strategies from your own classroom experience, as well as resources used throughout the course, persuade your administrator or colleague to implement a Blended Learning model.” If a student chooses the essay option, he/she/they will still need to cite personal experiences. This could be applied to other areas as well; for instance, you can do a compare and contrast piece between a central character and the student’s life. Connecting the content to the student’s own experience also optimizes relevance and authenticity (a UDL guideline for recruiting interest!).
Offer Options where Students Create 🖌
This one may get a little tricky, as Canva is also putting out a new feature in Canva Docs that will use AI to convert your written document (where you can use AI to write it), into a presentation complete with visuals. However, it does NOT have to be only a slide deck! You could have students record a podcast, perform a skit, create a video, draw, sculpt, sing, etc! You can get more ideas on my presentation here about various (digital) ways students can show knowledge. Have students give a live demonstration in class; it could be to the whole class, a small group, or just you. Photomath may be able to complete math homework for a student, but if you take a small group and have students work out problems with you in class – that cannot be AI’ed.
Discussion and Debate 🗣
There are standards where students ARE REQUIRED to write, and it may not be appropriate for the standard to connect to personal experience. In this instance, have students discuss with you their writing. Have them debate or defend their stance or ideas with you or with peers. Discussion in itself is a powerful tool, and if a student truly understands the material they’ve written about (or the AI wrote for them), then he/she/they should be able to discuss it at length. Possibly count the discussion component as part of the grade (if you’re grading the assignment).
Tips and Tricks
Draftback 📝
Although plagiarism checkers such as Turnitin and Googles Originality Reports cannot catch AI written responses, one tool that may help, just a tad, is the Draftback extension. This extension would allow you to see if a student copies and pastes an entire chunk of writing from another source, such as an AI site. See how that tool works below.
Version History 📜
Another useful google feature that could assist you in looking over student work is Google’s version history. This can give you a very detailed timeline of work being completed, both in Google Docs and Google Slides.
In Closing
AI cannot write me a blog post with a whole bunch of fish puns and examples of how I’ve personally used technology to assist in education. It cannot create customized, quick, videos of quickly showing a skill. It cannot replicate my experiences that I use to connect with students, and I think this is where we need to go as educators. It is a very exciting time and I cannot WAIT to see where this takes us!
Have they started yet? You know, those back to school dreams? I don’t know about you, but mine certainly have! This will be my 19th year in education and I STILL get those back to school dreams! I recently had the pleasure of training our new teachers on classroom technology and some of the tools we use in our district. The butterflies were going as I rode up to East Bridgewater Junior-Senior High School to meet twenty new faces. If you had watched my first twenty minutes, I stumbled quite a few times!
Although I am not a classroom teacher anymore, I still understand those nerves that many of you face. As a parent, I understand the little bit of heartache of leaving one’s kids after a fun summer together full of adventures, as I realize this time is fleeting. As an educator, I understand the stress and anxiety of teaching in a post-pandemic world (it is a little different). All of these feelings come together at night, and cause some restless, CRAZY, sleeps! However, what brings me peace is to let go of all that I cannot control and to embrace what I can:
Excitement 🎆
Even though we all may be a bit nervous to face the year, we are also excited! LOOK at what we get to do – TEACH the future. How GREAT is that? It’s amazing that each year we get a fresh start! Another chance to try again, to improve, to grow! Not too many professions get that opportunity. I truly enjoy and love my job, and I bet you do too – otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, right? When you start to feel nervous, reflect on how great it really is to work in education, to work with kids 💙💛.
Relationships 🫂
Relationships are at the heart of what we do. Just think of all the new relationships you will get to make this year with students, families, and colleagues. Many of these people you will meet this year are going to make a lasting impact on your life, and YOU on theirs. I had posted this link previously, but I really LOVE this strategy of working to build relationships with students. Give it a try, I think it will pay dividends!
Forming those relationships with your students is critical to their success. Icebreakers and activities on the first day are a great start. Take a look at some of these ideas:
As we start academics, I really like this article on feedback and building relationships with students through various instructional models.
Connecting with families also helps build the classroom community, as they are our partners in education! Sending a video or audio message with a picture is always a great way to introduce yourself, and will allow the parent/guardian to feel that connection with you. Screencastify, Mote, Flip, or Vocaroo are all great options to send video or audio! Search my blog for tips and tutorials on all of these tools!
Goals ☑️
Setting goals is something we all do at the beginning of the year, students too! Continuously revisiting these goals and monitoring progress will assist your students in becoming expert learners. Google is at it again, and developed a Goal Setting activity you could use with students on those first few days (and later revisit!). Check it out here.\
In Conclusion 💜
Focusing on what we CAN control will help us all to be better at what we do!
Get Excited – you went into education because you loved it, and you still do!
BUILD those relationships – focus on those in front of you those first few days and try to reach all of them – it can be tough, but I KNOW you can do it. Know ’em so we can Grow ’em!
SET GOALS – for yourself, as well as for your students, and revisit them through the year!
Remember, I am here for you! Reach out anytime, and search the blog for other back-to-school posts if you need other ideas!
Take care everyone and thank you for your valuable time reading 😊
Recently I read the book UDL and Blended Learning by Catlin Tucker and Katie Novak. Many of the concepts resonated with me, particularly around using video, so much so, I had to write about it. Anyone who knows me as a Technology Integration Specialist knows that I really enjoy video as my medium to teach. On my YouTube channel you can find many of my brief tutorials and tips. I find that video provides a great visual and also has so many built-in accessibility tools, which is why I use it. When watching my videos, you can pause as you go when you want to complete a step. You can also turn on closed captions if you need to read and listen. You can pull the transcripts and just read all of the steps. You can have the closed captions translated if needed.
I first started making videos when I was a classroom teacher for my students. If you go WAY back in my YouTube channel you can see them. Here’s an example video of a math skill. In addition to providing students a valuable visual they could refer back too, it also took the work off of me as the teacher. I have this collection of content, where students hear my voice, and it would free me up to work with smaller groups of students or one-on-one. If a student was absent, or needed the skill for homework, it was there. I could find a video out there on anything, but in the time it takes to find it, I can create it and so can you. Students like to hear YOUR voice (plus I bet you can make it better than the ones you find).
In my role as a technology integration facilitator, I now create videos on the latest tech tips and updates; as well as commonly asked questions, such as how to bookmark: which is my first video as a tech integrator. I receive many requests for short instructional videos around a skill. I also receive many thanks for these videos as well. In the grad courses I teach on technology integration, I also use video in an asynchronous model. The data I have from YouTube, and their analytics, support my views on the effectiveness of video. As of today, I have over 290,000 views. My sons who love YouTube make fun of me for this number. As a YouTuber, it’s pretty low, but as a teacher it’s incredibly high. Any one of my tech tips gets hundreds of views, showing me that viewers (which I’m thinking are many staff here) do want and need the content.
When should you use Video? ⏰
According to Catlin Tucker, If you are going to explain the same thing, the same way, to everyone – make a video. It shifts control over time, place, and pace to the student (UDL and Blended Learning). It allows students to manipulate the information in ways that are not possible during live instruction (accessibility). Recording a short 5 minute video would be more effective than providing that explanation live when students would only have one chance to “get it.” Unfortunately, when we dedicate significant amounts of class time to a basic explanation of the how for the entire class, there often isn’t time to think about supports and scaffolds that individuals may need to be successful – such as text, translations, pace of instruction, language processing etc.
Why should you use Video? 💡
This now allows YOU time to conference or have small group instruction with students potentially leaving some of that “grading” at school. Conferencing and/or small group instruction also builds relationships and forms connections. Video allows students who may be absent to now access your lesson, saving you time from catching them up. Videos also can provide parents with “windows into the work.” This allows our teaching partners, as Catlin Tucker states, to have the supports they need at home to help our learners. Plus if a parent knows what a child is working on, they are more likely to provide support!
Think of how YOU learn new things. What’s your go-to? Google? YouTube? Do you pause, rewind, fast forward? Do you have written text resources you can refer back to? Most likely you do not go sit with a person in live-time everytime you want to learn something new. Having a video resource, that’s brief and engaging, allows for students to be able to go back and relearn, practice, and improve! It allows students to take information in visually and auditory – enable closed captions and they can read the transcript as well, activating all areas of the brain. When YOU create the video, it adds personalization and familiarity which motivates students to watch it again and again.
Video Tips ☑️
Keep it short! Student engagement peaks at the 6-minute mark, so keep it brief enough. There is subtle decline in engagement between 6 and 9 minutes and a dramatic decrease at 9 minutes. One suggestion is one minute for every year of school (UDL and Blended Learning).
Chunk information, keep it simple. Better to create a few short videos than one long video.
It is KEY to not overwhelm the viewer with irrelevant visuals, unnecessary info, or busy backgrounds.
Engagement around video content – embed questions or guided note template
Post-video activity – apply, extend, reflect
Video Tools ⚒️
To create video I’m a huge fan of Screencastify. I find it quick and easy! As a bonus, you can use the Screencastify link to collect data on if students watched the video. My previous blog post here, goes into more of the features of Screencastify! However, there are so many great tools out there to create video. You can even just use your phone and then easily push it to Google Classroom!
To engage with video, Google Forms or EdPuzzle are both great tools. Embed the video you create and add some questions. These tools also take away the YouTube clutter (if you send your videos there) AND give you some great analytics and formative data!
What a student (and current teacher) of mine said about my videos 🗣
“I should also mention that I generally despise watching videos to learn how to do something (I promise I am going somewhere good with this!). I usually find videos are long with a lot of extra information and commentary – so I end up skipping around and missing what I actually need (I prefer written step by step instructions with screenshots). That being said, your videos are GREAT. They are short, to the point, no fluff and very accessible. I thought that having to watch the “how to” videos would drive me nuts, but it truly did not mind it. If you are willing, I would love to have my students watch them in the fall as I continue my technology journey.”
In Conclusion 💙
Once we embrace the reality that students can, in fact, learn without us monitoring every aspect of their experience, we benefit from exploring models that allow us to design lessons that create the space necessary to work with small groups of students. – UDL and Blended Instruction
Various models of instruction, such as a blended model, station rotation model, playlist model etc. allow us to meet students where they are, break down barriers, and maximize learning opportunities. Video can be one medium that allows us time as educators to implement various models. We are not one-size-fits-all world, so our classrooms cannot be either. I encourage and challenge you to try just ONE short video to replace direct instruction and free yourself to work with small groups. Use the video instruction above and see how it goes. Let me know! I’d love to hear!
