Don't Be Scared!

Have you ever wanted to try something really bad, but you don’t because you are afraid of the unknown?  That is how I felt about Twitter for several years.  I created a Twitter account when I first heard about tweeting on television.  I did the basic account creation stuff, and that was about it for a couple of years.  I didn’t really see the point in it or even understand how it worked.  I stuck with Facebook because it was what I was comfortable with, and I knew it like the back of my hand.  Over the past year, I have started to really pick up the frequency of tweets with classroom pictures, school events, and shout outs.  This past Summer, I really learned how effective of a network Twitter can be if you know how to use it.  I took an Education Technology class, and we had to participate in educational chats on Twitter several times for assignments.  I’m not going to lie, I was seriously overwhelmed by the pace of the chats, what to read, who to pay attention to, and how to keep up with everything in the chat the very first time I joined.

The second time was a little bit easier though.  I voiced my struggles through tweets on my account and got several suggestions that really helped.  The best suggestion was to use Tweetdeck, which allows you to set up columns of different things going on with Twitter, so you can have them all on your screen at one time.  You can organize it however you want.  I have a couple people who I follow religiously, so their feed comes up on those columns, then I have any chat I am involved in, mentions of me, my news feed, and my notifications in other columns.  It’s a little crazy at first, but you get used to it, and it makes everything so much easier to follow.  There are 15 different categories you can set up.

The other piece of advice that helped me during chats was to not try to focus on every single comment made.  In the first few minutes, you tend to find the people who are talking about what you want/need to hear.  If you stick to following those people throughout the chat, the whole process is much easier.  I have met several people through chats, who I follow regularly, and have shared so much priceless information with me.  One of the coolest things that happened was when I got to meet several of them when I went to ISTE this summer.  Twitter has helped me change the way I teach, keeps me motivated, and inspires me to be a better teacher.  I highly recommend giving it a try and fight through the fear of the unknown!

Til next time…

BRI

Explain Everything

Hey everyone! I hope you are all having a great Friday.  I am going to talk a little bit about an app called Explain Everything.  This is a whiteboard app for the iPad, and it works best with the iPad Pro, with an Apple Pencil or other writing device.  I first learned about Explain Everything when I was at ISTE this past Summer in San Antonio.  The session was actually about sketchnoting, but I have found so many uses for the app, that I just have to share it with you.

   Explain Everything is an app that you can write and draw in while the screen is being recorded.  Basically, it records what you draw as you draw it, with or without sound.  I created my first video on my flight home from Texas.  The first thing I thought of when I was learning about this was the "Draw My Life" videos so many people have posted on YouTube over the past few years.  I decided to use it to present some things I learned from ISTE to the school board.  The app is very easy to use. You literally hit the record button and start drawing.  You can edit the recording in two separate parts, one for audio, and one for the actual video.  So, if I want a picture on my presentation, but I don't want to show all of my mess ups and waste a bunch of time, all I have to do is delete the part of me drawing it, and have the video pick back up once it is completed.

   As of this Summer, there was no way to speed the video recording up so you could talk over it at a decent pace.  I just uploaded my recording into iMovie and sped the video up, then, added the audio of me speaking over the video playing.  The process was actually really easy to do.  Since my first video, I have used Explain Everything to make a ton of tutorial videos for my math classes, and it helps with sort of flipping the classroom to an extent.  I have included my video in the blog to show you an example of a final product. Let me know if you have any questions or comments about the app.  The last feedback I received from EE stated that they are working on a way to speed up the recording of the drawing once you are finished.

Til next time!

BRI

Failing Forward

It’s finally Friday!  This has been one one of those weeks that has flown by, but taken forever to be over as well.  Not only do I plan to implement some personalized learning this year, but I am also trying out some problem and project-based learning.  Our first full lesson of this quarter was a math project on texting and driving.  The goal was to use math to figure out how far a vehicle travels in the amount of time it takes to send a specific text message.  The students solved this for when a vehicle is traveling 30 mph and 70 mph.  

I started out the lesson by having them work on unit rates and ratios.  After that, I had a police officer and EMS chief come in and talk to the kids about the importance of not texting while driving.  We also watched a couple of videos that attached a reality to the situation, and really made them think about if texting and driving is really worth someone’s life.  I really think that part went well, and if they learned anything from the lesson, that is essentially the most important in my eyes.  

I let the kids get their phones out so they could time each other typing responses to specific text messages they “received”.  I did an example by texting my husband, “I love you” while theoretically traveling 45 mph.  I had them start the time from when I received the text, and stop the time after I put the phone down.  I had to type with one hand while I had the other on the imaginary steering wheel.  My times were between 10 and 13 seconds, which meant I traveled anywhere from 660 to 850 feet without looking at the road.  I took them outside and we measured how far that actually was, to put it in perspective, and we were all baffled at how far that is in reality.  

However, the math part of the lesson was somewhat of a disaster.  I used direct instruction as well as video tutorials to teach students how to convert miles per hour to feet per second.  I used the Explain Everything app, which is an awesome whiteboard recording app for the iPad Pro, to create two tutorials at different levels for students to watch if they got stumped.  I also worked with small groups.  The problem is, I started out by giving them too much information, and I completely lost them.  They were overwhelmed and I was having a hard time getting anything through to them.  We somehow managed to get through it, but it took way longer than it probably should have.

I was on Twitter one day, and Jessie had posted a flipgrid about failing forward, challenging people to record their failures of the week (you should check it out, it it actually kind of therapeutic).  It took me a while, but I finally recorded my video.  Doing this gave me the idea to use Flipgrid for the students to record reflections on the texting and driving lesson.  I find it amazing how honest and true the kids are when they have to actually speak about something rather than take the time to write it down.  I got more information from these grids than I have ever received in any other form of reflection.  

I realized that although my project had many “failing” points, I learned so much about how to proceed on my future projects.  As a matter of fact, my classes are in holding right now because I have to make some pretty big changes for our next project, which involves students creating a proposal to build a youth outdoor recreation area.  They are currently working on skills in Moby Max that they will need for the project, while I make the necessary changes.  I am already excited to try the texting and driving project again next semester, because I have so many ideas on how to make it better and a more effective learning experience.  There just isn’t enough time in the day!  Everyone have a great weekend.

I included a few pictures of the kids working on the project as well as the flip grid. Overall, I think they at least had fun. :)

        

 

On to the next!

BRI

Quit teaching to the middle!

Education is an ever-changing environment.  There are always new things available that are supposed to help students learn better or easier.  No matter how hard we try not to, we are all guilty of teaching to the students in the middle, and tend to not give as much attention to the bottom 5% and the top 5%, because there are not as many of them.  

    

One of my biggest takeaways from my technology adventures this Summer is about personalized learning.  I first learned about PL when I was in an edtech chat on Twitter.  I spoke with Jessie Boyce (@jessxbo) online a few times, and then I was privileged enough to attend her session on Personalized Learning and the Coffeeshop Classroom at ISTE in San Antonio a few weeks later.  Let me tell you something, this lady knows her stuff and is not afraid to take chances!  If you get a chance, you should check out her blog here!

  

Now, down to the nitty-gritty.  What is personalized learning?  The answer is simple, this type of learning gives students the freedom to learn in ways that they find most effective for them.  We all know that different people learn in different ways, whether they are aural, visual, read/write, or kinesthetic learners.  Once teachers understand this and know what type of learners their students are, we can make their learning experience much more effective.  “Personalized learning helps learners become intrinsically motivated to learn, so they own and drive their learning to become self-directed, independent learners” (Bray & McClaskey, 2016). “By using personalized learning, learners have a voice in how they learn and a choice in how they engage with content and express what they know…” (Bray & McClaskey, 2016).

    

With this change, we will give ourselves more time to get to know ALL of the students and everyone will be able to work at their own pace.    Personalized learning is student-paced, meaning students learn at their own pace in the way that best fits their needs, whether that entails reading from a book, watching a video, or working in a small group with the teacher.  Learners get instant feedback on their work, and the teacher can also provide reactions to student data in real-time.

    

I plan to use this in my classroom next semester by giving my students a "playlist" so to speak.  I will give them four different problem-based assignments to choose from, and they can present their findings in any way that suits them.  In a core classroom such as math, personalized learning would be highly beneficial, because students can take as much time as they need to learn a certain concept.  Once they are comfortable, they can move onto the next topic.  A variety of activities should be provided when it comes to instructing students.  Some examples would be using a flipped classroom by posting tutorial videos, etc for students to watch; small group instruction and discussions; students collaborating; and even direct instruction when needed.

    

All of that being said, this is not something that can be done over night.  There is a lot of work in it for the teacher on the front-end, but once you get the initial groundwork complete, it will get easier.

Til next time!

BRI

Reference:
Bray, B., & McClaskey, K. (2016). How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper. Corwin Press.