Any Questions? You Can Do That in Slides!

Today, Google Slides released an update that allows presenters to accept questions from the audience during a slide show.  This is such a huge bonus in terms of helping students feel comfortable asking questions.  If you have students that are a bit shy about raising their hand in class, they can still participate. 

This update will appear right away for Rapid Release users, and very soon for Scheduled Release GAFE users.  To see a preview of how it works, view this video from Google.

To use Presenter View:

1. Open your Google Slides presentation
2. Click the Dropdown menu next to the Present Button
3. Choose Presenter View
4. Choose Audience Tools and Click Start New
5. Share your link to your audience. (Comments in Sharing settings must be enabled to allow users to ask questions)

There is also a Laser Pointer option available when you are in presentation mode.  Once you present your slideshow, you can select Laser Pointer from the floating toolbar and your mouse becomes a Laser Pointer!  Very cool!

Google Forms - Your Classroom Multi-Tool

Google Forms were originally developed to survey or gather information from respondents.  But with this easy to use tool you can quiz your students, flip your classroom, or create a discussion tool.

Forms for Assessments

If you'd like to find a quick way to create quizzes without the hassle of hand scoring assessments, try using Google Forms with the Google Sheet Add-On Flubaroo.  Watch this video to see how it works:

Flip Your Classroom

If you've recently made the switch to a flipped classroom, Google Forms can make your life a bit easier.  To ensure that your students are watching your videos as homework, add a short Form with a few questions as a check for understanding.

Just as you can insert questions, time, date, etc... you can also insert videos into a Google Form.  Watch this video to see how:

Discussion Tool

Finally, many teachers want the ability to create the feel of a discussion forum.  Google Classroom has made some great new additions to allow teachers to post questions, but if you aren't a GAFE district user, you'll want to use this tip.   Try using a Google Form as a discussion tool instead.  You'll need a website to post your form for a discussion, so I would suggest using a Google Site so you can embed your form there.  

1. First, create your form with questions.  
2. To add your form to your Google Site, go to the page where you want it to appear.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Click Insert>Drive>Form
5. Choose your form and click Select
6. Edit your preferences and Save.
7. Save your page.

Here's my form.  Fill it out and provide your own answers, then see what others are doing with Google Forms by scrolling down to view the Response Sheet.




Then, to allow everyone to see the responses of others, you can embed your Google Response Sheet on your Google Site.

1. From your Google Site, click the Edit tool to edit your page.
2. Click Insert>Drive>Spreadsheet
3. Choose the Responses sheet for your Google Form.
4. Click Select
5. Edit your preferences and Save
6. Save your page.

As each new respondent submits, their answers will show up in the posted sheet so everyone can see and discuss.  This is a great way to create an archive of answers that future learners can benefit from.

Google Forms for Discussion and Assessment

Google Forms were originally developed to survey or gather information from respondents.  But with this easy to use tool you can quiz your students, flip your classroom, or create a discussion tool.

Forms for Assessments

If you'd like to find a quick way to create quizzes without the hassle of hand scoring assessments, try using Google Forms with the Google Sheet Add-On Flubaroo.  Watch this video to see how it works:

Flip Your Classroom

If you've recently made the switch to a flipped classroom, Google Forms can make your life a bit easier.  To ensure that your students are watching your videos as homework, add a short Form with a few questions as a check for understanding.

Just as you can insert questions, time, date, etc... you can also insert videos into a Google Form.  Watch this video to see how:

Discussion Tool

Finally, many teachers want the ability to create the feel of a discussion forum.  Google Classroom has made some great new additions to allow teachers to post questions, but if you aren't a GAFE district user, you'll want to use this tip.   Try using a Google Form as a discussion tool instead.  You'll need a website to post your form for a discussion, so I would suggest using a Google Site so you can embed your form there.  

1. First, create your form with questions.  
2. To add your form to your Google Site, go to the page where you want it to appear.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Click Insert>Drive>Form
5. Choose your form and click Select
6. Edit your preferences and Save.
7. Save your page.

Here's my form.  Fill it out and provide your own answers, then see what others are doing with Google Forms by scrolling down to view the Response Sheet.




Then, to allow everyone to see the responses of others, you can embed your Google Response Sheet on your Google Site.

1. From your Google Site, click the Edit tool to edit your page.
2. Click Insert>Drive>Spreadsheet
3. Choose the Responses sheet for your Google Form.
4. Click Select
5. Edit your preferences and Save
6. Save your page.

As each new respondent submits, their answers will show up in the posted sheet so everyone can see and discuss.  This is a great way to create an archive of answers that future learners can benefit from.

Have Student Response Clickers Been Replaced?

This question is actually not a new one.  Clickers have been in decline in recent years as online options have changed.  But the topic came up recently as I worked with a few teachers in setting up a classroom for use with student response clickers.  The question came up as to whether student response systems were worth the time or if mobile solutions were better.

For those of you that may or may not remember, for years, eInstruction, Renaissance Learning, and Smart Response among others, flooded the market with Student Response Systems.  These systems consisted of a computer program in which the teacher could create and deploy test and review questions that students could respond to using hand held clickers.  Of course this was not a new idea as it had been around for years.  These companies had just gotten into the business of perfecting and selling the idea, which was a good one.


Flash forward a few years, and teachers started to see the emergence of free options that allowed students to use mobile devices to respond and interact with classroom content.  Some of the following may ring a bell:

• Survey Monkey
• Poll Everywhere
• Nearpod
• Socrative

Now Google has gotten into the mix in several ways.

Google Forms - You can use Google Forms as an effective quiz or testing tool by adding on a few Scripts or AddOns.  Create a Form and instead of form or survey questions, use test questions.  As students fill in your form, responses are collected in a Google Sheet.  Add-ons such as Flubaroo and SuperQuiz can be used to grade the results.

Google Chrome Apps - The Chrome Store has a whole host of Apps that can be used for student response, including Socrative Teacher & Socrative Student , Nearpod , ExitTicket, and  VirtualClicker.  While some of these require that you have a teacher account, many of them are free.

What does this mean to the classroom teacher who can't afford to buy an expensive set of clickers?  If you are in a school that has gone 1:1, or you have a checkout lab or iPad cart, these online solutions allow you to create and deploy tests in your classroom for free.  Free is definitely good in my book.  Plus if you use Google Forms, you could create quizzes or exit ticket questions to go with videos for the Flipped Classroom.

Whatever situation you are in, we are now in an educational age where free technology is closer to our grasp than ever.  Make use of it in any way you can to further your educational goals.  Just remember that technology is the tool, not the main focus.  We need to work hard as educators to help students learn that there are several tools out there to help them achieve their goals.

Flipping the Classroom - ISTE 2013 #ISTE2013

Yesterday at ISTE 2013, I attended a breakout session facilitated by John Bergmann and Aaron Sams. They did an outstanding job and I thoroughly enjoyed their presentation. I had been using an app that allows me to edit and then post directly to my blog, but it lost the entire post when I hit send. As a result, this is my attempt to repost my thoughts.

First of all, Bergmann and Sams have come a long way since they started flipping their classrooms. Many people think they started out full flip, but as they said in their presentation, it took them 6 years to get where they are today. As they spoke, they reinforced the idea that flipping is not the same for every student and for every teacher. Some teachers start out small and flip their lectures, while others flip utilizing many resources such as interactive objects in which students explore content as inquiry based learning, in addition to videos, books, etc....

Students do not always get the same experience out of the flipped classroom, so it is up to the teacher as facilitator to manage those students and help them along the way. As Bergmann and Sams stated, they have students all along the spectrum, who either get it and are able to master concepts and move on, or need a little more coaching from their teacher or peers. That bit of coaching and facilitating to all students helps to establish a relationship that is important to learning. Although they mention that we need to teach students that learning is their responsibility, Bergmann and Sams say that establishing a coaching rapport helps.

While they say that teachers occupy many different spots along the flipped continuum, they say that teachers usually do best when they rely 15% of the time on pre-created materials and 85% of the time on material they have created themselves (This is a total paraphrasing of what they said, but I hope it serves well). The reason there is an emphasis on more self-created videos is because it goes a long way into reinforcing the teaching relationship with students.



Teaching for Tomorrow: Flipped Learning with Aaron Sams

Flipped Instruction Resources

If you're just thinking of flipping your classroom or have already done so and would like to take it to the next level, here are a few resources to think about.

Popcorn Maker- https://popcorn.webmaker.org/ this web tool from Mozilla allows teachers to transform flipped instruction videos into interactive learning tools. By having the ability to insert links, text, pictures and live feeds from the web, your instructional videos will take on a new life by giving your students the ability to interact with content as it is covered in the video.

TED -Ed - http://ed.ted.com/ - if you're just starting out, creating a video for each piece of instruction in your curriculum can be daunting. YouTube has a wealth of informative and instructional videos available for use as a great starting point. Working from this base, TED-Ed allows you to flip videos by providing a direct link and adding questions, extension activities, and web quests to YouTube videos - all accessible by one URL and complete with tracking to give teachers a feel for overall student understanding.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Updated Wiki for Educators

I recently took the time to update my Wiki for Education and Professional Development.  Several new topics have been added and old topics have been updated to repair links.  Check out the sections on iPads, Flipping the Classroom, and Common Core, and more.

3 Misconceptions About Flipping the Classroom

This Summer I taught a class on the basic principles of flipping the classroom. We discussed many of the advantages, as well as tips for producing videos. 24 teachers signed up for the workshop prior to the end of the school year. Realistically I expected less than half to show up because it was scheduled for July and many would be unwilling to give up their vacation time. I was pleased when 18 showed up and was even more excited to see the enthusiasm they had for the topic.

As we worked through the class, there were teachers from all areas: language arts, science, math and even art and music. They were so full of questions that I wondered how many would follow through with the concept.

As the year started, I found that my son's art teacher, who had attended the class, had sent home a letter with a pass code for edmodo. In her letter she told us that her class would be a little different this year, as she would be flipping her classroom.

Another teacher who had attended the workshop had been flipping since last spring in his college course and had made plans to flip his high school math classes. He an I talk quite frequently and he had passed on a few stories of fellow faculty members who commented that flipping would never work.

From watching these two teachers I have found that there are definite rewards that come from flipping, as well as a few misconceptions.

Misconception #1: the kids won't watch!

One comment I have heard many times is that the kids aren't any more likely to watch the videos than they are to listen in class. On the contrary, kids seem very interested and intrigued by the idea of being able to watch and pause the videos so they can take notes on concepts they would normally miss in a fast paced lecture. Additionally, both our art teacher and math teacher state that parents are watching. Parents that came to back to school night said they were watching with their kids because they said it helps them help their kids.

Misconception #2: students won't work any harder in class.

In a conversation from today, our math teacher commented that in the past (pre-flip days) he would have many kids who never turned in homework (even if it was for a completion grade). Now after flipping, he says he has tons of grading to do over the labor day weekend. More kids are comprehending and since they have hands on time with peers and their teacher, they are producing more work.

Misconception #3: Grades won't improve.

When comparing the first week of quiz averages from last year to this year, our math teacher pointed out a marked improvement. Last year's quiz average for the first week was in the 60 range. This year his average is in the 90 range. Granted, this is a different batch
of students from last year, but this is a pre-calculus class covering some very abstract concepts. The sharp increase is something difficult to ignore.

With these three misconceptions, one has to understand that simply making videos and posting them didn't create the change. There is a great deal of dedication, teaching and practice involved in making the flipped classroom work. But the fruits of those labors are worth it in this Common Core world.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Teacher and the One iPad Classroom

Recently I ran across an article in twitter that discussed tips on teaching in the one iPad classroom. The article share several great tips and I thought I would continue the discussion by providing some of what I have learned along the way myself.

Splashtop - this app was mentioned in the above article and have to agree it is great. Available in the app store for $2.99 this app allows the teacher to utilize wifi to control their teacher desktop from anywhere in the room. While it requires a bit of installation to get started, you basically stream across the network to your computer and you can see your desktop (PC or MAC) on your iPad. Sort of like using the iPad as a slate.

Socrative- who needs clickers when students can respond to your questions on their own devices via this free app. Teachers download the socrative teacher app to their iPad to create and deploy questions. Student's download the socrative student app to access your questions via a code given by you. What better way to employ #BYOD!

HDMI or VGA Out cable - Depending on which type (HD or VGA) LCD projector you have in your classroom, you can purchase a cable for $40 or less to connect and mirror content from your iPad onto your projected screen. This is great if you are teaching from keynote, trying to demo an app, or simply teaching from the web. The only caveat is that you are wired to your projector. If you don't like that, you can go wireless by connecting Apple TV to your projector and using AirPlay.

Flipping with videos- planning on flipping your classroom this Fall? Try one of these apps (educreations, screenchomp, or explain everything) to record your lessons and offer them up as short bits of lecture/homework for your students.

Thanks to Think-Share-Teach for the inspiration for this entry! Enjoy the new school year!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Flash Content, Flash Browsers and iOS

In the recent flurry of discussions that have occurred regarding the flipped classroom, one hurdle that I have noticed is the ability to post videos that are accessible on iOS devices (iPods, iPhones, iPads).  With the inability to view Flash content, many students who try to view videos on these mobile devices run into the issue that they are unable to view your videos.  There are a few options and a few workarounds to help your students view Flash content and videos on these devices. 

First, in terms of storing your videos, many people like to use YouTube as a place to post them.  This is fine and tends to work well when students try to view your videos on and iOS device.  One trick I have found that helps out tremendously is to share by using the URL to your YouTube video as a link from your LMS, Teacher Website, or wherever.  This means that when students click on it, it will open in the native YouTube app on their iOS device. 

If you plan to Embed your video, it helps to check the box marked "Use Old Embed Code".  The reason for this is that some sites will often reject the standard embed code which is based on HTML 5.  The old embed code is based on Flash.  I know this sounds crazy since Flash is not an option on iOS devices, but sometimes you just have to play around with the one that works.  If one doesn't work, try the other.  But always, always, always, setup your embedded video on your website and then try to view it on your iOS device to make sure it is viewable/playable.

Second, if you are not much of a techie, there are other ways to help  your students gain access to your video content on their iOS device.  The easiest route is to direct them to a Flash Browser in the App Store.  There are several good ones for free and some great ones that cost a few dollars.  A few that I have found to be good are:

Photon Flash Browser - $4.99 in the App Store - This one works great, but comes at a cost.  If students are willing to spend the money, this one allows users to view any flash content via a streaming process.  There is a slight lag, but it is not that noticeable.   For iPad/iPhone/iPod.

Rover - Supported by ads from educational providers such as Discovery Education, this app is Free!  As a result you have ads that popup at the beginning, but once you enter your site address and navigate, the ads go away while you browse.  This app is for iPad only.

Puffin Web Browser - Available as a Free and Paid App - this browser works as the others do by streaming content across the web and back to your device to provide the experience of viewing flash content.  Works great.  Expect ads on the Free version. 




Whichever route you take in making content available to your students, make sure you spend a few minutes at the beginning of the school year going over accessibility options.  This will help prevent any obstacles your students have to accessing content and viewing it as homework.  Good luck flipping your classroom!

If Students Loved Learning

This is a repost of an article I wrote over a year ago on The Eighth Floor Ning. I think it lends itself to the current discussion on Flipping the Classroom since it discusses a change in traditional classroom teaching. I was recently asked if kids are watching video lectures as homework, what do I do with them during the class period in the day other than the same homework they would have done at night. In terms of the math classroom, this is one answer. . .


If students loved learning, what would it look like? Think back to the days when you were a high school student. Think of the classroom moments you remember the most. Why do you remember them? Was it because they involved some spectacular word problems? Was it because you remember writing some awesome lab procedures? Probably not. The moments you remember the most probably involved a teacher that helped you understand concepts in a way that was meaningful to you, and it most likely didn't involve rote memorization or unrealistic examples to get a point across.

I've been thinking about what those moments really reveal about learning and finding out the answers on our own. Most of these internal conversations were started by an article about Dan Meyer in Ed Week. Dan Meyer is a math teacher at San Lorenzo Valley High School in California. He has developed a wonderful approach to get students interested and involved in math. If you've never heard of him, watch the video below, read the article from Ed Week, or check out his blog. If students loved learning, it would look like this...



Hopefully watching him at work doesn't turn your stomach as you think about changing your teaching style. Instead, I hope you feel empowered to make learning more interesting and fun for your students. As I have analyzed my teaching style over the past few years, I have come to the realization that I don't teach they way I learn. If I were teaching an audience made up of 30 of "me", then I think my approach would be drastically different. Here's a thought...if you as a student would be bored with you, think about what you would change. Think about it.

Flipping in Time

Coming home from the ISTE national conference in San Diego, I found on our doorstep, a copy of Time Magazine for the week of July 9th. As I flipped through the latest I found the following article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2118298,00.html) on Sal Khan called "Reboot the School". It seems that in reading the article, the idea of the flipped classroom has reached Time Magazine. However, as I read further, I found the usual story of how Salman Khan went from Hedge fund manager to online tutor/teacher. As I read further, I discovered what the magazine describes as the flipped classroom, but refers to it as Khan's Way.

Now I am a big fan of Khan, and while I am happy to see the idea of the flipped classroom reach such a wide audience, I was disappointed to see that other names such as Bergmann and Sams were left out of the discussion; or to also see that no mention was made of the success that is occurring in schools across the country where teachers have made their own videos through their own efforts.




While Khan Academy is a great solution for students who need additional help, and it provides a solution for teachers who are starting out on their own in a flipped model, nothing replaces the familiarity of a student being able to see and hear their own teacher in a video lesson as homework, and being able to relate the information back the next day in a hands on activity.

I would encourage anyone who reads this article and is interested in flipping the classroom to do the research. There are many examples of how flipping can be successful. I would also recommend that for teachers who are just starting out, Khan is a great starting point, but nothing can replace the teacher students are familiar with. So when you get the nerve and get over seeing or hearing yourself on video, start with a few simple tools such as Camtasia, Explain Everything, or Educreations, and make your own videos to begin flipping the classroom.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

ISTE 2012: Pirates of the Class-I-Wanna-Be-In ~ The Journey to Paper's End

I loved this presentation! From the start, it was very entertaining. The presenter, Captain IO, was clad in pirate costume and brought on the full effect with an authentic pirate accent! Aargh!
The focus of this workshop was on the paperless classroom and use of mobile devices. He poses the idea that a trained "tech pirate" can find most anything:

Pull media
Pick out images
Snag shared fair-use resources
Collaborate with others
Acquire inspiration and creativity

If going paperless, Cap'n IO mentions that you have to get yer stuff from somewhere! Creating a site to put things out on the web was necessary. His choice was dreamweaver, weebly, and wix. Weebly and Wix provided a user friendly drag and drop interface for teachers who didn't feel savvy enough for dreamweaver.

He says you also need a means of assessment, content absorption, and expression. In other words, testin', learnin', and creatin'! The key is to go around the HMS Admin. that thar was a boat to avoid! Rough waters ahead he says (ya feelin' how cheeky this presentation was?).




His setup meant that he totally threw out all paper. And aside from his website, he had a teacher workstation, student owned devices, a projector, and a few other peripherals.

Keeping the attention of the kids was a problem, but he says it can be easy. What with all the activities, parent meetings, sports events,and tutoring sessions ( sound familiar), he had to keep their attention. But he needed machines. He had enough machines (rebuilt, borrowed, hijacked) to create a 2:1 ratio. Even though it wasn't 1:1 it wasn't bad. He even had a kid that brought in a PS3 because it had wifi and could get on the net. Anything to get them wired. And the techs didn't quite love it.
They complained about the hodge-podge of machines and the nightmare created by the mix. But no matter how old it was, once he reached the satisfaction of making it work, the key was it worked.





Turning in work came down to emailing assignments. Gmail was what he used. He had now entered Googledom. He had one gmail address, one site, per class.


For grading and assessment, he used Quia.com. He never had to grade homework, but he could track mastery and understanding of content.

"Thar still be big problems"

The desire would be to have a 1:1 environment, but sometimes that doesn't happen. And kids get lost and sucked in by the "Fracken" (Facebook) or other distractions. And when not all kids are working on the same device and same format, you get assignments turned in in so many formats (.doc, PDF, works, ppt, etc...) that it can be frustrating. Also, where do they take notes? How do you know the work is authentic? So rather than have them do all the work outside, it was done in class, by hand on paper; their own, not the schools. But by flipping it in this way, their understanding transformed.


But this wasn't paperless! He still depended on the kids to buy theme books for writing. Argh! There be no papers end!

"But thar be a place!"

A place called Tabletonia! They headed in to Tabletonia and found Everything he had created could be ported through one device with a battery that would last all day. But flash became a problem, as when he created his videos with Camtasia, they couldn't be viewed on iPads. But he found if when creating links, he linked to the video instead of the site, they indeed could be viewed on iPads!

As well, the iPad allowed students/teachers to record, edit, use special effects, create, and export items on one device. And rather than spend tons of dollars on graphing calculators, he used the $0.99 calculator on the app store.

Apps provided a way so that notes could be handwritten, PDF could be converted to word and back, comments could be written, and it was paperless! Try Notability. Notes can be created by hand and emailed from within the app. And in PDF format. Everything could be converted and handed in via the PDF format. You can also record. Great value.

If you want more about this great speaker go to http://templeeduneering.com/ISTE/x.html
Print out a poster of his material for your classroom.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

ISTE 2012: Classroom Flipping - How We Did It

http://youwillflip.pbworks.com
This morning I am attending a workshop on flipping the classroom at ISTE 2012. Never hurts to get all the additional info you can. This morning's presenters are Rebecca Evans and Kate Kanach.
If you haven't heard of flipping the classroom, it's not actually a new concept, but it has taken on a life of its own in the past two years. I have posted several articles on it in the past. If you want to check them out, check the tags at the left.




Flipping the classroom entails changing your traditional lectures to a video format and posting them online as homework. Then face to face classroom time can be used to focus on hands on activities, practice, and guided instruction through inquiry. Think Salman Khan (Khan Academy) for homework, and homework as classwork. That's an extremely simplified view, but hopefully you get the picture.

Back to our presenters, one of the things they stressed in their presentation is that some statistics show that student test scores go up in the flipped model of instruction. They also point out that flipping encourages teamwork and 21st century skills, as students work in teams more frequently, and utilize more technology skills. The caveat to this, they say is that some teachers are Leary of this modl because they are no longer the center of attention. It does take you off center stage. But remember: it's not about you, it's about the kids.




If you check out their website, they have provided a wealth of articles and resources. They provide examples of how they have setup their classroom, and provide a sample unit so teachers can see and understand the flow of a flipped lesson. Something they have done, and what needs to be pointed out here is that the "homework" doesn't always have to be a video, it can be a Prezi, a PowerPoint, or other interactive content. They use Edmodo to post their lessons and questions.

When doing class in this manner, you have to realize that student projects will build interpersonal skills and will allow students more variety in the ways they produce work. As they do work, they will be there with you and they will have the benefit of your help. Likewise, you will benefit by being able to observe them at work.

The presenters also pointed out something I feel is important. It is not always necessary or proper to flip every lesson. But it will work with most things. Also, check out "Flip Your Classroom" from ISTE. This book provides a great deal of insight from flipping pioneers Bergmann & Sams.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No boundaries: Using iPads to reach English Language Learners

Tis afternoon I attended a session by Lisa Estrada, Program Coordinator, and Heather Parris-Fitzpatrick, Program Specialist with Nassau, BOCES. The discussion focused on the use of iPads for ESL students.

http://esltechies.com

Essential questions:

--How can educational apps strengthen and support critical thinking?
--How can digital media remove boundaries and promote achievement for ELLs?
--How can distance learning expand horizons for All students?

To answer these questions, the presenters stress their love of the iPad because it provides multimedia support, accessibility, portability, multiple modalities for learning, and that the device addresses all language skills.

iBooks was a key component of their program as they feel that it promotes critical thinking through its features:

Bookmarking
Highlighting
Note-taking
Dictionary
Search
Google and Wikipedia access

For designing curriculum for ELL and ESL students, presenters suggested resources which can be found in iTunes U. This iPad/iPod/iPhone resource provides a wealth of ESL/ELL material in the form of podcasts and vodcasts which can be downloaded as full courseware for free.




The focus of the session focused heavily on iBooks, but I must point out what some of the attendees brought up. The accessibility features of the keyboard allow users to type in their native language. As well, the standard keyboard will allow you to add special characters to your documents by pressing and holding any letter




The presenters also pointed out that critical thinking can be enhanced through use of apps such as:

ebook readers
Graphic organizers
Translators
Test prep
Subject specific apps

A list of suggestions is found on their site: http://esltechies.com


They also are big fans of one of my favorite apps, Explain Everything!.

Tis app can be used to record audio, screenshots, and screencasts along with notes, edits, and graphics. Once your video explanation is complete, it can be uploaded to the web for student viewing. This app is one of my favorites (said that already) and one I'll be covering in our Flipping the Classroom class in July!





Other apps they recommend include:

Notability - allows students to take finger written notes, or audio notes.

Photo card - allows students to write on a photo. Great for creating postcards, or even flash cards.

iTranslate - free app.

Polycom- app that allows you to connect from iPad to anyone with polycom video conferencing system.

Popplet- good For creating concept maps and charts.

For more information and tips on teaching ESL/ELL students using technology, visit http://ESLTechies.com




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:ISTE 2012, San Diego

EdCompass and Flipping

This month's issue of EDCompass Magazine (SMART Technologies) features an article on Flipping the Classroom. In addition to a discussion of what Flipped Learning means, there are also features of success stories, SMART Resources related to flipping, and examples of how to use SMART Tools to create your own one-take videos. Check out the latest edition here.

You can also sign up to receive EDCompass Magazine by visiting their blog.

Still Having Questions About Flipping?

What the advocates of flipped learning say...

The discussion on flipping the classroom has grown tremendously in educational circles. If you conduct a Google search on the topic, you'll find tons of articles, posts, and videos about the topic. In all that discussion, there are, as with any topic, proponents and opponents of the practice. This summer I'll be conducting a professional development class on how to create videos for flipping the classroom. In all that discussion, we will talk about what flipping is, how it is best applied to the classroom, and ways to push video content out to students. In my research I have run across many different names of teaching professionals who have been successful at flipping. If you are interested in hearing their thoughts, here are a few heavy hitters and links to their comments and work:

• Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann
• Flipped Learning Blog
• Alan November Interviews Sams and Bergmann
• TechSmith Interview with Sams and Bergmann
• Katie Gimbar
• Elevated Math - Katie Gimbar
• Friday Institute Professional Development on Flipped Learning
 
• The Flipped Class Network

Katie posted a video back in 2011 regarding one serious question that many teachers have asked me in this discussion:  What if the kids don't watch the videos?  Interested in her response?  See her answer below:

What the opponents say... 

And as it should be with any discussion, you need to see and hear both sides of the story.  There are some groups in this discussion that are against the idea of flipping the classroom.  While flipping the classroom can be beneficial to students in many ways, it should be understood that not all lessons can be successfully flipped.  And in turn, the homework you sent home in the past should not be the same work you introduce in the flipped classroom.  The flipped classroom allows for richer and more meaningful lessons to take place in individual and group settings.  Simple drill and practice homework assignments are not for the flipped classroom.  Students will benefit from real world activities and deeper conversations that come from them.  

Although I choose to disagree, I thought it important to post a few links showing this side of the conversation. 

• Why I'm Not Flipping Over the Flipped Classroom
• Flipped classroom - What it is and my reservations of it

Although this list is short, the discussion on both sides is very lengthy.  Ultimately, the decision to flip the classroom should not come lightly.  It does take work at the outset, and should only be undertaken if you are willing to put in the work. But if you are willing, then it can create a whole new learning environment for students that draws their interest and motivates them to learn. 

More Articles on the Flipped Classroom

Since my last post, there has been a flurry of activity in the news and on the blogosphere regarding the flipped classroom.  I thought I would share a few with you:

Flipped Classes Take Learning to New Places
The Flipped Classroom
Flipped Classroom Idea to Expand - News Article
The Future of the Flipped Classroom
Arizona Schools Flipping Homework, Lectures
Providence Day Tries Tech-Savvy Teaching
Technology Finds its Way into Farmington Classrooms

Just a little food for thought if you are thinking about Flipping!  Have you tried this technique?  Is it working for you?  Please share your comments here.

Instructional Tools for Flipping the Classroom

As we have moved the discussion further down the path to creating a flipped classroom, the talk has turned to how to create quality instruction.  It is altogether one thing to find the right screencast software or video editing software, and another to find the right tool to provide instruction.  Do you use an Interactive Whiteboard?  Do you use a video camera and a whiteboard?

As we have talked about providing instruction, we discussed Salman Khan.  If you have never seen his work, see my previous post on Flipping the Classroom or go to http://www.khanacademy.org/.  One of the tools he uses is SmoothDraw.  This is a free tool that provides a background on which you can write with different colored pens.  Originally intended to be a drawing tool, it works great for providing on screen instruction. 

The math teacher in our building who is working on flipping his classroom tried it.  Here is a taste of his first run with SmoothDraw.



Pretty good if you ask me!  While smoothdraw is a free tool for your computer, you can also use other tools like Explain Everything or Educreations for the iPad .

The next step is to find the best format for making this available.  Which website do you choose.  As our math teacher works with this, I will keep you updated on what we find that works best.

More Tips for Flipping the Classroom

This morning as we continued to discuss Flipping the Classroom, a fellow teacher and I shared ideas on making the transition to the Flipped Classroom a little easier. As students probably love the idea of watching instructional videos for homework, over the standard drill and practice of working problems and answer questions on a worksheet, there will still be those who may need some period of adjustment. With that, here are a few tips on making that transition.

Breaking the instructional videos into small enough chunks so that they can digest the information helps quite a bit with attention span. You have to remember that they will be doing this on their phone, or home computer. With that, there will be distractions. As you develop your videos, you might spend about 10 minutes of instruction on new material followed by examples and real world applications. Videos should be anywhere from 15-30 minutes. After that, it becomes too much for them to consume in one setting. The next day, follow up with hands-on practice activities.

One problem you may encounter is that there will be a few holdouts during the first week that will not remember to go home and view your videos. To prevent this, spend the first two days showing them where the videos are on the web possibly viewing the first one in class to reinforce that this is their homework. Then keep the following in mind:

• Try to minimize their excuses by making the material easy to retrieve (no difficult logins, web addresses, etc...).
• For students that have a phone (android or iphone), show them how to make an icon on their device that links them directly to your website. This keeps them from making excuses if its right on their phone.
• After the video, give them a preview of what they will cover in class the next day - linking the video with the in-class assignment.

Happy Flipping!