Seven Steps for Creating Videos In Your Classroom

On page 76 of Invent To Learn Stager and Martinez write, "The movie can be done without a storyboard or script, the 3D object may not be the most precisely planned out, but the point is to create something that can be shared and talked about." Later in the same chapter they advise avoiding overteaching planning as it can stifle creativity in some students.  

For years my outline for student video projects was outline, gather, construct, revise, and share. In fact, just yesterday I shared that outline in a presentation. After reading and reflecting on Stager and Martinez's advice I'm changing my outline. We're well aware that most students when given some time will figure out how to use a video editing tool. We don't need to spend lots of time teaching that as most of our kids will be biting their tongues as we fumble with things they already know how do or at least feel confident that they can do. Therefore, my new process is as outlined below. (Bear in mind, this is a process for videos that will have a finished length of five minutes or less).

1. Create - let the kids have a crack at making their videos. If some students have a nature inclined to planning first, let them. If others want to jump into the process right away, that's great too. When I make screencast videos I don't always plan them first, I just make them. If the first attempt doesn't result in a polished work, that's okay because now I know what I need to change for the next attempt.

2. Reflect - take a look at what was made. What is good about it? What needs to be changed?

3. Outline - create that outline or storyboard now that you know what to keep and what to change.

4. Create - this is the second attempt at the video.

5. Revise - take a look at what the second attempt at creation yielded. Revise the outline again for the next round of editing or re-shooting.

6. Create - this is the second round of editing or it could be a complete re-shoot of a video.

7. Share - when you're happy with your video (it may take many more rounds of steps 5 and 6) share it with the world. Share it on Next Vista for Learning, YouTube, your classroom blog, or anywhere else that there is a potential audience for your work.

CK-12 Brainflex - A Summer Program for Math and Science Practice

The CK-12 Foundation recently announced the creation of the CK-12 Brainflex Summer Challenge. The challenge, which will begin in about a month, is a free program that students can use to practice math and science skill reviews. Students' progress on their chosen skill reviews is recorded for them in their CK-12 accounts. The CK-12 Summer Challenge is self-paced and students choose the subjects that they want to review.

Applications for Education
Teachers can send invitations to students to participate in the CK-12 Summer Challenge. With those invitations teachers can include suggestions for subjects to review. CK-12 also provides a template for a letter to send home to parents with suggestions on subjects for their children to review over the summer. That letter could be sent to the parents of the students moving on from your classroom this summer or to the parents of the students you're expecting to see in the fall.

12 Good Tools for Creating End-of-Year Review Activities

As the weather warms the end of the school year is on many of our brains. This is the time of year that we think about activities that we can do to help students review the school year. At this time of the year I start to get a lot of requests for suggestions for tools to create review activities. The tools presented in the slides below can be used to create online games, iPad games, video quizzes, and interactive classroom exercises that engage students in reviewing the year's lessons.

12 good tools for creating end of year review activities from Richard Byrne

Making Observations With "Photo a Day" Projects

Last spring I shared the #mathphotoaday project started by Ms. Bettess's 3B Bees classroom. This morning Ms. Bettes was in the room for my keynote at Riding the Wave.  I gave her shout-out as a model of sharing school projects.

As I thought about the #mathphotoaday project the rest of the day I realized that the concept applies to other areas too. The idea of a photo a day project is to have students take and share one picture per day for a month about ideas related to a topic. The #mathphotoaday project asked kids to take pictures that demonstrated math concepts. You could do the same with topics in science, social studies, and language arts too. In science you might have them take pictures about phases of the moon or changes in seasons. In social studies you might ask students to take pictures about government in action. And in language arts students could take pictures representative of new vocabulary words they're learning.

Sharing the pictures in a photo a day project could be done in a variety of ways. Depending upon the age of your students and your school's policies you might have students use a hashtag and share pictures on Instagram or Twitter. You could also have them share pictures on a group blog. A moderated Padlet wall is another option for sharing images.

Three Helpful Updates to the Google Classroom iPad & Android Apps

Today, Google had some good news for teachers who use their GAFE accounts on their iPads, tablets, and phones. Google Classroom has become more mobile-friendly through three key updates. First, you can now grade assignments, including entering comments, from your phone or tablet. Second, you can now create and edit assignments on your Android or iOS device. And third, you can snap a picture and add it to an assignment through your phone or tablet.

Image courtesy of Google Classroom program management.

You can learn more about how these new features work in the Google Classroom Help Center. The help center also provides a comparison of the web and mobile interfaces of Google Classroom.