Audio Recording and Screencasting

I loved this course and learned a lot from it! Audio recordings can be so powerful in the classroom, and I just never took the time to realize and research all that you can do with it! The screencast option on our iPads is SUCH an easy way to create a screencast because you can walk students through tasks on your iPad, which will mimic their iPads as well. You just swipe from the top right corner, and the big circle towards the bottom is a screencast recorder! Only suggestion I would make is to make sure you hold down that button and turn the microphone on! Happy screen casting :)

Refugee by Alan Gratz Book Trailer

My students and I read the book Refugee by Alan Gratz, along with Global Read Aloud. One way to inspire them, was sharing a book trailer that I made! Not only is this something you could use to kick off a novel that you will read with the kids, but also as an example of how to create book trailers! I showed this one to my students, and now they create a book trailer every time they finish a book, share it on Seesaw, and now they have a place to go book shopping :)

Screencast on Flipgrid

Using Flipgrid can be intimidating for teachers if they have never done it before! The first step would be create a free account, and explore a bit! Once you create an assignment, then you are ready to go. Below, I have created a screencast that shows students how to walk through Flipgrid, and create their first video! I never realized screen casting was so easy! With one quick swipe on the iPad, you are given a screencast recording that allows you record your voice over a video of you controlling your iPad. This screencast below will show you all about it!

Flexible Seating - My Classroom Story

Well, we are on year 3 of flexible seating, and boy, I have learned so much from these students!

By providing students with the flexibility to sit and work in a manner that best fits their needs, this gives students ownership of their learning. Research states that students work best when they are given the opportunity to pick their ideal work environment. Not only does it meet the needs of students with special needs, but the overall student population within the general education classroom.

Flexible classroom seating allows students to sit or stand in a way that best suits their body. Some students have a tendency to move, wiggle, bounce, sway, and/or sit with perfect posture and flexible seating provides an environment for each one of these students. Flexible seating allows each individual to take ownership of how they want to learn, and are given the freedom to be as comfortable as they can while they are learning. 

The rationale for choosing to move to a flexible seating classroom is because I have been exposed to the traditional classroom seating for years, and although this is not a negative way to learn, it is not as powerful as the flexible classroom. All of the current research supports this new way of learning. There is motivation through the gift of choice, it is meeting the needs of all students, allows opportunities for students to learn (on their own) how they learn best.

We were able to spread the word on an ABC news segment, which was very powerful to share with parents and/or students that might be hesitant to support this progressive classroom set up! 

Graphic Design in Education

I think that incorporating graphic design in the classroom is crucial to reach the needs of our learners. Students now learn differently than we did when we were kids. The world of technology continues to grow and take our learners with it!  Social media, video games, texting, all of these every day activities that children take part in really change the way they absorb information. When scrolling through social media, for example, students look for different graphics to grab their attention. Once their attention has been grabbed, you have a greater chance of them reading and internalizing the material. I think we need to use this idea in our classrooms. A wonderful way to do this is to incorporate graphics when you can. 

I love quick, go to anchor charts or bookmarks that have graphic designs on it that students can refer to as a step-by-step guide. For example, we use an acronym called RACES for our reading responses. My teammates and I found some great graphic designs from Sweet Tooth Teaching that has book marks and posters to help students remember what they need to include in a reading response. 

It is really wonderful when teachers create graphics to use in their classrooms, and it can be even more powerful when students create them, too! One Google Drawing and Canva are two places students can go to create their own graphic designs. This App-Chat poster is one I created on Canva to use in my 1:1 classroom. 

Another place students can use graphic designs to help them is within Google Slides. Students can use this example slide below to create their own slides of whatever vocabulary words they are to be reviewing in class. One of the sections of this slide is to create their own example of the vocabulary word with a graphic design! I am such a visual learner, and kids are becoming more visual with the growth in technology use, that this is a great way to help them review vocabulary words!