Earlier this year, students were very into the hurricanes and how they were affecting our nation. By using these real life events, we were able to create an authentic reading response situation. I had two goals during this lesson, to show the students how to use the online news source, Newsela, and the response app, Flipgrid. NewselaThis fantastic app allows students to choose the Lexile at which they will read a given article. All students will receive the same main idea and information, but the higher the Lexile, the more details there will be for the reader. The great thing about this is students can choose where they are comfortable reading, without anyone really knowing. For this lesson, I read the article aloud to the students on the second level given. For most of the lessons I would have them read it independently or with a partner. There are also MANY other options in Newsela to explore. FlipgridStudents were then given a crash course in Flipgrid. Honestly, the app is SO user-friendly, I just had them figure it out for themselves. I talked through what I wanted their response to be, their response to what we had read. Flipgrid has the students use a code to get into your Flipgrid board. Then they press to record. From there, they can listen to it and rerecord. I recommend setting guidelines on how many times they can do this, or they will do it over and over again! The screen then allows them to continue through - taking a selfie to post to the board, and then confirming their video. You have the choice on if the students can see or comment on other classmates' boards. There are many options in Flipgrid! (OH, and we had to do an appropriate selfie lesson - helping them find a good angle!) Final ThoughtsHere are some other amazing ways to use Flipgrid in your own classroom from Ditch That Textbook!
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This summer I went to a conference where a teacher told us she put Snapchat videos into her Schoology lessons for her students. I thought it was brilliant! Fast-forward 3 months and I find myself trying to find a way to help my students be successful while I am out for 2 days. Why not Snapchat? My 5th graders are one-to-one with iPads and they have been super responsible with them this year. I would not have included them with a sub if I didn't trust them. They have yet to give me a reason not to, so they are going to be used. I started a Google Classroom called Sub and had the kids join. In this Classroom, I have scheduled videos and assignments to drop at the time that they should be in that subject throughout the day. This prevents them from working ahead or getting into things they should not be in yet. How to Schedule a Post in Google ClassroomWhen you add an assignment, announcement, or question you can click on the arrow next to the Post button, then you will see the option to schedule. From there you choose the date and time. I had mine set to post about 5 minutes before they would be in the given subject. Adding in Snapchat VideosPart of what I think will help my students while I am gone is them actually seeing me. Through the videos I am hoping that they will make the connection that I am "there" and wanting them to focus. I took to Snapchat because it's a big thing right now, and who doesn't LOVE those filters?! I filmed small videos that were just directions because it does not give a long time to record. If you wanted to film a really long video you could take the small Snaps and then put them together in something like iMovie. So I filmed the video and instead of posting it on Snapchat, I clicked the download button on the bottom left corner. When you do that it just saves to Snapchat, so you go into the gallery of Snapchat (located below the record button), hold down on the image/video I wanted, and then I sent them to my Google Drive. From there, I could attach them to the assignment or announcement I had created. Voila! Not Just SnapchatI am very possessive over my read aloud books, and I am not big on leaving them for a sub to read. We are doing Global Read Aloud right now, and I wanted to still keep the kids on track. For this, I did not use Snapchat, but I went into Photobooth (you could just use the record function on your phone's camera), recorded me reading the book, and then posted that. I told my students they could expect the videos, and I think the thing they were most excited about was the fact that I recorded them at home. They wanted to have a sneak peek into my house! For sure they will get that...my dog started barking when I was almost done with the book, and I was NOT starting over! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I will leave one of the videos below for your viewing pleasure...lol! |
AuthorFifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom, sharing my journey with technology in the classroom Categories
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