Sunday, September 13, 2015

DigiLit Sunday - Update on Flipping the ELA Classroom


 
I love that Margaret Simon has started a Sunday Link Up for posts about digital literacy at her blog to challenge us to share our technology journeys.
 
Several weeks ago, I wrote a DigiLit Sunday post about flipping the ELA classroom.  I've been trying it out - both the kids and I are working out the glitches week by week.  I think we've got it to the point where it can be an effective way to save time and increase student achievement.  I'm still trying to determine the best method of keeping kids accountable and measuring its success, but I'm having fun figuring it out.  I think the kids are, too! 
 
When I make a mini-lesson video, I post it on my Google Classroom page, sometimes along with other materials like a handout, photo, another video by someone else, or even an audio clip (I did this with a "Where I'm From" poetry mini-lesson - I attached an audio clip of George Ella Lyon reading her own poem). I'm experimenting with entry tickets, student comments on Google Classroom, and other ways to make sure students "got it" after the lesson.  I could create a Padlet for responses or questions, too.

Right now, I'm using YouTube Capture to record my videos.  The app uploads it to YouTube when you're done editing the video.  Here is a video I did on sentence collecting - one of the first things I ask my fifth graders to do when reading their small group book around the theme topic, empathy.  It's the longest one I've done - most of them have been about 10 minutes.  You see my YouTube page here.

 
My colleague, Andrea Nichols, is also experimenting with this concept and has uploaded several YouTube videos for her high school students.  Here is one she's done:

 


We both have YouTube pages, so feel free to take a look at other videos we've uploaded.  I'd love to hear about any ideas you might have, too, if you are flipping the classroom!
 

2 comments:

  1. I love this idea and have a colleague who is doing a flipped classroom this year. Do all your students have internet access? I wonder how to handle those who have so many after school activities that they don't or can't watch the video. Thanks for posting your videos. I am definitely moving to using more videos in my classroom, but I haven't made my own yet. Time to try it out? Thanks for the push and for linking up.

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  2. Margaret, not all of my high school students have internet access at home. I've made arrangements to have them view the videos during class time or during their study hall time. It seems to be working so far. My biggest hurdle is getting the kids to do have internet access to remember to watch them in the evening. Like Holly, I've been playing around with having them put comments on Google Classroom and bringing entrance tickets. We also practice the skill first thing the next day in class, so that gives me another artifact to look at to guage their comprehension.

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