Last week I was preparing for a substitute teacher. Like normal, I was dedicating WAY TOO MUCH TIME to creating over the top, detailed lesson plans for her, even though my sub had been in my classroom time and time again. The main reason I leave such detailed notes is because I still want to have control even when I am gone, which I have been able to somewhat accomplish through collaborative Google Documents. I tend to assign something using a Google Document when I am gone, so that I can pop in and out of student documents, leave notes for them, communicate an idea, or help correct something. My way of keeping some control when at a conference, presenting, at a meeting, or sick. That said, I thought that it was time to try something new, in an effort to keep control, but offer my sub a break (considering my classroom is largely embedded with technology). So, with the advice of a fellow educator at our high school, I created video lesson plans for my sub and my students. Here is how the plans turned out:
Of course I was curious to find out what my students and substitute thought...
Substitute: "Wow...made explaining "things" pretty simple. Students knew exactly what to do, when and where."
Students: "That was cool." "You were with us all day Mr. Hendricks" (is that a good or bad comment). "Will you do that again the next time you are gone?" "It was like you never left."
So, will I do a pre-recorded lesson plan again, the next time I cannot be at school. Definitely. The effort was well worth my time.
Woah! That title is a mouthful! My school district provided me with the most simple version (yet) of Splashtop as a "Welcome Back to 2013" present. It is simple, because there is no configuring IP Addresses (what does that even mean!?). Just being on the same network, allows for instant device, screen share. Okay, not that exciting yet? It will get better (maybe). Today, being a new year and having to have mutliple resolutions, I began thinking of a few for myself. One being that I wanted to begin using MORE technology in the classroom as seamless ways to engage learning and facilitating. This afternoon, it sort of happened, as a result of a student asking for help on her math. In math, Mrs. Olson and I have been attempting our own version of "Daily 5 Math" (a term I use really loosely), except we have three daily's and not much choice. Someday, maybe our math class can function just like a normal Daily 5 literacy block...not yet. We are making it up as we go. Anyway, I decided to use "Splashtop" during Math today, because in my review, I wanted to stand behind my students, while modeling how to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and the opposite. I have not found a totally useful way, other that show and tell, for students to use Splashtop. Right now, it is more for me to be up moving and facilitating. Moving on, one of my students asked for a copy of what I was putting onto the SMARTBoard to study for our upcoming test. "OF COURSE YOU MAY!" Then it clicked to me. I could screencast myself while manipulating the SMARTBoard, now that Splashtop was working. So, I told my student that I could provide her with notes and one better...a recording of me re-teaching the concept. After school today, I plugged in my headphone/microphone combo (I feel like an airplane pilot when I wear those things), set up my SMARTBoard, and kept my fingers crossed that Screencast-O-Matic (my screencasting website of choice) would work. In the past, my computer would not download the most up to date java applet....IT DID TODAY (Happy New Year x 2)! So, to my student, I am excited (and feel sort of nerdy) to present to you "How to Convert Mixed Numbers into Improper Fractions AND Concert Improper Fractions into Mixed Numbers". Enjoy:
