Always Next Year…

By Jason Seliskar On July 2, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Informational, Integration, ISTE, JasonSeliskar, Opinion, Presentations, QR Codes, Technology, Twitter, You Tube

Always next year…that’s a saying you hear in the sports world. Being from Cleveland and a huge Cleveland sports supporter that saying is often repeated every year. As a Cleveland Browns season ticket holder I hold on to that saying. Renewing my seats for the hopes of next year. We are always excited for the new season of new players and then led through a roller coaster season, only to find ourselves looking at some changes for the next season. In sports that can be a frustrating process. In education, it can be a refreshing process.

The sports analogy can be applied to your classroom. All excited for the upcoming school year with new students, eager to teach them for a successful year with them. As the year goes on there is a roller coaster ride of success and failure. There are strategies that you thought were working to only make some halftime adjustments to solve the problems that were occurring. Then it is the end of the school year where you can look back at your teaching and your student learning to see where adjustments are needed to be made for the next year. We use the Summer time to reflect, refresh and improve.

I know this Summer I am asking myself, “How do I improve on with what I am already doing?”. Like the sports team analogy, current players have to get better. Even though the playbook stays the same for for the most part the execution has to get better. My playbook stays the same, but I have to find ways to execute it better. The standards stay the same, but how do I execute those standards in an applicable creative challenging way. I look at my teaching style, the tools I use. I follow many teachers in my #pln on Twitter and learn from them. I share and they share back. This question was proposed in a recent chat, “What are we going to do better next year?” Maybe it’s not necessary getting better, but starting something new that makes what you are already doing even better. Again, taking what I was already doing, reflecting and now doing it better.

For instance, I used Edmodo to a certain extent in my classroom. I posted some questions and links for students to comment on, but that was as far as it went. This Summer I am looking at expanding that for the upcoming year. At #ISTE12 I was looking at other ways and ideas to help students use Edmodo more to their benefit. I needed to be able to post information that helped students master concepts, at the same time they needed to show me that they mastered those same concepts. One idea I had was posting videos with a Google Form attached with questions that are related to the video. This is the accountability factor. Another idea or website that was shared in a session was using Quizlet.com and MangaHigh.com. Edmodo will be the central place to posting information and having students share their thoughts in the Edmodo group. Especially with Edmodo’s built in app store using apps like Spelling City can support my students in their overall learning. This will tie into the Flip Classroom model.

Flipping your classroom is a model that is being tried by many teachers across the country. Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams began the Flipped Classsroom. The gist of the Flipped Classroom is quite simple. You conduct your teaching in lecture format online in video form for the students to watch at home. This is their homework, while the practice is done in the classroom the next day. This allows more time in class to practice, collaborate and get that needed time with the teacher if need be for further questions. What is done at home is now done at school, and what was done in school is now done at home. The time in class is used more for that interaction and sharing of the information. I teach fourth grade and although I teach many subjects, I will be trying this model for Math. At this level, the model is really flipping lessons and not the entire classroom. I sat in on Jonathan and Aaron’s presentation at ISTE and they touched on the fact that the model can have many forms. The basic concept is there, but how it looks and works in your classroom may not be the same in another. You have to make it fit your classroom. They did not want to hand you another “three-ring binder” and say this is the perfect way to do the model. Again, while the model you use may look different because you find what fits the needs of your students, at the same time the basic flipped model is evident.

Here is a video with the originators of the flipped model:

I will be using Educreations App to make these videos:

My students will be using Google Apps this year. I am excited to have an opportunity to pilot Google Apps in a Fourth grade setting. Several teachers, admins and students will be piloting these apps this year. Hopefully the pilot will show others in the district that these tools can be integrated into the classroom. I am not quite sure how exactly how they will be used this coming year, but I do know that they will be used. Collaborative writing assignments to be imported into the Teleprompter+ app on the iPad to make videos. I have a green screen in my classroom and have made videos before, but students were left to a piece of paper or “winging” it when producing a video. This will make the video making process crisper. This is an area of what I do already do in the classroom and how it just became better.

For class management, I will be using ClassDojo to manage my class behavior. Again, I used this year, but honestly, I was not consistent with using this product. Consistency is key in any behavior system, but I need to have my phone, iPad or computer near me to consistently mark positive or negative behavior in my classroom. ClassDojo allows for emailing parents behavior reports. I want this to be the standard in my classroom. Parents knowing that these reports are available will help me stay accountable to the consistent monitoring of behavior and the use of ClassDojo.

To communicate with parents I will be using Remind101.com to text homework, events and other classroom information. Remind101 allows for one way texting. Parents sign up either by text or by email and will receive text messages I sent. They cannot respond to the texts. I used Remind101 this past year for homework and upcoming event, but my goal will be expanding on that to announce videos posted, podcasts created and other ongoings that are related to the classroom learning environment.

QR Codes are going to be everywhere. I presented on QR Codes at this year’s 2012 ISTE Conference in San Diego. I have used them before by only having a few posted in the classroom to sites that just give information. I only have two iPod Touches for students to scan these codes. So I need to find ways to get everyone involved. So I will be doing QR Codes in reverse. I will use an app called QRSight. This app is on the desktop (I have six in my room) and students can scan a QR Code that is laminated. In addition these codes can be linked to videos, websites and other media for learning. I can have codes through out campus where students can learn about history, science or hear a review about a book made by another student. I will have a QR Code, like last year, available in the front of the school where parents can send me their contact information before school even starts. Also, they can watch a introductory video of me and the classroom by scanning the QR Code on the classroom door before school starts. You can be as creative as you want with using QR Codes.

Blogging was being done in my class this past year, and although my goal was to get all writing online, it did not happen. I found it hard to get students blogging on a consistent basis, yet again this was a accountability problem. I was not monitoring this correctly. Even so, there was an #EduWin with blogging this year. I had a student that did not like writing at all and became quite the writer by the end of the year, since writing online was more interesting than on paper for him. He was a high reader, so I knew he could write. He needed another way to spark that interest. I use Kidblog.org for blogging in the classroom. Again, here is another example of what I am doing now, and the question, how do I do it better. I need to develop a monitoring system that I keep track of student work online. All writing assignments will be done online. No more paper. Students can blog about daily events, favorite topics and the required genre writing we have to cover here in the state of California. I will be reflecting, improving and implementing new ways to promote and keep track of student online writing this coming year. Perhaps using the “turn-in” feature in Edmodo.

I will continue to find ways to best integrate video and podcasting into my students learning as I have done in the past. There are always better workflows that help with the “planning to final product” process. Here are some of those videos and projects from years past.

So, just like a sports team that has to make halftime adjustments or off season moves, we as teachers have to do the same in our classrooms. As I reflect on my own classroom, I can see what I am doing, looking at how can I make it better or what do I need to make it better for my students learning. I have talked about some of the technology currently used in my class and how I can make that integration seamless. I am looking forward to using some tools I didn’t use last year to improve my students classroom experience and learning. With some halftime adjustments and added plays to the playbook, I am hoping for an improved experience in my 4th grade classroom.

I hope your reflection on the tools, strategies and search for new ways is a fun and encouraging one this Summer. By being at ISTE this past year and other conferences I learned, but I will always be challenged to do better, given ideas and share struggles with my teammates who are my PLN on Twitter. If you are not on Twitter to to help grow, I encourage you to do so. I will help you. Contact me and I will show you how to connect and learn from the same amazing educators, that integrate tech, I learn from on a daily basis.

May your Summer be a refreshing time to reflect and think of how we can do better for our students.

Here is another video on the Flipped Classroom: