The Power of Video

What's the best app or tool you have on your iPad? Surprisingly, it is one of the simplest, and yet most versatile options you have - the camera. This feature gives students the ability to share their learning and their work with others in an incredibly user friendly way.  Students are also motivated when know their work is going to be on camera and shared with others.

So what are some ways you could incorporate the use of the camera tool in your classroom? One option to try would be to use the camera for students to share their learning and explain their thinking behind a problem or standard.  Not only does this cement that information for the student, but it gives the teacher an insight on the thought process of that specific student.  The teacher can use that information to further personalize the learning of the student to meet his or her needs. In this specific example, students were able to upload and share their videos on Seesaw to share with others. Imagine the pride a student has after sharing his or her video with the entire class!

Another great way to incorporate the camera into a classroom would be to use iMovie to create a movie of the students’ writing.  This example is from a first grade classroom where the students learned about all the features of fairy tales and were able to use Legos to help inspire their own stories.  Once they had written their fairy tales, the students were able to take pictures of each scene of their fairy tale and record their voice reading their fairy tale.  Once they were done with their movie, they were able to share it with their class. Each student had such self satisfaction when sharing their video with others in seeing their video start from a written story and turn into a masterpiece!

This year has been the year of the green screen! Teachers from many grade levels have given students the opportunity to create green screen videos explaining a topic or a story using historical characters. Students use the app DoInk to put together their video with a background of their choosing that helps to support their topic of learning.  In the example below, students were given the opportunity to explain a math topic of their choice and share it with the rest of their class.  In a flipped math classroom, this is a great feature for the teacher to use in upcoming years since the students love hearing from fellow students on how to work out a problem.

How much do you use video in your classroom? How could it enhance the learning of your students? How could it give you more information about each of your students? I challenge you to try one of these or just the camera in general in your classroom and see what an impact it can make!

Personalized Learning: a Tool for Equity?

“That's at the core of equity: understanding who your kids are and how to meet their needs. You are still focused on outcomes, but the path to get there may not be the same for each one.” Dr. Pedro Noguera

Throughout this year I have had the opportunity to listen to three strong voices in equity and education: Dr. Pedro Noguera, Dr. Sharroky Hollie and Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade. Each message pointed towards a deep examination of how I listen to youth, foster relationships, and address inequalities within the systems and communities I work and live.  If we compare these ideas with the definition of personalized learning there are many parallels that ask educators to be innovative, student centered and authentic.  So...is Personalized Learning a tool for Equity?  Let’s take a look...

Images of Hope and Love

Both equity and personalized learning ask educators to use methodologies that deeply value EACH student. Educators can seek spaces and strategies that infuse messages of hope, self-love and the importance of thinking critically.  Identity webs, visual representations of how students see themselves, allow for exploration of self, critical thinking and empathy.  Similarity, visual storytelling can be an outlet for students to share stories using visuals such as infographics, images or video to inspire change.  

Educators may also look for authentic resources found in the real world. The We Love You Project is a digital space that is working to capture portraits of the black boys and men in communities in the United States. Their mission is to reclaim the image of black boys and men by projecting a message of humanity and love though each photograph.  

Explore and Engage

Personalized learning is about ensuring we meet students where they are and move them forward. Equity adds the elements of ensuring students who've been marginalized have their needs met in ways that accelerate their growth.  Educators engaged in personalized learning and equity create authentic opportunities for learners to discover, connect and understand.

The New York times 25 Mini Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity with Students could be a catalyst for discussion and examination of multiple perspectives. Another catalyst could be connecting authentically with classrooms and communities that represent different cultures and experiences through Skype in the classroom.

Classroom libraries that reflect the unique identities and lived experiences of the students that walk into our schools everyday, can create discovery and deep understanding of historical healing and self-worth.  Use this toolkit to evaluate the library in your classroom, and use this book list for inspiration. Engage further by exploring student examples such as Books N Bros - a book club started by an 11 year old boy, that inspired the EyeSeeMe bookstore.  

Take note and Take action

Finally, personalized learning and equity both ask educators to open instructional practices to reflection and rejuvenation.  Ask yourself these questions to think about possible people, perspectives and/or additional learning that might spark curiosity, interests and personalized learning of your own.  

Social Media	Professional Growth	Student Centered
Questions to Ask
Who do you follow on your social media? What opportunities are there to explore additional perspectives?	What themes emerge when you think about the professional development you have participated in? What opportunities do you have to explore personalized learning and equity?	How are you listening to your students?    What opportunities do you offer for authentic and personal learning?   How do you collect student data and what does it tell you?
Places to Explore
Twitter @EquityCoaching @equityproject #PersonalizedLearning	Consider learning from: West Metro Education Program TheEdCollab	Try one of these books: The Teacher You Want to Be Upstanders ELL Frontiers

Tova

@WerlingerTova

Instructional Excellence Coordinator

Department of Personalized Learning and Instruction

Tale of Two Classrooms: A Day in the Woods

Classroom #1

“You’re lucky, you are in first grade and you are getting to go outside.  This is the first time we have been out here,” an older student said to a first grader on Wednesday.

These students had just finished measuring and identifying trees, wading in the creek, playing snow baseball, writing poetry, and taking amazing photos.  This was math class and no, the creek, baseball, poetry and photography were not a part of the lesson. Earlier in the week, these students were tasked with the goal of identifying trees of millable height, size and posture to get as much usable wood as possible with minimal environmental impact.  Wednesday was the outdoor day and I was not entirely sure what to expect.  Hypsometers (sticks that are used to measure the millable wood in a tree) are measuring tools, but you know what? They make great walking sticks, baseball bats and swords.  It did not take long for these students to figure this out. In talking with a number of teachers, this is a primary concern of taking students outdoors to learn.  

Something New

The first time that you try doing something new with students, there is going to be a need for students to learn about the way they interact with the space, tool or resources.  In this case, there were a number of factors: new tools, new space and we were using iPads.  And as the student mentioned, they had not been outside before in a learning capacity, nor had they been in the outdoor classroom.  To someone who is trying a new lesson outdoors for the first time, this could be enough stress to rethink the idea of going outside with students. 

So, what do I do as a teacher who wants to get my students outdoors? 

The first step is simple, go outside!  Let your students run through the woods, play in the mud and swing sticks against trees.  Put structured learning aside to start and just let them play with the “manipulative.”  Another great way is to observe the outdoors from a window at your school.  Michelle Aldenderfer - Griffin’s post on the Children and Nature Network, gives you three easy ways to add outdoor learning, indoors.  Call your local hardware store to ask for donations of bird feeders and seeds.  Then use the Merlin Bird ID App to identify the birds that come and eat at the feeders.  The app is easy to use and provides detailed information about local species.  The more exposure that students have to resources, tools or spaces, the less of a novelty it becomes and they start to look at a non-traditional learning space differently, as in the case of the classroom #2.

Classroom #2

On that same Wednesday, another class was outside.  It was quoted to be the greatest outdoor day they had to date.  The reason: seven deer, one bald eagle, a running creek, and a fresh coat of “sled-able” snow.  This was not in the plans, but it led to a whole new set of learning.  This teacher was amazed by all of the cool questions and activities that happened and told everyone that walked by her classroom.  A teammate wished she could just take her kids out there.  Her barrier: she did not know what to do with the students.  The teacher’s response, “Put on your winter clothes and just go out there.  Everything I planned was messed up because of the snow, but we talked about more things than I could have imagined with what I had planned yesterday.”

Not the first time

This was not the first time that Classroom #2 had been outside.  Being outdoors is a weekly event and students have really learned how to interact with the space.  Students have learned so many new things about the outdoors, they have started to drive their own learning.  Students are asking if they can learn more about the animals, habitats, creeks and trees.  The students are making connections to what they are experiencing outdoors in every curricular area inside of the school.  In language arts, students are writing about their adventures in the woods or identifying the starting sounds and letters of plants and animals they see outdoors.  In math, students are counting and tallying the birds that are flying to the birdfeeders at the window.  These are just two of many examples of how outdoor learning is being integrated into classrooms.

What next?

Take your students outdoors.  Let them play in nature.  Not on the playground, tennis/basketball courts, but in the fields, woods and wetlands.  Let students explore the school grounds, neighborhoods and world around them.  Then, provide them with opportunities to reflect and connect with what they experienced outdoors.  There are many great resources that are available for teachers to continue learning outdoors.  One amazing resource is Green Schoolyards America.  This website has two great resource guides; Living Schoolyard Activity Guide - Midwest Edition and the International School Grounds Month Activity Guide.  There are also great resources on Twitter; @MinnesotaEE, @RichLouv, @OutdoorClassDay are just a few of great Twitter handles that provide links, resources and ideas on how to engage your students outdoors.

Enjoy your time outdoors!

Alex Townsend