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