Cloning the teacher--Being in 25 places at once

So, today I took one huge step on flipping my classroom (not just baby steps). The students have about 10-15 minutes of iPad time right after lunch during bathroom break to work on their iPad. They usually work on a math app. NOW, I have created small videos personalized to the students that address each individual student's needs.

For example, in the previous day's math lesson, we talked about probability. They were given an exit slip. I had 4 students who did not get that correct. I created a 5 minute video about probability, clarifying possible (or known) misunderstandings, and providing more examples. The students then took another exit slip about probability. All students got the exit slip correct.

Another example, is a short mini lesson about counting on when adding 2 numbers with a sum larger than 10. We had already differentiated the addition exit slip for the different groups in the class. Some of the students who had the most difficult addition sheet had some difficulty with adding 9 + 4 or 8 + 3, etc and so I made a quick mini lesson video to directly address counting on from the bigger number. This video will be upload directly tot he students' iPad. They will watch this video the next day prior to the math lesson.

Each little mini lesson video is saved and goes into my library of videos. Initially, there might be some time spent on creating the videos but in the long run, they can be used over and over.

So here is how I did it. Each example was done a different way and both are super easy! Here are the two ways.

1. I used the Doceri app. It is similar to the Educreations app (that I have used and talked about in previous posts). Doceri is better for recording and making these mini lessons. It has the capability to change backgrounds including lined paper, insert pictures, and edit your video without starting all over if you make a mistake. Then save the movie. Drag it to your camera roll on the ipad. Import the video to your iPhotos. Drag to the iTunes library. Then upload the video to each student's iPad.

2.  I used the ipevo video camera (about $50 on Amazon) and Quick Time. I plug in the mini video camera (it has a stand so you don't have to hold anything and have both hands to write or show pictures, etc). Then I turn on Quick Time and begin a screen casting recording. When I am done, I save the video to my desktop and then drag to the iTues library. Then I upload the video to each student's iPad.

Okay, you may say that uploading individual video to each iPad may take forever, but it goes fast. You can upload multiple videos as well. The only reason I don't is that I find kindergartners aren't best at reading my titles (which are designed for me to know what is on them). To actually upload the video takes less than 1 minute per iPad. I am not doing literacy centers and other more time consuming prep work because I have iPads so it sorta is the same amount of prep time.

To inform the students that they have a video to watch on their iPad, I have laminated a picture of the Video icon on the iPad. The students know that they go to the video icon if they have this laminated picture on their table spot.

Here are some tips:
--Make the videos short little clips (about 5 minutes are less) as we don't want to be lecturing for long periods of time
--If you are giving the students an exit slip or paper worksheet to complete, you may want to tell the students to circle their name or mark the paper in some way to know if they actually listened to the video or just completed the work.


I am a novice when it comes to this but it was really quite easy. Practice speeds up the process. I have already made 6 videos in the last two days because they kids are excited to get a video to watch AND the students' work is benefiting from me being in 25 different places at once (via the video).