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).

Recording student information about graphing

My previous posts about story problems showed the students' work on answering story problems. My hope is that the students would share their thinking while working out the problems. This has not happened as the students (at this age) are just concentrating on what they are drawing and not what they are thinking. I believe this will come but with practice, lots of practice.

This practice started with having the students telling me what they know about a graph they created. Each student was given a blank Thanksgiving graph and had to glue the different foods on the graph. Each student had a different number of the different food items so students had to complete on their own. Then they had to open up Educreations app and press record. The students were then instructed to tell the ipad (or me) what they knew about the graph. We talked about using math words like most, least, more than and less than. They were then reminded how to save their work.

Considering this was the first time, most of the students were able to complete this task. About four  students had one or two seconds recorded. I am not sure what happened there but these students will be a focus next time we do this to ensure they understand this process/task.

In the future, I would like to work on decreasing the background noise of each other. I think some of this will decrease as the students get better at doing this and understand the routine better and don't need assistance on the procedure to record. I also think I would give them cue cards on words or pictures of the different math terms we use to make sure they are incorporating them into their descriptions.

Here are two examples of the student's work and their description of the graph using the Educreations app:

 

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/kayla/2902866/

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/charles/2902857/

I can't wait to see what they can do the next time.

Skoolbo competition

I have blogged about this app previously. It is a free app (yeah!). My students really love this app. One enticing feature is that the students can compete against their classmates. Each student has picked their own character. They play against others--the app picks their competitors. The students get so excited when they see their classmates. It really increases their motivation to do well.

I have a student that is very low academically and has a very limited attention span and this game keeps him "glued" to the iPad the whole time. He likes the competition and the activities. I also find that even though he is still working on the very basics, the questions are presented in a variety of ways.

I also like the data shown on this app. Here is a snap shot of the information. It shows the students names, how many questions they have completed, the time they have spend on the app and the last time they played.

Then, you can get further information by looking at each student's data.

You can get more detailed information about the different questions and concepts.

It has taken a couple of days for the loud cheering to become quiet excitement when they work on the app. I think all that is a good thing though.

Story Problems

I am beginning the process of having students record their thinking and explaining the process to get their answer. I say beginning because last Friday's lesson where I introduced this process felt like a stumbling block. The students had used educreations before where they drew the pictures about each story problem. We shared our ipad drawings using apple tv (this they really loved). It allowed any of the students to project their ipad on the screen.

I modeled how I drew my picture, shared my thinking aloud, and "recorded" how I got my answer. We did this multiple times. Then, we had a few students (who I felt confident could demonstrate this) actually draw the pictures and do the story problem. However, they were so engrossed in the drawing they did not speaking. I was so disappointed.

I think more work is needed and more practice. I also think that at this developmental level that they are so focused on the picture that talking about it and drawing it, they are just not ready to do.

More work is needed. More modeling. More practice. We will get it.

Differentiation with Everyday Math Dice Roll and Record Game

Here is another way I differentiate the Everyday Math (3.3) Dice Roll and Record Game. The directions of the game are for the students to roll a die and then record the amount of the die on the grid.

I could give the students all the same grid (1-6, see above) but I know that many of my students are more advanced than the numbers 1-6. I do have two students that are still working on one-to-one correspondence and identification of numbers 1-6 so this activity is perfect for them.

Here is how I differentiated this activity for the variety of students I have.

Here I gave the students 2 dice and they have to roll and record numbers 2-12. The students roll the 2 dice, count up the dice together and then fill in one square of the sum of the dice.

Here I gave students 3 dice and they have to roll and record numbers 3-18. They are working on teen numbers. This grid allows the students to have the opportunity to count the teen numbers. The students roll the 3 dice, count up the dice together and then fill in one square of the sum of the dice.

Here are the variety of dice I use. The big yellow and blue dice are for students that have fine motor issues and holding and rolling small dice is difficult. It is also good for those that need one-to-one counting as the dots are much bigger for little fingers. (I bought these in a dollar store.) They are also foam and so they make little or no sound. The red and white dice are smaller, normal size dice, but they too are foam and so they make little or no sound. This is important for those students that are sensitive to noise. With 24 students rolling dice, it can get quite loud. The two white dice are just normal dice. I have them in different colors so students sitting next to each other can have a different color than their friends at their table. This cuts down on determining what dice belongs to what person. The wood dice are hand-made. I had a local hardware store cut about 100 of these.  (I think it cost about $10.) I use them for a variety of games. In this game, to extend differentiation further I could have a student have one dice with a number and one regular dice. Students have to count on from the wood dice. I could also have larger or smaller numbers on the wood dice depending on the student.

When the students are done rolling the dice, they can share with their partner or the class which column has the most, least, etc. It turns into a graph that they can talk about.

Social Emotional Needs, Part II

This is a follow up to my last post about Calm Counter. Yes, it worked and I was skeptical about it. Was the initial response to this app just because it was new? Here are some examples of what I am seeing in my classroom.

My student that does not do well with confrontation or unstructured activities was trying to get in line for lunch (possibly running) and was confronted by lunchroom personnel about his behavior in line. He got instantly upset. I happen to be nearby when this episode happened. I took him out of line, called down to my classroom for my resident to bring my the calm down ipad. He brought it, I put the headphones on the student and in 30 seconds he was back in line for lunch. Other adults in the area were shocked by the quick transformation.

Another episode was this same student was in art (in our classroom) and was asking for an ipad. The art teacher did not realize that we were using this and asked me (I was outside the classroom working) about an ipad that this student was asking for. I went in, put the headphones on and started the app. She stated he had calmed down quickly. I was very encouraged by him asking for this ipad on his own.

Other students use it as well. Their response is very quick and they are able to get quickly back to work or join the group on the rug. I am still amazed. I hope the newness never runs out but I am always looking for other options just in case.

iPads and social emotional needs

I never thought that an ipad could calm a very upset tantrum throwing kindergartner but I was wrong today! This year one of my students has some difficulty with regulation and calming himself once he is upset. I found this app "Calm counter". I have now set up a calm down corner with an extra ipad. The app count backwards from 10 while there is a visual smiley face changing the expression from angry to happy in the countdown. It was quite amazing when I used it today. The student was crying and very upset. By the time the child got to 8 he had stopped and was starting to calm down. By the time he was at 1 and then told to take a deep breath, he was calm. I was shocked at how quickly that occurred. It was quite amazing. The Calm Counter!