September 6, 2022
If you are a teacher and have ever wished for a co-teacher or a clone of yourself to get more done, you are not alone. Especially in a classroom while teaching a lesson. We’ve all had that class where there was a constant distraction and the lesson was lost by the end. Sometimes that distraction led to an inconsistent lesson for our students.
Students will easily engage with a screen, but a live person tends to lose them. Instead of fighting against their style for focus and learning, let’s embrace it!
With a few adaptations to how you are already teaching, you could incorporate videos and solve several issues. While the video runs, you can circulate and quietly deal with behaviors or distractions. Absent students have a resource to watch. Students that missed some details the first time can access a resource to help them fill in the gaps. Parent nights can be guided and answer questions without repeating yourself throughout the night.
I used this in my brick and mortar classroom as well as in my virtual classroom. Here’s a breakdown of a few ways to do it.
POWERPOINT RECORDINGS If you are like many teachers, you already create slides to guide your teaching. From the PowerPoint program, there is a record feature so you can record your narration and slide clicks to just press play when needed. I had a remote clicker that allowed me to pause, as well, so I could navigate around and, if someone had a question, I could pause and answer, then let it continue. I was also able to share this when students were absent so they could get the lesson. The best part was the consistency between class periods–everyone got the same overview and I didn’t have to worry about forgetting something, which does tend to happen when we do the same thing over and over again.
YOUTUBE/ZOOM VIDEOS If you are demonstrating a skill or creating a tutorial, making a video allows you to do this. Zoom is great since you can record your screen if modeling an activity that requires technology. These can also be great for introductions and classroom tours.
TIKTOK STYLE VIDEOS These can be for quick tutorials that aren’t as detailed, as well as an introduction or classroom tour, but on a shorter video.
APPLICATIONS FOR VIDEOS These recordings can be used for teaching lessons, parent nights and orientations, group tasks to allow students to seek help at certain points of a task, or students that have extended absences or need to make up work at the end of a term. I have used Schoology and Google, as well as my current virtual classroom platform and simply have a video tutorial library page linked they can click on and find whichever video they need. I have also used these for a quick hello to new parents to introduce myself and the class and can text it to them before I call.
Before you add this to your repertoire, be sure to talk to your administration, sometimes using video platforms or Social Media such as YouTube or TikTok, does require authorization and training on proper use with children. Save yourself the headache and ask first.
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