If You Give a Teacher an iPad...

Students Teaching Students

Many students in Northwest ISD have the opportunity to take part in accelerated math courses. In some case this may mean the student is taking a course one grade level higher than the one they are actually enrolled in. For Steven, a fifth grader at Lakeview Elementary, it actually means more. As a third grader he took fifth grade math. As a fourth grader he took sixth grade Pre-AP Math. His knowledge and passion for math have been evident for a few years now. He is currently taking seventh grade Pre-AP/GT Math, receiving his daily instruction from Mrs. Horeftis at Medlin Middle School. 

Being aware of his giftedness in math, Steven was self motivated to support his peers as they work through their math curriculum. Creating instructional videos to reinforce concepts being taught in fifth grade seemed like the perfect solution. He was certainly up for all the challenges that he might face along the way. With the support of his teacher, Mrs. Bingham and his GATES teacher, Mrs. Andrews, a plan was established and Steven got straight to work. 

Currently, a handful of instructional videos have been created by Steven. He uses an app called Doceri that allows him the ability to introduce or review a concept all while annotating the screen to show work and explain his thinking. Creating instructional videos for your peers takes a lot of problem solving and preparation. It’s important to know exactly what you want to say and how you’ll say it, so others can learn from you. Steven expressed how challenging that could be at times by stating, “The most challenging part was making sure I didn't stumble or say the wrong words when I was recording. That was difficult because I had to know exactly what I was going to say and if I messed up a few times, it might take me thirty minutes to make a one minute video.”

As it is commonly heard, we know we fully understand something when we can effectively teach others. And teaching others, especially your peers, is so empowering for young learners. When asked what he has enjoyed most about this process, Steven said, “I like being the “teacher” when I created the videos. The best part about being the teacher is that you can use a lot of resources to help student learn quicker and understand it better”.

Once the video has been created, it’s uploaded to YouTube, it will be assigned to students via EdPuzzle. EdPuzzle allows videos from YouTube to become a formative assessment that is fully interactive. The teacher, or Steven in this case, can designate stopping points throughout the video to check for understanding and measure engagement. These stopping points can be a quick multiple choice question or a short answer typed response.

Steven and his classmate, Haley, will be presenting this project at Expo 2018. Together they will share about the impact these instructional videos have had in the classroom. As the year progresses, it is Mrs. Bingham’s hope that the videos will become a station students can rotate through when they are needing support

An Experience Worth Every Penny

A tool for the presentation, a tool for feedback, and a tool
for presenting information. 

Freshman in Mrs. Hayes Principals of Business Management and Finance class at Steele High School recently had a great experience not only researching currency exchange, but presenting ideas, and receiving/giving specific feedback. Students were told whether they would be researching a first, second, or third world country and then got to chose which country's currency they would explore. Each student used Thinglink to display research and Doceri as they presented their information to the class. The class then gave feedback to each member that presented using Verso.

Fine Tuning Presentation Skills
with Doceri

Punn and Emily got a lot out of this project and shared a bit of their experience. When asked what they enjoyed about the project, Punn states, "Using Doceri was very helpful. I enjoyed being able to go in to edit mode, circle words, and emphasize key points for the audience without having to use a laser pointer." Emily enjoyed using Doceri as well and actually grew as a presenter as she used it for the first time. "I learned how to get over rocky situations with Doceri. This was one of our first times to use it. I learned to keep smiling and presenting if there were bumps in the road." To be more specific, she added, "the free version of ThingLink did not let me present full screen, so it was a little difficult. If I had the option, I'd practice with Doceri ahead of time. I think that all students should use Doceri because it helps the speaker maintain eye contact with the audience. If the speaker looks at the visual rather than the audience, the presentation seems detached. Despite the challenges that I faced, I loved being able to look at my audience rather than the screen."

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this project was that students got immediate feedback from their peers. Punn comments, "Verso was nice because you got anonymity from your peers, so you could be honest and give true constructive criticism. At the same time, you got instant digital feedback." As seen in the image to the right, Verso allows the students to be anonymous when responding to each other, while the teacher can see student names.

Punn also expanded more on the research itself. He points out, "We used several sources while finding our research. The CIA world fact book was helpful for determining our world’s economic status, and a simple Google search gave us most of the information that we needed otherwise." Researching currency exchange was only a part of what students learned from this experience. It was a mix of organizing and communicating research, presenting ideas to an audience, and both receiving and giving feedback that made this experience worth the time invested!

Emily's Thinglink: 

Punn's Thinglink:

Shhh, don't tell! Using Descriptive Writing To Show

Second graders, in Ms. Whorton's class, at Prairie View Elementary have spent the last several weeks studying author Vera B. Williams. In their studies, they have specifically focused on her craft for using language to show, rather than tell, how a story character is feeling. Through exploring various books she has written, students have begun to implement her ideas into their own writing.

In this lesson, students were charged with using descriptive language to write about an emotion. Students worked with partners during this task. Cutting apart a chart of emotions they are familiar using as writers, students randomly chose an emotion out of a bag to descriptively write about. The catch? Their writing could not include the emotion they were describing. They had to truly show what their emotion would look like through their writing.

Using Doceri on the iPads, students documented the different stages of the writing process. Each group took a picture of a tree map that was then used to begin brainstorming ideas. Their tree map included descriptive ideas for what they see, hear and feel when they experience the emotion they were trying to describe. Partners also took time to take a selfie, truly documenting what their writing would ultimately describe.

Tree maps and selfies were both used as students began composing their best descriptive writing in their notebooks. Once their writing was complete, partners took pictures of their notebooks and inserted them into their Doceri presentations. Groups recorded themselves reading their writing, being sure to circle the text evidence that showed, not told, the mystery emotion.

As Doceri presentations were shared at the end of class, student groups enjoyed inferring what their classmates were writing about. This lesson was interactive and provided students an opportunity to begin crafting a piece of descriptive writing that painted a picture for their readers.