The Pike Panther Band is Hitting All the Right Notes with Technology

Like most teachers at the start of the pandemic, Jack Forbis and Jennifer Haden, the band directors at Gene Pike Middle School, found themselves wondering how they were going to engage students remotely and transition their skills-based content to an online environment.  When teaching over Zoom, according to Haden, they quickly ran into several unexpected hurdles including a lag time that wouldn’t allow the whole group to play together effectively, and unreliable sound where “kids would play and there was no sound coming back, so the only way to tell if they were playing right was by watching their faces and fingers.”  Desperate for better ways to engage their learners, Forbis and Haden scoured posts made by other band directors in online forums and on social media.  Eventually they came across a post touting the benefits of EdPuzzle, which allows teachers to add questions throughout videos to gauge student learning.  They decided to dive in, recording videos that covered everything from an introduction to the staff and how to read music, to videos fully differentiated for each instrument demonstrating finger positions for notes and what they should sound like when played.  They then uploaded these videos to EdPuzzle where they added questions to aid and reinforce student understanding. 

When the district transitioned back to in-person learning, Forbis and Haden decided to continue incorporating EdPuzzle videos in their curriculum, finding innumerable benefits including differentiated instruction, increased student accountability, and greater consistency in the way that content is delivered.  As Haden explains, “they’re getting the same content delivered the same way every time without us having to repeat it five times every period … and if a student misses class or there’s a substitute, those students are going to get the same level of instruction as everyone else.” 

Recording and uploading EdPuzzles has not only allowed the band directors to differentiate instruction by instrument group, it has also allowed them to accommodate the diverse needs of their learners.  Forbis points out that not every student has the same access to transportation for before and after school tutorials, and these EdPuzzles are “like an extra tutorial the kids can have at home.”  If students are struggling with a particular skill and need additional support, they can pause, rewind, and rewatch the EdPuzzle as many times as they need to since, Forbis says, “the first part of learning is often modeling and mimicking, and that’s what this allowed us to do.”  Before EdPuzzle, Forbis and Haden would go over the lesson in class and students would practice together, but at home they were practicing on their own.  This meant, explains Haden, that “even if they were diligently practicing, if they were diligently practicing wrong, it wasn’t helping them.”  The EdPuzzles give students something they can go back to and practice with over and over.  Eduardo, a 6th grade clarinet player, finds value in this because he can rewatch the video at home before he records an assignment “and then try to match the same as Miss Haden.”

This ability to watch and rewatch is a key component in what Forbis and Haden say is perhaps the biggest benefit of using EdPuzzle in band -- increased student accountability.  They can easily see whether or not a student has accessed a video, their current progress, and how long they interacted with the content.  It’s also helpful for parents who often want to provide support by reinforcing practice at home, but, points out Haden, if they’re not familiar with the content “it can just sound like their kid is making sound at the house.”  The EdPuzzles help parents see exactly what Forbis and Haden are asking their students to do.  This has been further underscored by the move to Canvas, where Forbis and Haden embed the EdPuzzles directly in the instructions for their Media Recording assignments where students record and upload videos of themselves playing.  With Observer access, parents can see the expectations set in the EdPuzzle and compare them with the video their student has submitted.  This provides a clear picture of how well their student is performing, in terms of grades as well as ability.

While the benefits of transitioning to guided practice through EdPuzzle have been myriad, Forbis and Haden are the first to admit it took a lot of time and effort to set up.  When asked what advice they’d have for teachers considering bringing in new tools, Forbis and Haden recommend adding things in a little at a time to give teacher and students time to adjust, and to keep in mind that while it may feel like a lot of work up front, it pays off when that content is ready to go the next year.  The band directors are embodying this philosophy themselves, growing their EdPuzzle libraries as needed while also exploring new ways to boost student engagement and learning.  This year they’ve incorporated Ningenius to transform learning notes and finger positions into a game, building a reward system where students compete to earn belts that earn them access to parties and other fun activities.  Kelcie, another 6th grade clarinetist, appreciates how her teachers make learning and reviewing information fun using exciting online tools, adding that “people really want to get those belts!”

To get started with EdPuzzle in your own classroom, go to edpuzzle.com!

Pro Tip: Sharing content with another teacher on your campus?  Bookmark their content page so you can find all of their videos easily!  

My Network → Select School → Select Teacher → Bookmark in your browser!

The Real World is In Your Classroom

Visualize a small group of kids huddled in a middle school flex space, Expo marker in hand and video camera staged in front of them, confidently drawing shapes and lines on the whiteboard as they explain the steps to solve an equation. Picture students, who otherwise avoid math, passionately debating the best place to ask a question: is it before or after an example? Can you hear them, animated, discussing the best way to teach someone about complementary and supplementary angles?

This was the scene in Jennifer White’s math class at Pike Middle School when she challenged her students to create Edpuzzles that teach other students new math concepts. Determined to engage her students in rigorous and authentic learning, she asked them to design video lessons that would be used as warm-ups and tutorials in other classes.


If you don’t know, EdPuzzle is a video platform that lets teachers turn any video into a lesson by embedding questions, comments, and/or audio. Teachers then assign their video lessons to students and collect formative data, like who watched the video and what they understood. Because the videos are self-paced, students can re-watch them as many times as they need, and even share them with others.

For this project, in teams of 2-3, students chose a topic from their next unit of study. Before creating their video lessons in EdPuzzle, they explored resources, researched their topics, and planned what comments and questions would best help their audience learn the concepts.

White gave students a choice to either find an existing video or create their own to use in the EdPuzzle. Some were excited to make their own videos using their Chromebooks. Giving choice helped her differentiate for students who needed more time during the ‘discovery phase’ and for those who needed an extra challenge.

Before publishing and sharing their work with their audience, students gave each other feedback (using Google Forms) about how they could improve their lessons. Mrs. White gave students time to apply the feedback they collected. This step also worked to expose students to all of the terms they needed to know, and to reinforce the concepts they would eventually see in class.

In the end, this whole project took 3-4 days, provided a whole department with student-created peer tutorial resources, and gave students the chance to learn with a purpose. You can see examples of student work here: Example 1 & Example 2

It is hard to imagine what authentic learning looks like in practice because there isn’t a ‘single right way’ to approach it. John Lamar, with bie.org, put it simply, “In fully authentic work, students are doing work that is real to them... [it has] a direct impact on or use in the real world. (The “real world,” by the way, could still be school, which is a very real place for students.)”

It’s easy to get caught up in preparing kids for the future, but don’t forget: to our students, the real world is here and now. The real world is in your classroom as much as it is outside of it.

One of Mrs. White's biggest takeaways from this project was that students owned their learning throughout the entire process. That happened because she gave students a purpose and audience for their learning. Students were proud to contribute to their immediate environment and motivated knowing that other people would see and benefit from their work.

Ultimately, when educators design authentic learning opportunities they empower students in the present. Instead of hoping students will become leaders, creators, and good citizens one day, teachers can give students the chance to be those people today, to contribute to their real world in the here and now.

The Basics of Blending

In the book, Blended Learning in Action, Catlin Tucker, Tiffany Wycoff, and Jason Green hit the “pulse” of the blended learning movement as they discuss the need for a shift in the way schools “puree” and present content to meet the needs of today’s learners.

They explain this by saying, “We are at the moment in education when our schools can determine if they are Netflix or Blockbuster, Amazon or Borders, Samsung or Blackberry. In each of these cases, the successful organization saw that the entire world was changing and decided they were going to change to be ready for it…shifting vision and culture at the time when it was most critical to their survival.” The point here is that current education models are “crushing” student opportunity by “chopping” key elements needed to engage students and prepare them for “shredding” the future demands of a global marketplace. In an effort to address this need, Northwest ISD has begun piloting blended learning courses where that missing link is helping to fill the gap and expose students to nontraditional forms of instruction by providing learning experiences that aid in better acquisition of future ready skills.

There are common misconceptions about blended learning and what it entails. It is not only integrating technology into the classroom, “flipping” lessons, or even implementing problem based learning strategies. Blended learning includes a “mixture” of those things and more! An article by Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker described blended learning as, “any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.” Successfully implementing blended learning requires a complete shift of culture that empowers both teachers and students to be active participants in creating learning opportunities. Horn and Staker explain that making blended learning a reality requires “letting go of the idea that we always have to teach something in order for students to have learned it.” Empowering students by allowing them choice and independence within the pace and structure of the course as well as connecting the traditional, face-to-face learning time with digital learning time is all key to the success of blended learning courses and eventually strengthens student capacity for independent problem solving and critical thinking.

Jennifer Hamzy, a teacher at V.R. Eaton High School, facilitates the current blended AP Psychology course there and she feels that the digital days incorporated into the course create an opportunity for “differentiation and for students to decide what works best for them.” She also appreciates how the blended format puts more responsibility on the students to develop “better study skills” and to “learn how to independently read a college text.” Jennifer frequently encourages collaborative strategies to help guide students on digital days. They are encouraged to utilize Google Suite tools as well as various digital study aids like Quizlet, YouTube videos, and online practice assessments to learn and reinforce concepts on their own while allowing more in person class time for discussion, teacher guidance, and whole group activity. AP Psychology students, Anya and Patricia, stated that they enjoyed having “more time to get work done” independently while also having the option to “meet up to work together” with other students either digitally or in person.

Although blended learning has been largely successful in Mrs. Hamzy’s class and she is extremely well-versed in problem based learning strategies, student goal setting, and differentiation, she feels that she can improve her blended learning course by providing more specific expectations to students early on in order to guide them in productive ways to spend their digital days as well as by incorporating more flipped techniques to help ensure that students have the necessary background knowledge and preparation to complete problem-based tasks and projects. Mrs. Hamzy regularly utilizes Google Suite, Moodle, and other digital resources to engage students with content independently and collaboratively but is constantly making adjustments and trying new tools to help her create additional independent learning opportunities for students. Online resources such as Pear Deck, edpuzzle, FlipGrid, Formative, Screencastify, and even digital badging can all increase student engagement with content while allowing students room to individually and collaboratively remediate, accelerate, or manipulate their own interactions with concepts and skills. Hamzy describes the transition to a blended learning course as “a process” and says that teachers new to it should “give themselves a break the first year” as they take risks with a new role, different strategies, and unfamiliar resources. She says that as you progress, “you discover that some things work and some do not but that’s okay” because you adjust and improve for the next time.

As the availability of blended learning courses to NISD students increase over the next few years, other EHS teachers, like Renata Schlotzhauer and Ashley Harden, will be expanding this course structure to other content areas such as science and World Languages. Mrs. Harden says that she is looking forward to “students growing academically and personally as they are given more responsibility.” She also feels that it will help to deepen student understanding in science because they are allowed to cover more information at a more personalized pace.”

Prior to the course selection process for next year’s classes, both Mrs. Harden and Mrs. Schlotzhauer took time to speak with incoming students about what they could expect and Mrs. Schlotzhauer explained that she felt there were “unlimited possibilities for delivery of content, student collaboration, and exploration of new concepts.” Students will have real opportunities to grow as self-sufficient, critical thinkers as they are forced to begin thinking and working in more organic and experiential ways through these blended classrooms. Tucker, Wycoff, and Green state that, “…it is the advent of modern technology that now makes this type of learning experience possible in every classroom and for every child” and that “the rewards of student learning, engagement, and empowerment will be manifold.”

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