Week 4: Video

Video Evaluation: I teach fourth grade at a Baltimore City Public School.  The Baltimore City math curriculum follows one created called Engage NY that follows Common Core Standards. They have posted the YouTube several instructional videos.  I am currently on the seventh lesson of my unit.  I found the corresponding instructional video online.  I know that students benefit from seeing and learning different ways to solve a problem.  Watching this video will introduce a new strategy to students that I may not have taught, or perhaps executed differently during my lesson.  I find KhanAcedemy.com lessons to be very similar in purpose.  I will actually show both as an introduction to the lesson (engagement) and as a review/conclusion.  This will also expose them overall to more expose and ability to practice as they follow along. I would stop the video after the introduction of the problem.  I can walk around and check to see who can solve the problem before it is solved on the board and who still needs assistance.

The first of the ten factors to consider when evaluating a podcast is that the content should be appropriate for the current area of study.  Since this video was made specifically for my lesson’s curriculum, it is obviously appropriate.  Another factor is that the video should hold the student’s attention.  This is the one area that I don’t think that the video does as well.  This may seem odd, but there is something I find unpleasant about the speaker’s voice.  In comparison, I find the voice on Khan Academy to be more pleasant and engaging.  To counteract this, pausing the video and giving additional instruction for me will make it more interactive for the students to increase engagement.  I feel that the Engage NY instructional video meets all the ten factors of evaluating a podcast/video.

Works Cited:  Bard Williams.  “Choosing the Right Podcasts for Your Classroom” an excerpt from Educator’s Podcast Guide. International Society for Technology in Education. (2007).  Pages 1-8.

Creating Video: 

Card

Use in the classroom:

Common Core Standard:  W4.5.  With guidance and support form peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising and editing.

Objective: Students will learn proofreading marks in order to peer edit classmates’ writing.

I will show this video to students at the beginning of the year as a reminder of some proofreading marks they will use when editing peer’s writing.  This video can be used for a range of upper elementary classroom including my fourth grade class.  Students also need to know the meaning of the marks so they can interpret and fix their own writing. 

I would like to be able to create more engaging video and other multimedia materials.  I would also like to encourage my students to be able to create similar materials for projects.  My concern is the time it takes to create these projects.   The multiple hours it take me to create these object would be multiplied for the students.  Also, students only have access to a minimal amount of computers and other electronics.

Application:

This supports creativity in the classroom because it engages students.  I would be able to show this video without standing up in front of the room and giving the same mini lesson which can be boring.  I think my students would also find it a little humorous (since it is a little cheesy), which will make them  more engaged and thus bringing out their own creativity.   I tried to remember the redundancy principal when creating my video.  The video doesn’t expect students to do any instructional reading, but to just watch and listen as I model the editing.  This way it isn’t information overload.

Reflection:

My thinking has changed because I remembered how important it is for students to be creative in class.  I don’t think that my lesson topic necessary fosters creativity within the students as much as it forced me to be creative as a teacher.  However, I would like to encourage students to be more creative when completing projects or when writing.  I think that setting an example of creativity through the lesson helps.  I also used to be really good at projects in school and hope that sharing those ideas with students helps them feel confident in expressing their own creativity.

 Although creating the video was fun, it still takes too much time for me to be able to do something like this frequently.  I was additionally happy to discover this week that I can record my work through Active Inspire, although I didn’t use it for this assignment.  I would like to be able to save video and audio of a lesson for reflection and for students to be able to watch if they are absent or need a refresher of the lesson.  Overall I liked the assignment; but as I mentioned before, I don’t think I will able to create videos like this much during the school year.  I would however like to have a goal of creating some more videos and other artifacts over the summer for the upcoming school year.