4 Simple Ideas To Use Technology To Engage Students

November 1, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth 1 Comment

Thank you Terry Heick and TeachThought for this opportunity to share ideas for some tech tools to engage students. Published Monday, September 26, 2016.

4 Simple Ideas To Use Technology To Engage Students

by Rachelle Dene Poth

Fall is an exciting time of the year.

Summer provides an opportunity to relax, but is also a time to explore new ideas and reflect on the previous year. We have to ask ourselves what worked and what did not. With the start of each school year, teachers begin by establishing classroom procedures, getting to know the students, and then starting their instruction.

Even with the best plans thought out in advance, things can come up that limit our time to try something new. There is nothing wrong with sticking to some of the same instructional strategies and using some of the same tools that were used last year. We all have methods and tools we use that are beneficial to our students. But summer does offer an opportunity to think about some new things to bring to our classroom and our students at the start of the new school year.

Because time is a factor, it can seem overwhelming to try too many new things at once. It is helpful to think about maybe just slightly altering how we used a certain tool or presented a topic in the prior year. Start by focusing on one thing at a time and see how it goes. The most important part is to remember that we want to implement something that will positively benefit our students. It should be something that has a true purpose and will amplify the learning experiences and potential for our students.

Below are a few ideas that I have used in my classroom which have been fun for the students and had positive effects on their learning.

4 Simple Ideas To Use Technology To Engage Students

Idea: Use infographics to create an engaging syllabus

Instead of creating your course syllabus on paper and handing it out to your students, try creating an infographic to post online through your class website or LMS if you have one. It will be easier to read, model a sense of enthusiasm for your own craft, and separate your classroom from others in the eyes of students/parents/admin.

With a graphic, you can also print and laminate the infographic to keep it accessible in your classroom. There are many tools to choose from for creating one and many options for implementing them into your course. In order to create one you simply take the information from your document and paste it into the infographic.

There are many choices available for templates, icons, fonts and much more. As an alternative to having your students complete assignments or projects which traditionally are done on paper or using a Word document, have them create something creative and visual using one of the infographic tools available. It will be a more engaging, visual way to share information, have a more authentic learning experience, and they can be created rather quickly.

Some recommendations of tools to create infographics are Canva, Piktochart, Smore and Visme.

Idea: Create interactive lessons

Students need to be actively involved in the classroom and in learning. A good way to do this is through interactive video lessons. There are many digital tools available which enable a teacher to choose a video from YouTube or other video source, and use it to create a quick interactive lesson with questions or other activities for the students to complete. The nice thing about the tools available for interactive video lessons is that there are some lessons available for public use allowing you to try them out with your class first before creating your own.

Trying one of these out first is a good way to see what the students think, and use their feedback to help guide the next steps, whether to create one and which tool to use. Offering lessons like this is great for having students complete assignments outside of the traditional “brick and mortar” classroom as part of an asynchronous lesson or in a blended or flipped learning environment. You can quickly assess students, track their progress, and hold them accountable for having watched the videos.

A few suggestions of some of the tools available are EDpuzzle, Playposit, Vizia, and even a Google document could be used with questions added in for students to complete. My suggestion is that you choose one of these options, see what is available, and then be very clear how you can use it to benefit your class. There are tutorials available on the websites which offer guidance to help you to create your first video.

Simply select a video that you would typically show in class or assign for students to watch outside of class and think about the questions you could or would ask to check their understanding. It is easy to add your video into the lesson editor, add in different question styles including true and false, multiple choice or short answer, in addition to other formats. There are also options for quizzes to be self-graded, making the data available right away.

Each tool offers different features which add extra benefits to learning. For example, you can also see how long it took the student to view the video and if they tried to skip through it, depending on which tool you choose.

Idea: Student Created Lessons

Instead of the teacher creating the lessons, you could also have the students create lessons to share with the class. When I did this with my students, they sent their completed video lessons to me and I completed the lesson. It gave them an opportunity to see what teachers see and an opportunity to provide feedback to their “student.” By doing this, the students learned in a more authentic way because they decided which video to use, created the questions and as a result, it reinforced the material; it was more personal for them.

Teachers learn by seeing the type of content the students choose and can use this information to guide the next steps in the lesson. The class as a whole learns and benefits by having more resources available for practice and students can become more proficient in the content. One other great thing besides improved learning is that it can be fun for students to create these videos as well.

And fun is good, yes?

Idea: Use engaging digital quizzes & tools

There are a variety of tools to use for creating quizzes and lessons for students to complete in and outside of class.

In many cases, you can upload your own documents or PowerPoint presentations into the lesson, and keep everything organized in one place. Using some formative assessment tools like Formative, Kahoot, Nearpod, Quizizz, and Quizlet to name a few, are ways to have some fun with the students and add to the learning resources available for your classes.

Students enjoy creating their own quizzes and lessons, having a choice in the tool and types of questions included, and being able to further develop their technology skills in the process. These activities are all highly beneficial to student growth. By giving students more choices, we empower them in the classroom.

Conclusion

When used with a purpose, there a lot of ways that technology helps teachers and students. Using technology saves time, makes feedback available immediately, and gives students the chance to be creators and have a choice. It also promotes learning outside of the traditional classroom setting, which reserves the time in class to do other activities, to clear up any misunderstandings and to spend time getting to know the students and giving individual feedback.

Once you decide on one of these ideas, give it some time, see how it goes, and then think about taking the next step. Be sure to involve the students in the conversation because their input is vital and it matters. When students feel valued, learning is more meaningful and this leads to many positive results. Teachers and students working together, creating lessons, providing feedback, will add to a positive classroom culture.

Perhaps one of these areas is the next step that you could take, try and see how your students respond. It was a nice change in my classroom, my students were creative, engaged, and really enjoyed the chance to lead. The learning that occurred was more meaningful and they recalled the content information much more when they created their own product or recalled the work of one of their classmates.

Either way, it was a much more meaningful experience, and something that I will continue to do this school year to grow my classroom.

4 Simple Ideas To Use Technology To Engage Students; image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad

Flipping the Classroom: Use an infographic, see what happens

September 23, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Posted by Rachelle Poth on September 7, 2016 .

Piktochart is the perfect example of a tool that can be used by anyone for almost anything. You can create flyers, brochures, presentations, and reports. It doesn’t matter what line of work you are in because any of the templates can be used by anybody.

For example, as a teacher, I can create posters for my classroom or presentations for my lessons. I can have my students use Piktochart to create projects for our class. Piktochart can be used for conveying information for professional development, to show evidence of learning, and so much more. I’ve even used it to create a birthday card for a friend. You can download the image, share it, or print it, and they always look amazing.

In addition, students have a tremendous amount of choice when it comes to creating with Piktochart. Even students who say they are not creative find that their creativity comes out once they get started.

I have some quotations that I plan to incorporate into a poster for my classroom, and by having so many design options within Piktochart, I know I can create something personal, vibrant, and visually engaging for my students. I feel confident that even though I’m not a designer, I can still create something that will stand out and make my students curious about how they might be able to create something similar.

You might think that these ideas won’t work for you because you don’t work in education, marketing, or design. But step back and think about all of the digital tools and resources out there.

While it’s helpful to know what their “intended” purpose is, that doesn’t mean it can’t also fit your specific needs. Sometimes all it takes is some creative thinking (and some trial and error), and you’ll find a way to make it work for you. Once you get started, the ideas keep coming.

Getting Started

It’s all about taking a step back and looking at the picture from a different angle. When I started using Piktochart two years ago, it was my first experience with infographics. I had only recently learned what an “infographic” was.

I really wasn’t sure what to create, so I decided to start with my course syllabus. I copied the content from a Word document, pasted it into the template, and added some different visually engaging images around the text. It was a great way to add some technology to my classroom and to introduce students to the concept and benefit of using infographics for presentations.

Then I realized I could have my students use Piktochart to create projects to tell me about themselves, to talk about their family, and for many other uses where I would have normally just used paper. From there, the ideas just kept coming.

Not that they were always my own. Often the new ideas were brought on by seeing the work of my students, or I’d be inspired by a conversation with other educators at conferences. My ideas for using infographics in the classroom kept growing.

One of my best ideas came to me recently while I was attending ISTE in Denver. My presentation was about using Piktochart to create infographics and presentations. Our discussion focused on how engaging and interactive these creations can be, and it occurred to me that there’s absolutely no reason why you couldn’t use Piktochart to run a flipped classroom lesson or to lead someone through a process.

Simply choose a template and add your information, and you will have created a lesson for students in which you lead them step-by-step through a lesson in a visually engaging way. You can include your links to websites, embed video in it, add your images, and so much more.

My Classroom Lesson

While I was at ISTE, I began thinking about using Piktochart as a means to provide a flipped or blended learning experience through the use of an infographic.

In order to test the idea of what would be or could be a lesson, I created a lesson with activities in a document as I normally would. Then, I transferred the lesson into one of my favorite Piktochart templates.

I numbered the steps, and I included some of the links and all of the necessary information. I added some icons, changed the backgrounds, and altered the sizes of images and the colors of the backgrounds.

I’m going to test it out with my students and get their thoughts. I plan to have some students use the paper format and others use the infographic in order to gauge their responses to my flipped classroom experiment.

As a teacher, my purpose for creating something like this is to engage my students and provide more for them. I want to give them something visually appealing that adds to their learning experience. The impact that digital tools have on my students is very important to me, and I carefully select tools that will provide the most choices for them and that prove to be more meaningful and beneficial.

Taking this concept a step further, I could also flip it again and have the students create their own lesson in the same way that I did. By doing this, students develop leadership skills and are empowered. They gain new perspective as the “teacher”. They get to be creative, and they drive their own learning.

The teacher then becomes the student, and he or she has the opportunity to learn and gain another perspective that will be beneficial to their role in the classroom. There are many options for using infographics like this. You just have to find what works best for you.

Limitless Technology

From a teacher’s perspective, I think that if you are looking for ways to flip your classroom or to make it more interesting and engaging, infographics (particularly ones you can create with Piktochart) are the way to go.

Even if you are not in the educational field, think of the documents that you have to create in your line of work. You can easily paste the information into one of the templates. You can add your own photography or logos, search for new images, add icons, change the font colors or the backgrounds, and so much more. It is very easy to do, and it just takes that first step to get started.

When it comes to technology, I’m starting to think that there really are no limits. There is something out there for everyone to use. And while it may not be apparent at first, give it a little bit of time. If you are not sure where to start, make a birthday card for a friend.

https://magic.piktochart.com/embed/15072511-spainlesson

Visme: How to Use Narrated Presentations With Voice Overs in the Classroom

September 7, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Thank you Visme for the opportunity to share this and involve my students in this blog post.

How to Use Narrated Presentations With Voice Overs in the Classroom

Mastering Presentations

image: http://blog.visme.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/AudioHeader.png

Projects are one way that teachers can assess students throughout the year. Regardless of the theme, students have a lot of opportunities today to complete their projects using a variety of presentation formats. They have more options for showing what they have learned and how they can apply the material covered in class.

With each passing school year, the options available to students increases, enabling each student to find and work with a digital tool that is personalized to them because it meets their interests and needs, and also their comfort level with technology.

While using tools such as Microsoft Word or a standard PowerPoint to create reports and presentations provides students with a foundation for learning technology skills, taking their knowledge of these formats and applying them to new technology tools can maximize their learning in many critical areas.

Audio11

Depending on the type of project or assignment that a student must complete, tools such as Visme offer many options to users who want to create any type of project or presentation with a single multi-tool that integrates multimedia and many other visual elements. As a foreign language teacher, for example, I often want students to include an audio component to their project so that I can assess their speaking skills.

A recent example of this is a project I assigned to Spanish III students which entailed describing the life and work of an artist. The project required a certain amount of vocabulary to assess their Spanish language skills, but it also had to include images or video and an audio narration with their comments on the project.

Whereas in the past, they may have needed to use two separate digital tools to do this, depending on their choice, they can now rely on Visme to create their projects with all of these elements in one presentation.

There are many choices as to the type of format, whether it be an infographic, flyer or a presentation. Each of these have options to include multimedia and many other choices for audio, video, and other visual representations. With the new updates, these choices are even greater than they were for our prior student projects.

There are a lot of tools available which integrate various components, enabling students to record audio or upload audio files into their presentation, but these often require multiple steps, or specific formats, and in some cases may require advanced knowledge of technology.

However, with the recent addition of Visme’s new audio feature, students only need to look to this one tool to create their presentations. They can add their voice-over directly into their project with just a few clicks.

Ideas for Using Narrated Presentations

There are tons of possibilities for using audio in presentations. As a teacher, I can create lessons for my students, with instructions on each slide, to guide them through the presentation. This is a great option for students who are absent from class or who would like to revisit a specific lesson.

I can also teach a lesson and explain grammar, vocabulary, culture, or any topic we are covering in class, and easily add the recording to the slide, making it easier for the students to follow along. The potential for this is huge, especially in flipped classrooms, or blended learning environments.

Anyone who creates a presentation, regardless of whether it is for use in an educational setting, can take advantage of the audio component of Visme, to really add that something extra to the presentation.

It can be a recording of one’s own voice, or it can be other audio that has been added in from the library or uploaded from another source. There really are a lot of possibilities for enhancing anyone’s presentation.

What Can Students Do With This?

Students were excited to use Visme’s audio feature for recording voice overs and creating narrated infographics and presentations for our class. Some of the students shared their opinions of Visme’s audio feature.

Ellie: “The audio feature makes it easier to explain your work more in depth when you don’t want to have too many words on the screen, or simply want to describe an image.”

Alexa: “With voice overs, it’s easier to include all of your information and faster than reading slides word for word. It would be a lot easier to present it to people because I could take my time and make sure that my pronunciations were right rather than having to speak in front of people from memory. It’s really easy to use, and it made my presentation more interesting.”

From a student’s point of view, presenting information to classmates can be a bit scary, and rather than speaking while displaying the presentation, the students can pre-record their information, and let the presentation run on its own.

This is a great way to help students gain confidence in the classroom and keep comfort levels in check. It is also a great way to have presentations available for sharing with peers and for use as a resource for future classes. Teachers can benefit by being able to record their own lessons, but students benefit by having everything they need to create highly visual and engaging multimedia presentations.

image: http://blog.visme.co/wp-content/themes/blog/img/pei1.png

image: http://blog.visme.co/wp-content/themes/blog/img/pei4.png

Visme simplifies presenting and storytelling for you and your team.

Start Creating!6.png

About the Author

Getting started with blogging

August 18, 2016August 18, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Thank you @Kidblog for publishing my recent post on how to start blogging with your students. Great way to start off the new school year.

Getting Started: Tips for launching a successful class blog

JULY 27, 2016 • RACHELLE POTH •

Summer is full of opportunities for reflecting, learning, and planning. Teachers and students have the ability to review the past year and develop goals for both the summer and the upcoming school year. While summer gives teachers a chance to unwind and relax, it is often used as a time for exploration and preparation for the new year.

During their time off, many teachers participate in professional development events, become involved in learning communities, and look for new ways to engage their students in the classroom. I am no different. This summer I had many opportunities to connect with other educators and discuss ideas for increasing engagement in students’ learning and blogging became a common topic. I welcomed these conversations as I have seen first hand the positive results blogging has had on my students. These discussions revolved around questions about getting students started, privacy, the best use of blogs in the classroom, and how to create new ideas and keep students motivated to blog in and out of the classroom. I was always happy to offer my advice. I created this post in hopes of sharing what I learned from these discussions with a wider audience.

The benefits to student blogging are endless. If you are looking for something new to try with your students, to get them talking, and to learn about your students, I highly recommend blogging as a way to start this new school year.

If you are not familiar with classroom blogging, I suggest setting up your “class URL” first – select a theme, familiarize yourself with the settings, features and how students will create their accounts and log-in. Additionally, by setting up an account as a student in your class you can better understand the student experience and be prepared to answer any questions. Once everything is ready for real students, creating a handout to explain the use of blogging for your class, listing your expectations and some guidelines, and encouraging creativity in the process, is a great way to start the blogging conversation.

I have tried various methods to getting students started in our class blog. Regardless of the method you choose, it is always worth while to start with a conversation regarding your class blog. Talk about what students will write, when they will use the blog, who will be reading their posts, etc. Getting students excited about the options for post styles, fonts, and the wide audience they can reach in the process is helpful in driving motivation to write.

One option to get students started writing in class is through the use of prompt responses. I started small by instructing students how to join the class and having them begin responding to my posts with meaningful discussion points. If you have time in class to do this, facilitate as the students create their account, personalize their page and begin writing. Eventually students will feel comfortable and excited about creating their own ideas for writing.

Another successful way to get students blogging is to start with what they know – pen and paper. Try providing a prompt and having students write a response on paper, as they had done in the past. This is a great way to ensure students learn to evaluate their work and self-correct. It also reinforces that the true value in blogging is to feel comfortable and confident in expressing one’s ideas and using it as a means for personal growth. Once the students have written their responses, you can ask them create their Kidblog student account and use their writing as the first entry. By having the first draft, and then entering it as a blog post, students have the opportunity to think, reflect and work on their skills.

Either option provides a great starting point. I recommend that you base your decisions for your class blogging on your students and what will be the most beneficial to your classroom.

Getting students excited about blogging only takes that first step. It is a continuous work in progress. We are all involved in ongoing learning, and by being learners ourselves, we can help our students to take risks, accept challenges, reflect, and grow. And, through the process, we learn about each other, reinforcing the value of relationship building and support in the classroom.

Integrating Technology: Try Creating an Infographic

August 3, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Posted in the Edutopia Community Discussion

Rachelle Dene Poth

Posted 07/20/2016 5:50PM | Last Commented 07/20/2016 5:50PM

If you are looking for new ways to share information, or create a new sign for your classroom, or have students work on a project, then perhaps infographics is what you need.

Infographics are one of many options for presenting information in a vibrant, engaging way. There are many digital tools out there that can be used to create an infographic, and you may know of a few of these tools. If you have not heard of an infographic or you have not yet created one, then I hope I can provide some new information or ideas. And if you have been looking for a way to integrate technology into your classroom, or a quick and easy way to make a slight change in your classroom, then perhaps using one of the great web tools for creating an infographic is just what you need.

An infographic is something that I learned about two summers ago while participating in a weeklong technology conference. I had seen infographics before, but did not know the term and had no knowledge of any of the tools available for creating one. I was anxious to create my own and decided to start the new school year, by creating infographics for each class in place of printing a course syllabus. I used three different tools to create an infographic for each course and then posted them on our class website.

Creating an infographic is quite easy and there are so many templates and options available to include in your work. Making the change from a paper syllabus to an infographic is easy. Simply take the file that you already have and copy and paste your content into one of the many templates that are available, and then have some fun with it. Depending on which web tool you use, I have used Piktochart, Canva and Smore, you have a variety of choices for the additional icons, images, and more that you can add into your infographic. The possibilities are endless for creating a diverse, vibrant, multi-media, engaging presentation for any kind of use.

So changing from my paper formatted syllabus over into an infographic was the first step that I took. I then decided to take it a few steps further and have my Spanish I students create an infographic to describe themselves. This was something I had them do each year, to practice the beginning vocabulary and to learn about them, but it was a project usually done on paper. I gave them the choice of a few different tools, and provided my infographics as a model. But I left it up to the students to decide and to explore the options within each of these choices. There were no limits on what they could add into the presentation, nor requirements about which tool they should use. Some students even added some audio and video into their projects, something that cannot be done using the traditional paper format. The best part was how their individuality, interests, and creativity were expressed using infographics.

On a personal level, I enjoy using infographics for creating presentations for graduate course work, book studies, moderating Twitter chats, and even birthday cards and more. It’s a lot of fun to work with these tools and to see what you can create, and even better, what the students create.

** I always give my students choices as to which tool to use, they all have benefits and unique features. It depends on what works best for our needs.

Suggestions: Piktochart, Visme, Canva, Smore @piktochart @canva @smorepages

Pikto1

Recap: Let’s Get Students Talking

July 28, 2016July 28, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

I tried Recap at the end of the year and really enjoyed what it offered. I appreciate the opportunity to have my experience shared on Recap.

Posted on July 20, 2016 Rachelle PothPosted in Guest Post

Student voice is very important in education today. Teachers benefit greatly by understanding what the students’ needs and interests are, their backgrounds and other experiences they bring with them to the classroom. Students participate in so many diverse learning experiences aimed at providing the best practice through multi-modal instructional methods, to personalize instruction, drive student learning and to provide the resources and support necessary for student success. And while the teacher may believe that each learning experience they provide is valuable and will benefit the students’ growth in the class, it is critical to seek input from the students themselves to really understand the impact these methods have on their learning.

Involving students in conversations can happen in many mediums. With all of the digital tools available today, there are endless possibilities available for substituting the traditional face-to-face conversations or having students write some type of a response such as a self-reflection in class. Having students reflect on a particular learning experience or participate in a discussion after class, are valuable opportunities for teachers as well to learn more about the students and to continue building those vital relationships. Including students in the planning and gathering input from them benefits the learning environment tremendously and there are many ways to do this. I found a new method of encouraging students to share their thoughts this year, through Recap.

Deciding to Try Recap

Toward the end of the school year, I wanted to try some new tools in the classroom, to keep students engaged and motivated through the end of the year. I thought that trying out some new ideas would work well at this time, because I could use the information to reflect and plan over the summer. I came across Recap and was very interested in trying it out with my students.
I was initially unsure of whether it would be easy to implement into my classroom, or even how I would use it, but as with all things, sometimes you have to just take a chance and see how it works out. So I did just that and created a class for my students using Recap. The first time I logged in and created a video in which I asked the students to share their thoughts about some of the projects we had done, some of the tools that we had used, and any other insight that they wanted to provide to me. I explained how Recap would work and set up my recording for them. It was very easy to use and to set up. More important, students were excited about this new experience and felt comfortable in sharing their ideas.

Ideas for Using Recap

There are many uses for Recap in and outside of the classroom to have students respond to a prompt, have a debate on a topic, use it for a speaking assessment, and many more possibilities depending on content and grade level taught. But one of the biggest benefits I think it provides is a comfortable way for students to connect with their teachers and to honestly share their ideas, thoughts or reflections. Students are often afraid to speak up, we all are, and having a tool which enables the assessment or reflection to be done in the comfort of one’s own home or place, is very beneficial.
After the first time my students completed the assignment, watching their responses compiled into a daily reel, several things were clear. I could see that they were comfortable, which was very important to me, especially when trying something new like Recap. I also appreciated the fact that they took the risk to share their ideas and provided honest evaluations of my teaching and their classroom experiences. And I really like that I was able to give them feedback as well following their video responses.

The Foreign Language Classroom

As a foreign language teacher, I can use this in my classroom to have students complete speaking assessments, discuss topics we are working on in class, whether it be a work of art or particular reading, and they can give their honest opinions in a more comfortable, safer environment for expressing themselves. It is also quite useful for students to do a reflection of my instruction or of their own skills, interests and needs in the classroom. The nice thing is that either way, teachers and students can learn about each other, and grow from the feedback given.

I was very excited after this initial experience with Recap and so I tried it with several of my other classes. The response was all positive and I know that I will use it a lot more in the upcoming school year to have students complete speaking assessments, have discussions and more activities like these. But more than these uses, it is a way for me to better understand their needs and to learn more about them in the process. A way to continue building the vital relationships that help to build a positive, supportive classroom environment.

There are many ways to use Recap in the classroom but also as part of professional development, conference presentations and much more.

About Rachelle Dene Poth

She is a Spanish Teacher at Riverview Junior Senior High School in Oakmont, PA. She is also an attorney and earned her Juris Doctor Degree from Duquesne University School of Law and recently received the Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology from Duquesne. She enjoys presenting at conferences on technology and learning more ways to benefit student learning. She is the Communications Chair for the ISTE Mobile Learning Network, a Member at Large for Games & Sims, the Innovation Resources Co-Chair for the Teacher Education Network and the PAECT Historian. Additionally, She is proud to be involved in several communities including being a Common Sense Media Educator, Amazon Inspire Educator, WeVideo Ambassador, Edmodo Certified Trainer, Nearpod Certified Educator and also participate in several other networks. She enjoys blogging and writing for Kidblog and is always looking for new learning opportunities to benefit my students. You can connect with her on Twitter @rdene915.

Interactive Lessons: Let Students Create & Lead

July 26, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

After recent technology showcases, finishing up an independent study focused on Student engagement, motivation and social presence, I wanted to learn more about what students want and what they need to do well. Taking the digital tools we had used, with me leading the lesson, I put it in their hands to create and lead. It was an exciting opportunity, as the year was winding down, to keep motivated and try new things, but to give choices for all. Here is the second part of a series of stories, with student reflections.

Interactive Video Lessons: EDpuzzle

Rachelle Dene Poth: I am a Spanish and French Teacher and I look for ways to include student voice, choice, and leadership when finding the right materials for every student. With the help of some students, we worked with EDpuzzle as part of a new learning adventure, I wanted to empower students to become more than learners in the classroom. I wanted them to lead the class and develop these critical skills and have choices.

Choosing EDpuzzle

EDpuzzle is a tool that I have been increasingly interested in using with my students, to add to our video experiences and find new ways to engage them more in and out of class. As the school year started to wind down, I found myself wanting to try some new methods of instruction with my students. We have used a variety of digital tools to complete assessments, have discussions, create projects, collaborate on class wikis and more. The benefits have been tremendous. Students have improved their Spanish language skills by creating a more authentic and meaningful representation of what they know and can do with the material by having a choice in tools. This personalization meets their interests and needs and helps to motivate them.

Motivation for trying new things in the classroom

One of my main goals is to work to find creative and innovative ways to introduce content in my classroom and above all, to make sure that students have choices and feel valued and supported in the classroom. Giving choices for how to show their learning, leads to a more beneficial and personalized experience for all students and even myself. If each student chooses something different, this promotes more meaningful and unique learning experiences, and builds vital technology skills in the process. Opportunities like this lead to many benefits.

So who benefits from these new, interactive and flipped experiences?

We all do. Teachers and students benefit because not only have we all reinforced our knowledge of the content material, (Spanish language and culture in our case), we are learning about new tools, and maybe even more importantly, about each other.

Giving choices is a risk. With so many options available, it is not possible to know everything about each tool and its benefits. So as teachers, we have to learn as much as we can, and then relinquish some control to our students. They need to have the chance to explore, create, and share. Give them the opportunity to do more than simply produce the same product as the other students, because they are not the same. Let them become the “creators” and the leaders in the classroom. Let them take on a more active role and see how this promotes engagement, curiosity and motivation within them.

Putting the plan into action

With these new reflective thoughts, I began a new venture into having students select from diverse tools, which are typically used by teachers for delivering content, and had them create and teach a lesson. I thought this could be a bit risky, but would also be beneficial for many reasons. It seemed like an interesting twist to try, especially at the end of the year, and I wanted to see if and how it was of benefit.

Why make the change to student created lessons

Accountability. In education, there is a lot of accountability. Both teachers and students are accountable for learning and classroom involvement, as well as many other responsibilities. In my classroom, I use a variety of learning activities and offer choices of tools to help the students to learn. I often tell the students that it is like having a room full of toys, find one and try it, if you like it, keep it. If you don’t then select something else, because the idea is for it to be something that is beneficial and meaningful to you. No matter what you do, use each as a learning opportunity and a chance to reflect and grow.

Videos for learning

One area I rely on for helping students is the use of videos. In the past, I would assign the videos to be viewed outside of class, flipping the learning environment, and hope the students watched the videos as instructed, but without any real way to know. Sometimes we would discuss the video or I would have them complete an in class activity, ways to hold students accountable for watching the video. But students could skip through the video, gathering only the highlights, and get by with just enough information to complete the activity, or without watching the video, could learn the information elsewhere. So the problem remained student accountability.

That is before tools like EDpuzzle which enable the creation of interactive video lessons with analytics to show who watched, analyzing their responses to questions and much more. Without having tools like EDpuzzle, assigning students to watch a video alone does not promote accountability and is not quite as engaging, nor is it interactive. Students are less likely to really focus on the material.

How else can videos be used?

We use a variety of videos to enhance our learning in the classroom and I have spent time this year, creating more interactive lessons, to hold the students accountable. I also started wondering how the students would like being the creators, more active and interactive, rather than passive in their learning, and using these traditionally considered “teacher” resources to produce an assessment or a project and let them lead in the classroom.

I am thrilled with how this new approach has gone. While I may think that it went well and was very helpful, what matters more to me is what do the students think? I make it clear that I do not want to waste their time and would not assign something that I did not truly believe was beneficial. This is my hope, but I rely on the honest feedback of students, to reflect and move forward.

So what do the students have to say?

Three of my 10th grade, Spanish III students reflect on their experience with EDpuzzle.

Adam: I had been struggling to find a good web source to meet my needs for entertainment as well as my education in the classroom and EDpuzzle is a great way to meet both of these needs. When I faced the challenge of preparing a lesson to teach to my Spanish 3 class, I honestly didn’t know where to start. I first tried some other resources that we had used but they really weren’t getting the message across like I wanted. Then Mrs. Poth recommended a new tool by the name of EDpuzzle to me and my reaction was

“Edpuzzle? Mrs. Poth this is a Spanish project, not a puzzle!”
“Just try it out!” She said.
So I went home that night, and after thinking it through, I again began my Spanish project. I started with another source and was still disappointed in my product. Finally I decided to give EDPuzzle a chance. By the time the loading bar hit 100 percent and that page loaded up I knew I found the perfect tool for not only this project but many more to come!

EDpuzzle was a fantastic way for me to use my sports video and transform it into something completely unique with a few easy changes. And for future projects, I will never have the issue of handing out papers with the questions. I can simply tell my “class” to pull out their mobile devices and answer the questions that I have integrated into my video. There are so many options for a user to enjoy and learn from the features that EDpuzzle has to offer! Thank you for providing the tool to not only teach my Spanish 3 class but to have them enjoy as well.

BEN: I used EDpuzzle for a class project. The first time I saw EDpuzzle was in class and I thought it had a pretty interesting concept. So, when we were assigned a project for the camping unit, I decided to try EDpuzzle.

I created a lesson for my classmates by adding comments and questions to a camping video I found online. I found that EDpuzzle was easy to use and that it was a new fun way to make a class project that could be used as an interactive lesson. I especially enjoyed the many features EDpuzzle offers such as the being able to crop the video, make an audio recording over the video, and being able to make different types of questions. I felt that EDpuzzle impacted me in that it gave me a new way to present a topic and a more fun way to create projects and relay information. EDpuzzle is a fun and different digital tool to use that can be a great tool for learning.

A student who participated in the lessons of Adam and Ben said: “ By having all of the different choices of tools to use for our project made it easier to find something that I was interested in and comfortable with. The activities included in their video lessons were educational and fun, and made learning more enjoyable for the students. It provides more than just watching a video and not really being held accountable for paying attention. You had to pay attention in order to answer the questions. I would recommend EDpuzzle to anyone looking for a new way to present information, in any setting.”

In the end

It is all about giving the students choices and allowing them the opportunity to try new things, lead the class and develop their content area skills, as well as many other critical 21st century skills. EDpuzzle and the other tools, provided an opportunity for students to take on a new role, to build their comfort level, and to learn new ways of integrating technology and having fun in the process. They were the teachers and we all were the learners.

Showing how to use EDpuzzle in class.

“The Summer Slide” and avoiding it

July 15, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Technology Helps Students Avoid the “Summer Slide”

Published on CoSN: The Consortium for School Networking

Monday, June 20, 2016 – 12:29pm

Chrysanthemum

Summer slide refers to a decrease or loss of academic skills over the summer break. As summer goes by, if students do not actively engage in learning experiences, the progress they had made throughout the school year will not only decrease, it can actually regress.

Avoiding this “summer slide” is easy if strategies are in place to help students stay fresh until the next school year. This is where digital tools and technology can step in and help students be ready for the start of the new school year.

Ways to avoid the slide

There are many digital options for helping students avoid this summer slide. With the rise of technology, students have access to diverse tools with many options for providing these learning extensions. Students have choices when given opportunities for practice and this will help them to return to school better prepared.

Regardless of the content area or level taught, teachers can recommend some great tools and apps that can easily be used by students to practice over the summer. Technology enables students to learn anytime and anywhere, so time conflicts are no longer a problem. It just requires students to set aside time to interact with these resources, and it can also be a good way to help students take ownership of their learning and even have fun in the process.

As a foreign language teacher and member of several professional committees on educational technology, I am always looking for new online platforms and strategies to stay connected with my students.

In my classes, we use Edmodo, a platform that allows teachers to share resources and connect with parents and administrators, and Celly, a platform that uses social media to help students, teachers and others connect and communicate. I can post links to resources using either of these throughout the summer, if I want to send students an activity to complete to practice the verbs or vocabulary, or if I find a new website or resource that I think they will enjoy.

Students have assignments and activities posted on Edmodo; for instance, they might be asked to complete a game of Quizizz or use Quizlet study cards, or to do something like write a blog post about their summer vacation, or to find some authentic resources and share them with the class.

My students also use the Duolingo app on their devices and can use this as a way to stay fresh and have fun learning and reviewing the language, on their own schedule and wherever they are at the time. I remind them to set aside a certain amount of time each week to review their skills.

For blogs, I use Kidblog, a platform that is secure and allows students to build their own pages and post blogs.

And when students go on vacation, I ask them to use their travels as an opportunity to engage in conversations with Spanish speakers.

Other ideas include using tools such as an LMS or a collaborative class website, and a messaging tool for communication, to help students and teachers stay connected over the summer. Digital tools can be shared and students can ask for help and have access to additional resources when needed. Maintaining a connection over the summer can keep students engaged and continue to foster those important student-teacher connections.

There are many opportunities available to help students stay involved and even build their skills over the summer. It just takes a little bit of investigating to find beneficial resources and setting aside the time to explore the many options available.

Rachelle Dene Poth teaches French and Spanish at Riverview Junior-Senior High School in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. She holds a law degree and Masters in Instructional Technology from Duquesne University.

– See more at: http://www.cosn.org/blog/technology-helps-students-avoid-%E2%80%9Csummer-slide%E2%80%9D#sthash.4p03rkG8.dpuf

What students can gain from blogging

June 28, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Thanks to Edutopia for this recent post on June 20, 2016

Blogging

As a foreign language teacher, I constantly look for new, engaging ways for students to work on their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in and outside of the classroom. It is also very important to me that they develop confidence in expressing themselves with the language. Confidence is sometimes an issue because of the fear students have of making a mistake, either writing something incorrectly, or pronouncing a word wrong. The fear exists and often it causes students to be more hesitant before responding and not participate as much. The fear of mistakes is not something that is specific to students. Teachers have this same fear, as do all people. I have noticed more this year, than in prior years, that students struggle with this and as a result, it limits their learning potential. So I have worked on finding ways to encourage them to use the language and be creative, and to leave that fear behind.

I took some opportunities to ask students why they did not answer a question on an assignment or a test, or respond in class, and before hearing their response, I already knew what they would say. They “figured it would be wrong” or they “didn’t know the whole answer” so they left it blank or did not complete the assignment. Sometimes the students would even write on their papers that they were wrong, or would draw a big X or a frown next to a response.

Seeing these responses, or hearing their reactions, made me want to find ways to help build their confidence levels and to keep them learning. I tried encouraging them to speak more in class, emphasized that it was more important to try and express themselves and create with the language, rather than worry about being wrong. I thought that by providing opportunities for them to choose a topic, to know that they were not being graded based on perfect grammar, but rather receiving points for having made the effort and created with the language. The way to do this was through blogging.

Blogging helps students develop content area skills and confidence

I thought that blogging would be a good way for the students to have a more meaningful and personalized learning experience because they could choose a topic and write about something that they wanted to. While I emphasized the importance of using the related vocabulary and verbs, I also made it clear that I was more concerned with them using the language, expressing their ideas, and then taking time to look at mistakes and learn from them. Reading their blogs was a great way for me to focus on their individual needs but also to learn more about each student. It is helpful as a teacher to understand where the students are coming from, what their interests are, and their learning styles, and blogging is a very beneficial method to accomplish these tasks.

Some students initially were not in favor of blogging and at times, seemed almost pained at the idea of having to “blog”, however it is really not any different than filling in a worksheet or making up sentences for class. It took a little time, but in the end, many students enjoyed blogging and made their blog posts a very creative and personal space, but also were able to look at their growth over the course of the year, and see the progress that they had made. Blogging is a great tool for practicing language skills and many others, but also a way to look back and see how you have improved. The ease of sharing ideas and creating with the language, plus the increase in confidence, are some of the reasons why I think blogging is beneficial for any student or teacher, but also why it will be a practice which continues in my classroom next school year.

Blogging: Assessing Student Growth

June 7, 2016Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Assessing Student Growth Over Time

MAY 27, 2016 • RACHELLE DENE POTH •

@CESMediaCenter Ana works on KB post about buddy bench

Blogging is an effective classroom tool used to exceed learning objectives beyond traditional methods. It offers more than just a platform for writing and sharing ideas. It is a means for teachers to assess, connect, empower, and understand their students. For students, it is a way to to find their voice, while continuously learning more about their interests, strengths, and areas of growth.

There are many innovative ways to use blogging in the classroom to meet these goals. As a teacher, you simply need to be open to new ideas, implement creative lesson plans, and relinquish some control by offering the students a chance to choose their own inspiration for writing. These choices, this freedom in writing, lead to higher student engagement, more meaningful learning, and an enhanced classroom experience for both teachers and students.

Within my classroom, blogging has become one of the best tools to promote literacy skills, while building students’ confidence to express ideas without the fear of making mistakes. Additionally, it has become a way to learn about my students and create a deeper teacher-student relationship. Blogs offer teachers the ability to learn about students and for students to learn about themselves. Yet, what I have found most valuable is blogging’s ability to foster an engaging learning environment, personal to each student, while providing a means for student growth to be tracked and to promote student reflection in the process.

With Kidblog, we have an opportunity for assessing students in multiple areas of communication. It provides a unique, personalized environment for encouraging students to convey their thoughts, demonstrate understanding and make meaning out of content material. Because of Kidblog’s ability to be used class-over-class, year-over-year, students can begin blogging at a young age and continue into higher grade levels. At each phase, they further develop their skills, find comfort sharing knowledge and ideas freely, and continuously develop their content-rich digital portfolio. This ever-growing content can later be used as a focal point to help students see their progress and reflect on their work. They are able to review their first blog posts, compared to their current blog posts, and acknowledge their progress as writers throughout the year.

This progress is built upon the ability to engage students in the writing process through student collaboration and the opportunity to reach an authentic audience. In my class, students are asked to review the comments, to re-read their work, and to consider how they have developed over the year. It has proven to be an effective way to provide feedback to students, to teach them to reflect and work on goal setting, but in a way that puts the control in their hands.

Students often surprise themselves. They develop skills in ways that are personal to them, and they can use this to track their own growth throughout the year. Even those students who initially were not the biggest fan of writing have been motivated after realizing their progress throughout the year. Additionally, by taking a look back at where they started and where they are now, students will be inspired to take the next steps to keep moving forward.

Current Kidblog members: If you’re a teacher with multiple colleagues using Kidblog in your school/district, Admin Pro is simply a better plan for you. Email membership@kidblog.org to learn about benefits and volume discounts.