End of year reflections

Good morning, colleagues! This week I was sitting and watching my students collaborate while making their broadcasting segments. I realized, now that it's the end of the year, that I should probably blog about how my school year went!

I had some large shoes to fill in my the broadcasting position. The teacher who left, to become a full-time filmmaker, was beloved by the students and set an excellent precedent for the job. I knew that I wanted to put my own touch on the broadcast, so my focus for the year was to have students design stories that involved as many Skyview students as possible. Here's what went well:

All three classes worked together to produce the weekly broadcast. I set up a Google Doc script at the beginning of the year. The doc was accessible by all three of my classes. This allowed all three groups to work together to design the script because they could all see each others' work. This also drummed up excitement as students saw other ideas, were inspired, and then pitched concepts to me for later broadcasting segments.

Students had choices when picking weekly stories. Because I have three classes, I didn't want to favor one more than the other. Every week a different group picked "first" for broadcast segments. Students selected their top three choices for the videos (using a Google Form), then I put them into groups based on their decisions. 99% of the time the students got one of their top three choices. Because I rotated which class picked first, everyone got their first choice at some point (including being anchors!). Also, if a student or group pitched a topic to me, I ensured that they got that idea as their first choice.

The script layouts worked really well. I ended up having to build brand new scripts for Broadcasting 2.0. I knew when making the scripts that students would need guidance and structure, but I still wanted students to always have the ability to present their voice. I realized, over time, that some stories were very similar. I recognized that I could build a script template that could be reused over and over. I then put together that I could grade those scripts the same way! Once I developed a model, then I would plan a Marzano scale for proficiency grading. The script template gave the students structure for what they needed for proficiency but was flexible enough to allow for student creativity.

There were new students on the broadcast each week. To get student and teacher "buy-in," I created a Google Form that teachers would use to sign up their classes for the weekly show. Part of the video included teacher and student interviews. I would work with my students each week to pick new students that have not been on the broadcast. Then, to build community, I would have my students put the interviewee's name on the screen. That is a start to how people get to know each other. First, you have to learn their name. I also partnered with Yearbook to have access to their photos. We did a photo slideshow every week as a) a preview of the yearbook at the end of the year and b) so that more students could see themselves in the broadcast.

More school stories. As I said in my previous section, the broadcast is meant to build a community in the school. When dealing with middle school students, we have to walk a fine line between creativity, being outlandish, focusing on the school, and not being boring! I knew it was important for students to see themselves in the broadcast instead of just the broadcasting kids. I knew it was essential to design stories that focus on what's happening in the school. But I also want to honor MY students and provide them with the opportunity to be creative and have choice and voice. When I put the broadcast script together, I would always include some sort of original video. Even though a video is creative, if it's about a topic that the kids care about, then it will matter to everyone, though it may not be school related.

Added extra touches. I wanted kids to take ownership while also learning about all of the different jobs that are required to make a broadcast. I taught all of my students how to use GarageBand on the computer and iPad. I wanted students to design music so that, in some cases, they take ownership of the video they are creating. I also taught my students twenty-three different camera shots to try to add variety to the videos they produce. I also added extra school information like sports scores and daily announcements. My colleague who does daily announcements even thanks the broadcasting kids on Friday for saying them! I wanted to make sure my students were still seen in the broadcast, so they put the credits at the end of the show on top of videos of them dancing or being silly. I even let them put bloopers at the end of the broadcast for extra fun.

All in all, this year was a success for my students and for myself. I never thought that I would have a job in broadcasting (especially after eleven years as a social studies teacher), but I was excited to have this opportunity. I'm just taking it all in!

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Student Voice and Choice

Greetings colleagues!

When I started this new job four months ago, I was pretty terrified. I try to be organized and polished whenever I teach as I am NOT someone who flies by the seat of my pants. Teaching broadcasting was a WHOLE new thing, and I was making it up as I went for most of the first quarter. I now feel way more comfortable in this role as I'm figuring out what I want my students to know and do.

As a Social Studies teacher, I was always grasping for "wins" - good days, good class periods, and good moments. They did not often happen as I was a pushy teacher. I had high expectations. Students didn't get to goof off very often in my class. But now I'm a "fun" teacher - I still push and still have high expectations, but students get to goof off (ish) in my class. Students get to have fun because they are making up stories, they are creating videos, and they have an audience ready for their broadcast every week. Talk about student CHOICE AND VOICE!

I really thought about this the other day when a student said to me, "Mrs. Jeffrey - look at the board. You put the four of us (students) together. No other teacher would EVER do that!" I said to him, "Well, you do your work for me. If you were together in another class, would you not get anything done?" He said, "We don't have classes together, but I bet we wouldn't get anything done." So I said, "Every week you have to create a tangible product. If you don't get your work done, then you don't have anything in the broadcast." As I walked away from him, I heard him say to his colleague, "I've never thought about it that way before." WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

I will totally own that it's completely different being an enrichment teacher. I get to make up my curriculum because I have incredibly open standards (in fact, there are no broadcasting standards... I use Language Arts and theatre standards). This allows me to give students more choice and voice throughout the year. I really struggled with giving students voice and choice when I taught Social Studies. It's a difficult thing to do!

So how can you give students choice and voice in your classroom? Here are some ideas...

One time that I always tried to give students choice was when I had an "open era," i.e., we're covering between 1810 - 1860. I would want to know what they wanted to learn about and I wanted to know which applications they wanted to use. This was a perfect time to use a tic-tac-toe board or dinner menu. It wasn't entirely open-ended, but students had more say in their work.

For each broadcast, there is always one entirely original video. I give students theme options, but the main idea, the story plot, the script, the camera shots, and music are solely the students' creation. They can be quite fun to watch. For the rest of the segments, I often choose the topic, but sometimes I don't hear from staff members, so the students get to design their own themes. Even though the structure is set, students still write the script, design the camera shots, and create music. I always get to see and hear their voice throughout, and they still have choices along the way.

Find a way to make student's work public. This can happen at your own school! A brag board is where you have a student post their work and write about why they're proud of this work. Pair up with another class (whether on your team or not), and have them visit your brag board, look at the student's work, and leave a comment. This could be on a cork board in the hall or through a digital Padlet. Let the students be proud of what they've done so that other students can be proud of them too!

Our school has an advisory period, so each class shows the broadcast every week. I also post the broadcast on YouTube and try to remember to tweet out about it as well.





Let your students speak, both figuratively and literally in your class. Let them share their voice. But give them a choice in what they want to say as well.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

First Broadcast Reflections

Happy Saturday ya'll! I must say... I am starting out the weekend right! I'm sitting in a coffee shop, blogging, drinking a latte. The weather is PERFECT today - slightly sunny with a cool breeze. Fall is starting to appear along the Front Range of Colorado. I went to yoga last night, so I am super relaxed (and a little sore). All of this, part of my #selfcare regimen, helped me forget an exasperating week and prep me for a fantastic weekend.

Why have I been agitated? Well, my students put together their first broadcast. Guys, this is hard. I didn't realize how difficult it is to wrangle thirty 7th and 8th graders and get them to FOCUS, and I've taught middle school for nine years! There were all sorts of issues this week with some students being absent (i.e., everyone in one group was absent on the SAME DAY!) and another group having footage being "deleted." These two groups did not meet the Thursday deadline for their broadcasting segments, and it STRESSED. ME. OUT.

I care a lot about how other people perceive me. I'm really good at pretending that I have thick skin, but it is razor thin. I don't care if my co-workers like me, but I want them to respect me and see the genuine work that I'm creating. Not having a broadcast put together Thursday troubled me. I was worried that we would not have a satisfactory show put together or that there wouldn't be a final video at all! I was so stressed out that I couldn't sleep. I fell asleep fine but woke up from a horrific nightmare around midnight Friday morning. I read some news and played Sudoku and made myself tired again. But as I laid back down on my pillow, my mind started running. It would not turn off. So I got on my Kindle and finished my book, but then realized it was 4:30. I figured I may as well get up.

As I showered Friday morning, I thought about my ridiculous behavior. I'm putting this pressure on myself. No one has higher expectations for me than me. This is my first time producing a broadcast and people will give me some slack. But I was still stressed Friday morning, and I know I took it out on my students.

Did the students get the broadcast put together? Yes. How was the broadcast? Just fine.

Have I learned a lot in one week of putting together a broadcast? Of course! And even though this was my first broadcast, I've had some wins. I love the script that I put together - it helped all of the students, over three classes, put together a cohesive show. I feel like I gave the 7th graders (good kids - very eager) a sufficient amount of training (iMovie, Garageband) so their segments were on par with the veteran 8th graders. And last, but not least, I had a lengthy conversation with all three classes about why deadlines exist. 1st hour found out the hard way because the broadcast was not finished by their class. They didn't have anything to watch, and they did not get to provide any feedback on the finished show.

This is all a work in progress, but I still love this new job. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Sharing my love for Screencastify!

Hello there colleagues! This week, in my new job, I found that Screencastify is the greatest thing in the world. Seriously. I don't think I could do my job properly without it!

I learned about Screencastify during a Google Summit in 2016. I know my husband mentioned it to me once or twice (as he uses it quite a bit for his job), but I never saw a reason to use it in the classroom. I tried screencasting feedback for students on projects, but they were cumbersome to make (Really? 150 videos?), and the students rarely watched them. It was a risky attempt, and it crashed and burned :)

What I found Screencastify most useful for was "how to" videos. Whenever students would get stuck on a problem, I would make a screencast for solving the issue. Instead of answering the same question 300 times, I would point them to the tutorial video. The students did not care for it because they just wanted me to give them the answer, but over time, they were trained.

Now teachers, on the other hand, value their time. They know how busy they are and how they do not have easy opportunities to visit me over and over. Tutorial videos are wonderful for teachers because they can access them on their own time, can watch the video as many times as they need, or they can completely ignore the video and pretend that I did not e-mail it!

We have had some weird technology issues in the district... such a great way to start the year! I realized that I was answering the same question over and over. I helped one teacher, who is not super tech savvy, log in to the firewall and create a bookmark to the firewall. I realized that it would be helpful to ALL teachers if they knew how to bookmark the firewall website as well.

After sending this video to the staff, many people stopped me to say "thank you." It feels good to know that my video helped!

When meeting with my principal about my job, and what it entails, she told me that I should be coaching non-iPad teachers in the building. Her goal is to have every student touch technology once a week. It is a lofty goal, but I think it can be possible as the year goes on. One thing that prevents me from co-teaching and modeling for teachers is that I have three broadcasting classes in the morning. I have to find a way to work around this, and Screencastify is working for me!

I have a 7th grade teacher who is having his students make iMovie trailers about books they are reading. He was able to figure out, on his own, how to use iMovie and how to teach his students how to use iMovie. But he wasn't 100% sure how to have his students turn in their trailers because they are using an iPad cart, not 1:1 iPads. Screencastify is not available for the iPad, so I did some Googling to find a work around. Someone online mentioned taking screenshots step by step, then screencasting the pictures on the computer like it is a video.

Worked like a charm, and the teacher said it was beneficial for both him and his students!

The last way I recently used Screencastify is to teach my students the ins and outs of iMovie. My students have been filming and are in the process of editing. Most of the 8th graders took broadcasting last year, so they knew quite a bit about editing. All of them, however, said that they learned something new from these videos. And for the students who are taking broadcasting for the first time? They learned a ton!

I just can't say enough good things about Screencastify, but I forgot the most important thing - it's free!

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week! 

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website