Self-reflecting to improve on a lesson gone wrong, and having students take on the role of technology experts for each other

The lessons I learned:
I can't expect a fun app like Gabit to do the work for me. We have to work though how to effectively use the technology to facilitate our learning. Sounds pretty obvious, but I certainly had to learn this lesson the hard way.  As a result, I found myself attempting to salvage a failed, hectic, frustrating lesson by having the students become the experts and teach each other. The next day and again later, we completed some self -eflecting and retrying based on what we noticed went wrong.   While the end products were only okay and didn't work for all the students, at least I got to see my students take on the role of experts and help each other! Definitely a far more effective way to approach any technology than thinking of only the teacher as the expert!

The geeky details:
We’ve been working on learning some common prefixes, suffixes, and root words using the Nearpod  app to take quizzes on about about five word parts at a time. Then we practice either with words I give them that they try to define based on knowledge of word parts, or they try to think of words that use the prefix/suffix/root word and we share those.  We've played a game to see how many of them can correctly define some words by applying the prefixes/suffixes/root words we've been learning.  It's been really fun and very engaging for most of them, especially as Nearpod notifies when students time out of the app!

It's been going well, but I figured I needed another way of assessing that they're able to apply the lessons we are learning and practicing together, so I thought  instead of just adding more and more words and word parts, we should take a step back and do some further application of the ones we've already learned.

I was trying to create a different fun activity where they could create something using their iPads to apply the words we've been learning. I found a free iPhone app called Gabit where students can create an avatar/character, they can record their own voice for the character, and even have the character do a few  motions. They can easily record up to 30 seconds and save it to their camera roll and then share it through email.  Or at least it seemed pretty easy to me since it worked perfectly when I tested it out. 

 So I typed up an assignment where I gave each of the students one of the root words, asked them to compose a sentence where the root word is used correctly in context, and then had them explain what their root word is and how they used it effectively in the sentence.

I created a practice Gabit video myself to show them, and I thought I was all set. Here's my sample:

 

 

Unfortunately with the app, students can also add background music and distort their voice to make it annoyingly high or low, which ruined a few of their creations because their voice was drowned out--no joke, the student who came up with the word "audible" did this. Fortunately he has a great sense of humor and so we had a good chuckle in class together applying the prefix -in and talking about how inaudible his was. (The app also has some more annoying options like burning and farting, so I was relieved that all my students were mature enough to stay wary from those ones.) 

Things started off poorly immediately--it was a free app, so I figured it would be easy for them to quickly download and use.  However, for some reason, it worked for 10 of my students but not the other 6. No matter what I tried, I couldn't help them find the app. It just wouldn't show up no matter what I did or what our AV assistant guy tried once I ran and got him. (The next day, our tech coordinator Paul was available, and he was able to find an alternative way to help the students find the app, but the app still kept crashing and messing up for a bunch of them.)  They were just getting frustrated and off task as a result. I had given them a template to first compose the sentences they would record, but I had to keep running around trying to keep them focused and without my TA, who was out sick,  it was much harder.  (When she's gone for a day, I notice even more how lucky I am to have my friend Angela as my TA).

They were all working at different paces, so when the first students had finished up their sentences and were ready to record, I send them out into different parts of the hallway to record their voices. That was incredibly hectic to help them individually while still keeping all the others on task, but that part actually worked out well in the end because then the students who went first became my experts and I asked them to use their iPads to help the next group of students, especially the ones who couldn't get the app to install on their own iPad. I did get a kick out of seeing those students shine while teaching their peers!

But of course it was crazy to juggle what everyone was doing and keep them all on track when we were having technology problems and a few problems styling focused. Plus, I also have some conscientious kids who always want me to check their work to make sure they are doing it ok, which is something my TA is usually great at doing with them too--without giving them answers, she quickly and subtly redirects them if they are getting off task or doing something wrong.

 

The only good part is that the next day, we looked at their videos, and with each of them, we reflected on what worked well and what we needed to improve. Then the students who were having technology issues the previous day completed theirs, which were noticably better.  We tried the activity again two more times to see if we could improve. Most of the students improved, a little at least, but the app kept crashing, so I think I may need to give up on that activity idea or find a different app with this idea. 

 

Here's a student sample that actually did work out ok:

 

Students take ownership of a reading expert's ideas, and my TA teaches using InspirationLite App

The geeky moment: I watched as my students, led by my TA, built upon Kelly Gallagher's reasons for reading and added their own reasons.  They also used InspirationLite, a great mind mapping and outlining template app to facilitate the discussion.

The geeky details:

Early in the year, my class spent a day on what I call "Thinking About Reading Thursday" discussing the reasons why they read.  We used the Socrative app for them to respond to the question and they got to anonymously or publicly vote on and discuss their reasons for  why they read. I use Socrative  to ask an open-ended poll question/conversation starter. Once they have all responded, they get to vote on each others' reasons.  So I asked them to tell me in about two minutes "Why I Read."

 

Then we had a more open ended discussion using those answers as a springboard, where a lot of them shared which response they had posted and gave further examples, and then others shared their own examples.  We also connected this discussion with amazing reading expert Kelly Gallagher's 10 reasons to read from his book Reading Reasons. 

I had laminated each of his reasons on separate sheets of purple paper, so as we discussed their Socrative posts, they naturally connected to most of Gallagher's reasons, and then for the last few, my amazing TA and friend Angela helped them see connections, so we were able to post each reason on the wall as we discussed.

Since then, on "Free Read Fridays" they have been filling out responses--to share at the end of hour aloud--where they pick a quote from their book and write how they are modeling and applying one of Gallagher's reasons to read. They then post their colorful responses on the wall next to the reason they discussed. 

 

 

Hopefully we can use this as a visual, colorful daily reminder of the value of reading. 

A couple weeks later, Angela pointed out to me that while they do seems to be covering all of Kelly Gallagher's 10 reasons, they kept gravitating toward the ever popular "Reading is rewarding" reason. So Angela volunteered to lead a "Thinking about Reading Thursday" discussion about what we can add to Gallagher's list and make it our own. She found this awesome free app called InspirationLite that has countless mind map templates (Some of you may use or have used software like this--I know my district had it a few years ago.) 

She and the students used the app and their previous wall posts to come up with their own specific ways and reasons that "reading is rewarding."

 

 

 So since then the students have been posting on both Gallagher's reasons and ours.

There are so many moments I've enjoyed about these ongoing discussions. 

First, how lucky am I to have a TA who is a qualified and thoughtful certified English and ESL teacher? Plus, Angela's had an iPad for a while, so she is frequently trouble shooting and solving problems around the room. She also found this great InspirationLite app that I'm definitely suggesting to my AP students for their research paper outlines, as it turns a mind map into an outline with a click of a button--in correct MLA format!!! (English teachers would agree with me that the excessive exclamation mark isn't overkill here.)

Here are some of the many InspirationLite templates:

 

Second, I enjoyed watching the students take ownership and add to Gallagher's awesome ideas. (Have I gushed yet about how much I like his writing?) And I love that I got to observe as Angela took the lead in the discussion.