I want to get the blog focus back to the classroom, and that is easy to do because it is all I have been working on for the past 2 weeks. I have been reworking videos, writing PBL assignments, and creating better parent communication.
My new focus for grammar videos is a quick intro and then a story, or some other catchy way to show students how to implement the new concepts. I have been working with a variety of sources to make this happen.
I made a cute video for the future tense with GoAnimate, which will be published soon, but in order to push it out to YouTube I have to pay a small fee, so I am trying to do a couple at once so I can only pay once (or get it all done in the 30 day free trial!). This was cool because I typed the script and chose character voices. This was awesome because I could actually choose Hispanic speakers, so it makes it more like a real listening exercise! I am going to use it that way and have students answer questions and hypothesize in the future about possible outcomes.
Yesterday, I finished a video that I am planning to send to the parents of my students this year. It is using PowToon, which is still in the Beta, but looks really cool. Flipped for Fluency parent video was easy to put together once I decided what to say! I am going to send this out with my parent letter about a week before school starts. A word of caution though..have your script together before you start playing or you will be working on it forever! (I fell into the trap I always warn my student about when using cool technology!)
I have written some PBL exercises for my Mini Review Unit, which is the first two weeks of school. I am covering present, past, and future. I cut down the worksheets to just some quick conjugation worksheets to get the kids thinking in Spanish again. Then they will work on the PBL projects which are a combination of solo and group work. The Present Assignment Sheet outlines a "getting to know you" presentation. I do think that this is going to be a much more effective way to let the kids demonstrate their proficiency. Hence, I have decided to call them Proficiency Demonstrations. In the 6 regular units of study, these will replace my Unit Assessments from last year.
When creating the PBL assignments, I have tried to leave as many choices as possible open for the students. This is probably more apparent in the one I wrote for Unit 1 Proficiency Demonstration. I gave some guidance by giving them steps to consider, but left the topic and method of presentation up to them. I also decided to cut the vocabulary list down to the bare minimum 54 words for a 5 week unit. I decided that the students will have to discover many words pertinent to their topic on their own, so they did not need an exhaustive list from me.
I am looking at my assessing strategies and going to make some big changes to improve for next year. I need to get more things straight in my own head before I can commit them to the blog though.
On another note, I am going to be working with Sofia to have a Foreign Language Flipped Webinar in the middle of September. I will blog, post and tweet the details when I have them!
Hi Heather - love reading your blog and I especially thought your PowToon video was very professional! Thanks, Fiona.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fiona! PowToon is pretty cool, and I had fun using it. Trying to decide how it would work for a grammar video!
DeleteI love the idea of a video for parents! Nice work! It gives them an idea of what their child's class experience will be like, but it also gives them a taste of learning through videos.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather! I'm back again...I just have a question - do you flip all of your classes? Beginners and advanced levels? Do you flip all of your lessons as well or are there some that you might just teach in class still? Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteLast year I taught 3, PreAp, 4 and AP. I did not flip 4 and AP per se. They had access to the videos from 3 to review as needed. At the upper levels, my focus is much more on speaking, listening and reading. I had thought that I might get a 2, and I would have flipped that, but I didn't get the course. I really think that flipping the language class works at all the introductory levels, just in different ways and amounts.
DeleteNo, I do not teach any lessons in class on Grammar or Vocabulary. However, I do teach lesssons when we are working on listening activities. I have done some mini- lessons to groups to go over a concept that they didn't understand, or something that they missed at a lower level.
Hope that helps! Thanks for the comments and questions! Keep them coming!
Heather
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your video & learning about how you flip your classroom. How do students gain access to your lecture videos? Do you have them on a specific website? Curious to see how this method works for you :) Thanks for any feedback you can provide
Srta. R
Last year, my students accessed videos via YouTube and Screencast links that I posted to my school website. I use both because when the school has technical issues, the students can easily search for the videos on YouTube since the majority of them have it on their phones.
DeleteThis year I am going to be using Moodle, so all of my links will appear there.I am not doing online testing, which I know Moodle is known for, but I like the idea that I can tell who has seen the videos, which is something I couldn't do last year. The students are also going to do online journaling through Moodle this year as well. I am also going to encourage the kids to do some of the work online and email it to me to be more paper conscious.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
I loved your video - it inspired me to join Powtoon and create my own video. I completely understand falling into the trap - my video took me about 3-4 hours to make because it was overwhelming at first to get the hang of things. I also want to see if I can use it for grammar videos.
ReplyDeleteHave you checked into creating a Mentor Mob playlist for your unit videos. You can put all of the videos in order, including documents, and they can get all the information from one spot. The playlists can be embedded in a website (I use weebly). I see a lot of flippers using them for their videos.
I have a MentorMob playlist for my professinal resources, and was really impressed with them at the Flipped Conference this summer. Since my school is using Moodle, I didn't see any reason to do a playlist and then imbed that. Am I wrong? Is there an advantage I am missing?
DeleteHi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI was making a PowToon video also for my parents!! I'll admit...I like yours better than mine and will be mimicking some of your slides. Thanks
Thanks so much! I am glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to use anything in the creation of your own video. No sense reinventing the wheel. Playing with PowToon is fun. I am not sure how I am going to use it for student videos yet, but I am working on it!
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