QR CODES are everywhere! You can find them on cereal boxes, business cards, and magazines. The small black and white square is a machine readable barcode with access to company websites and contact information. The QR CODE can be scanned with a QR READER on any device. The business world has utilized this tiny tool for marketing, but how can we channel the QR CODE craze to be useful in a classroom? QR CODE Scavenger Hunt: This particular scavenger hunt consists of a series of QR CODES placed around the room with improper fractions or mixed numbers on them. The students begin with a question that asks them to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number. Once they work out the problem, they look around the room to find their answer and then scan the QR CODE. A new question will pop up on their device. The scavenger hunt continues until they have answered all questions and scanned all QR CODES in the correct order. This is instant formative assessment. Which students are continually having a hard time finding the correct answer around the room? Which students are able to complete the activity correctly? This tells you if they still need help with the concept or if they are ready to move on. Be sure to check their work as they complete the activity. Plickers: Do you have multiple choice questions that you want to give the students to complete but you want to break away from the traditional paper and pencil method? Then PLICKERS are for you! Once you create an account you can add your students to your classroom. Separating your students into different classrooms will allow you to check the progress of each class and each student. Add your questions, give your students a copy of their card (which is very similar to their very own individual QR CODE), and scan away! You will use your own device such as your phone or tablet to scan their answers across the room. Immediately a green or red box will show up around the students card which indicates a correct or incorrect answer. You can even show the students an anonymous graph of how they did on the questions. Yet again, INSTANT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT. In between questions you can pause to revisit concepts that students had difficulty with. Just a word to the wise, the cards are assigned to each individual student and look different. There is no chance of the students looking across the room to get an answer. They also have a small letter, ABCD, wrote on each side of the card. The students choose their answer and hold up their card with the small letter on top that matches their answer choice. HAPPY SCANNING! Individual Student Resources: If your students are having a difficult time on a particular concept you can create your own video lessons or find excellent resources from YouTube and use the link to create a QR CODE. If your students create anything on the web such as a prezi or their own video, you can link those to a QR CODE as well. Allow the students to create their own math problem and create a QR CODE that has the answer. Share the math problem and QR CODE with other classmates and let them self check their answers. You can even create a QR CODE that links your classroom website, supply list, or any other information for the parents to view. Post the QR CODES on the wall outside of your classroom at parent/teacher conferences or open houses for parents and students to access. Scan the QR CODE above to view a video lesson I created for 5th grade Customary Units of Measurement. This is just a few of the many ideas to use QR CODES in the classroom. How do you use QR CODES in the classroom? Share your ideas in the comments below.
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We have all been there at one point in our teaching careers. We deliver an excellent math lesson and then we give the students their practice work. Within seconds of independent practice we hear the words, "Mrs. Salyers (insert your teacher name here), How do I do this? I forgot!"
IT IS OKAY THAT THE STUDENTS DON'T REMEMBER! Students learn differently and and different times. Seriously, they do!!! Why can't we adapt to their needs and provide them with the instruction they need at anytime and any place? That is where BLENDED LEARNING comes into play. I want to introduce you to the world of a 'Virtual Teacher'. A teacher that is there 24/7 without actually being there. You can create or find video lessons that match what you are teaching and post to your online classroom for students to view over and over. If the students forget, no matter where they are at, they will always have the video to watch. If this is something new to you, GOOD! I want to challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. You're an educator, you adapt well to change. ;) First step, select a Learning Management System (LMS) to host your online classroom. If your school or district hasn't already selected a LMS to use, there are plenty to choose from that are FREE! Edmodo is a free LMS that allows you to create classes, upload assignments, and create and post quizzes. If your district is a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) school, then Google Classroom is another LMS that allows you to host your online classroom with all the perks that come with GAFE. There are plenty more out there to choose from. Choose an LMS wisely. The first step is always the toughest. Second, choose A lesson. Notice how I said, "A". Choose ONE lesson that you want to begin with. This lesson could be something you are currently working on with the students in class, a topic you want to review, or a lesson you plan to teach in the future. You may even want to choose a topic that is tough for the students to grasp. Third, create your video lesson. There are many screen-casting capabilities out there and you will need to decide if you are doing your video on a computer, laptop, ChromeBook, or tablet/iPad. Each of those devices have different types of programs you can use to create your video. If you plan on using your already created super awesome PowerPoint slides or a prezi then I would recommend using Screen-Cast-O-Matic on a desktop. If you are more of an iPad person then I would recommend using Educreations or Explain Everything. If you feel ambitious you can do a mash up between different apps. For example, putting your slides into Explain Everything and overlay writing and voice. (For tutorials on each of the screen-casting programs I listed, go to my YouTube page Mrs. Salyers and click on the For Educators link.) Just be aware that some apps and programs are not free. Also be aware that some apps will not allow you to save your video in a format that would allow you to upload it directly to YouTube. The program must allow you to download the video in an mp4 format in order for you to directly upload it to YouTube and your online classroom. Screen-Cast-O-Matic and the paid version of Educreations will allow you to do that. Just play around and experiment with the different programs to find one that will work best for you. If you're not ready to jump in and completely make your own video lessons then there are plenty of educators that have already done that for you. Search on YouTube, TeacherTube, LearnZillion, or Khan Academy to find the perfect video. Fourth, upload or link your video to your LMS. Depending on the LMS and the screen-casting program you picked you can either upload your video directly or link the video from another site. Congratulations! You have created your first lesson and linked it to your online classroom! But...You are not done yet. Students need to be taught how to interact with the video before you ever assign anything. This is something very new to them if they have never been exposed to a 'Virtual Teacher' before. None of the students sitting in our classrooms have remote controls that can stop, pause, or rewind our voices at any time. We have to teach the students that when they do not understand something they CAN pause the video to reflect on it or rewind it and watch it again. I would recommend that the students have their own set of headphones as well. Students also need to be taught how to be good note takers. You can provide a note taking sheet for them that they fill out. You can also create videos that say, "PAUSE TO TAKE NOTES". This reminds the students that they need to pause and write down what they have learned. Feel free to use the videos I have created in my YouTube account! Just click the link below. (*Coming Soon* Try out a sample 5th grade division flipped unit. Videos can be found in my YouTube Channel and note taking sheets will be posted soon!) Do you have an iPad setting in your classroom collecting dust? Are you looking for a way to utilize the iPad within your classroom? Do you want to raise the student engagement of your students? If you answered, "YES", to those questions then keep on reading! Student engagement is by far the most significant factor of student learning and retention of learning in your classroom. The Kentucky Framework of Teaching supports the teacher in creating and teaching lessons that will engage students in their learning. To read more about student engagement click the button below. Once you have the students engaged with your lesson you can raise the student engagement just a little bit more by utilizing a couple of different technology devices and features. You will need an iPad and an Apple TV. You can enable your iPads Air Play feature and mirror everything that your iPad has on its screen to a TV in your classroom. Is your students working working in groups and you want to display their work so that other students can see it? Then turn on the camera while the Air Play feature is on. This will allow you to show their work on your TV screen instantaneously! It's like having a wireless document camera in your hands. To learn more about compatible devices and how to use the Air Play feature, click the button below. Students will LOVE sharing the work they have done with everyone. This gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment. Plus a little bit of accountability if they know their work will be shared with their classmates.
The best way to determine the effectiveness of student engagement is to ask the students! So lets see what they have said about utilizing the wireless document camera. The students have described it as, "MAGICAL, very INTERACTIVE and FUN". Just watch out for the smiling faces that will want to see themselves on the TV screen! =) 0 Comments |
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