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| Beauty school or science class? Combing hair to charge a *comb for an experiment |
Being a 1:1 Chromebook classroom, the students have had some epiphanies about having a computer at their fingertips for the duration of the working/school day. The biggest is that a computer allows them to document their learning much more efficiently than paper and pencil and without the added of headache of losing work.
So, when I presented these tech wizards with our first science experiment, as is the norm, I sent them a document through their Google Suites accounts. After making a copy, they filled out their hypothesis and we read the procedure. I emphasized the necessity of writing down/drawing their observations (Google Drawings or images).
MULTIPLE HANDS RAISE
Not in the "Amen!" or "Raise the roof" this is gonna be a blast kind of hands in the air.
More like, "WHOA Teach! We got somethin' important to say so answer our hands" kind of way.
Student A: Couldn't we just film ourselves doing the experiment using our SeeSaw app?
Me (The teacher, in case you're wondering who's running this show): Umm...
Student B (with some chiming in from the rest of the peanut gallery): Well, it would be faster than finding clipart and labeling on Google Drawing and it would still show the setup of the experiment.
Me: Uh....
Student C: AND we could add captions after to explain what we saw
Me: I guess that would be OK...
Student D: Well, could you make a science folder for the class feed so that it gets into the right folder?
Me (in my head, cuz I'm beginning to wonder): Who's got a B.Ed. here?
Me (aloud to the kids): Great thinking! Grab your partner, the science materials and your Chromebook and get to work.
WHY this is so surprising is that we had not used SeeSaw for about 4 weeks because of Christmas activities and Winter Break. We also had never tried the video feature. They did not care, flinch or hesitate as evidenced in the above video.
Next day, we excitedly tried SeeSaw's new update: labels with recording. We eventually realized this was currently available only on iOS and not Chromebooks. We do have access to iPads which I sent a couple of students to fetch. While they were gone, another student asked if it wouldn't be easier to just use our Chromebooks with the Screencastify extension and then upload to SeeSaw so that the class could see our work.
Absolutely easier! Return those iPads, open the Web Store, download Screencastify and get down to business. In the video below, these 11 year olds explain how easy it is to use SeeSaw and how using Screencastify enables them the same secret powers on their Chromebooks that are available on iOS--WITHOUT waiting for updates!
#NewYearNewYou was a popular hashtag as 2017 rang in. How are you using technology to bring your students' learning into the 21st century? Take a page out of these kids' book: Have no fear!
~MissBrooks
