Right now, we are on a modified schedule of half the school attends Monday and Tuesday, while the other half comes on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is our day for deep cleaning but next week, all students will come to school from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm so we have time at the end of the day to deep clean. The first week in October, we'll be going full days with all the students but that could change if we get any more cases in town.
With everything the way it is, I've put some serious consideration into how I'm going to do things this year. I've set up google classroom for all my classes and the one thing I've done for the first time, is to begin creating my own videos for students. I am not recording the whole lecture. Instead, I am making short to the point videos lasting no more than 10 minutes.
The other night, I made three, one for Algebra I, one for Algebra II, and one for my Pre-calculus class. Each video covers the material so they can see how to do the work. They were really easy to make. I used my iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and my copy of Stage Pro. Stage Pro is an app put out by Belkin and it turns your iPad into a document camera or allows you to record videos.
I will tell you that it costs to buy but they do have a free version. I have both but use the pro version because it has everything. It allows me to set a plan background and record myself as if I am doing a lecture on a white board or I can put plane graph paper or graph paper with the traditional X, Y coordinate system. In addition, I can bring in a photo of a problem I've done a head of time and write over it like I might do if I were showing students how to find an error. I also have my choice of fine line aka college ruled or large ruled paper to use as a background if I have trouble writing in straight lines. There are maps offered but I focused on the things I prefer using.
The app offers a choice of 8 ink colors tow write with and a pen with a choice of four thicknesses that resembler everything from a pen or pencil to a thick marker and three choices of an eraser. If you are not great at basic shapes such as triangles, squares, or circles, the app offers you these shapes. You can enlarge the shapes to create a colored background. I can type information or add sticky notes or labels to the product so as to show what is important or show steps. There is even a choice for making your own labels.
I had fun using the app to create videos. It was easy to start and pause the recording as I filmed myself. I could stop the video, change the background such as going from a graph to a whiteboard and then start recording again. The button showing the time, is the pause button while the original record button starts and stops the buttons.
Although it saves the videos on the iPad, it was easy to upload them to google drive and from there one can place the videos into google classroom. I can also provide each student with a link so they can download all videos from google drive. Furthermore, the district is working on arranging for students to be able to take computers home so they can download all information and work to the computers so they do not have to rely on internet.
Out in rural Alaska, internet is not the most reliable thing and many families cannot afford it due to the cost so allowing students to download videos and assignments means they can work at home but if we go to red, the school has ordered a bunch of thumb drives that teachers can download the info to and the thumb drives can be picked up by the student or their parents when they pick up lunch.
I am proud of myself because I finally started making videos. I plan to make videos for every lesson so students can keep up. This all works for students whose families end up on quarantine on a regular basis. Before you assume, we have parents and students who have to travel due to their jobs or due to medical so when they return, they and the whole family have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. These videos allow students to stay up with all work while being quarantined.
Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.
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