Sharing how we 'Rewind to Remind'...

Here is my first ever screencast. It describes how I have set up my google drive to store my digital modelling folders for learners to access immediately after lessons. Hopefully this will inspire a few more Chromebook teachers to have a go at using 'Rewind to Remind'. 
Fiona Grant captured this process on digitally and will share the work flow early next term.

Here is the link to my site if you wish to see how my learners access our 'Rewind to Remind' modelling clips.




Here is the link to Mele's blog post that explains in her words how we use 'R2R' in our maths time.

Rewind to Remind is alive in LS2!

Last year after observing +Chantal Millward using Explain Everything (EE) on her iPad to create a rewindable learning resource, we asked +Fiona Grant to show us how we could include EE in our Chromebook classes. Rewindable learning has always been alive in our learning space, but this year I am making a conscious effort to make this more visible.  +Karen Ferguson shared the 'Rewind to Remind' image with me (an image she too is using this year), so these buttons now have a permanent place on our LS2 class site. 

In my case it has been start as you mean to go on. Using EE as a modelling book is so new to me I am still at the stage of being very aware that I am using it. Natural progression between what I am teaching and recording is very much still a work in progress, however despite the fact I am totally out of my comfort zone, I am using the tool and I love it!

Everyone has to start somewhere, so my somewhere is with my maths group. I have shared with my learners the fact this is my personal learning challenge so they are very supportive. Each time we review the recording I ask for their feedback. Today one student told me I need to 'speak more like a normal lady.' He was not being disrespectful, he just didn't have the vocabulary to tell me I sounded like a robot. He then went on to tell me to speak like I normally do and not to worry about how fast I write the numbers. I think this is brilliant feedback. It shows that I value my learner's opinions and it also shows them that when we are learning something new it is ok to make mistakes. This is definitely a win - win situation.  

Despite the obvious floors in my published EE clip, I confidently guided one learner back to the 'Rewind to Remind' (R2R) button. She told me afterwards that the 'R2R' was a good idea because no one else knew she needed to look at it. I suggested that she have another look at home tonight so she could practise her new learning from today.

To Chromebook teachers who are yet to venture into this realm, I absolutely recommend taking the first step. The speed at which you can upload this to your google drive means that rewindable learning is immediately available to your learners, making it a useable and valuable resource to enhance your teaching program.

Learning from my colleagues...

During the 'iPads in a Chromebook class' toolkit last week lead by Fiona Grant, I saw how valuable Explain Everything could be to me as a teacher in a Chromebook classroom. Explain Everything (EE) is a tool the junior syndicates across our cluster have been using for a number of years, but not something I have used in my class. Fiona showed us how effective using EE as a digital modelling book could be. The simplicity and efficiency to provide an immediate form of rewindable learning hooked me in immediately, so I arranged a time the following day to observe Chantal Millward using EE as a modelling book with her Year 2/3 class.

I saw first hand how valuable this was as a way of capturing student voice and teacher evidence. The subtle way Chantal used the record button meant that the conversation she captured was real and in the same place as her written teaching prompts. This was then uploaded to the group's EE task page before they had even returned to their seats, giving them immediate access to their guided session should they wish to revisit it.

My next step is to collaborate with Fiona to create a 'how to' DLO to show other Chromebook teachers how EE can be used to strengthen rewindable learning opportunities in their classrooms.

Self Evaluation and Rewindable Learning

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about seizing an opportunity to film a learning conversation in action. Today I began by asking these learners to think about yesterday's reciprocal reading lesson. We talked about what they liked, what went well and what they might do differently next time; and then I shared the  footage I captured. I asked my learners to look closely at their own contributions. Initially their were a few giggles but as the footage progressed I listened to the conversation that was taking place. This was rich and authentic. Afterwards I sat down to have a debrief with them. One student chose to write his observations down so was quite detailed in his responses, one was eager to share that he noticed he was really good at working collaboratively, and the others were keen to tell me that they had all been active participants. 

I asked each person what they would do differently next time to make the most of the learning talk. Click here to read Daniel's blog post about his group's collaborative evaluation of their learning.

Today I repeated the process with another group. Our screen was in use and I wanted to harness the power of capturing today's footage as this group were keen to watch themselves, so I simply replayed their movie on my phone. Click here to read Jeremiah's blog post about his group's collaborative evaluation of their learning.

This is not a tool I would use all the time as the power of the novelty would wear off. However it is definitely a tool I will use to help my learner's see what their learning looks like when I need them to notice and evaluate their own learning.