Multimedia Tools in Education EDU677

Multimedia at its Best!

Throughout the 8 week course: Multimedia Tools in Education I've grown my tech-integration skills into my classroom more than I have in the last year alone. I've felt that at every resource offered during this course, I was finding and learning new ways to add to my 4th grade classroom lessons and planning. I've encouraged students to master a concept through offering various multimedia components. Each component was carefully aligned and designed with a specific student or group of students in mind. Reflection has also occurred with every new try of a tech tool in my instruction. This has ultimately built my confidence and quickness with creating and integrating tech throughout the school day. I'm becoming more and more comfortable and eager to plan using technology for the benefit of my students, and that is exciting!

Below are two artifacts which I am most proud of that I created throughout the last 8 weeks. 

The tall tale poster was a poster I created with a new tool I explored called: Piktochart. Through this assignment I was exposed to tools which allowed for creation with graphics to explain a topic. My students frequently struggle with the attributes of a tall tale in our 2nd trimester writing unit. I chose to make a resource that could serve both as an anchor chart or reference page for students to refer to during their writing of a tall tale. I also used this tool as a reference to teach the components of the tall tale as students were reading various tall tales. Additionally, I shared this tall tale with my colleagues and teammates and many of them have used it with their students as well. 

One of my favorite parts of this anchor chart and resource is it's color scheme and modern - feel. I think my choice in graphics lead to a flow of information and an emphasis on the important attributes of a tall tale. 

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The following artifact of a Homework Help video is the first of its kind in my classroom. This premiere of an attempt to help students and parents understand "new math" ideas and skills which has been a request by families in my classroom for a few years. This year, at parent teacher conferences, many parents expressed frustration with how to do this "new math".  They shared that the students were solving using tools and strategies they had not used as children. Parents felt helpless when it came to assisting with homework and studying for tests. Thus was born the idea to create quick insight on what students are expected to do on their homework. It additionally has begun to serve as a quick review to what we do in class each day. 

I've begun recording quick 5-10 screen videos on Loom in which I email home for homework help each night. Not only am I helping keep the lesson practice alive at home, but I'm encouraging students to get to the point in their own learning where they will be able to record the Homework Help video for a specific topic. The engagement and student accuracy on homework in my classroom has drastically increased for the better! Students and parents are watching these videos together and sharing conversations on "new math" ideas and skills. 

This video was a launching point in my career to remind myself how easy and effective one tweak in lesson planning can make. I'm feeling more confident with each video I make and record. I've had wonderful feedback from parents and best yet: I'm thinking of starting my own You Tube Homework Help Channel....stay tuned for the link here soon!

Homework Help Video #1 Link