The countdown timers are easy to adjust for time allotment and appearance. The random name selector lets you enter a list of names and save it for unlimited reuse. The noise meter lets you set a sensitivity level and have an alarm sound when the room gets too noisy. I'm so glad that she suggested it beccause Classroomscreen is fantastic!Ĭlassroomscreen is a service that lets you create a homescreen on which you can place reusable countdown timers, stopwatches, noise meters, random name selectors, and more helpful classroom management tools. A reader named Erin replied to the newsletter with a suggestion to try a tool called Classroomscreen. It was the result of an engaging process merging with important work-and the promise of a real audience-that has made using a green screen such a success.A couple of weeks ago my Practical Ed Tech weekly newsletter was all about timers and random selectors. It wasn’t just one assignment that made the work so memorable. If you’ve ever seen students lose track of time when devoting themselves to a task or express delight at the sight of their own finished work, you know why green screens are a staple in my classroom. The process motivated students to do their best: Students often rerecorded their videos multiple times, working to fluently read or emphasize certain words. The story characters were mounted on green strips of cardboard (which were folded for added strength).Įvery time our class used this educational tool, I was impressed with students’ work. Next, they individually drew and cut out the characters of their stories. To do this, they drew the setting of their book on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and took a photo of this drawing. Green screen with a student-created background: During Writer’s Workshop, students wanted to promote their original stories with book trailers to feature their characters and other important story details. Once they had completed certain research steps pertaining to their geographic location, groups selected a video to use as their promotional video backdrop and wrote a script. Students enjoyed the opportunities to respond to and interact with the videos.įor example, in one video students “became” National Geographic reporters in different locations throughout North America. Green screen with a moving background: As time went on, our comfort grew with this technology, and we started to utilize video, rather than still images, as a background. Last, I tap the plus sign and use the original image as my base layer. Next, I take a screenshot in landscape mode. To create these custom backgrounds, I use Microsoft Word or Google Docs and build fictional characters or real people into the images. At a green screen journal station, my students were able to respond to fictional characters from their math textbook. Green screen with self-created still image background: Math journaling was always something that my students endured rather than enjoyed-until we used the green screen. This small step worked magic for engagement. Students wrote stories or poems, selected backgrounds, and then presented their work in front of the screen. Green screen with downloaded still image background: I began using a green screen by playing with simple backgrounds. Green screens offer opportunities for expressive, process-oriented work that can be shared as a class and with families. Without a real audience for work, assignments can feel insignificant and students can feel unmotivated. In remote learning, teachers no longer have hallways to display the work of students. In my own classroom, green screens-a video production technique in which two or more video or image streams are layered together-have helped me embed opportunities for students to create and reflect on learning. Additionally, a multimodal approach has been shown to sharpen memory and improve attention to difficult tasks.įorms of technology that do more than just replace pencil-and-paper tasks are a great way to incorporate multimodal learning. My 15 years as an educator have taught me that a multimodal approach to learning-that is, working with different forms of media and with a number of senses-is one of the best ways to differentiate, build knowledge, and inspire creativity. So it may be necessary, now more than ever, to embrace technology as a way of tapping into student interest. Although much has changed in education over these last few months, students’ curiosity and wonder have not. It’s about asking the right questions, using the right tools, and igniting students’ curiosity to engage with content-even when we’re not in the same physical space. Teaching has always been as much about what we do as how we do it.
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