If you’ve ever felt stymied over the fact that some of your students aren’t sure how to write a thesis while others are ready to tackle counterargument, today’s episode is for you.
Not so long ago, Kareem Farah of the Modern Classrooms Project was here to share the MCP vision for a differentiated blended classroom, and how it can support all learners (and all teachers!). Today, his founding partner, Rob Barnett, joins us to follow up, sharing specific techniques for easily creating instructional videos and learning roadmaps in ELA.
We want to help you design writing units that let your students move through the material at their own pace, reviewing and repeating lessons when they want to, skipping ahead when they’re ready.
Let’s dive in.
The Bike Tour Guide to Education Today
First, a little background. In this TedX talk, Rob shares his motivation for creating the differentiated, blended model of the Modern Classrooms Project. If you’re new to the ideas of MCP, this is a fantastic quick introduction.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about how to zoom in on one key aspect of designing differentiated writing instruction for students, whether or not you decide to fully embrace the MCP approach – creating short videos that can help students learn, revisit, and review key ideas when it comes to their writing. With a toolkit of short writing videos at the ready, you’ll be better equipped to help reach students where they are in your writing program.
So let’s get into how to do it.
How to Create an Instructional Video
Start with a clear purpose. Your video will be short and concise, replacing direct instruction that you would otherwise provide to everyone at once. For example, maybe your video will explain what a topic sentence is. Students who struggle with the concept can watch it as much as they want, and students who know the concept already can skip it. The video will free you up in class to work directly with students.
So how do you begin recording?
If you can get on a Zoom call, you can record an instructional video. Rob suggests you simply start a call with yourself, hit the record button, explain your concept, and then end the recording. It doesn’t have to be perfect or professional, it just needs to be personal. If it’s real and feels like you, students actually like that best. It’s OK to make mistakes, students appreciate your authenticity and connect to it. They’ll probably laugh over those very mistakes with you later.
In terms of what to have on your screen as you teach, there are as many version of visual aids as there are teachers. There’s not one right way – do what feels right to you.
For Rob, a simple Google Slideshow without too much text and some basic animations works well. A slide might have just two or three bullets with two or three words each. This gives students something to write down as they watch and helps Rob stay organized with his main ideas.
If you have a webcam option, you can put your face in the corner of the video as well, but you don’t have to. Don’t let worries about your background and lighting stop you from making the video, it’s OK not to record yourself for that tiny square of your face.
A good video presentation has very similar qualities to a good live presentation. You don’t have to change your pedagogy dramatically to record an instructional video. The main thing is just “How can I – in 5 or 10 minutes – explain one skill or point in a way that brings it across to my students?”
Remember, stick with short videos that cover one idea. You want students to be able to watch quick videos and then close their screens so they can get back to class activities – writing, collaborating, reading something, working with you. You don’t want to record an hour of content covering all aspects of, for example, argument writing. You’d want to break that up into eight or ten videos, so students can target the specific area they’re working on and then move into practice or revision after watching.
These videos you create can also be linked in your comments on the writing, to help students review concepts they are struggling with, perhaps as part of a series of common errors hyperdocs like the ones shown below.
Build your video library gradually – start by making one, and little by little you’ll build a helpful bank you can rely on in the years to come.
Check out this free guide to creating instructional videos from The Modern Classrooms Project.
Creating Interactivity in your Videos
A good video is like a good live lesson – normally if you were presenting an idea, you’d ask students to interact and engage. One way to build in that engagement with a video could be taking active notes as they listen. You might share guided notes, providing a copy of the slides with missing information so students can add ideas as they watch, or you could invite them to use any type of note taking strategy you like. Unlike a slideshow in class, videos allow student to pause if they need time to finish their notes on a certain section.
Another helpful option for engaging directly with the video is to use a platform like EdPuzzle, where you can give every student a chance to practice what they’re learning without any risk of looking bad in front of peers. EdPuzzle (and others like it) allow you to insert questions at points throughout the video, so you can see how students are understanding what they’re watching, and give them a chance to check for their own retention.
As you consider your strategies for interactivity, you can also think about different ways students can use the video – will it be a base part of a lesson, and a review option, and a linked resource in paper comments? You’ve got a lot of options, and you may wish to use the video in different formats or with different prompts in multiple places.
Organizing an Independent Unit
As you build your video library, you’ll need a system for organizing your writing unit or writing program so students can find what they need to keep moving forward.
You can use your LMS, a Google Doc checklist, a tracker, a digital gameboard – the goal is to create something clear, logical, and linear for students so they can see what they need to do and when.
Take a look at some of the MCP templates below for ideas. Your guiding document will be helpful to your students and to you as well, as it will help you integrate backwards design from the goal you have for your students back to the very first step of the process.
Check out the MCP Progress Trackers examples and templates you can use for free, some of which are pictured above.
Go Further with the Modern Classrooms Project
Want to see more of what MCP has to offer for your classroom? Explore classrooms using this method, or take the full free course to help you get started.
Connect with Rob Barnett
Robert Barnett is a proud father, husband, brother, and son, currently based in his hometown of Washington, DC. He speaks English, French, and Spanish, and has taught math, computer science, entrepreneurship, Theory of Knowledge, English, and law at the secondary and post-secondary levels, in the U.S. and Switzerland. He is a former City Year corps member and graduated cum laude from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. When not playing sports, exploring the outdoors, or enjoying time with his family, he ensures that MCP offers the best PD on the planet.
Learn more about Rob’s book, Meet Every Learner’s Needs, here.
