Every teacher thinks at one point or another how helpful it would be to have multiples of themselves in their classes to better help their students. Imagine how much could be accomplished if there was a way to just click a button and suddenly each student had their own personalized teacher appear along their side to help them through a lesson. I've even facetiously made the comment to my students that I'm working on a machine to clone myself so that I could teach them even more. However, with all joking aside, I realized that I was sort of already doing that with technology.
We've been using lesson recordings posted on YouTube for blended learning, flipped lessons and assessments for a while resulting in increased learning and a more expedient use of time. In other words, we've created an environment whereby students can have a virtual 1:1 student/teacher ratio with just a click of a play button. Instead of recording long lectures, I segment the videos into mini lessons and sequence them at regular intervals during a unit of study. These video tools and techniques increase engagement and save time along the way.
I of course still go through the lesson with them and am available as always to guide them through the unit, but the videos give students an added, familiar and easy to use resource that augments traditional instruction. Students that view the lessons at home have commented that it's nice to have their teacher available via videos in their own homes, although it was kind of strange at first to hear their teacher's voice in their house. They've also said that it's a huge advantage to them to be able to pause, rewind and even repeat the video lessons at their own pace. While observing them watching the videos I often see them pause the video, perform a task and then resume the video to proceed with the lesson. One may refer to this type of instruction as digital differentiation. Another added advantage is the fact that I've created questions and links in some of the videos so that students can interact with them too.
Some students have even commented that they prefer the digital version of me over the real thing, because when they just want to watch a demonstration and don't need the audio they just mute me. Below is an example of my students viewing a video lesson just prior to a ceramics project. I've taught my students to use kind common sense in setting their volume levels, thus negating the need for headphones and ear buds. The voices in the video are actually the overlapping narrations of myself going through the upcoming lesson. Our students are very used to living in a world with multiple audio sources and have no problem focusing on their specific device sound. Upon initially hearing all the videos play one time a student said that it was like having "a bunch of Mr. Codilla's in the room". Maybe I am getting a little closer to cloning myself?
We've been using lesson recordings posted on YouTube for blended learning, flipped lessons and assessments for a while resulting in increased learning and a more expedient use of time. In other words, we've created an environment whereby students can have a virtual 1:1 student/teacher ratio with just a click of a play button. Instead of recording long lectures, I segment the videos into mini lessons and sequence them at regular intervals during a unit of study. These video tools and techniques increase engagement and save time along the way.
I of course still go through the lesson with them and am available as always to guide them through the unit, but the videos give students an added, familiar and easy to use resource that augments traditional instruction. Students that view the lessons at home have commented that it's nice to have their teacher available via videos in their own homes, although it was kind of strange at first to hear their teacher's voice in their house. They've also said that it's a huge advantage to them to be able to pause, rewind and even repeat the video lessons at their own pace. While observing them watching the videos I often see them pause the video, perform a task and then resume the video to proceed with the lesson. One may refer to this type of instruction as digital differentiation. Another added advantage is the fact that I've created questions and links in some of the videos so that students can interact with them too.
Some students have even commented that they prefer the digital version of me over the real thing, because when they just want to watch a demonstration and don't need the audio they just mute me. Below is an example of my students viewing a video lesson just prior to a ceramics project. I've taught my students to use kind common sense in setting their volume levels, thus negating the need for headphones and ear buds. The voices in the video are actually the overlapping narrations of myself going through the upcoming lesson. Our students are very used to living in a world with multiple audio sources and have no problem focusing on their specific device sound. Upon initially hearing all the videos play one time a student said that it was like having "a bunch of Mr. Codilla's in the room". Maybe I am getting a little closer to cloning myself?
Wil Codilla is a public school teacher, designer, and speaker. @WilCodilla