Multimedia Makes Learning Meaningful

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have really come to understand the importance of infusing multi-media into my instruction in a more deliberate way.  Reading the research about online readers and the F-pattern, I have noticed that I, too, have become an inattentive, impatient online reader.  I find myself scanning text and looking for headings, graphics, and visual aids to support my understanding.  If I'm reading like that, surely, the digital natives sitting in my classroom are reading like that.  This makes me reconsider how I write and communicate with students and parents.  

Avoid those full-page paragraphs and include multimedia to enhance comprehension, communication, and collaboration in the digital age in the following ways:

Audio Recording and Podcasting

• Increasing Fluency - record reading to improve fluency  
• Reflecting on Learning - use audio to reflect on work produced
• Engaging Students in Content - use audio recordings to draw students into a lesson
• Conducting Research - listen to audio interviews as primary source research

First-grader engaged in an asynchronous
 math talk with a student from another town.

Video Creation

• Creating Book Trailers - share the love of books by creating book reviews using amazing apps like iMovie and Clips
• Recording Student Voice - promote student voice and collaboration using Flipgrid videos
• Documenting Learning - showcase student learning through videos posted on digital portfolios such as Seesaw

Graphic Design

Learning through
Graphic Design

• Adding Color, Font, and Formatting - enhance how students process information
• Learning through Infographics - deliver information and showcase learning in a new and inviting format

Digital News

• Sharing Digitally - create newsletters using Clips or Seesaw video message
• Engaging Parents - post digital challenges for families to complete together

Screencasting

• Cloning yourself - be in two places at once to teach, reteach, give directions for a game or center activity
• Teaching Parents - provide information to parents about content, events, and utilizing technology at home
• Showcasing Student Learning - record screencast videos to document learning

Computer Generated Simulations

Students running a simulated
business using Osmo

• Collaborating with Others - Breakout EDU or, even better, Digital Breakout EDU
• Visiting the World - visit otherwise inaccessible field trip locations using virtual reality
• Real-Life Learning - run a business using Osmo Pizza Company 

Connecting with Educators

• Tweeting - post what's happening in your classroom, find instructional nuggets to try in your own classroom, or connect with a network of educators
• Collaborating Across Schools - use tools like Seesaw, blogs, or Flipgrid so students can reach out to others across town or across the world to share ideas with an authentic audience

Integrating multimedia into my instructional toolbox has enhanced student learning and increased student engagement.

School to Home Communication Make-over

In the Beginning

Old school newsletter that was sent home to
parents.  Originally paper copies.  Then as a
PDF through email.

When I began as a classroom teacher, I sent a newsletter to families twice a month.  Newsletters included curriculum updates, important upcoming dates/events, and a Questions to Ask section that provided parents questions they could ask their child instead of asking, "What did you do at school today?"  For which every student on the face of the planet responds, "Nothing."  

Packed with information I thought was meaningful to parents, it was colorful and fun.  Spending hours to create it, I prided myself on writing a newsletter parents would find helpful.  Based on the phone calls and emails I received with parent questions about events and curriculum, I'd have to say not many parents were reading the News You Can Use.

Moving Into the Technological Age

Using Apple's iWeb application, the News You Can Use newsletter moved into the modern era. Sure, the content didn't change much.  It included much of the same information as the traditional newsletter. I continued to update the curriculum twice a month, but I posted homework and events daily. Being online, I thought it benefited both students and parents. This way everyone had access to grade level information at their fingertips.  I don't even have access to that website anymore to picture it.

Communicating in my New Role

Screenshot of Differntiation Digest website.

As I transitioned into the role of a differentiation specialist, I continued publishing to a website collaboratively with others in my role across the district.  The Differentiation Digest website offered suggestions for differentiating in the classroom and links to helpful resources.  Then our district told us that Google Sites would no longer be available and we stopped publishing to that website.

That Was Then, This is Now

This year, in addition to my role as Differentiation Specialist, I teach a section of 3rd/4th grade Math. I have a Seesaw account on which my students post work to keep families connected to what's going on in the classroom.  Every student has at least one connected family member.  Families enjoy the window into the classroom that this digital portfolio provides.  It gives them a clear picture of how well their student is performing at school and

keeps the lines of communication open.  Seesaw's announcement feature makes it easy to push out my weekly Seesaw Math Challenge which invites students and their families to respond.  I also use the announcement feature to post screencasts to support both students and parents with new content.  For example, I posted a screencast teaching parents how to use partial quotients division method so they could better support students as they practiced at home.

Communication They'll Actually Use

In addition to the Seesaw Learning Journal, I still found it necessary to email parents at the beginning of each unit of math instruction to give them a preview of the standards and skills students will be learning.  Reflecting on conversations across my building, I am looking to switch up my method of communication. Many other educators in my school communicate with Smore Newsletters which are then emailed to parents to access.  Teachers are spending hours writing content for parents, and their newsletters look absolutely amazing.

Even better, a Smore subscription comes with analytics so teachers can see who is reading the newsletter and clicking the links embedded within it.  Just amazing!  What's even more amazing than that?  The analytics have shown that not many parents are accessing the information that teachers are spending hours writing, editing, and publishing.  Personally, I like to listen to podcasts and watch webinars.  Those formats make it easy for me to learn on the go.  I can listen while I'm driving or even grocery shopping.  With all of this in mind, my goal is to transform the way I communicate with parents.  I'm diving into the audio/video age of communication.  Using Apple's Clips app, I'm attempting to create an audio/video newsletter.  With this format, I can post the video to Seesaw and/or Twitter for parents to access.  I'm curious to see how my school to home communication make-over is received.

Apple's Clips app makes it easy to make professional looking
audio/video newsletters.