I know that as a Library Media Specialist, I am a teacher, but this week I really like to commend classroom teachers. Classroom teachers are constantly grading, planning and having time after of before school to give kids extra help. So this year I decided to do a project in the Media Center for the teachers. We have been working with Flipgrid and digital communication; so as I drove to school, I decided I was going to have students create short videos for their teachers. The great thing is that Flipgrid has an easy share feature where you can share student’s individual videos via a private link.
I really enjoy talking to students about how to add value to the lives of others; and how doing something nice for someone makes them feel good, but also impacts them in a positive way. So I opened up this week’s lesson having the students discuss nice things they have done in the past for someone and how it made both the person and themselves feel. It was important to me that students were in the right mindset when they were thinking about what they would say to their teachers in their videos. In grades 3-5, the students first wrote what they wanted to say, and then were able to record it using flipgrid. I created a spreadsheet to keep track of all the video links for each teacher. The students also happen to be taking standardized tests this week, so it was great lesson that engaged students and added value to others while incorporating digital communication.
For grades K-2, students each wrote one sentence thanking their teacher for something or telling their teacher something they like about their class. After students were done writing, I took them aside one by on, and recorded on the iPad each child saying their sentence to their teacher. During this time, the other students were using the Legos and lego challenge cards to build and create. After all of the videos were recorded, I used iMovie to put them all together, added a title and downloaded the video. It was so quick and easy, and now I am able to send the video off to each teacher.
When I first thought to this, I thought it would be a lot of work so I made sure to keep myself on track each day with checking the videos and organizing the links with a spreadsheet. It does take a little bit of extra time, but I have been organizing the videos each day, and on Friday, I will be able to send all the links out to the teachers! I think it is important to incorporate ways to use digital media for personal communication and sharing their messages with others!
The feedback I received from teachers on this project was incredible! Over the weekend, they emailed me all of their thanks and appreciation. Like I tell the kids, when you make someone else happy, it makes you happy too. A lot of times for teacher appreciation week, teachers receive gifts and food from their PTA and administration, but they don’t always get to hear the words of the students. They were so appreciative. I highly recommend using your technology skills to make someone else’s day!
