Community Clips for Written Feedback

Do you ever have students ask questions, questions, questions, when they receive a writing back?  I've always found that giving constructive feedback for my students has been a balancing act: Try to give them as much information as I can about the writing and yet not spend half an hour a paper.

Solution? Record yourself looking at a student's paper.

So in conjunction with the macros I have set up on my Word (go here if you would like to do it for yourself), I decided to try using a screen-cast, something that records my computer screen and voice, as I look over a paper.

The Idea

While you are giving feedback, however you give feedback, record the paper and your voice.  This way you can show they what is wrong and how to fix it while you are doing it.  You then make the video available to the students.  They can go over and fix their mistakes at their own speed.

This can not only save you class time by not having to spend as much time assisting individual students, but also the students can watch the video as much as they need to make the corrections.

You can do this in conjunction with how you already give feedback.

How to

Set Up

Set up a way for students to send you their written work.  You can use something as easy as email for this.  This is a perfect time to use Edmodo however.  It is a great tool and really easy to use.  You also don't have to worry about organizing things, searching through your email, or even giving away anything personal.

Get a Program

Download something to do a screen-cast.  I like CommunityClips.  It is easy, it does everything I want, and it does it for free.  There are others though, such as ScreenCast-o-Matic, though it leaves a watermark.

Record

While you look at the writing from the student, record yourself speaking the comments and how to fix it (or whatever you like to do).  Try to to have too much dead sound while you are doing it.  I try to read the paper out loud to them if I found myself silent for a time.  Community Clips (and I assume others) has a pause button, so you can take breaks or give yourself time to think.

Send back

Email or upload back to the students.  With Edmodo, this is super slick.  You can create an assignment and send it back to them really easily.  Other options would be to put on Youtube or some other share site.  The disadvantage here is that anyone can see it.

If you can think of any other good vessels of delivery, please write a comment!

Example

If you would like to set up the buttons (macros which make the grammar comments without me having to type it in), read this older post.

What would you do?

What do you think? Are you scared about the amount of work it would take? What kind of variations would you make?  Make a comment!

SketchCast

How do you see your role in the classroom? As a lecturer or a facilitator?  If you are a facilitator, you may like to flip your class.

Flipping the classroom is a bit of a trend right now,  and it is actually pretty easy to do.  I've tried it a couple times and have really enjoyed the results.  Here is the set up.

The Idea

Instead of doing exercises at home, do them in class.  Instead of lecturing in class, lecture at home.  That is the principle.  There  are many different reasons for doing it, and many resources for it.  This is a website that my teacher made which I found to be particularly useful explaining the studies done about it and how to do it.

What do to

Choose a topic to teach. I find that teaching grammar works really well for this.

Pick a way to present it.  Here is a nice picture that you may find helpful.

http://flippingclasspedagogyandtools.weebly.com/index.html

Then you pick a way to share it.  I just used a program on my iPad called Educreations.  I really liked it, found it really user friendly.

What do to do after

Now you class is freed up to actually use the grammar.  Have conversations and do exercises.  Have the students explore the topic as much as possible.

Here is the lesson I made and a follow up conversation to have the next day.



Here is one example of a follow up activity to do the next day.

What do you think?

What are your thoughts on Flipping the class? Any concerns? Do you have any favorite sites or lessons? Have you made one yourself?  Let me know!

Video Journals

Can the benefits of journaling be used to improve speaking?

After reading an article about recording students speech, I am thinking it would be worth a try.

The Idea

The original article focused on recording journal entries on tape and having students exchange them, which sounds like a whole lot of work on the teacher's end.

What I propose is that a student video journals and asks a question to the audience. They upload it to something like Youtube. Other students watch it and answer the question.

How to Do It

Students start with a topic related to class. Based on their level, they must speak about the topic for a predetermined period of time.  They record their spontaneous speech using a web cam (you can do this directly on Youtube).   At the end of the talk, the student must ask one or two questions to their audience. They upload it to YouTube.  Have your students "tag" the video with the name of your class so it is easier for everyone to find it.

To follow up, have students trade Youtube usernames.  The goal is to then have students listen to each other and give feedback, answering the questions either by a responding video, or in the comment section.

Example

Here is an example topic that could be given to students.

Read the Quote

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
George Washington

Without planning beforehand, answer the following questions in about 3 to 5 minutes.


1. What do you think this quote means?
2. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

3. What current events do these quotes remind you of?
4. Ask a question to your audience at the end (What do you know about... How do you feel about...)

As the follow up assignment:

Listen to a partner's monologue and answer their question at the end.  On their video, comment on one thing that you enjoyed about their talk.

Benefits

I've found that ungraded journals has really improved my students writing. When they are forced to produced for a certain amount of time but only for a participation grade, they feel like they are doing a good job.

It helps confidence. They know they can produce a certain amount of English. It also helps them hear their peers and learn from them as well.

Let me know if you give it a chance! How did you do it and how did it work out? Do you feel like it improved their speaking?

Source

Mir, M. (2006). Idea: Using "Oral Journals" to Develop Speaking Fluency, Self-Confidence and Much More! Hispania, 89(3), 559-561.