MACUL Space

connecting educators & enhancing learning

F2F Instructional Strategies

In this discussion forum share what you have learned about face to face instructional strategies. What do you plan to implement into your classroom? What do you already do in your classroom that was covered in the lecture?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Elise Fiechtner on February 28, 2012 at 3:14pm

Jing is a great tool to use for teaching and learning! The possibilities for use in the classroom are endless. I love the idea of using these videos as resources for students who are absent and miss out on classroom content. I also think screen casts are really powerful as a teaching tool, simply because kids access the content through a different, more unique medium. Student created Jing videos require that students truly understand the content as they must become the teachers. Not only do they have to understand the lesson, but they must synthesize the content and use it to teach others in their own way. Great ideas!

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Bramble on February 27, 2012 at 10:52pm

I was glad to realize that I already use several technologies along with my F2F teaching. I recently bought myself an LCD projector (yeah dont ask why the school didnt get me one) and i KNOW that will enhance the things I can do. Just this past week I have shown the entire class how to log into Toondoo.com at the same time, glogster.com at the same time... also I could show them my examples and how the fit or didnt fit the rubric I had created for their project. I look forward to including YouTube videos... tho that site is blocked, but there is TeacherTube that has all educational videos.

One other way we can engage the kids is by using LanSchool. It is a software product that has to be purchased, but it is fairly cheap. It can be put on all the computers. THis programs allows teachers to monitor all of the screens of the students' computers. As the teacher you can take over their screens to log them out of a site (or off the computer) or you can take over their screen ( like adobe connect sorta) to share your screen and walk them through a tutorial or demo while they are all at their own seats. I have had the use of this product and i really like it. When facebook and twitter wasnt blocked (and they knew the proxies around the block) you can really monitor then and let them know you want them to get to work.

Other than those things I already use, I hope to create more PP in Kiosk shows to use for those students who need to review over and over again. For my 811 stAIR i did a show on identifying ionic and covalent compounds. I want to expand on that to get into how to name ionic compounds (3 separate types of naming) and covalent naming ( 1 method) as well as how to write the formulas for them. I guess I have a project for my summer!

As much of a GEEK as I thought I was, I have learned so much, and have passed a lot of info onto my coworkers!

Permalink Reply by Kristin Baljet on March 1, 2012 at 10:16am

In reading over all of our classes postings, I realize ours are very similar. I also use an LCD projector to show visuals during my lessons. I love Teacher Tube and that my school district does not bock it from our use. You mentioned also using Toonoo. I just checked it out and it looks like students could have a great time creating cartoons. Thank you for the idea!

Also, I really like the idea or having LanSchool or a program like in our school computer labs. Monitoring all of the kids at once while walking around the classroom can be very difficult, and I would love to have them all on my screen. I think the purchase of this product would be well worth it. Thank you for sharing!

Permalink Reply by Amy P. on February 28, 2012 at 8:45pm

I have to say that face to face instructional strategies have helped make lessons more exciting for both my students as well as myself. My school just rolled out Interactive Whiteboards that I love using as much as possible. Students actively participate and we print out our collaborations to serve as charts around the room. Just recently my Document Camera was connected through my computer so that I can use it with my interactive tools. Using this new feature I have posted student work on the Interactive Whiteboard, added to it with interactive tools, taken a screen shot, and printed the revision without damaging the original. I am looking forward to exploring the clickers as soon as the hubs are set up around my building!

Permalink Reply by Lonna Hill on February 29, 2012 at 2:49am

It is inspiring to hear all the things you say that you do with your Interactive Whiteboard and document camera. I have both of these tools but don't use them as much as I should. The learning curve is steep, and when I am first starting out with a new technology, it takes so much time (and frustration) to learn it well before it becomes second nature and just comes naturally. Hearing this helps me to remember that it will all be worth it in the end. Thanks for sharing!

Permalink Reply by Lonna Hill on February 29, 2012 at 2:43am

I already use many of the technologies listed in the lecture. I've used YouTube videos quite often to break up a lecture or as a "hook" to get students interested. I've also used VoiceThread quite a lot for a variety of activities, some that worked well and others that didn't go as hoped. The latest success I had with VoiceThread was as a tool to create a digital storybook as a class. Each student was assigned a different part of the story, did an illustration, and created an oral comment to tell their part of the story. At the end we had a class book. My classes that did that project did a really great job. I also use Google docs quite a lot. Whenever I assign group projects my students create the documents they need in google docs so that they can collaborate easier. They also share the document with me so that I can easily look at their progress and make comments to them.

I also have some tools available that I don't really use as much as I could/should. These are a document projector and a smartboard. My smartboard often ends up being used as just a screen for my projector. I used it much more frequently as a humanities teacher, but since am now teaching Chrisitian Studies, I just don't use it as often as I did.

Some other techniques that I would like to implement or experiment with are class blogs as a way to carry on class discussions outside the classroom. It would be a chance for my quieter students to participate and be heard. I also would like to do more with screencasting and videos that I make myself. I'm interested in the concept of the "flipped classroom" and would like to experiment with that a bit. Using screencasts and videos would help me do that.

Permalink Reply by Kristin Baljet on March 1, 2012 at 10:07am

I have not had a chance to use all of the instructional strategies that our CEP811 lecture covered this week. However, my favorite face to face instructional strategy is to use visuals such as movies and pictures as often as possible in class. I use images and video clips introductions to lessons, as a means to scaffold the lesson for my visual and audio learners, and as a means to show my students the wonderful things available to them online. To show images and videos I use Teacher Tube, which is often not blocked in our community schools. When I cannot find what I need on Teacher Tube I will often stream video through Amazon or iTunes. To project these visuals to my class, I use a laptop or classroom computer that is connected to an LCD projector. I do not have a Smart Board, but I feel the projector is truly all I need for my lessons. With the projector students can present online presentations and learn from my scaffolding visuals.

My future goal is to use clickers or cell phone texting to check for understanding. I cannot wait to have immediate response to a survey projected immediately onto the board. :)

Permalink Reply by Jenny Hancock on March 1, 2012 at 11:12pm

I am like you, I haven't been able to try all the instructional strategies in my classroom; however, I found that I did use a few of them, but never really thought about them being in this category. I have use PowerPoint for visuals to enhance my lesson, I've used pictures, YouTube videos, and United Streaming. Our school had wanted to block YouTube and its sites, but so many teachers made a case to keep it for education, that it wasn't blocked. Although I never had a projector or SMART board, I did have a computer hooked up to a TV. This was the best I had, and made it work.

I would also like to explore the use of clickers and/or using cell phones. However, teaching first grade students, most of them do not have cell phones... yet. One day I can see it coming. Our school didn't have the resources to purchase clickers, I could see a lot of great uses for these.

Permalink Reply by Sara Perrin on March 1, 2012 at 7:14pm

I would really like to start by introducing my students to blogging or some other online discussion. When conducting in class discussions, so many student are left out of the experience because they are too shy to talk in front of the class, or because it takes them a little while longer to think about what they want to say. I t would be beneficial for them to have access to a prompt after an in class activity and be able to comment on it during their own time. I think this would create more of an environment where each student would feel comfortable sharing, and really allow everyone to open up.

Permalink Reply by Sandy Tam on March 4, 2012 at 9:21am

Teaching grade 2 means that a discussion tends to be short because of the students' relatively short attention span.

Often many students need some think time to process the information and to formulate a response and a blog would be the ideal solution to participate in a discussion outside of the classroom or for homework. I have found that those who are quick at processing information and are articulate often dominate the class discusions. I must try it out to test the theory!

Permalink Reply by Jenny Hancock on March 1, 2012 at 11:21pm

I have learned many was to communicate via F2F strategies in my current class. I had already involved several of these, but never put them in this category. I use PowerPoint on some occasions to help enhance a lesson. I used videos, and pictures to show students more details about a topic. I did find the use of PowerPoint Kiosk mode quite fun to use, although time consuming to create a presentation. I would not mind creating more of these, but during down time or professional days.

I would also like to have more experience with clickers or using cell phones/touch pads to create surveys and quizzes to have instant student feedback. I think these resources would be great in a classroom because students use technology that they already love to "play" with, and they know how to use it, so very little teaching of this technology would be needed. Students could input their ideas or answer the quiz and then as a classroom we could dissect incorrect answers. The downside to this is that purchasing clickers is expensive, and young students like first graders) do not have personal cell phones or touch devises that older students would most likely have. Using this technology in a young elementary classroom could be a challenge.

Permalink Reply by Jon Lind on March 2, 2012 at 9:02am

I work one-on-one, rather than in a classroom, but one of the greatest tools my students use in our sessions is the smartphone. One of my students texts faster than she types, so she uses her phone to take notes, and even write papers on Google Docs. A couple of my students use speech-to-text apps instead of typing, again uploading right to Google Docs. Sometimes we have little competitions to see who can find the best video to explain a subject (like DNA replication: what better way to explain that than a video animation?). I like that phones put a great deal of power in the hands of my students, especially the ones with learning difficulties.