Backchannel in the Classroom

I've done it a million times, "Here are the questions, they go along with the video, and yes they are in order."   What do I end up with?  Most students complete the questions, but it's just repeated back from the video or copied off of their neighbor with little to no thought at all.

Last year I used CoverItLive as a way for students that weren't participating in our skype debates with other classes to contribute their part to the debate as well.  This year I decided rather than passing out question sheets with every video I would backchannel discuss instead. 

The first day it did not go so well.  To be honest most students did not remember their Edmodo password and could not get to the backchannel.  Once everyone was in however things seemed to go well.  There was lively discussion and for the most part everyone was able to contribute something to the conversation.  Some students did have issues following the chat and the video at the same time. 

Overall it went pretty well.  I was able to monitor the students and moderate the discussion while walking around with my iPod touch using the FREE CoveritLive app.  Being able to approve comments made keeping people on task much easier.  The useless comments almost vanished day two.  I would highly suggest any 1:1 class try this out! 

Hitting the Ground Running

As a Social Studies teacher that like to focus on integrating technology into my classrooms and lessons I thought it might be a nice idea to share my experiences in implementing different tools/methods in my classroom.  Many of them I've used before, but it's a new year and a new group of students they probably have never been in a 1:1 environment before. 

The first tool I utilized this year was Edmodo.  This is an excellent microblogging tool designed for schools that I've used for the last three-four years.  It is great because it puts students in a familiar "facebook" like environment but adds and educational twist.  Everything is under the control of the teacher and even has options to include parents.  It would be safe to say that Edmodo is the command center for everything I do in my classroom.  I used Edmodo to embed a Google Form survey for the students to take about their learning experiences. 

So far the students have been enjoying using Edmodo.  It's not something we use everyday but at least every other day.  I'm also getting more questions about using it, "Can we use Edmodo for this project?" "Can you set us up in small groups for that project?"  All questions I happily say, "yes" to. 

Hopefully the year continues to go positive and the students continue to be receptive of what I do and how I do it.  Here's to a great start!