Lessons and Videos

During lockdown I was very lucky that I had a team who was willing to help me switch our teaching method to a completely different model than any of us have ever done. I was very excited and determined to make sure the kids got to experience as much “normalcy” as they could. I felt that it was super important that they still got to see/hear us teach and not just read stories online or watch people they don’t know. Through this I developed a schedule/plan that my team helped execute amazingly. I created plans for math, reading, writing, art and science that we filmed as if we were still with our classes. These videos and activities got posted to our class sites and we were able to not only keep academic loss at a minimum, but we were also able to successfully teach new concepts.

While creating the plans and lessons I tried to keep my teammates in mind. We each had our own strengths and I wanted to make sure to use them effectively. During these months I learned that I have no problem recording myself teaching as if I am in front of a class. It was a way of me being able to still “teach” even though it looked VERY different. It also allowed me to tap into the tech side that I didn’t get to use as much in the classroom. I finally had time to adapt and change lessons to fit the tech we had. This was very exciting because there are two things I love to incorporate into the class, tech and art.

Once we returned to in person teaching, I realized, I now had a whole vault of lessons available for me to use whenever needed. I started to use these video lessons to differentiate work for kids. I also used them to allow students to complete an activity at their own pace. These lessons and videos came in extremely handy when I was doing testing and spending days of one-on-one reading assessments. These lessons allowed me to provide review or practice of standards we were working on. It also allowed my room to be somewhat quiet while I worked with students one on one. It also gave my students the ability to practice independence. I saw how much they were able to complete on their own and even work together to solve problems. It was amazing how these lessons we created to solve one problem now fixed many others I had.

Since the pandemic I have been slowly trying to update the videos/lessons as we have changed curriculum or standards have changed. I have also learned a bit more about the process of video creation. I also have a bit more time as well. My goal was for me to be able to create my lessons on videos for me to have. This way I could use them for testing time OR when I have a sub. It was working out great! That’s when my team told me I should be sharing these because it is a great resource, so here they are! I have been working on adapting my lessons to be understandable/attainable for others.

Each lesson has a video on YouTube. These videos can be for your own viewing to figure out how to do a lesson OR you can use them to differentiate for your class by allowing them to follow along on their own. You can also play it whole group and pausing along the way. Each lesson also has step- by step directions WITH pictures. There are usually suggestions for variations of the project. If there are any pages that need to be printed, they are also included. The last thing that I did, which may seem overkill, is I created a cut sheet. This is how to cut your paper to get the most out of it. I hate when there were projects that had cuts that seemed to waste a huge chunk of paper. Paper is not cheap, but our school district is. I did not want to do projects where I felt like I was wasting a bunch. I deliberately created activities that used sizes that allowed more than one cut to be made from a paper. I may have random projects where the cuts aren’t perfect, but I am to save you as much time and paper as I can. These lessons are meant to help you find time in your day to provide students with a project that is little work for you. I hope you enjoy the lessons and be sure to follow along!