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Video Journals to Help Build Powerful Ideas and Reflective Thinking

Student storytelling with video
Getty Images

We often hear phrases such as, “student-centered learning” and, “student-directed learning.” Educators often manifest these phrases through the creation of small groups, allowing students to work together, or giving student-choice in projects.

Although these are effective strategies, are they able to create conditions that allow students to build the skills of critical thinking and metacognition? I believe students can best build these skills through storytelling, inquiry, and reflection.

Storytelling with Video

The goal of teaching is to help students discover how they are thinking about a particular concept, their frustrations, any challenges they are facing, and successes they’ve experienced along the way. An effective way of getting students to reflect at this level is through storytelling.

Video Journals

A great way to reflect on a journey is through a video journal, such as one created in WeVideo. A video journal gives students the chance to reflect on their learning about a particular topic, unit, or project.

Video Journals may be new to you and/or your students but are quite easy to use every day in your classroom. Here is how to get started:

Identifying Your Topic

A huge roadblock of journaling is figuring out what you want to talk about. I find that if you have a conversation with your class and guide them through a couple of reflection questions, they will soon have lots of talking points.

Here are a few prompts to help get the conversation started:

  • When were you on-track with this project? How did you know you were on-track?
  • During this project, when were you successful? What did that feel/look like?
  • When were you most engaged/focused on this project? What were you doing? How did that action affect the end result?

Collaborative Inquiry Process

Once your students have completed their reflective video journals, it is easy to bring in the collaborative inquiry process. Have your students share their videos with each other (my suggestions are through Google Drive or a YouTube channel).

Next have your students partner up. Each partner will take turns sharing their video stories. What can prove to be most helpful to each storyteller and listener are the words and phrases that emerge during the storytelling as well as key concepts, themes, and ideas.

As each storyteller shares, the listener records notes, capturing important features of the story being shared. Here are a few prompts you can use to help students identify the concepts, themes and ideas:

  1. What were the most compelling features of the story?
  2. What was the most quotable quote that came out of this storytelling?
  3. What was the most significant moment in the storytelling for you as a listener?

Reflecting and Building

As each student reviews the notes the listener took during the storytelling, students have the chance to pause and personally reflect on what was shared through this process and what stood out to their partner from their video journal.  

Whether this opportunity to reflect is done independently or as a group, students are able to use this time to consider how their personal experience can serve as a beginning point for crafting an inquiry question that builds on an aspect of their experience.

Students craft a question, personally, and write it in the center of a sheet of chart paper or online in a collaborative document.  Here are some sample questions students could create:

  • What really matters when solving problems?
  • What do I want to carry with me in my problem-solving toolkit?
  • What do I want to change?

Using this question, students are able to discuss the proposed questions, exploring and expanding the possibilities of the inquiry.

Exploring Assumptions, Not Answering Questions

The intent of this activity is not to answer or propose ways to resolve questions, but rather to explore related assumptions and ideas. As students dive deeper into the questions posed, they many want to go back and revise their own question.  

Utilize these questions as you and your students continue to solve problems, collaborate and critically evaluate information. These questions can be used as a platform for launching into a new project or to go back and refine a prior activity.

Storytelling for Idea Generation

Storytelling goes much further than just regurgitation of a past experience. If done in a meaningful and thoughtful way it can help students become powerful idea generators and provide a platform for reflective thinking. It also helps to build listening and questioning skills, so that the listeners assimilate these stories with their own experiences, and are able to express a concept or feeling in a new and unique way.

More Strategies to Deepen Learning

Video journals for storytelling

If you are looking for more strategies to help your students deepen learning, check out WeVideo Every Day: 40 Strategies to Deepen Learning in Any Class where I share tried and true classroom strategies to help students expand their knowledge and dive deeper into content and 21st century skills.

Dr. Nathan D. Lang-Raad is a speaker, author, and professional learning facilitator. He is the Chief Education Officer at WeVideo. Throughout his career, he has served as a teacher, assistant principal, university adjunct professor, consultant, and education strategist. He was director of elementary curriculum and instruction for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, as well as education supervisor at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He speaks at both local and national professional conferences and is the cofounder of Bammy Award-nominated #LeadUpChat, an educational leadership professional learning network (PLN) on Twitter. Nathan is also the cofounder of #divergED, a Twitter chat focused on divergent thinking and innovations in education. He is a Google Certified Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator, and 2016 Apple Teacher, serves on the board of the Student Voice Foundation, and serves on the International Literacy Association Task Force. Nathan is the author of Everyday Instructional Coaching and co-author of The New Art and Science of Teaching Mathematics with Robert J. Marzano. He has written several blog posts that have been featured on the EdTech K-12, Corwin Connect, Education Week, K-12 Blueprint, and Solution Tree websites. Nathan received a bachelor of arts degree in general science-chemistry from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, a master of education degree in administration and supervision from the University of Houston-Victoria, and a doctorate of education degree in learning organizations and strategic change from David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. He resides with his husband, Herbie Raad, in Maine. To learn more about Nathan’s work, visit drlangraad.com or follow him on Twitter @drlangraad

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The Martian Classroom Street Art Project: STEM in Every Learning Space

What happens when an author, a street artist, and a videographer collaborate on a project? It looks something like this! The Martians in Your Classroom: STEM in Every Learning Space just turned into STEAM in Every Learning Space!

Deck the Walls

Coronado is a neighborhood in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona. It’s rich with culture and community gatherings, one of them being the annual Oak Street Mural Festival that occurs in March of each year in alliance with Art Detour, Mob Action University, and Murals of Phoenix. Thousands gather to walk the small alley street between 14th and 15th Avenues. In addition to viewing over a dozen of Arizona’s top local street artists as they transform the walls of the alley, the festivities include live bands, food trucks, a community mural, games for kids, and a wall that is set aside for kids to explore their artistic side. I opened up my garage that leads into the alley for kids to come in and paint their own canvases and cover the floor with their own colorful expressions using sidewalk chalk.

Reclaiming Alleys

Oak Street has seen a huge transformation over the years which adds to the significance of this event. What was once an alley filled with debris, drug needles, and crime, has now been transformed into a landmark as a must-see urban art gallery, in which locals and tourists alike stroll or ride bikes while soaking in the culture and creativity. Folks pose by the walls, taking advantage of the stunning backdrops. Some even have weddings here, inviting the community to attend.

Courtesy of
@angelanichet

The Martians in your Classroom

So how does EdTechTeam and The Martians in Your Classroom fit in? Well first, let’s start with who are the Martians in your classroom? They are the youth of today, whether in your classroom, your community, or in your own home, and they could be the first Martian colonists! But more than that, whether growing up to experience life on or off of planet earth, young people are experiencing and interacting with the world around them in a way that is completely different and foreign to the world that we grew up in. In many senses, they are growing up in a different world altogether that might as well be on another planet than the world we experienced as kids.

“We have come along way in technological advances and space travel, but in order to accomplish the task of ensuring that our great nation leads the way in future missions, we have to think bigger in education as well.”

The Martians in Your Classroom: STEM in Every Learning Space was released in June 2018. I had the great fortune of coauthoring this book with Stephen Sandford, a former NASA engineer and founder of Psionic Lidar. When determining the subtitle and content, we struggled with determining whether to reference STEM or STEAM throughout the cover and inside contents.

STEM versus STEAM

I am frequently asked the question, “Why STEM instead of STEAM?” and this street art project surrounding the book is a perfect time to address this question. Art is everywhere and is apart of so much of our daily lives without even noticing it. When I think of the art that goes into STEM, design is what really stands out and connects with STEM. It covers the artistic aspects while also touching on design thinking, designing for human experiences, design cycles, and design phases.

But let’s face it, there’s not an acronym that fits:

DSTEM

SDTEM

STDEM

STEDM

STEMD

Or, we could mix it all up:

MEDTS

DEMTS

EMT

And so on. But nothing flows. Except maybe this:

Science

Technology

Engineering

Math

Magic

Emerging

Design

But I feel pretty certain that my new version of the acronym isn’t going to catch on anytime soon.

Art is part of each of the STEM areas and is discussed throughout the book. Another aspect that we took into consideration is that STEM is used to emphasize areas that are facing huge shortages in the workforce, including education. Fortunately, we do not have a shortage in artists. So, for the purpose of The Martians in Your Classroom, STEM it is.

The Link Between Art and STEM

So back to the street art project during the Oak Street Mural Festival, my husband and I moved to Coronado a few months ago, and the builder shared that they had to tear down and rebuild two of the walls behind our home leaving our portion of alley bare of the beautiful street art, but that we could commission an artist to recreate what was previously there or come up with a theme of our own. I jumped at the opportunity to explore the link between art and STEM with a Martian in Your Classroom street art theme and the Oak Street Mural Festival.

The vision that I sent to our artist was pretty vague. Along with a copy of the book, I sent the following:

“In a nutshell, I would like a space theme, possibly Elon Musk’s red Tesla floating through space, or maybe a colony on mars, or a kid in a classroom daydreaming about life on Mars… Peter Diamondis lassoing an asteroid…These are just some very rough ideas off of the top of my head.”

Soon after the first draft of The Martians in Your Classroom had been submitted to the publishers, Elon Musk launched his cherry red Tesla into space. In addition to being a monumental victory for space enthusiasts and a move forward for space travel, this also created a shift in thinking. Who can launch what into space, thus creating a need for policies governing future initiatives, along with an effort to track Starman’s one-way ticket to explore the universe. Most importantly, this signifies a step in the right direction as this is the most powerful rocket to fly in decades and could be the rocket that usher people to Mars someday.

The vision that Rudy moved from words to artistic representation based on the book and my vague blurb looked like this:

This image masterfully represents the theme of The Martians in Your Classroom which boils down to thinking bigger when it comes to education and creating learning spaces that inspire our students to do the same.  

“Want more kids to go into STEM? Incorporate more Space in the classroom.”

Think Bigger, Dream Bigger

Everything is impossible until it’s not;whether it’s drones, Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla with Starman floating towards space, or exploring Mars, it all starts as an idea in someone’s head and moves into the belief in the idea and the empowerment to do something with it. Peter Diamandis says that the day before a breakthrough, everything is just a crazy idea. The crazy ideas that are inside our students heads are tomorrow’s life altering breakthroughs. Encourage the Martians in your classrooms to think big and to dream impossible things. And let them share and explore those ideas in many expressions: write it, speak it, build it, draw it paint it, dance it… And maybe even spray it!

Video by: John Simpson, Jon Simpson Photography

Street Art by: Rudy Jaime


Rachael Mann, co-author of The Martians in Your Classroom, www.rachaelmann.co @RachaelEdu


Rachael Mann is the founder of #TeachlikeTED and coauthor of The Martians in Your Classroom. She speaks and writes about the future of education and helps educators rethink the learning spaces of today. Prior to #TeachlikeTED, Rachael was the Network to Transform Teaching and STEM Professional Learning Director for Northern Arizona University’s AZK12 Center and State Director for Educators Rising Arizona. A former high school Career and Technical Education teacher and hailing from a family of educators, she has 14 years of classroom teaching experience. Rachael is a Google Certified Educator with a master’s degree in Educational Leadership. She is a founding member of the Council on the Future of Education, President-Elect for the NCLA Executive Board, and serves on the Region V Policy Committee.

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Bring the World to Your Classroom

There were so many “ooohs” and “ah-has” as I read this book! I definitely recommend it for all social studies teachers or teachers that want to get the most out of  Google’s Geo Tools. I know my students will benefit from me reading this book, which is the most important thing when reading any professional development book!

Bring+the+World+to+Your+Classroom+-+web

When I saw Bring the World to Your Classroom by Kelly Kermode and Kim Randall mentioned on my Twitter feed I knew I had to order it. I was so excited the day it arrived. I quickly cracked it open and dug in with my Google Keep handy to take plenty of notes. Kelly and Kim didn’t disappoint. This book made me realize that, even though I was aware of many of Google’s geography tools, I was not familiar with all of the features that were available on each platform. These Google Geo tools like Google My Maps, Google Tour Builder, Google Earth and so many more allow students to explore the world, create, and collaborate. In addition to the deep dives into the many facets of Google Geo tools, the book is loaded with ideas for how to use these tools with your students. Additionally, it contains a multitude of useful links to explore and use to engage your students.

I learned so much from this book: how to customize icons on Google My Maps and Google Tour Builder; how to export My Maps to a KML file to be used in Google Earth; and how to stylize the way markers appear on maps as well as in the layers of My Maps. I became aware that you can navigate through time on Google Street View to earlier images. I also found out about Story Spheres and how students can create their own.

Some of the many suggestions included in the book were to have students create screencasts of their Street View explorations. The links for the student screencasts can then be added to Google My Maps or tours on Google Tour Builder. I also loved the idea of having students explore Google Earth and fill out an AEIOU chart (A=adjective, E=Emotion, I=interesting, O=Oh? Surprised by ___, and U=Um I still have a question about). I plan on using this idea this week!

The book also provided me with countless new links and resources to explore such as my favorite geteach.com by Josh Williams. This website allows you to compare data side by side on 2 maps. It is an amazing resource for any social studies teacher and one that you all have to check out!

Some of the other websites that I learned about from this book were:

If you are looking for more Google Geo tools content to explore as you wait for your copy to arrive, check out these #worldgeochat posts:

Ed Casey has taught 7th-grade world geography in Naperville District 203 for the past 11 years. He’s constantly striving to increase student interest and engage learning about our world. He looks to stay up-to-date on methods and strategies that will get students active in class, with the goal that the skills they learn in class will lay a foundation for them to take action in their community and the world outside their neighborhood. Ed is also a co-founder of the weekly Twitter chat #worldgeochat which takes place every Tuesday night during the school year from 8–9 P.M. CST. My fellow #worldgeochat moderators and I publish a blog that can be found at https://worldgeochat.wordpress.com/.

Ed holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University Chicago. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife, two children, and a dachshund who runs the show.

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Back to School Learning Space Tips

Consider these seven questions as you design your learning space.

Learning spaces include classrooms, hallways, entryways, office spaces, a library, and so many other locations. Each can be designed to support the needs of students. Each section contains some myths around space design and some practical tips for where to begin. For more information about space design, click HERE and to get a PDF version of the Back to School Learning Space Guide, click HERE

1. Do you have a designer’s mindset?

Designers have empathy. They design with students and base all decisions on high levels of intentionality.

Three Myths:

  • Designing is decorating. Actually, decorating can be neat, fancy, and cute, but it rarely impacts learning.
  • Designing requires a specific degree. Not true. The designer’s mindset is something that all educators can grow.
  • Design is about specific rules. There are some rules, but they are more principles that guide our creation.

Three Things to Try:

  • Try noticing your space in a new way. Sit on the floor, stand in the corner. Get a new perspective.
  • Consider all of the decisions in your space that were based in tradition, inertia, and momentum. Make a change.
  • Make a list of all the things that may negatively impact the learners in your space.

2. What are your verbs?

This is the central question to space design. If you know that you want students to create, make, and design then you can design instruction and space to meet those goals.

Three Myths:

  • Classroom environments and instruction can be separate. Actually, both are linked and require attention to keep them in sync.
  • Students know the purpose of the space. Not true. We need to be explicit about the learning verbs
  • Great instructional design leads to engagement. This is partially true, but the learning environment plays a central role in engaging students.

Three Things to Try:

  • Post your verbs in the classroom and refer to them often.
  • Make three changes in your space designed to promote your verbs.
  • Co-create the verbs of your learning space with students to make sure that they know what they mean.

3. How much of your space is available to students?

There are many learning spaces where the adults consume a lot of square feet. Let’s attempt to give more space back to learning.

Three Myths:

  • Teacher desks are bad. Nothing is inherently bad. It is all about being intentional with every decision.
  • Students have access to the whole room. There are often informal barriers that keep students from believing that they can use the entire space.
  • Pushing everything to the edge help. Trapped spaces can be worse than limited space based on the design.

Three Things to Try:

  • Move some items away from the whiteboards so students have more access.
  • Be explicit with students that they can be anywhere in the space. Do this often.
  • Consolidate spaces where piles form as this space could be converted into new learning space.

4. Can you add writable space to support learning?

Having students sketch, draw and think on writable space helps to visualize learning and supports collaboration among students.

Three Myths:

  • Whiteboards help with individual learning. They do, but they are a great way to collaborate as well.
  • Adding a writable space is expensive. Actually, there are a ton of new products that can turn any space into a writable space.
  • Adding whiteboards is the only solution. Not true. Many current desks have a writable surface with the right markers and clean up.

Three Things to Try:

  • Consider using a product like Thinkboard as a way to make your desks writable.
  • Use Expo markers on glass and desks that are writable.
  • Make sure that you limit the amount of adult writing on whiteboards to save that space for kids.

5. What are the important things in your space?

Most learning spaces would be optimized with less visual stimulus and clutter. These shifts can lead to more focus and greater engagement.

Three Myths:

  • It is essential to save school supplies and resources. Unfortunately, this mindset can lead to clutter and excess.
  • There is a need to have seats for every student. This isn’t true for all classes. Students just need positions in the room, not seats.
  • Having all of the resources available every day is important. Actually, a good rotation of supplies and resources can keep things fresh.

Three Things to Try:

  • Put ten items in your trunk. If you need them, go get them, but less can be more.
  • Remove a desk or two and observe if it works. This can create fresh space.
  • Consider covering cluttered areas or turning little-used shelves around to decrease visual noise.

6. How frequent is your student feedback loop?

Student voice is essential in keeping your room agile and flexible. Student feedback should be an important element of your learning space design.

Three Myths:

  • We know what works for our students. This answer changes so quickly. It is important to ask often.
  • It is easy to get a feel for what is working in the space. Actually, so much is happening while we orchestrate the learning. We miss a lot.
  • Students are willing to tell us what they need. This isn’t true. Lots of our students are people pleasers, and they tend to not speak up on things like this.

Three Things to Try:

  • Every two weeks ask your student what they like and don’t like about the space.
  • Videotape segments of your class to use as feedback around engagement and movement.
  • Consider having students draw the ideal class and move items to show what they need in their learning space.

7. What is the non-verbal story of your space?

Every element of your space is telling the non-verbal story about your learning priorities. Craft a story that showcases the amazing things that are happening.

Three Myths:

  • Teachers can control the story of their classroom. There are limitations to this as every item in the room plays a part in the story of the learning.
  • Most people miss the details. Even when we don’t see the details, they are felt and impact the space.
  • Work product tells a story. It does, but images of students learning showcase to all the amazing things that are happening.

Three Things to Try:

  • What do you want others to say about the learning space? Make sure the details tell this story.
  • Allow student voice to tell your story as well. Student video and audio about your space is gold.
  • Visit another classroom and use the space to tell a story. This is good practice for your storytelling through space.

 

Dr. Robert Dillon has served as an educational leader throughout the Saint Louis area over the last twenty years as a teacher, principal, and director of innovation. He has a passion to change the educational landscape by building excellent engaging schools for all students. Dr. Dillon has had the opportunity to speak throughout the country at local, state, and national conferences as well as share his thoughts and ideas in a variety of publications. He is the author of four books on best practices in learning including co-authoring The Space: A Guide for Educators.

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School-Changers: Six Elements of School Change

“More Now”, a new book by Mark Wagner, Ph.D. brings together all the school-changers in a cohesive narrative of an innovation journey. The opening chapter is designed to challenge educators to reimagine infinite possibilities for schools to achieve the impossible. As Wagner states, “School Change is never easy and there is no single right answer to the complex cultural and organizational challenges ahead.”, the book outlines six elements of school change that Wagner learned from his experiences of working together with a team of forward-thinking schools around the globe. These six potential elements reminded me of infinity Stones, six gems that grant their owner great power from Avengers: Infinity War movie. Through sharing comprehensive implementations, practical examples, and relevant case studies, Wagner beautifully combines and slots these six elements of school change into an ‘infinity gauntlet’ to equip the readers with ‘impactful tool’ that could potentially bring limitless possibilities in their school.

 

Six Elements of School Change

Beyond outlining how each element plays a significant role to transform schools, Wagner brings out the real stories of school-changers to inspire educators how they uniquely maximized the power of each ‘infinity element’ to make concrete impacts in schools. Although these school-changers do not battle Thanos (villains from Avengers: Infinity War), I can feel their spirit of ‘Avengers’ as they leave their comfort zone to fight for what’s important for education. The result is a book that feels surprisingly insightful in genuinely heart-wrenching ways.

Message from The School Changers

By bringing future-focused messages from the school-changers, Wagner wants educators to have the courage to overcome their weakness and amplify their strength by connecting with others. As ‘school changers’, educators can’t do this alone and they need to be open with each other as they are greatest when they work together. More Now book successfully delivers an exciting culmination of a school transformational journey that empowers educators of today to begin their journey as an architect of what’s possible.

 

Steven Sutantro
@steven_sutantro
EdTech Coach, Jakarta, Indonesia
Google Certified Innovator & Trainer
Apple Teacher
TED-Ed Innovative Educator  

 

MORE NOW: A Message from the Future for the Educators of Today
By Mark Wagner, PhD
EdTechTeam Press
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