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Flipping the Writing Conference with ScreenCastify

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Nefertiti Dukes | October 12, 2018

As an English teacher, I prided myself on pushing students to explain their thinking in great detail. A few sentences were never enough. I wanted to feel like I had access to their every thought on a subject through their speeches and writing. But, when my students crossed the hall to enter their math classes, they frequently commented about how relieved they were to write and speak less.

But, students don't have to stop explaining their thinking once numbers are introduced. Students should be challenged to explain how they arrived at their answers. Students can make arguments about why their method of problem solving is superior to their classmates.

Screencastify provides a simple way to have students explain their thinking in real time. As students solve a math problem, their thinking is constantly evolving. A screencast allows that dynamic process to be captured and analyzed.

A Screencastify recording is perfect for a formative assessment. Students get the opportunity to see where they are deficient in the moment and teachers get an opportunity to see exactly where the breakdown in understanding might have occurred.

Using Screencastify, students could even share their process with each other. With video, students have the opportunity to get inside each others' heads and understand different methods of reaching the same conclusion.

Research suggests that screencasting creates deeper understanding for students and offers better insight for teachers.

A screencast moves math students beyond showing their work and into a realm of owning and explaining their work. When students can truly articulate their choices, they are mathematicians.

Looking for more insights on screencasting? Check out our Twitter.

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Nefertiti Dukes | October 12, 2018 As an English teacher, I prided myself on pushing students to explain their thinking in great detail. A few sentences were never enough. I wanted to feel like I had access to their every thought on a subject through their speeches and writing.

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Screencastify is a free screen capture/screencast software extension for Chrome.  This cloud based program captures video and audio and allow teacher and students to communicate in new ways.

Screencastify can be used to narrate over slideshows and can be used to create stories, animations, or comic strips. Students can also use Screencastify to explain their thinking in their own words by recording themselves summarizing, sequencing, or explaining the main points of a story. The video dubbing can be used for storytelling and plot comprehension. Another use of this software to give students feedback on their writing by speaking over a student document.  This feedback can be given by a teacher or a peer (Francis, 2017, p.1).

As previously mentioned, Screencastify can be used for students to explain their thinking.  Students can record a video of their screen and add a voice over.  For example, student can find evidence to support claims and explain their thinking orally.  All moves and thinking are recorded which can allow for feedback. (Schwartz, 2016, p.1).

Teacher feedback can be expanded using Screencastify.  As one teacher reports, it can be used to allow the teacher to sit virtually next to each student while giving feedback.  The teacher can record feedback directly onto a screencast of the student’s writing so that the student can watch the video and then make changes to their writing. (Huynh, 2017, p.1).

Research shows that feedback is critical to student learning.  It also needs to be specific, ongoing, action-oriented, and reasonable in order to have the maximum impact on students.  This feedback may be given on a shared Google Doc and given throughout the writing process.  Conferencing is an important part of the writing process as a way to provide student feedback (Barber, 2017, p.1).