School Isn't The Movies: Unlecture Video Instruction

By Oskar Cymerman | @focus2achieve | BAM! Radio Network & Teaching Channel Blogger

Videos can be a great way to deliver content learning to students. But how do you leverage video instruction to maximize learning? After all, school isn't the movies.

EDPuzzle

I use EDPuzzle to prep videos for instruction. You can sign up for free as a Teacher, upload and trim YouTube or other videos, and insert questions (quizzes) or prompts for students to answer or discuss during the video. Students sign in with a Join Code you give them or via their Google Classroom email.

I recommend trimming videos to less than 10 minutes and include a question/prompt every 2 minutes or so. For example, I used a 5 minute video today and included 3 discussion prompts in it.

Collaboration

Students usually expect a video to be shown via the LCD projector to everyone all at once. It may be accompanied by a worksheet they are supposed to fill out as they watch... That approach is time efficient, but is it effective?

Multitasking is ineffective, so why ask them to pay attention to the video and write down answers at the same time? And, no time is allowed to process concepts during the video.

I ask my students to watch the video with a partner or as a group of 3 or 4 using the Chromebooks I have or their own devices.

This is something they are not used to, so you have to sell it. I talk about the fact that we avoided being sabre tooth dinner by working in groups, cooperating, and having a common goal: survival. And I explain that our brains got much bigger than those of the other species with better physical attributes due in part to collaboration, which led to world domination. World Domination sounds kind of cruel, but kind of cool at the same time.

As students watch in EDPuzzle, the video stops at strategically chosen points and students discuss each prompt. This allows them to "fill in the blanks" in the information they might have missed and offers multiple interpretations and perspectives. Additionally, students can teach each other by explaining concepts they understand better than their teammates.

At the end, I ask students to write a group summary of the main concepts and, depending on time, we might share summaries. We then do a follow up activity that allows students to somehow apply the knowledge.

Why "Unlecturing" Is Better

Besides the few reasons I named, it is beneficial to "unlecture" videos (or presentations) as they allow for multiple ways to process the information. Students interact with the video and the content longer, which is less time efficient, but that's precisely the point.

Quality trumps quantity. Less material, more understanding. This is how the brain likes to learn: less "stuff," but more processing time leads to more retention, greater depth, and better understanding.

To me, that is what the education game is all about: decreasing the noise to increase the learning. What do you think?

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I Stopped Lecturing, Because I Want My Students To Learn

By Oskar Cymerman | @focus2achieve | BAM! Radio Network & Teaching Channel Blogger

Yep.

No More Lectures. Down With Lectures! Never Again Will I Lecture.

And I encourage you to do the same.

It took me 14 years to understand it, but now I know what student centered really means. And, I have a good grasp of the difference between passive and active learning.

LECTURING IS TEACHER CENTERED.

"Tell me and I'll forget..." And sure enough they do.

LECTURING IS PASSIVE LEARNING.

As such, can we even call lecturing learning? Or, is it just giving information, as students frantically write it all down mindlessly, and the words transferred to paper have little meaning?

I teach chemistry. Topics get long. Concepts get heavy. Things are abstract.

If you ever want to tire out a bunch of teenage prefrontal cortices in a span of 30 minutes, just do a chemistry lecture. Many will look at you with zombie eyes, while their minds travel to far away places in hopes of quick recovery.

Repeat this day after day, close your eyes, and hope for the best.

Or, you can engage students. And I'm not talking about asking questions as you lecture. They'll definitely keep the 2 kids that always answer them engaged, while the 30+ others nervously look down or away hoping you won't call on them.

ACTIVE LEARNING IS THE ALTERNATIVE.

And, at it's very basic, it requires only a small tweak to the traditional way to get things rolling.

So you have a presentation you want students to see. Great! Put it in whatever LMS (learning management system) you use or your school uses and let students interact (not just view) with the said presentation.

#BYOD OR 1:1

Allow students to use their own devices (phones, tablets etc.) or school provided ones (iPads, Chromebooks etc.) to watch the presentation. They can take notes on their own, with a partner, or in a small group.

COLLABORATION

But whatever you decide to do, incorporate collaboration. Have each group compare notes, discuss the topics, ask each other questions, and come up with a list of key points along with descriptions. The likelihood of missing key info becomes low with the inclusion of multiple brains in the process.

Do tell groups to call you over when they've complied their lists, curate them by giving them the thumbs up or asking whether they think a key topic they missed is important so they can add it.

But do not stop there! After approving the list of key points ask students to summarize. This requires meaningful synthesis and thus further processing of the information.

You may find that students are programmed to do notes on their own, so you'll have to lay the groundwork for effective collaboration. Here's an infographic resource that will help.

And the benefits?

SELF PACED LEARNING

Flipped learning inside the school walls. Except this time, everybody does it. All students can choose how fast they go, stop whenever they need, and process at their own pace. Lecturing ignores the fact that there are as many learning styles as there are sentient beings in the universe. The approach I talk about here offers differentiation at its best if you allow

MORE PROCESSING TIME

Decrease the amount of material. I love the number 3 for a reason. 3 is simple. 3 is more than 1. 3 is what the human brain likes. We can hold about 3 things in our working memory at any point in time. Stick to 3 main points and allow more processing time to ensure

DEEPER LEARNING

Less is more. Do you prefer your students really learn a few topics or regurgitate more topics?

Regurgitation plagues education. Thing is, we're not birds. We are much smarter. Our brains are much bigger. Let's teach in ways that maximize the human brain potential. Better understanding results from simplification not over-complication.

Focus on giving students time to process a few (3 is a GOOD number I tell ya) concepts in more than one way before they leave class on any one day and you will see positive results. And you will notice

BETTER RETENTION

Practice makes permanent right? Meaningful practice that is. Practice that involves thinking.

Think about it. Students watch the presentation in a low stress setting. They compare and discuss notes with teammates. They come up with key points through collaboration. They synthesize, select, and summarize key information as a group.

And, throughout the process they acquire 21st century skills - the

4 C'S

Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity - what's not to like? And let's be honest. Not a whole lot of that happening during lectures.

AND?

Nothing I say here is new. Yet, lecturing is the status quo in American middle schools and high schools.

Sure. There are projects and activities too. But...

We don't have to lecture. We don't need to lecture.

Lectures suck, because teachers do too much and students too little.

Lectures are ineffective.

The educational system is ripe for disruption. Disrupt it.

Shift the old paradigms.

Believe That You Have The Power To Change The World And Use It Often.

Oskar

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Oh, and I'll show you how you can "unlecture" video lessons in my next Newsletter.

Week 1 Of School - Use The KISS Method

By Oskar Cymerman | @focus2achieve | BAM! Radio Network & Teaching Channel Blogger

Keep It Simple Stupid. That's what my favorite high school teacher Mr. Dennis would say. He was a big believer in the KISS Method.

He was right. Humans have a tendency to over-complicate things. And we stress too much, mainly as a result of our intricate approach to things. Or maybe it's just me.

In any case...

My chemistry classes spend the first 2 days of the school year on a community building project (Who Am I Project). I played music in the background and walked around helping and chatting with my new students. I am getting to know them instead of talking at them. It felt good. It feels good now.

Transitioning to flexible seating for the first time, I was afraid it would be more difficult to learn students' names, but I'm finding out I am learning their names faster. It maybe a result of being less rushed and feeling less stressed. Again, most of that hurry and stress was self created.

Day 3 Lesson Plan:

I tweeted the syllabus to the #Cymdogchem hashtag I created. This is where class notes, lesson agendas, and "snapshots of learning" will be.

My class syllabus was always filled with enough information to overwhelm, which rendered it useless. Oh, and I would ramble on about it for half an hour or more, because apparently I wanted to numb my students up for whatever pain they were about to experience in their next class.

Not this year. This year I kept it simple. There will be time to talk grades, percentages, topics, expectations etc. It's day 3 and I have not talked about these things yet. And the world still spins. And I'm seeing students smile. And they pay attention when I ask them to. And we're all way less stressed.

Here's the syllabus:

Real simple. It's in Google Classroom labeled "Admin" for students and parents to view any time. It gives them the relevant contact info (emails, Twitter, class blog), the focus on the 4 Cs, and the supplies needed. These are the most relevant things. Grades, percentages, and topics will come up naturally later.

And expectations?

Simple, yet complex. We'll talk on day 4. That's tomorrow. And start some matter too. It's time. It will be an awesome day. And an awesome year. Till then.

Thanks for reading and Happy New School Year. If you liked some of my ideas you might want to SIGN UP for my NEWSLETTER and I'll drop more of them straight in your email inbox.

And I want you to always remember this when you look into the eyes of the children you teach:

You have the power to change the world. Use it often.