Is Homework Really the Devil?

"I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework." 

-Lily Tomlin

For better or for worse, homework seems to be a highly polarizing issue in education. People seem to think it's either inherently horrible or it's an absolutely necessary element of school, regardless of actual value. Many arguments on Twitter quickly devolve into "Homework is bad and if you assign it, you're a bad teacher!" or "I had homework when I grew up and it taught me responsibility!"

Students demonstrating understanding of
prior night's video.

Yes, we all have heard the studies that "prove" homework is horrible and has little to no effect on achievement nor does it effectively teach responsibility. By and large, a lot of homework is meaningless, developmentally inappropriate, and just perpetuated for the mere sake of "it's part of school." But what if we stopped being so black and white about it and started analyzing how homework can be best leveraged for learning?

We interviewed Connie Hamilton and Starr Sackstein on the EduRoadTrip to discuss their new book Hacking Homework: 10 Strategies That Inspire Learning Outside the Classroom. (As an aside here, I contributed to the book. I'd recommend picking up a copy - page 107 alone is worth it!) The custom of the EduRoadTrip is to ask guests for a bumper sticker - a memorable takeaway from their episode.

Starr spoke up and said, "We're not anti-homework. We're anti-stupid homework."

Homework must be relevant and meaningful. In my classroom, I do assign some homework in reading, math, and reviewing history. I always give a digital and physical choice for each. I keep it to a minimum and allow the students some choice in what they do. 

The value of reading outside of school
Image Source: blog.maketaketeach.com/ 

In reading, the students must read at least 25 minutes a night. This could include reading a good book, visiting ReadTheory.org, or having a parent read aloud to them. I absolutely insist that students are reading every night. Reading will make a difference in life. If students walk out of my classroom not being able to recall who won the battle of Yorktown or how to multiply by hand, there is Google and calculators, respectively. However, if they can't read, they can't use those resources.

What I don't do is force a reading log. I don't understand the value of reading logs.  The main argument is it's "proof" that the students read. It's really just proof that students can write down numbers and parents can initial (or as I often did in my middle and high school years, students can forge their parents' initials.) How about just asking students what they read the prior evening? A rich discussion outweighs a log that gets thrown away.

In math, we do a flipped classroom. Each night, students watch a video to frontload them with the information they are expected to master, according to the state. I create the videos with my iPad and ExplainEverything, so I can tailor it to my students' interests and my teaching strategies. The key benefit to this flipped classroom is that the student can self-individualize. Watch the video once and you got it? Great. Need to watch it three times? That's great too. Viewed it 10 times and still want to keep at it? More power to you, but we can work on it in class more.

Practicing learning how to take notes for a
flipped video

If a student can't or doesn't view a video at home, I give the student a choice; watch it during class or do it at home the next evening. Either one is fine by me, but inevitably students choose to double up and do it at home. Why? They say they rather work in class on stations and they can focus better at home. 

For history, my students have a variety of methods to review: classic study guides, online Jeopardy, or Quizlet flashcards. I use the study to teach study tips because like it or not, studying will be a part of their life later on. I noticed numerous students saying they could "never study the whole study guide" in an evening so I took some time to lead some mini lessons on chunking it down, self-monitoring, and having someone else to check their understanding. 

What you'll notice is there are no worksheets being sent home to be completed. If a student doesn't understand it in school, why would they understand at home? If a student gets it in school, why should they waste time at home practicing what they know?

I want to make homework purposeful, engaging, and in smaller amounts than the norm. I'm a big fan of students using their time at home to be kids with their families (which doesn't include little Johnny sitting playing Call of Duty in the family room while Mom updates her Facebook in the office.) I want families to spend time together, and it's even better if that involves learning together, as I shared in my earlier post Forming Family Foundations. I also know that students these days are incredibly busy, with sports, music, Scouts, and other extracurricular activities. If students spend 7 hours in school, another 2-3 at sports, an hour or two for traveling and eating, when do they get to just have unstructured play time?

I do not have children of my own, so I can't approach this from a father point of view, and I know my outlook will change if I do have children. The fact of the matter is they are kids (yes, even high schoolers) and we need to give them time to be kids at home. It's also important to note that this is what has worked in my classroom and I have modified it to be responsive to family needs along the way. Homework will look vastly different for everyone.

So next time someone starts ranting about homework, engage them in discussion. Shift the conversation from demonizing homework to discussing how the homework experience can be improved. It's not a black and white issue, and it won't be going away. It's not enough to simply not assign homework in your own class.

We can do better by our kids, so how will you make an impact on a larger community?

Living Like George Washington

"First in war, first in peace, and first 

in the hearts of his countrymen."

- Henry "Light Horse" Lee

Mt. Vernon after hours

The above quote comes from the eulogy of George Washington, and pretty much sums up what the average American knows about Washington. We are taught from an early age that he was a strong leader during the Revolutionary War, the first President, and the Father of our Country. However, the man behind the legend is much, much more. 

While at VSTE15, I saw a tweet from @GWBooks in my #vachat Tweetdeck column about "A Residential Weekend with George Washington" at Mt. Vernon. I clicked on it to find that there was an opportunity for Virginia educators to spend a weekend on the grounds of Mt. Vernon, delving deeper into the role of Washington during the Revolution era. I applied, was accepted into the Teacher Institute, and made my way there last weekend.

Our political cartoon

In a word - Incredible. I learned so much from this experience. My brain is still trying to process all of the information I took in. For example, Washington's motives and views on the Revolution surprised me, and I gained a larger insight into his stance on slavery. I actually took notes by hand, which will come as a surprise to anyone who knows me due to my love of technology and atrocious handwriting, but I found it to help me in retaining the information. The scholars they brought in were amazing, as were the educational staff. Each of them had a great balance of knowledge and personality. The other educators joining me were incredibly insightful and a pleasure to be around.

I learned so much more than just content about Washington. A major facet of the program was learning how to effectively use primary sources in teaching. I have attended professional development sessions about using primary sources before and studied it extensively during my graduate program, but something just clicked during this experience. Specifically, I liked that you do not need to use the entire primary source, how readily accessible most transcriptions are, and you can use primary sources to have students create their own, as we did in the pictured political cartoon. I am going to be using primary sources to teach most of my upcoming Civil War unit, drawing on lessons and instructional tips I learned here.

Sunrise on the Potomac

Beyond the learning, the experience was truly one of a kind. We had total access to the grounds of the estate the entire time and were given an exclusive tour of the mansion. How many people can say they watched the sunrise from Washington's porch, gazed at the moonlit profile of Mt. Vernon from the back lawn, or enjoyed the sunset from the cupola of the home? I will literally never get to do that again (unless I am accepted for another program there, which I hope to do). This experience will definitely spoil me for when I go to another estate. Luckily, there are more Teacher Institutes in other locations and I have already begun working on the application for one at Monticello.

When I returned from the trip, I developed a challenge for my students on Google Classroom. It contained various tidbits of information I had learned, which would involve their research skills, analysis of primary sources, and family involvement. About half of my class chose work on the challenge on MLK Day, all working to earn a chance to view the sunrise through Google Cardboard. The parents and students alike enjoyed the challenge, which you can view here.

Sunset from the top

This post did not do the entire weekend justice. It was an adventure like no other. My knowledge of George Washington and my ability to use primary sources were definitely impacted through this experience. I recommend visiting the Mt. Vernon website and checking when they are offering one for your state, or other historical homes in your area to see if they have anything similar. You'll learn a lot and develop memories that will last a lifetime. 

Powerful and Tantalizing Test Prep

"In an era of... testing frenzy, we are failing to inspire our children's curiosity, creativity, and imagination. We are denying the opportunities to tinker, discover, and explore - in short, to play." 

- Darrell Hammond 

This week I really struggled with what to my blog topic should be. I have two really cool activities coming up that I want to blog about, but those are still a few weeks away. I decided to reflect upon what is currently going on in my classroom and I determined that it is a lot of test prep.

Hold your gasps! While many other teachers have been throwing worksheet after worksheet at kids in aims of getting them ready for the Standards of Learning tests (SOLs) at the end of the year, I have chosen not to do this. I don't feel that this is the most effective way to prepare students for these tests. Yes, I do understand that seeing the format of tests are important, but I feel that taking away creative activities is a larger detriment than the gains of traditional test prep.

Do not get me wrong, I am not saying all tests and data instruments are evil. I believe it is important for the teachers to know what the students know and how effective their instruction is. However, I do not think the SOL should be the only measure. Not all students test well; we should respect and honor this. This week, and the upcoming weeks (and all year long,) we have/will be participating in a number of fun and engaging activities for review, including:

Scoot in action. Notice the yarn.

Scoot: In this game, I cut up a practice test and put one problem on each desk. I laid down yard to make a path for the students to follow. At each desk, they are given 4-5 minutes to respond to the question. They mark an answer document for me to review later. At the end of the time, I call out, "SCOOT!" and they move to the next desk. The students liked this activity, but needed some help in figuring out the rotation initially. 

BoardRush template

BoardRush: Imagine a giant tic-tac-toe board on a SmartBoard. Students work together to respond to prompts in each square. On blue squares, I wrote questions for students to answer. Orange square had fill-in-the-blank questions. The students had to write questions that would result in the word. They write their answers on Stickies and put them on the Board. I check them and "close" the square after two correct answers. The goal is to get five in a row. You can see my students playing it here!

The yellow cards are their Plickers

Plickers: This is a fantastic new app that requires only one device to use. The students each get a square that looks like a QR code, called a Plicker (paper clicker.) I project a question on the SmartBoard and the students hold up and orient their Plicker to reflect A B C or D or T/F. I scan it with my phone and get real time results. They really like this activity, and I make a big deal of students who get questions right when the rest were incorrect. 

Sidewalk Race. I can quickly see who is prepared. 

Sidewalk Race: We've only done this once, but I will be sure to repeat it! I took the students outside and put them all on one sidewalk square. I asked them a question, they wrote it on their whiteboards, and held it up. Correct answers allowed them to move up one square, while wrong answers forced them to move back one square. We had quite a few major upsets and underdogs in this game!

Move Around the Room: This game is simplicity in its finest form. I write A B C and D around the room and ask a question. Students physically move to their desired answer and it allows me to quick check their understanding. I make a point to say to go with their what they think is the right answer versus going with where their friends go.

I Have, Who Has: This game involves more set up. I took all of their history content and wrote them into questions, such as "Who has the man elected to the presidency in 1860, which resulted in southern states seceding?" Another student has a card that says "I have Abraham Lincoln," and another clue. The game continues until it gets back to start. Our current class record is 3 minutes 45 seconds for 26 clues. You can check out a video of the game here.

SWAT in action

SWAT: Set up is required for this game too. I type up a bunch of vocab words/answers to math facts and call out a clue/math problem. After I say "SWAT!" students whirl around and try to swat the correct answer with a flyswatter. Meanwhile, students in the audience are writing answers on their whiteboards to show to me. 

You will see none of these activities require the students to sit around and do lots of worksheets. They are more engaging and movement based, which helps them to create better connections in their minds and foster a sense of fun. As one final culminating activity for VA Studies, we will be playing Survivor, which will involve knowing content, teamwork, speed, and twists and turns.

Author's Note: I wrote about Survivor and one more idea for review games in May 2017. Check them out here.

As a final note, please keep my students in your thoughts. We will be taking our tests on 5/18, 5/20, 5/27 and 5/28, and I know the students could benefit from support and encouragement from my PLN. Many of them are extremely stressed due to these tests. I have done everything in my power to limit their stress, but they know that these tests are important. I find it sad how everything stops to a grinding halt when we get into testing season. I fear it poisons students' love for learning, which is more important than a single test. I constantly tell my students that I expect them to try their best, and that will be enough for me. 

In addition to this stress, the students are not allowed to be proctored by me, because of cheating that occurred in a different school than mine last year. I am concerned that the students might not do as well without their number one fan in the room, but I have ingrained in them that I will always be there in spirit. 

Additionally, the VA DOE granted ability to have expedited retakes. This would allow students who failed the test to retake the entire test. Not just one section, but the entire 40-60 questions all over again. The entire school had to shift our entire test schedule up 10 days to accommodate for this. It angers me because I could be using those days to prepare the students more, and hopefully lessen the need for a retake. I do not think that 10 year olds should have to sit through an entire second tests. 

In conclusion, I do not think testing is inherently evil. I see the value in it and believe some testing/accountability is necessary. However, I think modern-day education has overdone this need. My students will have taken over 30 tests this year that were mandated by the county or state. This does not even include tests the grade level gives for report card grades. At some point, it becomes too much. My final thought is this:

Are we teaching kids to love learning or 
are we teaching them to become test takers?

What are your views on testing? How do you teach your students to be "bigger than the test" and instill resiliency? 

The Battle Tour: Living the Past Anew

Historical marker in town

"If this Valley is lost, 

Virginia is lost."

- Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, 1862

And thus sets the stage for the Battle of Front Royal Driving Tour, an annual event hosted by me with my fourth grade students. The idea came to me in November of my first year teaching. One of my cooperating teachers, Bob, was down visiting me and we were completing the tour ourselves. Bob had always hosted Saturday field trips while I was in his classroom, and I said he should come down in the spring and lead a trip with class. Bob turned to me and said, "Justin, it's your my classroom. I will come down and watch YOU lead the trip." I accepted his challenge and began putting more work into the idea.

First stop, first year:
Ashbury Chapel

The Battle of Front Royal Driving Tour would perfectly coincide with our Civil War unit in the spring. The Tour is 16-miles long, with ten different stops. These ten stops include Ashbury Chapel (where Stonewall was told of a secret route into town,) Rocky Road (hasn't been changed since 1862,) Prospect Hill Cemetery (where the artillery was placed,) the Bridges (where Union force unsuccessfully tried to destroy bridges as they retreated,) Fairfew (the final stand,) and more. It chronicles the perilous day of the Battle of Front Royal, which included spies, brother literally fighting brother, and urban warfare. One of the primary focal points in fourth grade is the Civil War. I decided that there was no better way to teach it than let the students experience how the Civil War impacted their hometown.

First stop, second year

As I said in my HSCN blog post, I am a huge proponent of family involvement. I decided to make this Tour an event on a Saturday. I did this to avoid having to pay for a bus for transport, allow more interaction with parents, and to allow me to focus on being the tour guide rather than being a teacher. I made it clear to the parents that they needed to provide transportation and were in charge of their child for the day. I would not be Mr. B that day; I would be Tour Guide Justin.

I partnered with one of my colleagues and opened it up to both classes. I am very thankful that we collaborated on this. I get very carried away with ideas, and she helped to bring me back to the ground and work out the logistics. We developed a permission form, directions in case the parents got lost, and a feedback form. 

Reading a historical marker

Last year, we had approximately thirty families between the two classes, and this year we had about fifteen. Miraculously, we had beautiful days both years (aside from a little bit of rain on the second trip.) The first year, we visited each stop, read the historical marker, listened to an audio recording, discussed, and drove to the next stop. While I had originally said the tour would take three hours, it took over four hours. So much for not getting carried away!

Introduction in town. Note the binder with pictures

This year, as my co-worker and I reflected and discussed the Tour again, we decided that we were going to make some changes to the Tour. One of the dominant themes of the feedback slips was that the parents and students both enjoyed hearing my words during discussions more than listening to the recordings. We decided to incorporate the feedback. Using Google Drive, I wrote myself a script of what to say, based on additional research I had done and by listening to the audio recordings. You can read the exact script here. Because I felt the reenactors could sometimes better say things than I could, I selected powerful quotes from the audio recordings and condensed it into one file. We also found pictures of key individuals and concepts. At each stop, I gave a grand speech about what had transpired at the spot, interspersed with the audio snippets and had students hold up the pictures. Along the way, I live tweeted with the hashtag #BFRDT and students sent Voxes to some of our Voxer friends. This seemed to increase engagement with both students and parents.

At one of the most popular spots:
Prospect Hill Cemetery

The other major change we implemented was the elimination of two stops. While they both were interesting stops, they did not add to the overall understanding of the battle, and one was way out of the way. We felt that removing these would allow the Tour to flow more smoothly and to cut down on time. At the stops that preceded the skipped stops, I told them about what they could see at that spot, and encouraged them to revisit it later. This definitely helped to cut down on time, and the second year I was only fifteen minutes over!

The reaction to the Tour was overwhelmingly positive. Verbally, on the feedback slips, and through email, students and parents alike said how much they enjoyed the tour. I think the parents enjoyed it, if not more than, the students did. I personally loved being a tour guide for a day. I think it would be a fun job later on in life. 

Feedback slips

Another observation I found interesting was to observe how the students' behavior varied from the classroom when Mr. B was in charge to while their parents were in charge. In my classroom, I run an incredibly tight ship. Students know my expectations and I usually only have one or two students who do not follow these. Many of the students on the tour were like completely different children; running around, throwing things at siblings and friends, yelling, and talking back to parents. It made me see how some students are different at home and made me wonder how the parents were ok with this. Parents will often ask me for advice how I get their students to behave so wonderfully in class and I want to refer back to this day and just politely remind them that if  you hold your child to high expectations, they will rise to the occasion. 

One comment has really stuck with me from the first tour. At the end of the Tour, a parent walked up to me and mused:

 "You know, 

I have lived in Front Royal for my whole life. 

I never knew about any of this, 

let alone that there even was a battle. 

You have lived here for less than a year, 

and have taught me more about my hometown 

than anyone else."

Parent reflections on learning something new

Have you ever done anything like this in your teaching? How did it go? If you haven't, what would you like to do? Leave a reply in the comments below. 

Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes: An Experience

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I open with this quote for a specific reason. Today marks the 47th anniversary of the assassination of MLK. This blog post helps illustrate both this quote and the teachings of MLK.

Raise your hand if you learned about segregation in elementary school. Good. Now raise your hand if you were able to fully comprehended the extent of segregation when you were in elementary school. Chances are, some of your hands went down. I was in a student in elementary school in the 90's, and while learned the definition of segregation, I didn't really understand it.

Fast forward 12 years, and now I am the teacher in elementary school. According to the Virginia Department of Education, as part of our Reconstruction curriculum, students are to "demonstrate knowledge of the reconstruction of Virginia following the Civil War by identifying the effects of segregation and 'Jim Crow' on life in Virginia for whites, African Americans, and American Indians." Last year, we read the textbook pages about segregation and discrimination, but I sensed that the majority of the students did not fully understand the ramifications of segregation. I teach in a predominantly white school, in an area where segregation is not a problem. The students all treat each other equally, regardless of skin color, and do not seem to care about the difference. Do not get me wrong, this is a great thing. However, I wanted students to understand segregation on a deep level, to deepen their understandings of the content, but also learn not to perpetuate segregation.

Over the weekend, I was with my girlfriend and was picking her brain for different ways I could make the content come alive for the students. She had mentioned she had seen a YouTube video about a research study in which a teacher segregated her students based on eye color. You may know this as Jane Elliott's Brown Eye/Blue Eye experience. If not, check it out here. Please be aware that there is some politically incorrect language in the video. The concept behind this was simple: students cannot control the color of their eyes, just like their skin. I saw it as a non-controversial way to illustrate segregation to students who had never experienced segregation first hand.

Notice the necklace

The next day when I arrived at school, I approached my administrators to see if this was okay with them. They fully supported me so I moved forward with my plan. I made "necklaces" out of rope for students and as they entered, I asked the students their eye color. Side note here: I am color blind, so that it why I had to ask them their eye color. If they had brown eyes, I put a necklace on them. If they had blue eyes, they proceeded with their morning work. They asked what the necklaces were for, but I smiled and told them that all would be revealed at morning meeting.

At morning meeting I let the cat out of the bag. We reviewed the concept of segregation and discrimination and I told them that they would be "living it" today. The brown eyes would be experiencing segregation, while the blue eyes would not. I laid down some parameters:

1. Only Mr. B would be doing the segregation. While I would encourage the blue eyes to not interact with the brown eyes, I did not want the students to be mean toward each other.
2. Everything would serve a purpose and we would be discussing it throughout the day.
3. Regardless of how Mr. B acted today, I still cared about them all the same.

The requirements 

After they understood the guidelines, I pulled out a whiteboard that had the different requirements for each group. You can see them in the picture.

I dismissed them from morning meeting to their seats, and the game was afoot. Instantly, I saw both a brown eyed student (let's call her Jane) and a blue eyed student (let's call him Jake) were talking. To Jane I said, "Jane! Stop talking! You're acting like a typical brown eyed student,"  and to Jake, "Jake, could you please stop talking. Thank you very much." The students knew that they were in for a long day, but I knew that they would benefit.

This continued through the morning. Generally, the blue eyed students had more privileges and kindness given to them, while the other students did not. Before recess, I stopped and debriefed. I asked brown eyes how they were feeling: "Angry, sad, frustrated, like you don't like me." Some brown eyed student cried during the day. When this occurred, I would back off of them and conference with them later. I live tweeted some of their feelings throughout the day; feel free to check them out (@Mr_B_Teacher.) When I asked the blue eyes the same thing, they said they felt fine. Not a single student in the first year said they felt bad for the brown eyes. In the second year, only about one or two of the blue eyed students did.

The Recess Test

I acknowledged their feelings and said that to be fair, I would give both groups a pop quiz before recess. This was to represent a poll test before voting during Reconstruction. I passed out the tests, which are pictured here. You can easily see they were not equal. I am not even sure if the brown eyed one is solvable. Let me know in the comments below!

This continued for the entire day. We debriefed, discussed why things were happening, and how they were feeling. The brown eyes were becoming more and more frustrated, and their work also suffered. One student who usually read 135 wpm only read about 100 wpm on this day.

At the end of the day, I told the brown eyes their segregation experience was over... and it would begin for the blue eyed students the next day. The looks on both group's faces were priceless.

This year, I sent a notice home BEFORE doing our experience

One major lesson I learned in the first year was that I should have let the parents know what I was doing ahead of time. I let them know part way through the day, and one parent became very agitated. After exchanging some emails, I called them on the phone. They had misunderstood what I was doing, but after talking with them, they calmed down. Still, they didn't wish for their student to participate in the second day of the experience, so I arranged for her to do independent work in another classroom, which ironically "segregated" her from our class. Needless to say, I let the parents know well in advance this year and gave them they ability to opt out. No parents opted out this year, and the majority of parents in both years were very supportive of this.

This year, I had two major advantages that I did not have last year.

First, I asked two of my former students to come and speak with my current class about it. They reflected lots of what the current class was feeling. Out of my own curiosity, I asked them what were their top 5 memories from VA Studies last year. Both immediately responded with "Segregation Day," and had a hard time identifying anything else. These were two students who "pass advanced" their VA Studies SOL. This stuck with me. Obviously, this experience stuck with them, while other concepts had been lost. It goes to show that teaching about character will outlast much of the content we teach. I would much rather my students remember how they were treated than remember what year the Virginia Assembly began.

Skyping with Jane Elliott

Secondly, after the events of last year, I had emailed Jane Elliott. I wasn't even sure if she was still alive, and was certainly not expecting a response. I was pleasantly surprised. She thought it was a great thing that I continued her teachings, and offered to Skype with my class. By that point, it was too late in the year, but I contacted her again a few weeks ago. She was willing to Skype with my current students on Thursday, April 2, 2015. Ms. Elliott was very passionate about what she had to say, and although she sometimes went a little above the students' understanding, the students were engaged with her anecdotes. One important lesson that she brought up was that I did not physically force any student to go along with my plan, nor did any student speak out about it. The blue eyes and the brown eyes both found that it was easier to do what I said, just because I was in charge. I think this opened their eyes to realize that "The Man" is not always right. (I'm hoping this doesn't blow up in my face!) I personally learned a lot from her, including her inspiration behind the experience and how her family was ostracized for her actions. She reinforced what I was trying to teach them: My students were going to be better people through experiencing this lesson.

I feel that this was a great experience. I had originally called it an experiment, but Ms. Elliott recommended I call it an experience. If I called it an experiment, I indicated that segregation was OK by experimenting on people's lives. Obviously, this is the opposite of what I was trying to teach, and I am grateful for this mini lesson. I hope that my students will remember how it felt and stand up against this injustice. I'll close with my final thoughts I gave to the students:

"You experienced 'segregation' in a minor way in a controlled environment for 7 hours. 

I did not physically harm you and you knew it was ending at the end of the day. 

Imagine living even worse than that every single day for your entire life."

I would love to discuss this with anyone further. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Behind the Scenes of a Green Screen!

Recently in class, we completed our Virginia Studies unit on Virginia's role in the Reconstruction era. As part of each unit, I like to give the students a project to complete. Past projects have included map activities, Jeopardy games, dioramas, and student-written skits. Skits have always been a favorite choice. I decided to take it to the next level... by filming them in front of a GREEN SCREEN! This added a whole new layer to their project. Let's walk through the project, shall we?

You can see the timeline up on the SmartBoard

First, the students were randomly assigned into groups. I use a really cool app called "Team Shake" to make their groups. It allows me to create even groups, so not all the high achieving students are in one group, and vice versa. Sometimes I have to "shake" it a few times to iron out the wrinkles (students who don't get along or get along too well!) I sorted them into five groups to correspond with the five topics: Reconstruction Problems, Freedman's Bureau/Sharecropping, Segregation in Schools, Segregation in Voting, and Reconstruction Expansion. I randomly selected what order the groups. We set up a timeline to complete the skit in a reasonable time frame and kept revisiting it during the duration of the project.

Working on Google Drive and Classroom

Next, they were given a graphic organizer to help guide their thinking. They needed to write down the important details about their topic, identify what props they would make, and what they wanted as their background. After getting this information down, they began writing a script together. After the handwritten version was done, they moved onto Google Classroom and Drive to complete their final copy.

On Google Classroom (which we use extensively,) I posted a separate Doc for each group to work on. Using their Chromebooks, the students were all able to "hop on" the Doc at one time and work together. They loved using the chat box feature to communicate and the entire Google Classroom feature. They begged me to allow them to work on it at home, which I happily agreed to!

Impromptu teachable moment on feelings
(but I  forgot to use my manners!)

Working at home did cause a minor problem. Because Google Classroom doesn't allow me to set specific sharing to certain students, each student could see all scripts. One student was out the day I said this, and had gone onto other scripts and edited them. I left her a message on her script, and discussed with her the next day. Hopefully, this issue won't arise again!

Building on props in foreground, behind is finding background

The next step in the skit process was for the students to select their green screen backgrounds. They found images on Google Image Search and pasted them into a shared Doc on Classroom. This allowed me to have all their chosen backgrounds in one place when I was editing later. One student became the "Copy/Paste Master" and continues to do so! They also had to build props for their skit. In the past, they would get super involved into the props without having a script ready. The class agreed the scripts had to be in my hand before they could begin on props. This has worked like a charm.

Rehearsals!

After all of this, the students began to rehearse. I challenged them to memorize their lines, which I have never done before with any group. They rose to the challenge and did admirably. Each group was given a certain amount of time to practice in front of the green screen. This helped them with positioning themselves and props, because usually they can move around the entire room.


Finally, it was performance day! Ironically, this coincided with St. Patrick's Day. Green clothing on green screen.... not my finest moment in planning! We threw jackets on students who forgot to wear a different color. BOOM! Problem solved. I used a combination of a video camera and an iPad app called "Green Screen by Do Ink" to film. I used the video camera to get the raw footage and the app to gauge how the green screen effect would work. You can use the app for the entire process, but I like to have more control than the app offers.

I edited the videos that night with Movie Studio Platinum, simply eliminating the green screen and putting in the students' backgrounds. I published it on my YouTube channel and shared the link with my Voxer and Twitter PLNs, all families in the classroom, and all staff at my school. The students have received Tweets, Voxes, comments, and emails with great supporting comments. I encourage you to check it out and leave some feedback for them!

Some takeaways from this experience:

• It was highly motivating. Students actually opted to work through recess most days! Integrating more tech into this (Google Classroom and green screen) helped to heighten the fun.
• Students need a lot of work and practice on their oral delivery. I plan to do this project for our next unit on civil rights leaders, and will offer mini lessons on public speaking.
• In my email to staff, I offered to help other teachers with green screen. One teacher has already asked me to help her in her class. I was thrilled to help, because my eventual career goal is to be a technology coach!
• This entire project took 1 calendar week from assigning groups to performance. They were given about 45 minutes a day, with an option to extend it into recess for an additional 25 minutes. I felt this was a good amount of time: not too long and not too short. 
• This allowed for a ton of cross curricular domains and skills: history, reading/research, writing, technology skills, collaboration, performance arts, and many others. 

As a closing, here is the final video! Enjoy! See you next time.