Screencasts made easy

Do you want to flip your classroom but don't want to make the video? You can find tons of videos already made for any age, subject and length. Here is a wonderful example for a kindergarten classroom made by Megan Anderson, a kindergarten teacher at Red Lion School District. Notice how she introduces the topic, explains how to do it and then offers several opportunities for the students to practice. When you follow this framework, creating screencasts are easy. Even better, screenr.com offers this service for free!


Make sure to check back to Megan's screenr channel for more great videos.

3 Simple Ways to Incorporate Technology into your Classroom

This is a guest blog from Megan Anderson, a Kindergarten teacher at Red Lion Area School District. We would love to hear about your newest technology discoveries and how you apply them to your classroom.

If you’re like me, you love technology and anything related to it. But when it comes to applying it in your classroom… You have no idea where to start! Yep, that was me about 4 weeks ago. I had all these great resources at my fingertips and just didn’t know it. It was overwhelming! If you’re looking for three quick and easy resources to use in your classroom, try youtube, twitter and blogs. Let’s take a look at each.

1.Youtube Youtube can be used for so much more than looking at the latest viral video or checking out cool Superbowl commercials that you missed! There are many educational videos out there and also how-to’s. I searched all over the internet looking for a Groundhog Day video and found everything I needed on Youtube. You can tell a child how the groundhog will come out of its hole and might see his shadow or might not. Until they see it for themselves, it won’t make as much sense. This is where Youtube comes in handy! You can show your kiddos what you are talking about and give it real meaning allowing them to make those important connections.

2.Twitter It seems most every young person you meet has a facebook or twitter account. Let’s take what they already use and turn it into something educational. In the past teachers would assign a reading passage and have students write a summary (using paper and pencils!). Instead of writing the answers on paper, you can have your students tweet (that’s the twitter word for writing a message) a response back to you! Let’s face it, they always have their phones attached to their hip and we know most of these phones have Internet capabilities. The neat thing about it, you need to be concise and synthesize information because you only have 140 characters to form your answer. There is some higher-level thinking!

3.Blogs My eyes were opened to blogs last year. I had a student teacher that kept talking about blogs. Finally I said to her, “What are you talking about? What is a blog?” A blog is basically an online journal that is available on the web. It can be updated daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever it suites the “blogger” (the owner of the blog). As an educator, I am always looking for new and creative ideas. There are so many wonderful blogs that are specific to grade levels and content areas. You can find everything you need from math, to science to social skills! And, instead of recreating the wheel, there are many materials created by other teachers for your use. Give it a try. Click here to go to Google’s blog search. It only searches blogs! Happy searching!

See, that wasn’t too bad was it! Now, where’s that easy button?