Stream Teaching: Part 2-- Our First Day

Today was the day.  We had a few dry runs last week to figure out some technology issues.  We figured we had as much figured out as we could, and we needed to give it a go for real.  David and I planned to do a lesson where the students would work in groups to create a list of characteristics they believed would be used to describe More Developed Countries (MDCs), Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs), and Less Developed Countries (LDCs).  We figured this would be a great way to have the class interact with each other in a non-threatening way because neither group had been exposed to these concepts in class.  This activity was created as a type of pre-assessment for the class.

We don't have exactly the same bell schedule, so that will definitely pose a few issues as we move forward in the year, but I figured a way to get my students working on something for the 5 minutes before David's day began.  Once his class started, we got going with the lesson.  The students were in groups on their respective campuses figuring out what qualities they believed would be used for MDCs, NICs, and LDCs.  After 5 minutes, we came back as a whole class to discuss it.  Both David and I were at the board collecting the answers from both campuses.  I would have my groups share out for the students at Jones to hear, and we would write the answers on the board.  David would have his students then share out what they had come up with for the qualities of the types of countries.

There are still some kinks to figure out (sound being the biggest one to overcome), but I can not even begin to say how happy I was with the overall lesson and set up.  I am even more excited now about the future of the program.  I know there will be days that I will say it was a complete disaster, but that happens in my classroom sometimes as well.

We've scheduled our next session for Friday.  I will be updating the blog after every installment (well, at least that's my goal here).

Until next time...

Stewart

Stream Teaching part 1-- A New Adventure

This year, I am trying something that I've never done before, and I've only seen done by one other school.  Now, this isn't to say this type of teaching isn't being done around the country or world, but I've not seen anything like it before.  We've combined the aspect of team teaching with live streaming to create our "Stream Teaching."  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this project.

So what exactly is this "Stream Teaching?"  I am partnering with a teaching at one of the lowest performing schools in our district.  Through this partnership, we will be team teaching our classes a few days a week using a program, Safari Montage, Live!  David is a brand new teacher and thus a first time AP Human Geography teacher.  David and I will be connecting our classrooms by live streaming both of them.  I will begin the teaching process since David is learning not just content, but also classroom management and other skills you pick up your first year teaching.  So, David's students will be watching me teach the lesson just as if they were in my classroom with my students.  I will be projecting his class on a screen on my side wall so that the classes can interact with each other when the time comes.  My goal is to not create two individual classes, but one class on two campuses that are interacting and learning together.  I don't want this to be just a class for David's students where they just watch me teach and watch my students learn.  I want to create an environment where the students are seamlessly learning together.  I want them to know each other and learn from each other.

I cannot wait for the first lesson to happen.  We're almost there.  I will be posting about this experience throughout the year.  Hopefully, you will join us on our adventure this year!