Introducing Our New LTAs

This year we have some new faces in our libraries ready to support our teachers' and students' technology needs. After many years of service at North Barrington Elementary, Mary Solymossy retired. Sue Kiss from BMS-Station reached her goal of becoming a teacher-librarian in a neighboring district. Michele Kozak, from Countryside Elementary, became a STEM teacher right here in Barrington 220. We are excited and sad to see our friends move on to new stages in their careers. This change also allows us to welcome new colleagues.

iPadOS 15 Coming Soon

About one month ago, Apple released iPadOS 15, the most recent version of the iPad operating system. In Barrington 220, this iPadOS is not yet available for download to our student and teacher iPad devices. 

As is typical for a new operating system, our tech team tests various beta versions of the iPadOS before its general release—and we usually wait a week or so to conduct testing of the final release to make sure all new features and settings work well on our network and with all our primary apps and systems.

At this time, we have identified one new feature of iPadOS that allows some users to bypass our district’s web filter. Therefore, we are delaying our iPadOS update until our testing indicates that the issue is fully resolved.

Other than this one issue, our tests indicate that iPadOS 15 is ready to release. At this time, we are not experiencing any negative effects from not upgrading, but many new features will be available when we do release the upgrade!

If you wish to preview some of the features in iPadOS 15 before it arrives on your iPad, please take a look here.

YouTube is Blocked, Now What?

You may have noticed that YouTube videos are not directly accessible to students when they are logged into Google with their student account. This change was applied by Google to our Google Education account.

Since it is so easy for inappropriate ads and video suggestions to pop up when a student views a YouTube video, there are two simple ways to eliminate ads and video suggestions so that students can view assigned YouTube items safely on their iPad. 

Method 1

Edit the original YouTube link:

Original link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmqoFEDbOHw

To remove unwanted content, insert _popup after the word "watch" in the link. 
Edited link: https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SmqoFEDbOHw

Method 2

Edit the original YouTube link:
Original link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbssO7f1HCs,

Insert a dash "-" in between the "t" and "ube" in the link.
Edited link: https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=kbssO7f1HCs

Please see your building LTA or call extension 1500 if you need further assistance.

Changes in Digital Signage on the Way

Remember the days when the primary way to provide information was using pieces of paper taped on nearly every hallway wall or classroom door announcing an upcoming event or advertising a club or sport? Digital signage has added new ways to communicate by allowing TVs mounted in high-traffic areas to connect to devices that push digital content.

For the last several years, Barrington 220 has been using Google-Chrome-based devices to push content to TVs in common areas. The devices were simple and used Google Slides for content to serve as a great first step in our efforts to provide dynamic content for staff and students. As those devices reach the end of their service, we now have the opportunity to update our digital signage systems across the district.

We have already begun deployment of our new system, Carousel Digital Signage, which uses Apple TV for digital content delivery. This new system provides the district more flexibility and content options for our signage.

With Carousel we can display the weather, Twitter feeds, RSS feeds, event listings, video files, image files, YouTube bulletins and much more. Carousel can even automatically display weather alerts. 

Keep an eye out in your school for the new signage, and we hope you will find it informative and visually pleasing.

Five Great Ways to Use Video in the Classroom

Effective use of video in class can make a good classroom great. Effective video use isn’t just finding good instructional videos to show. Great teachers recognize that effective video integration also means allowing opportunities for creation as well. 

Here are five ways to integrate video into your learning environment.

Student Video Essays

Every day each Barrington 220 student has a complete video production studio in their backpack. Teachers can use student-produced videos to replace more traditional essays and presentations and provide variety and student choice. The purpose of writing essays is to have students communicate their thinking on a given topic. A vigorous writing process enables students to organize and solidify their thinking. Peer feedback, revision, and rewriting improve the quality of student thinking. Why, though, does the finished product always have to be a written essay? 

The same thinking process goes into the preproduction of a video. When students curate sources, conduct interviews, or narrate a story, they deeply engage with the source content. Scriptwriting, storyboarding, and shot planning all involve the same organizational steps as more traditional writing. Students may find that they can convey an emotion or emphasize essential points through video. Teachers may find that watching and grading videos is more enjoyable than marking essays. 

Student Explainer Videos

Students can record quick videos to explain their thinking on a particular prompt, problem, or concept. One difficulty of giving quality feedback is knowing what a student is thinking while learning a new idea. Formative assessment may provide data on what a student gets right or wrong, but we don’t always know why. Having students record their process and explain their thinking allows the teacher to understand better what’s going on in the students’ heads, allowing the teacher to give better feedback and make appropriate instructional corrections. 

For example, math teachers can have students screen record with audio while working out a problem and narrating their steps. When teaching a literacy lesson, students can record a quick video in Flipgrid where they explain an aspect of a story (i.e., character development, setting, plot, motif) and tell what elements they used to develop their thoughts. 

Many teachers find that when they ask students to make videos rather than writing, they get more out of them. Sometimes, it is easier for students to explain their thinking verbally than to put it on paper. Furthermore, using a platform like Flipgrid or Padlet allows students to comment and respond to each other’s posts. This aspect will enable students to get feedback and recognition without the teacher scrambling to get to everyone right away. 

Teacher Exemplar/Demonstration Videos

Any teacher who teaches a process or skill knows the frustration of showing the same skill repeatedly to students. Whether it’s playing a particular piece of music, learning a new ceramics technique, applying a new formula in Physics, or mixing ingredients for a new recipe—some days it feels like you are repeating a demonstration for each student in the class. This may happen for a variety of reasons. It could be that not every student in the class can see from their location. Other students may need an explanation several times before they get it. Recording a video demonstration and posting it to your Learning Management System is the way to go here. Give students access to your exemplar anywhere, anytime. 

Students are no longer limited by their ability to see the front of the classroom. Students who need to see it several times can do this themselves without holding up students who got it quicker. Students can pause, rewind, or skip ahead based on their level of understanding. Demonstration videos allow the teacher to refine their explanation and put the power in the student’s hands.

Direct Instruction

The flipped classroom is not a new idea. This blended learning strategy is based on the concept that lecture is not always the best use of class time. Teachers post instructional videos online for students to watch at home so class time is reserved for more dynamic and collaborative activities. Posting instructional videos online has many of the same benefits as the demonstration videos described above. When students receive direct instruction at home, they can use class time to apply the information. 

Teachers can create short instructional videos to communicate concepts and content. This doesn’t mean a teacher should just record their typical lectures and post them online. Videos less than 10 minutes long, centered on a single idea, tend to be most effective in holding student attention. Teachers should also consider such elements as student age and the complexity of the concept when determining the appropriate length for a video. 

These videos can be as simple as voice recording over a slide presentation or can use interactive tools like Nearpod or EdPuzzle to increase student engagement. In addition, there is a vast library of professionally made instructional videos on a variety of topics available for free on YouTube or other video content sites (i.e., Khan Academy, Crash Course). Teachers can curate these lessons to serve as the primary instructional tool or supplement their teaching. 

Just as with demonstration videos, instructional videos allow students to control the time, pace, and place. Students can watch videos as many times as they need. They can pause while taking notes or skip concepts they already understand. Video instruction allows for greater individualization within the lesson. 

Self-Improvement

When was the last time you recorded a lesson then watched it? Recording and watching lessons is a powerful professional reflection strategy that often leads to significant improvements. Although watching yourself teach can feel awkward at first, many teachers find that they benefit significantly from the process. 

Teachers who record themselves report uncovering bad habits and patterns that were otherwise unknown. Video allows teachers to see a lesson with a different perspective and harvest large amounts of information from a single recording. How was your wait time during a class discussion? How well did you move around the room during collaborative group work? How much student talk vs. teacher talk was there? 

In Barrington 220 all of our buildings have at least one Swivl video system to enhance their self-recordings. Instructional Digital Age Learning (iDAL) Coaches know how to use these devices and can give you strategies to get the most out of recording your lessons. In addition, some teachers have partnered with iDAL coaches to use video in their impact cycles for teacher improvement.