Teaching History with Mrs. Byars

My classroom is not one-to-one and the devices I do have often have a lot of issues because they were small sets of devices that I was asked to pilot to see if they would be the best fit for busy classrooms like mine. Because of this I often have to take things like hyperdocs and find ways to make them work for limited device classrooms. Three Things I Do To Make Hyperdocs Work In A Limited Device Classroom  1. We Use Worksheets  GASP! I said that evil word that has supposedly been banned from teaching. But to be real, the easiest way to do this is to have a worksheet (yup, I still use worksheets), partner kids up, and then have them follow along on a shared device. You could use Nearpod or Peardeck (both of which are amazing tools) but if the students need to go back to the information and review it only the student logged in will get a copy of the notes they take with Nearpod or Peardeck. This where I will defend worksheets, the value of the worksheet has to...

I recently got an e-mail from a history teacher who felt very overwhelmed after attending a local edtech conference. She had seen everything from hyperdocs to Google Classroom and had no idea where to start. She was going from using little to no tech in the classroom to seeing the potential of individualized education that edtech allows teachers to create through choice, self-paced learning, and the various ways technology can impact teacher efficiency in grading or giving feedback. My response was a list of 5 tools that I find essential and easy to start with if you've never done this before. Just like our students, it is a little crazy to assume that when trying something new a teacher can go all in the first time around. The sort of pedagogical shifts that technology can create takes time and if the expectation is that you either make those shifts or never use tech, then we 1. Edpuzzle   I often put my class in a station rotation model for students to cons...

Recently I wrote about some of my favorite tech tools you can use in class to get students sharing what they've learned . By far my favorite for ease of use is Adobe Spark Video . While it does not have the most features and it is not the most complex video creator out there, it works incredibly well for creating videos in the classroom. Adobe Spark is fairly user friendly, below I have created a step by step tutorial for those who have never used it before. Scroll down even further and you can watch a completed adobe spark video. And here is what an Adobe Slide Video looks like in action using the same content as you see above! Adobe Spark is easy to use and even has an App for iPad and iPhone. I especially love that you don't have to download the video, students can turn in the shareable link making the process of grading and sharing the videos much easier overall.  Have you used Adobe Spark Video in class? What do your students use it for? Share in t...

There are so many amazing new ways students can share what they've learned and create incredible projects, videos, websites, and presentations to show what they've learned. This is a quick list of 5 I've used this year that my students and I really liked. I won't go into too much detail about each product, this more of a whirlwind tour then an in-depth tutorial. Enjoy!  If you live anywhere on social media, even if you spent like 5 seconds on twitter this year, you probably already know about this one. It's not my favorite (and to be honest, my students don't LOVE it) but it has a ton of potential and has some really amazing features.  How It Works:  Students record up to 5 minute long videos reacting to a prompt. Students can comment and react to each other (but those features can be turned off) feels like instagram of videos but is self contained (you control who has access to the grid and can post.). What I like about it: It feels like s...

Instagram is my go to social media account because I love being able to visually tell the story of my class and easily share student work and student accomplishments It’s all About the Pictures Instagram is the perfect place for visual storytelling. You upload pictures, crop them, and add filters that can change the coloring or how the picture looks. You can write a caption as well but since people scroll through multiple Instagram Accounts at the same time they will often miss the caption making the focus the picture. This allows you to tell an impactful story with just photos alone. While it is always good practice to caption the photo so if someone does stop, they know what is going on, the goal is rich and interesting pictures that offer a window in your classroom. You don’t have to post selfies. Ever. While Instagram can seem like a world full of selfies (or photos you take of yourself) you can get away with never posting a single one! I post student wor...