A long, long time ago, I created videos for my students, and even with all the criticism of the Flipped Classroom, it added so much value to my classroom. Here’s what I learned about what not to do. Do not:

• Think too far ahead. I learned very quickly that making a few videos ahead of time felt disingenuous and created more work in the long run. A couple of my longer videos (see below) could have been much shorter because it turned out that my students already knew about the coordinate plane. Oops. However, because I had already recorded the video, it was still their assignment. Oops again. This fall, I plan to set aside 10 minutes every couple days to make a quick video that addresses some potential pitfalls of their current (or forecasted) troubles.
• Upload videos without organizing them. When I started, I just put them onto YouTube, then would share a link for the kids to view. Even with Google Classroom, it isn’t organized. I ended up building a website that has the videos categorized for easy access (it isn’t great, but it helped my students: mrstevens.weebly.com). Another teacher I know has all of his videos with Bitly links and they are customized to be really organized.
• Teach as though you were teaching your class. The first few videos I made were 17, 21, and 22 minutes long. Participation was low and enthusiasm was as well. Based on informal surveys to my students, I learned that 3-5 minute videos worked the best. The shorter, the better.
• Teach to an imaginary whole room. My teaching style is built on the energy in the room. When I started making videos (after school hours), nobody was in the seats. It felt… empty. At the time, I had a couple students who liked to stay after and help, so I put them to work. They sat right behind the camera and I taught to them as if I was tutoring rather than instructing an entire class. It made life a lot easier for me, and the feedback from students was positive.
• Assume students will watch the entire video. Even with short videos, my students would skip around. Hey, I even do that when I’m trying to find something. Knowing that they would skip through the explanations and just copy it down helped me prepare my live lessons differently, and I think they were better.
• Assume students have no opinion. When I started creating videos, it was just plug and chug, head down, get through them. It wasn’t until I started asking my students, about two weeks into it, for their thoughts. It’s weird, right? Having a video version of me teaching a live version of you? At the end of every week, I would ask if the videos were helping, and what I could do to make them better. If you look at my website, which you definitely don’t need to do, you’ll see that I tried different variations. The one my students disliked the most was when I used a screen recording app. They wanted to see the problems worked out by hand. It made sense to me, so I did that for them. 
• Assume you are the only ones who want to record. Yes, when we were a couple months into the video-making, my students started asking if they could do the next lesson. Being that they were some of my higher-performing students anyways, it made the decision easier. I taught them the content for a couple lessons ahead, then they made the video and we put it onto the site. This was a fun way to hand over ownership as the class got more comfortable with the format.
• Feel like you need to be perfect. But it’s going on video! Once I gave up on the need to be perfect, my videos became more me. Now, if I royally screwed up, sure, I’d re-record. However, a few mistakes here and there, a dropped marker, a quick erasure, all made the final cut.
• Feel like the videos are worthless. During this process, I doubted whether the videos had value. That was until I received messages from parents, asking about a certain step in the video. Yes, parents were using the videos to help their kids with the work. Also, before state testing, an assignment for the students was to take a previous topic, go back, watch the video(s) for it, and create a new one based on their new understanding. The videos served as a spiral tool, something I never planned for (but have since)!

I think that’s all for now. Does that help a little? Is it too much? Truth be told, I’ll be figuring this whole thing out all over again in the fall, so there’s a good chance I’m missing something—or a lot of things. 

Where is your head at with the video-making process?

Happy "You're Gonna Do Just Fine" Fishing

Have you ever seen Robots, a cheesy movie from 2005 about a young robot inventor? Mr. Bigweld is famous for proclaiming that when he sees a need, he fills the need.

By now, you have seen the droves and flocks of 3D printing experts and engineers who are working day and night to support the medical professionals trying to "do their job" that has evolved into something so much more than that. We in the maker community have long-loved designing and constructing ways to help in one way or another. I have been blessed to work alongside the team at Airwolf3D for years to design lessons and model classroom practices, yet this is so, so, so different. 

If it weren't for a dentist in Montana, a Boy Scout in Vancouver, and a company in Southern California, I would wield a great machine and nothing more. Sure, plenty of companies have put things out in the open for folks to print. In fact, there are so many people ready to help. These are the three who I leaned on first. The dentist brought us MakeTheMasks.com which details how to print N95-style masks. The Boy Scout brought us the ear guard straps to alleviate the stress on the ears while wearing surgical masks. The company brought us a design for a face shield for medical professionals to don in times of need. 

Through local contacts in Southern California and family in Arkansas, I have found a home for over 75 ear guards, 30 face shields, and 30 masks. We have run into trouble along the way because, well, things don't always go as planned.

Yep, that's a blob of plastic because my son decided to put soap in the brush used to lay down the glue. That's what happens when I leave things unattended.

If you have a 3D printer, then great. Put it to work, find someone in your area to donate the finished products to, and feel great about it. My wife, who has a gift with making in her own way, has sewn over 25 masks and has plenty more on the way, giving them to friends and family. 

If you have neither a printer or a sewing skillset, there are other ways to help. 

Give blood
Help a food bank in your area
Send crafts and notes to nursing homes
Order take out once in a while
Stay home unless you need to get supplies
​Please, please, please take care of yourself, too

This sucks. It all sucks. Trust me, I have feelings about getting back to baseball, work, life as we knew it. The reality is, though, that the only way to get over it is to go through it (Goin' On A Bear Hunt, anyone?).

Makers make, builders build, and helpers help.

Try to be one of those, for someone, at this time.

Happy "Seeing The Need" Fishing