Screencastify Lesson

Hello!

This week, I used the Google Add-On, Screencastify, to narrate a presentation I created through Google Slides. This presentation can be used for online learning as well as review for students that need additional presentations to achieve mastery. I also plan to take some of the individual slides and turn them into a Nearpod for centers and independent work. Through Nearpod, I can incorporate videos and interactive activities to hold students accountable for their work.

Screencastify is an easy tool to use. The free version allows you to creat up to five minute videos or screencasts. You can choose to show your face on the screen as you present the lesson, or you can opt not to include that if you desire. I opted not to include my face because I wanted my students more focused on the content of the lesson and felt that having additional things on the screen may distract from the lesson.

To begin, I decided to create a lesson via Google Slides for one of the first topics we cover in our kindergarten math curriculum. We spend a great deal of time identifying numbers and focus on 0 or 1 to 5 initially. Through Google Slides, I searched the web for images to include to show my desired content. My goal was to show students the many ways a number can be represented.

After my content was created, I used Screencastify to record my voice presenting the content. I added Screencastify to my toolbar for easy access. Recording was as simple as clicking a button. Screencastify gives you a countdown before recording begins. Once recording starts, you navigate through your presentation just as you would if you were teaching face-to-face. It could not be more simple.

When you are finished recording, you simply click the stop symbol to stop recording. You can listen to your recording and trim any excess or mistakes using the free version. The paid version does allow more flexibility with editing, but I found the free version suitable for my purposes.

Again, the recording limit for the free version is only five minutes. I find that sufficient for teaching small children – particularly at the beginning of the school year. If you need longer recordings, you can either section your lesson into multiple parts or upgrade to the paid version.

Having this presentation ready to go will be so helpful as we started blended learning. It will provide an activity for students to view independently while they are becoming familiar with navigating technology in the classroom. This will also be a great tool for remediation and intervention. Students can utilize this one presentation as many times as needed and allow me to use my instructional time more efficiently.

Some ways Screencastify could be used professionally include recording lessons for differentiating instruction. I think it is a good tool to use to show parents how to navigate components of your classroom (such as newsletters, signing up for Remind 101, and logging to Accelerated Reader). I think “showing” can be much more effective and helpful than “telling”, especially when helping parents of students that speak other languages or those that are not as fluent with technology. Steps in a process can also be shared with building and team members rather than having a face-to-face meeting or training. This would also allow viewers to pause and catch up or rewind while viewing, so they can go at their own pace. The possibilities are really endless!

The biggest difficulty I faced during this assignment was that my children are home for the summer, so every time I hit record someone else would enter the room. This is life right now… 🙂 Other than that, the whole process was pretty simple from start to finish.

You can view my completed screencast using the link below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jcCHcnEbcpMcF5F6KINaBBLQANzO4XtX/view?usp=sharing