Student motivation and interaction in the classroom are important factors when it comes to student success. Many apps and websites can help teachers meet diverse learner needs within the classroom. The American Association of School Libraries publishes a yearly list of the best apps and websites for teaching and learning. These resources offer innovative ways to interest, challenge, and engage students in learning. After looking at the listed apps and websites, I've curated the resources that seem to suit my school's needs. These resources can be accessed here. These resources are organized by topic. You will notice one of those topics is a PLC collection of presentation resources.
To meet one of the needs in my school, I have created a collaborative PLC group to introduce alternative ways of instruction. We often find students are missing instruction for various reasons, need to review material outside of class, or are more engaged when allowed to work independently. These types of situations can be successfully addressed through apps and websites such as VoiceThread, Screencast-O-Matic, and Loom. Although these are not all new resources, they are tried and true ways to enhance instruction.
VoiceThread offers a platform that allows collaborative work. Users can upload documents, PowerPoints, audio files, and other materials to a central thread. Other users can add to the thread or simply leave comments via phone, audio/video file, text, or webcam. This is a great way to encourage collaboration or to collect thoughts and questions after intial instruction.
Screencast-O-Matic offers the ability to record a computer screen or webcam with audio. These screencasts can be shared or uploaded to Youtube. These are great options for flipped classrooms and for times when students need to review material outside of class or have missed instruction.
Loom is another great way to record and instantly share videos of your screen or webcam with audio. Loom provides another option for recording lessons or for students to use as an alternative way to respond to content based questioning. This is a 2018 recommendation from AASL.
The proposed PLC plan spans a five-week period with meetings once a week. These 30-45 minute meetings are designed to introduce the three featured resources with a meeting to create a content-based lesson and a meeting to share and discuss teacher-created products. The initial meeting introduces VoiceThread through a prepared VoiceThread presentation. Teachers will be asked to comment on this resource and brainstorm classroom uses for VoiceThread. Subsequent resources and discussions take place through VoiceThread. The second and third week meetings are designed to introduce Screencast and Loom, allowing time at each meeting for teachers to familiarize themselves with the resource. Subsequent questions and comments are posted in VoiceThread, allowing members to express thought and me to make sure everyone is comfortable with using resources. The fourth meeting is a time for teachers to begin creating an instructional piece using one of the resources. They are encouraged to post their creation in VoiceThread allowing others to watch and share thoughts. The fifth meeting is for presentations and a debriefing on the collaborative process. The entire plan can be accessed here in the PLC pathfinder.
By participating in this PLC, members will, hopefully, be willing to enhance instruction by using these resources and be willing to consider new apps and websites. As these successes become obvious, other teachers will also want to start enhancing classroom experiences by integrating these and other apps and websites.
Teachers who do not participate in the PLC can access these and other resources at my Pearltree site.