The Daily Riff - BE SMARTER. ABOUT EDUCATION.

How can I bring this lesson alive? How can I best reach each student in my class? How can I help my students achieve success while still having fun? These are the questions I ask myself when creating class plans.  And this is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching.

Particularly in the math classroom, students often have the preconceived notion of a boring, rigid learning environment where the teacher lectures and the students do a million practice problems until the skill is mastered. This year, I have put a large effort into integrating technology in effective ways to change this mentality.  

Particularly in AP Calculus, anxiety runs high. A rushed lesson with not enough time to answer questions and get a truly lively discussion started is far from an ideal learning environment. With the pace of the AP syllabus, easing this anxiety is a difficult task. By eliminating class lectures, class time can be spent in an entirely different way. And this has been my goal.

Using Camtasia Studio, I have the ability to run a "backwards classroom." By this, I mean that students watch lectures at home and then do the traditional homework in class. To prepare lectures, I initially create a PowerPoint based on examples from the textbook and include any relevant key definitions (students receive a hard copy of these Power Points (PPT), also). To prepare the video, I use a tablet PC and record my screen and voice using Camtasia Studio. After I am finished, I can go back and edit the videos to add cursor effects and zoom features. Finally, I produce and share these videos both to my class webpage and to iTunes. Students are able to watch the lectures using a laptop, iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

To check for homework completion, I simply have to make sure that students have a filled out PPT on their desk while doing the assigned classwork. I am able to walk around the room and help students 1-on-1, something I never would have had time to do with a traditional classroom format. Students really value this time and it helps alleviate anxiety. An added benefit is the ability for students to go back and watch difficult sections of lectures before a test. Many times, what made little to no sense the first time becomes quite clear after having done the assigned work. As a teacher, I look forward to students having these resources available before the AP exam.

Student Reaction

The response from my students has been overwhelmingly positive. I was anticipating that I would still have to do some lecturing in class, but that really has not been the case.  What my students tell me they like best is the ability to pause the video and rewind when confused and then to be able to re-watch sections before a test. In many classes, they are so busy jotting down notes that they are not able to actually comprehend what the lesson is about.

The video lectures provide students the ability to watch at their own pace.  Additionally, it allows for a lot of flexibility in their homework load on a particular evening. For example, a student who knows they have a big sporting event late in the week might double up on watching videos early in the week. Students also enjoy being able to watch a lecture with no interruption (such as questions or distractions from their peers). Students process material
at different rates, and the video lectures provide a differentiated learning experience
 that is customizable to the student.

And what do parents think?

Parents are excited that class time is being so well spent. They are excited by the fact that they know I will have time to sit down and talk to their son/daughter in
a 1-on-1 environment every single day. The individualized attention that I can provide as a result of the video lectures is amazing.

Additionally, knowing that if their child misses a day of school because of illness he/she
will not have missed a lecture is a comforting feeling. Parents have told me that it feels
almost like having a private tutor in the evenings for their child. They also feel it builds responsibility for the student and is great preparation for college.

Personally, the "backwards classroom" model has been an absolutely fantastic experience for my AP Calculus class and I would never go back to the traditional classroom format. Grades have been up, anxiety has been down, and I am a happier teacher.


I look forward to trying to implement the same idea with some of my non-AP classes, using videos to supplement teaching rather than replace in-class lecturing. Moving to the video lectures does place a lot of responsibility on the student, so it might not be the solution in every classroom.

But that's what teaching is all about - finding the most effective way to reach your particular set of students.



Stacey Roshan's video lectures described above are available for free in iTunes.