You Can Be In Two Places At Once

Be in two places at once!

With class sizes on the rise and differentiated grouping a must, what teacher hasn't wished for the ability to be in two places at once?

In my own little kindergarten literacy world, my class size won't permit for any fewer than five differentiated reading groups.  More groups means fewer minutes available to instruct each group, and fewer meetings with each group throughout the week. That said, I struggle to meet the needs of my diverse student population because of time constraints.

If the problem is not enough time to engage with each student group, then the only solution would have to be one that allows me to duplicate myself.  Enter Show Me.  This app is very simple to use and I was up and running with it in a matter of minutes.  I use Show Me to extend my guided reading lesson past my kidney table.  First, I select the texts that I want my students to engage in. I use my iPad to take pictures of each page of the book, and then crop the pages to look neat and tidy using the standard photo editor.  To simplify my life, I put the pages of each book into their own album, so that as I am creating my Show Me presentation, I only have to look at the pictures that are relevant.  When my husband is helping out with the photography, he takes pictures and crops them down on his iPad.  Then he puts each book's photos into its own Photo Stream, and shares the streams with me.  I don't get bogged down in this part of the process, and I don't stress over the perfection of the pictures.  Like I once heard Jonathan Bergmann say, "Do you want it done perfect [sic], or do you want it done by Tuesday?"

Once the pictures are done, I open the Show Me app and upload the front cover on page one.  Then, using the right arrow, I load all of the subsequent pages.  Show Me only has ten pages available to pre-upload on to, but don't worry if you need more, there is a way around that which I will explain in a bit.  No matter how many pages my book has, I always make sure that the front cover is the last picture in my presentation, as well as the first.  That is because the file icon that the app uses to display each presentation is the last "slide" in the recording.

After all ten pages of the app are loaded with my book pics, I am ready to record.  I start each lesson by greeting the children and telling them the purpose for our reading--which learning targets, sight words, text features, etc. we will be working on with this book.  I then go through the lesson just as if I were sitting at the kidney table with them, but with some added perks.  For one, I can use my finger or stylus to write directly on the text or picture we are looking at.  I do underline the text as we read, write out sight words, point out phonograms, discuss letter differences (b vs. d), and many other reading strategies and skills.  If at any time I want to erase what is on the page, I simply click on the eraser and "clear drawings only."  I can do this right in the middle of recording (it won't show up on the posted presentation), or I can pause to do it.

Pausing in the middle of the book also allows me to think about what I want to say next.  I do this often when I am stuck, because there is no way to rewind.  If I mess up, then the only way to erase what I have said is to start the whole project over--from scratch.  Pausing is also important if my book has more than ten pages, because after recording the tenth slide, I can pause, click the eraser and "clear all." Then I just upload the next picture, record that page, and repeat this process until all of the pages are done.

After my last page is recorded, I show the cover again and give the students instructions on what to do next: "Go read the book to a friend. Then put it back in the bag for the next group to enjoy, and have a wonderful day."

There are many teachers using this app in a variety of ways.  Some simply use it as a white board--Kahn academy style while others use it to edit student text. You can even create student accounts so that students are using the tech productively instead of just receptively.  Oh, the list goes on and on, and you can gain inspiration from others by exploring others' posts.  Yes, everything you create is subject to world review. Joy.

One word of caution.  If you create your Show Me account at home, be leery of using the "Sign up with Facebook" option.  Depending on your district's mobile network settings, your access to post new presentations in your app may be limited.  It may not be impossible to post, even if your district blocks Facebook on mobile devices, but it won't be as easy as clicking "Log in with Facebook".