Sunday, August 2, 2015

Explain Everything

Picture from:http://learn.surbitonhigh.com/digitalthinking/explain-everything-beyond-the-confines-of-the-classroom/

One of the best iPad apps that I used last year was called, Explain Everything.  This is an interactive whiteboard.  You can insert pictures, write and type on the screen, record your voice, and so much more.  Below is a link to a review about Explain Everything.
http://www.newschooltechnology.org/2013/02/explain-everything/

I used Explain Everything to make flipped lessons for my second grade class.  For math lessons, I could take screen shots of the virtual textbook and insert the pictures onto the slides.  Then I could narrate the problems as I worked through them on the screen. At the end of the slide, I could export the video into my Google Drive and share it with the students on Google Classroom.

Students were required to follow along with the video and work through the problems on a whiteboard.  Then at the end I had a problem that they had to complete on their own as an "Exit Ticket".  This showed me if student understood the concept.  The video allowed for students to pause, rewind, and work at their own paces.

Explain Everything's connection to Google Drive made the entire process much easier for me.  I took screen shots of the questions that I wanted to use and put them into a folder in my Drive.  Then, when I was in Explain Everything, it linked to my Google Drive and I only had to click on the folder for the pictures to be uploaded.  When I was finished, I could export the video right back to Google Drive.  It was as easy as that!  I hope that you can find the value in Explain Everything, too!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing! I am going to check this app out. I think this would work great in my classroom. I can create individual lessons for my students with disabilities and then share it with them through our Google Drive. I can't wait to explore!

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    1. It is such a good resource to make individual lessons. I also use it to front-load my small reading group lessons. I have them watch a video the lesson on an easier text, then when they get to my group, they already know what is going on and we can spend more time in the text.

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  2. I have read about Explain Everything but have yet to try it. It sounds like I could make good use of it and I really appreciate how you describe it's interconnectivity with Google Classroom.

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    1. I absolutely love how it connects with Google. It makes it so much easier to share with my students. This year I want my students to be able to respond to my lessons using Explain Everything. If I pose a math problem, I want them to solve it while explaining their thinking.

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  3. Thank you for reminding me about this app. I have it on my iPad, found it last year, and completely forgot about it! I need to try to make some flipped lessons....

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    1. It is a great tool for that. One thing I love about the app is that if you mess up on your recording, you can go back and record over the part that you make a mistake on. You don't have to restart the recording for the entire slide. This makes it so much better!

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