One Hour Technology Workshop

James Chase-Wegner
P.B. Ritch Middle School
Paulding County School District

Screencasting: Differentiated Teaching and Learning

Part 5: Are you interested in taking screencasting a step farther?
Teacher Made Screencasts for Differentiation
Take an assessment over some content that you are teaching, about to teach, or need to review. Consider how
having a screencast to differentiate a lesson or assignment would be helpful. Think of how you would present the
content in a different way for different tiers of learners. Where are your students on the learning curve?
Maybe you'll create a screencast that will lead your highest tier of performers down the road of deeper thinking in
the form of evaluation, synthesis, or creation of a new product. This will meet the needs of those students while you
meet the one-on-one needs of other students in your class at the same time. Maybe you'll create a screencast that
will break down content for lower performing students in a way where they can learn the information but must
complete a simpler product demonstrating their ability to recall or compare the two things discussed in the
screencast.
Things to consider: Making Teacher Screencasts for Differentiated Instruction

How do you plan on using screencasting in your class to differentiate instruction?

How do plan to assess students to determine which where they are on the learning curve for the current
standards?
Making videos for previewing and remediation are helpful; however, how could using this screencast during
classroom instruction benefit the students and you by giving you more time, improving student growth
percentiles, decrease behavior problems, and/or allow you to facilitate certain groups while giving more
attention to others?
What types of technology and support will you need at your disposal in order to make using screencasts in
your classroom feasible?
How will you group students if at all during activities involving screencasts?
What is your plan for managing students using technology in my classroom? (Equipment, Vision, and
Behavioral Expectations)
What things have you considered that could go wrong and how you have planned for them?

Things to consider: Student Made Screencasts as Alternative Assessment of Learning

1. Reserve lab or mobile laptop cart already set up with screencast-o-matic.
2. Work with your media center to acquire microphones and document cameras if using a traditional lab. If
students are using a mobile lab, most laptops have these tools built into them.
3. Create a plan for managing the equipment and students while using technology.
4. Spend a day teaching students the basic skills. Remember that you needed a little play and practice too.
5. Allow students to work in groups of 2 to assist each other in creating their screencasts.
6. Have clear expectations in the form of a rubric and discuss how your intentions are to publish their
products. Find ways high quality productions can be used to teach, inspire, or persuade others.
7. Create manageable benchmarks for your students to meet and hold students to those benchmark deadlines.
8. Facilitate design and creation processes. Be thoughtful that some groups will need more direction. Be
ready to meet their needs with pre-planned project ideas, alternative project variations, and/or planned
daily support.
9. Plan for extended technology access hours before or after school so students can gain additional access to
technology outside of school hours.
10. Share student work and celebrate the successes of your students with your school-wide community.