More AI Summaries

I have continued to make AI summaries of lessons for students. Here's my process:

1. Record the lesson with my Android phone
2. Send the file to me through Slack
3. I could use Slack to get the transcript, but I like using Apple's Voice Memos
4. I copy and paste the transcript into ChatGPT (free version)
5. I ask for a summary of [Programme] [Lessson] [Grade] and 5 main takeaways, key vocabulary, and I have started adding common misconceptions, which I call "mistakes". 

I have just started sharing these with students, so I don't have much data on its effectiveness yet, but today I tried something new. I have started asking for common misconceptions with this concept. 

Today, I tried this same thing with a blog post from Catlin Tucker about MTSS. My plan is to keep this around the school for teachers to read since there are many misconceptions about MTSS with teachers and I want to help them improve Tier 1 instruction.

Using AI to Help Make Summary Pages for Students

The other day my coworker showed me how he was using AI in meetings.

When he started talking, I was kind of bored. Oh, yeah, you're talking minutes with AI. Cool. 

Then, as he kept explaining, I realized he was onto something. 

He is the"action coordinator" (or something along those lines) for our PYP program. He meets with PYP teachers during their units to help coach them about how they can add action to their units. 

It sounds like a cool job. 

Back to AI and meetings. 

When he meets with the teachers, he records the meetings. He then takes the recording and puts it into AI and asks for a summary, the main points, and action points. 

When I heard him explain this to me I knew I had to try it. 

Students miss information so the time. 

Students miss class. 

Students forget what was said. 

When I work with teachers I tried to help them understand that students are not listening for the full time that they are in the class. Much of what they say is missed and will need repeating in some way.

Often when a teacher starts to lecture, especially if the lecture is not interesting or if the teacher talks for too long, students will tune out and they will miss information. I tune out and miss information.

This is why I think that either flipping or blending your class is a good teaching strategy because it gets them the chance to review information. 

My coworker had this idea for the meetings and I saw its usefulness in lessons. I saw that students could get a quick handout after each class highlighting the main points and giving them some vocabulary to think about and giving them some questions to look into - promoting inquiry and giving them a little more ownership in their learning.

Below is my first attempt at this. 

I asked for a summary of the lesson. 

I asked for the five takeaways. 

I asked for some key vocabulary. 

I asked him some action points.

I plan on version 2, or version 2.0, to change the action points to some questions that students should find the answers to after the lesson. Hopefully this will help them build background knowledge.

Funny enough, when I showed this to the teacher, she said that the action points are exactly what she is teaching next.

Rethinking Assessments Workshop Reflection

*This post was written with voice typing. I then went back to edit it but I may have missed some things.

Today I went to a workshop at OYIS called Rethinking Assessments. It was geared towards PYP teachers but was accessible to teachers of any program.

Interesting Reactions

Accountability

Self Control

In the beginning of the workshop, we were put in groups; parents, teachers, and students. The question for each of the groups was why do we assess?

I understood this was that we were to answer what is the purpose of assessment for parents and I said accountability. I got a laugh from other teachers in my group. One colleague of mine says that I was being too critical of teachers. 

But from my point of view, if they're paying money to the school, they want to know that their child is getting the best education that they can get.

Don't they want to know that teachers are doing their jobs?

It is entirely possible that I misunderstood the prompt or the directions which is why I said that the prompts and directions should be written on the slides. When a student doesn't hear what is being said they can look at the slide to see what they should be doing.

There were a few times in this workshop where I felt like I was a little off from the other participants. The way that I understood what to do was different from others. My answers sometimes felt very different.

Another time was when we were asked to reflect on an activity that we did we were in a group and we were talking about something. There were a few people in my group and when I wanted to say something I held back. I let others share and then I missed what I was going to speak about, the topic had changed.

When we were asked what skills we used, I said self-control. Everyone thought that was a joke. It wasn't a joke. I actually had to be patient while other people were talking instead of me because I didn't want to talk over them.

And that brings me to my next reflection.

Reflection on Myself

I learn differently

I don't know what it was about this workshop but I what's a little off. My thinking was going in a different direction from the other participants I don't know what it was.

Also, I need time to process. It would be good for me to take a breath once and a while to allow myself time to think.

Reflection on the Environment

The desks were in the same haphazard way they were when the school day ended the day before. 

It made me realize that the room, or environment, should be intentionally set up for each activity. 

Reflection on the Workshop

Allow for more modality

I had to sit in the back of the room because I could not see the whiteboard very well. A lot of the font on the slides was hard to read. There were two problems; 1) it was too small, 2) the colors were not contrasting. I think a lot could be done for readability if the contrast had been better. 

Another thing that could have made the slides better was for the props to write the prompts on the whiteboard or the slide because sometimes I could not hear what was being said and I had no way of knowing without asking another participant. That was not always possible because sometimes others were working or talking with someone else. Instead, teachers can give students or participants a lot more agency if you write the prompt or the question on the slide. 

Another thing that might be good is to add a timer to the slide. That way the timer can be visible for the participants or for students. They don't have to wait or rely on the teacher or be surprised when the timer goes off.

How can I apply this?

When planning lessons I can think through the following questions:

How many students are like me? 

How many are too far from the front? 

How many need time to think? 

How many can't read the screen? 

How many get lost in the directions?

How many have other things going on in their lives?