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First-time video math lesson ends up a little backwards
THE CHALLENGE
How to deliver a straightforward math lesson while using video for the first time.
IT WAS IN THE beginning weeks of the COVID-19 time that I decided I was going to make videos to teach math concepts online. While I was recording my first video of a multiplication lesson, I noticed that all the writing on the whiteboard appeared backwards on the computer screen.
“Oh wow, that’s confusing,” I thought. “I need to fix this!”
After some trial and error, I was able to write every single number backwards and, looking into the Chromebook, they appeared to be facing the right direction.
Satisfied, I uploaded my video onto Google Classroom. I didn’t watch it first, because I was confident I’d done everything perfectly the first time.
Not quite.
About two hours passed before a student let me know something was wrong.
“It can’t be that bad!” I thought.
It was that bad. As soon as I watched the video, I knew I needed to record a new one.
If you are a tech person, you know what went wrong:
I had recorded it in mirror view. Well, I did not know
this was a thing.
Some people don’t like to broadcast their mistakes, but I couldn’t let this slip-up go by. I sent the video to all school staff. Many watched it multiple times. It brought a lot of laughter to everyone’s day and often led us to tears. My principal sent the video to all the administrators in the district and received similar reactions.
I would like to say that I learned how to become more tech-friendly after this experience, but that is not the case! However, I did learn that you can’t take life too seriously, as it’s moments like these that bring joy and laughter to the classroom and make great memories.
Got an idea? Maybe you created a lesson that totally flopped or were on the receiving end of a lesson that was truly inspiring. Whatever your story, please summarize it in up to 300 words
and email it to managing editor Cory Hare at
cory.hare@ata.ab.ca.
