Screencastify

Yesterday I worked on creating a read-a-loud video for my students. I decided to read them one of my favorite books called: Pop the Invention of Bubblegum. I found this gem of a book last year when I was trying to find more fun nonfiction. We did a whole two weeks of learning how to blow bubbles, writing about gum, etc. I wanted to share it with my class this year but had to get a bit creative.

Luckily, I had just started using Screencastify a few months before we left to roll out a grant to our campus. I like this resource because you have the option of having a small screen at the bottom that shows the teacher still. It looks like this:

It turned out really awesome but I’m not going to lie, it was time consuming. I had to scan the book, email it to myself, create a Canva slide show and then recorded myself. I also made a quiz for them in Spanish and English with visuals to go along with the story and check for understanding. I am planning to post about how I did the quiz later this week so stay tuned for that.

Screencastify is a google extension so in order for it to work you do need to have google chrome downloaded onto your computer. It’s pretty easy to set up but I have a Mac and was struggling with getting it to work. When I googled it, I found out it was an issue in the settings. If this happens to you on a Mac jus go to system preferences->security and privacy->screen recording and then make sure google chrome is check marked.

It usually only lets you record for 5 minutes or less with the option to pay for more time. Due to COVID, I found out they have a coupon code (CAST_COVID) which will allow you to record for longer than 5 minutes til the end of May 2020!

This has been a great tool to upload onto my google classroom and allow my students to still hear some fun lessons! I am hoping it gets quicker though lol. I hope this gave you a great resource to use for your kiddos.

Happy Teaching :)