Flipped Professional Development Using Starfall

A goal of mine as an educator is to be involved at school as much as I can.  I often ask myself the following questions:  How can I benefit my school?  What can I offer not only to my students, but also to my colleagues?  What am I able to bring to the table that is unique, yet effective when it comes to teaching?  With this being said, I have a personal technology goal, which involves teaching a "mini" professional development session during a staff meeting.  I am pleased to say that with the help of my group members, what we have created is something I could definitely use to teach my colleagues about the benefits of using www.starfall.com, a literacy resource, within the classroom.  The primary grades are crucial for learning and building upon reading skills and this particular presentation focuses on how you can do just that.  With effective instruction led by the teacher, as well as this technology resource, students are able to really engage in literacy activities individually online or as a whole group.

We have worked hard in order to demonstrate the effects of a literacy resource like starfall, and I personally have seen the advantages of starfall in my own classroom.  Our presentation shows the benefits of starfall geared towards the primary grades, however, there are options for the upper grades to practice their reading skills and reinforce vocabulary skills through a variety of texts.  We used Google Presentation to put the slides together and be able to share our ideas.  We also used Jing to capture any screen shots, and then I put the final presentation together using imovie and including various features from this technology resource.

What I realized as we did this flipped presentation, is how this resource really can scaffold instruction and learning.  We as teachers know that there is a tremendous range in reading levels and this helps show how you could use it in your classroom to motivate struggling readers.  I will definitely use starfall.com as a resource in my own classroom and also at home with my daughter as she gets older (she is only 18 months right now).  My hope is after viewing the presentation and checking out the site, you will be able to use it in your classroom or with your own kids as well!