This Changes Everything!
Isaya Woytowich, grades 7-12 Alternative Education and ISD Remote Learning School Teacher, Interlake School Divison.
This year is a different one and like most teachers I am just treading water and going with the flow as best that I can. Unlike other years I am spending half my day face-to-face teaching and half the day teaching a Remote Learning Class for students with medical accommodations that prevent them from being in the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this experience I have come across all sorts of hurdles and I have also found a lot of solutions. One of these hurdles has been not being able to move freely to a whiteboard to jot down ideas and to collaborate with students on- sitting still was never my top teaching style. While there are numerous digital ways to do this; none of them served my purpose very well, as they involved using my mouse to write on the digital whiteboard - too messy, using a touch screen - too expensive, or typing into a shared document - not engaging for students.
Feeling like a Teacher Again
So when I was asked to try out Wipebook Flipcharts I jumped at the chance. I was able to quickly add the Wipebook Chart to my desk backdrop for Remote Class meetings and I was good to get to work. I could get up and write while staying on camera, it was in my printing, and because of colour and use of graphics my students were following along. In fact, in some strange way it felt for the first time like I was teaching these students in a classroom now. It is familiar to students to have their teacher engage with them, write things down and freely move as he taught. We were all getting back into the comfort zone of familiarity especially for my students in a year when everything is so different.
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Versatility and Digitization of the Wipebook Flipchart
However, excited as I am about having my student’s collaborate again, I am even more excited about the versatility and digitization options that I am able to pile atop of a winning feeling. With Wipebook’s app I have been able to change how I help my students learn and reference our class notes. As I present the day’s lesson I am constantly and quickly snapping pictures of the flipchart. With the simple to use app I can send each lesson’s pictures to a pre-setup file location in perfect focus and clarity. This has allowed me the ability to recreate the lesson for students that missed it or for those that need it explained again. Now they can review step by step processes in Math or stop and study Science diagrams or review the entire lesson. I’ve set-up several folders in my online database and have provided students the links to these folders. So they can even review pictures moments after I have erased them from the Wipebook Flipchart or find them later for their reference. With the predefined locations I need only seconds to post the picture and then I move on with the lesson. It really does CHANGE EVERYTHING about my Remote Learning classes.
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While Wipebook Flipcharts come in several styles and formats (Here is a link to the flipchart options: https://wipebook.com/products/flipchart?variant=5779609092125 ) I have been using the original version. It suits my classroom well and in the future I could distribute the pages through my classroom...group project.. Hopefully someday! Looking forward I would definitely invest in the Heavy Duty version as some students are a little rougher on resources than others- some edges are showing wear on my original version but that is not lessening their use. Either way, you cannot go wrong with selecting Wipebook products for your classroom.
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