Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Thinglink

Jack C. Binion fourth grade teachers, Jennie Bridger and Jenny Wasserman, are embracing the power of Thinglink.  They were noticing that students were not paying attention when social studies was taught lecture style, so something needed to change.  They tried having students read with partners and take notes on their own, but the students weren’t actually understanding the text when reading independently and the students didn’t know how to take notes. So these teachers turned to Thinglink.  They recorded themselves teaching the social studies lesson and modeled taking notes with the text. They then shared the video with the students through a Google Doc.  As a part of reading workstations (listen to reading), the students watch the video and take notes along with the teachers.  Students are now having a deeper understanding of the text and enjoying their learning more. The students love this new instructional delivery method and are more eager to learn social studies using Thinglink.  It has also allowed the teachers to take social studies time and integrate it through workstations, freeing up more time for reading when needed.