I tried Thin Slides- Now I get the Hype

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I am not a blogger or a journaler.  I am an emailer.  In trying to figure out how to begin this process of blogging my best TOSA takeaways, I realized I need to think of them like my emails. Below is my first blog and it is an email that I just sent out to my staff. 


I'm here to give you my teacher/TOSA perspective on Thin Slides.

I decided that before I send out any tip, I wanted to try it in all of my classes and get feedback from students.  I went to CUE and learned about Thin Slides and the protocols that went with them. At the time, I was skeptical. I wasn't sure how this Thin Slides approach would really alter much of what I was doing with my students.  After trying it in all of my classes, I realized that there really is a power to this protocoled approach and students appreciated it.  

Simply put, you give students a very short amount of time to gather information and put visual cues/symbols/a word on a slide.  I gave my students 4 minutes with a timer.  Wherever they were, the time was up, and then they shared out.  The share-out is also short.  The protocol says 15 seconds, I allowed for 25-30.  I learned quickly that students do really well with a short amount of focused time.  I used it in my regular English 9, Yearbook class, and New Tech English 9 and all of my students said it really helped them to understand information better, review, and feel like we were on the same page moving forward.  It also wasn't scary and they all gave a presentation.  Every voice was heard.  Not one student said they couldn't do it, not one.  For those who need more support, I put the slides in an order where it may help those who need more scaffolding.  They didn't repeat one another and only added to the conversation. 

Students said they appreciated the speed and the process.  Now, they know what to expect next time.  It wasn't about making something beautiful and perfect and that was also helpful for some students.

Here's how I can see using it in classes:
1. Small project summary shareouts
2. Critical Content Mastery (Yearbook- writing a caption, different styles of photography)
3. Chapter(s) review
4. Vocabulary/Terms
5. Visually representing an argument/side/claim/theory/problem

Below were my tweets with genuine excitement.

I'm here to support and happy to work with anyone on this and much more.  

Steph







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