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Turns Out Teachers Are Mind Readers (Thanks to Recap)

Imagine if you could hear every single student's thinking, thoughts, and ideas on a topic, and respond to each and every one of them without finding time to schedule individual student conferences. Imagine if your students could let you know how well they understood the topics covered during the week. Imagine how much insight you could get, and how you could adjust your teaching to meet the needs of individual students.  
Well, a few weeks ago I came across Recap, a free student video response and reflection app, on my Twitter feed. It allows me to hear every single student's thinking, thoughts, and ideas, allows me to respond to each and every one of them. I checked out the site and immediately put it into action in my class calling the Recap assignments, #flashbackfridays. For 6th graders, not much is cooler than the hashtag. 
My 6th grade students instantly took to it. Every one of my students are able to share their insights through a reflective process in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them. They can respond to the Recap assignments on any device that has a camera and microphone, and after they are done recording, they assess their learning about the topic(s) by selecting a "thumbs up," "thumbs sideways," or "thumbs down." Videos can range from 15 seconds to 2 minutes or longer if need be, as determined by the teacher.  
My Recap assignments are simply questions for my students to share their thinking with me. Teachers have the option of asking one or more questions for their students to respond to. So a teacher could ask a general question such as, "What are three things you learned this week," request more specific feedback from students like, "Tell me the steps for dividing fractions," or even use the 3-2-1 prompt idea. Also, while I view each student's response, I can type a response to them while their video is playing. If I need to pause or rewind a their video, I can. Recap then will breakdown the students's responses into how they self-assessed their learning for quick reference for the teacher. Finally, once the due date has come, Recap will automatically create a daily review reel. 
Recap is quick, convenient, relevant, meaningful, insightful, powerful, and fun for students and teachers. Finally teachers are the mind readers they need to be, thanks to Recap.

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