We've Got This

We've Got This

We are meeting the challenge of online teaching and learning. There's no doubt about that.  Over the past three weeks, we've seen engaging lessons and teaching strategies that demonstrate your professionalism, dedication and flexibility, thus making the transition to online learning smooth and worthwhile for our students. 
 
Have you noticed that students are still showing up to your classes? This is proof that they are interested and engaged! 

Below are nine strategies that I've seen used that engage students in their learning and have tremendous instructional value whether we're online, blended or in-person.
  1. Using Flipgrid to allow discussions outside of the classroom and to check-in with students on a weekly basis. 
  2. Prioritizing longer, student-driven assignments where students have more autonomy but include clear checkpoints, deadlines and ways to connect with students to ensure that they are engaged in their learning and meeting the checkpoints. 
  3. Using Google forms to check-in with students (can also be done through Nearpod) and private chat in Zoom. After the live portion of teaching, the teacher asked students to take an exit activity. Included in the activity were two check-in questions that asked students if they needed help with what was covered today or what was next. The teacher monitored the responses. Students were not "dismissed" from class until the teacher private chatted with them. For most students the response was something like, "Have a great day. I'm glad you are ready to take on the next learning task." But for students who weren't ready, they received an invitation, "Thanks for the feedback. Can you come back at 10:45 and we can have a 1:1 conversation?" 
  4. Using daily agendas to ensure students understand what is expected of them. These agendas included learning intentions, activities, and house-keeping information, and they were linked with a weekly guide. This included working with students to ensure that they were using their unstructured/independent learning time appropriately by establishing clear parameters and expectations.
  5. Creating opportunities for informal check-ins with students. One way I saw this was starting class off with a non-academic question and having students share their answers in chat, verbally, or on Padlet as they enter the virtual classroom. 
  6. Providing repetition of content and directions using multiple modalities (written, verbal, recordings with both). 
  7.  By recording lessons and lectures, we are augmenting learning by recognizing that some students may not be able to comprehend or understand what is being shared because of the speed of content delivery. The ability for a student to be able to go back and/or independently watch the lesson is a game changer. 
  8. In the traditional classroom when students were working in groups, we'd walk around the class to check in with them and students could always raise their hands for clarification or when they needed help. Online breakout rooms are harder to monitor but by providing students with clear and concise directions/intentions that they can reference and a clear deliverable for them to complete, we make learning visible for both them and us as students become aware that they are accountable for their work. 
  9. We've recognized that students don't need teachers explaining something for 45 minutes. We're cherishing the time we have with students, so we are keeping lectures shorter and making sure that we're delivering clear and concise messages with less superfluous talk. By connecting the individual parts of the lesson to the big picture, we're giving students more time to create, discover and explore.
During Stage 2, we've recognized that the we can't simply recreate the traditional classroom experience. While we've always focused on relationships, meeting the social-emotional needs of our students and ensuring a world-class education, we've embraced the challenges of online learning and have focused on the unique benefits it affords us and our students. I imagine that when all is said and done, we'll be better teachers because of our current actions.

Nearpod: Interactive Videos

We have a site license for Nearpod and over the next couple of weeks, we wanted to highlight ways that Nearpod can be used to enhance the learning experience for your students. We'll be setting up some training as well. 

One of Nearpod's newest features is Interactive Videos similar to a favorite tool of mine EdPuzzle. Both allow you to insert questions (open-ended/multiple choice) into YouTube videos or other videos. 










Tasks/Important Information 

We know that the attendance process is cumbersome, please email for link of video showing a couple of ways you may want to use the multi-day feature to take daily attendance more efficiently. We're very appreciative of your continued excellence in submitting attendance for each period.  

Birthdays 

September 25: Jason Collier (missed this one last week)

September 29: Olivia LeMay 

October 2: Ed Redmond

October 3: Carrie Taylor 

October 4: Robert Crickenberger 

Worth Your Time


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