Creating Interactive Classroom Experiences

Creating Interactive Classroom Experiences


Creating an interactive classroom experience for students makes learning accessible and relevant to students while also creating teacher-student and student-student relationships.  


As a classroom teacher I tried to engage all students every 5-10 minutes. During a lecture this might have been something as simple as jot down your prediction or turn to your partner and share. In online learning environments continuously engaging students is both more difficult and more important. We should strive for MORE frequent interactive opportunities for students. Fortunately, we can address the importance and difficulty with some simple and purposeful maneuvers.  

 

First, let’s look at why creating interactive experiences for students is important. Research shows that when students have their laptops in college classrooms, they are more prone to multi-tasking--spending up to 42% of class multitasking. Knowing that our brains cannot truly multitask, it is vital that we keep our students engaged while learning either synchronously or asynchronously. Secondly, creating pause points activates the working memory which in turn consolidates learning, thus freeing more space for students to learn what’s next. On top of that, by increasing student engagement we increase enthusiasm for learning.  

 

We must be deliberate and purposeful in creating interactive experiences for our students; creating continual interactive learning opportunities is culturally responsive pedagogy. Through purposeful questioning--when teachers precreate scaffolded questions that incorporate higher-level student thinking--allows for frequent academic interaction, improves student feedback and learning and improves student self-esteem (Brophy & Good, 1986 and Hamilton, 2019). 

 

What are ways that we can interactively engage students while online?  

 

Use questions in a conversational manner. Call students by name and ask for them to share their ideas and thoughts. It’s important that we don’t just call on our high-achieving students because by calling on lower-readiness students we allow them to improve their learning through scaffolded questions and responses. This process enables us to build on their existing knowledge, reduces their frustration and improves their self-efficacy. This conversational approach is a great way to assess and build on a student's prior knowledge. Whenever possible try encourages students to incorporate their own experiences and opinions into their answers and questions--this is easier to do with higher-order thinking questions.  

 

Ask questions as you explain a concept or solve problems. Again this is an opportunity to purposefully call on students in a logical and personal way. “Jose, can you tell me one reason why some rivers have tides?” After Jose has answered, immediately call on another student, “Sara, I remember you said that you like fishing. So John gave us one cause for river tides, can you give us another?” Obviously, in this case you can embellish Sara's love of fishing and the importance of her having an understanding of tides, and you can also have her reiterate or build on Jose’s answer.   

 

Gamification The value of games like Kahoot! Quizlet and Quizizz is that they are fun and when done correctly can provide students with opportunities to interact. They encourage students to pay attention and be involved and can often best be used in short spurts (intermittently throughout a lesson or for short bursts before, during or after a lesson) as opposed to after completing an entire unit. 

 

Pause Points Purposeful pause points can engage students in both traditional and online learning formats. In studying the Middle Ages, the teacher may ask students, “You have one minute to jot down advantages and disadvantages to serfdom. Go.” A simple activity like this can get students off their computer (even if it’s just for one minute). After one minute, “Alright, welcome back. Remember, our learning objective for today was to….Now I want you to each share one advantage in the chat.” Other alternatives would be to place students into breakout rooms, have them share on a collaborative document, etc. 

 

Asynchronously, these types of activities that fight passivity and engage students are very possible in Nearpod, EdPuzzle, etc. 

 

These activities can also be extended by having students respond to another student, having students choose a favorite to share, or assign students to report back to you after having gone deeper into the answers. 

 

I’ve seen many examples of where teachers are able to monitor student work and progress as they share their answers on JamBoards, Nearpod Collaborate Boards, shared Google Docs and shared Google Slides (each group having a slide). These are all great ways of making learning visible, increasing your opportunity to provide feedback and make necessary instructional adjustments.

 

Regarding the feedback loop: it’s not necessary and unreasonable and unrealistic to provide feedback or even look at all student responses. Checking for understanding is critical and we should never assume students know it. Indeed frequent checks for understanding are critical, but by using random or purposeful sampling, we can accomplish what we need to assess in a more timely manner. For example, instead of having students share all 10 answers, have them share 3 answers with you. Or, instead of looking at the responses for all 25 students, use a sampling method where you check on the students you're most concerned about, and a couple of your middle and upper students. Of course, it’s even more important that the students understand the learning objective, where they are in relation to meeting that objective and what to do next.  

 

Creating an Interactive Learning Experience 

  1. Get students active early and often. 

  1. Develop and use a cue when you expect students to be interactively engaged. Stop, Think and Reflect or Pause Point I’ve heard used often with accompanying visuals. 

  2. Set the expectation that students will be actively engaged in their learning. 

  3. Explain to students the importance of this process as it relates to learning, working memory, avoiding multiple distractions/multi-tasking, etc. This builds their metacognitive and transferable skills too. 

  4. Develop a connection with your students, especially those who you feel are most challenging or distant. 

  5. Continually interact with and provide frequent feedback to students. 

  6. Use interactivity and questioning as a means to build relationships and keep students involved.



Tasks/Important Information

From the Office of the Superintendent: As in the past, watching a full-length movie in class is not encouraged by ACPS. There are also important legal considerations to note:

  • Given the pandemic, ACPS did not purchase the annual subscription to the movie licensing program that gives us the rights to show movies as part of events such as a family movie night or in class (Swank Licensing) as we have done for years and years. Librarians know this and may have shared that information with staff, but this is a good time to tell or remind teachers.

  • Teachers may not use their personal Netflix or other subscription accounts to show movies at school

From the Henley PTSO: Please consider donating to The Giving Tree this holiday season. Formally the Angel Tree through Crozet Baptist, The Giving Tree, now sponsored by Henley PaTSO is a long standing community fundraising event that benefits children in Western Albemarle school feeder pattern. This year we have 100 students to provide for. Our goal is to provide each family a $75 gift card per child to purchase clothing and shoes with. Even if you are not able to help out financially now, please consider forwarding this link to you family, friends, coworkers and other community organizations in hopes that they may be able to. No amount is too small. We will not be able to do this without community support. Let's make sure no child in our community goes without this holiday season! http://charity.gofundme.com/henley-giving-tree


Please read End of Semester Information: Exams, Mock Exams, Culminating Projects, Etc. 


Asynchronous faculty meeting link, please complete prior to our December 4 faculty meeting 


State of the Division Report

If you teach an elective or hope to teach a new elective next year, please promote your class using the curriculum fair format. We highly recommend making a video or using last year’s video.  

Please let us know which way you want to go using this google form. The videos are due December 2nd. Let us know if you need help, Chris and Alfred are willing and knowledgeable.

 

https://bit.ly/WAHSannounce To request an announcement, calendar event, etc. 

 

https://bit.ly/TWCStuRec Together We Care Student Recognition 

 


Birthdays

December 1: Laura Shifflett

December 2: Shanna Rao 

December 5: Sandra McLaughlin 


Worth Your Time

The four P’s of teaching, learning and leading in a pandemic 

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