Hi, everyone.
So...obviously a lot of stuff has been happening lately. If I'm being honest, focusing on anything in education beyond the daily challenge of "distance learning" is near impossible right now. Making sure students are engaged, supported, encouraged, and receiving meaningful feedback is undoubtedly much more challenging in a virtual setting, especially when this, what's happening right now, has never been done before.
I used to joke with friends that I would never be able to work from home as a teacher. I'll admit, there were days when rolling out of bed, skipping the commute, and going to work in pajamas sounded very appealing. Now, however, my perspective has obviously changed somewhat.
For this post, I originally had in mind recounting my experiences so far with "distance learning," laying out what technology has worked for me, and trying to come up with a cogent thought that would be worth reading in these unprecedented times.
To an extent, I still plan to do this. I'm going to list some of the apps and services I've been using this week, many of which are offering services free of charge in light of this unique situation.
However, I must make it abundantly clear right at the start: I am not an expert in "distance learning." Not by a long shot. And I'm not completely familiar with much of the technology I'm going to list in this post. I want to make this clear right at the beginning, because I generally try to compose these posts with a sense of experience. Oftentimes, it's only my experience, but I try to choose topics that I've grappled with, ideas that I've had time to think in depth about before coming to any kind of conclusion.
This post is kind of the antithesis of that. And I have to convince myself that that's okay. I am not the only teacher who has been thrown into this situation. I'm not the only teacher still piecing together what "distance learning" even looks like. There are scores of talented, creative, amazing teachers out there who are faced with the same complex problem that I'm attempting to tackle. To paraphrase a post a coworker found and shared (this is like friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend paraphrasing), the situation in education right now is like the Apollo 13. Teachers are being asked to build something that has never been done before under tremendous time constraints, and, by and large, they are rising to that challenge.
The point of this post, and my point in general, is simple: we have to help each other. In general, and for those of us working in education. I am not an expert in this field, I fully admit that, but if I can help make this process go even a little bit smoother for someone, anyone, then I consider that time well spent.
Before I get to the list, I want to take one last aside to give a shout out to all of the amazing staff at BIS. The emotional and social support, free sharing of resources and ideas, and overall atmosphere of patience, understanding, and strength is something that truly makes me feel blessed to work where I do. It is deeply moving to be a part of a faculty so committed to not only preserving a sense of normalcy and excellence for our students, but also striving to ensure that everyone in our community feels heard and cared for.
The following are sites and services that I have been utilizing since moving to "distance learning." I'm aware that this is a drop in the bucket in terms of this topic, but I wanted to share them anyway. After each description, I'll provide a link (or what to search in google) and a brief description of the general service overview. The one exception to this rule is for the website www.flipgrid.com, where I will link a presentation and in-depth how-to sheet that I had previously made for the staff at BIS. I hope you find this information helpful, and will be encouraged to share your own resources and expertise to whomever out there may need it.
1. Google Classroom
Let's start with the big one. Google Classroom is essentially a virtual classroom. As the name suggests, it is a platform run by Google. An educator creates a "class" through the site, and students join using a unique code to enroll.
The great thing about Google Classroom is that so many schools and educators already use it. I know that this is pretty much the case for everyone at BIS, and this made transitioning to online learning SO MUCH EASIER. Seriously, if you're already a Google Classroom user, I want you to take a minute and think about what "distance learning" would look like without this platform. I, for one, struggle picturing it.
That being said, I wanted to start with this service because not everyone may be already acquainted with it. Schools that don't have 1-1 technology or the younger, elementary grades may be in this boat. I was having a conversation with my mother the other day, who is a librarian at a K-3 school, where we discussed how to get set up on Google Classroom and how to use it. I'll admit, Google Classroom takes some getting used to; you need to play around with it a bit to see what works best for you.
In general, some of the things you can do on Google Classroom are:
- Post announcements to all of your students.
- Create virtual assignments with built in due dates (with the added benefit of timestamps and the inability to "get lost").
- Students can post questions or comments to the teacher.
- Host a "class discussion" through the question feature.
- Link videos and materials.
- So much more!
Google Classroom is also the go-to platform for integrating other tech-ed sites; creating and sharing content with Newsela, Flipgrid, and so many other platforms is beyond easy.
I'm sure I could gush about Google Classroom for another 20 minutes, but I did say I would keep these descriptions brief in the interest of not being overwhelming. So, to wrap this up, I'm going to link 2 video tutorials for Google Classroom below. There are dozens of these on Youtube, but I found these two to be especially helpful.
PLEASE NOTE: I did not make these videos, and I do not take credit for them. I'm still relatively new to this whole blog business, so I don't know what the protocol for posting links to other people's work is. I'm hoping it's fine as long as I fully credit them and do not claim ownership over the material. Essentially, I'm "citing my evidence," which is a phrase I say at least 12 times a day as an ELA teacher.
Google Classroom Tutorial for Students and Parents, made by Mr. Vacca, published through Youtube, 8/27/2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfgqtCi7hdo
Getting Started with Google Classroom / EdTech Made Easy- Google Classroom Tutorial, made by Pocketful of Primary, published through Youtube, 7/7/2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNImsWUxZA
2. Vocaroo (https://vocaroo.com)
This next platform is a really, really, REALLY easy way to share your voice (or your students' voices) when "distance learning." Shout out to @petemorris202 for showing me this one!
If you click the Vocaroo link, you'll be transported to a very simple looking page with a big, red button. Press the big red button. Record what you want to say. Press the big, red button (now a square) again. Hit save and share, and, Boom! You've got a link that contains the recording of your voice.
This one is by far the most user-friendly platform I've come across. The applications are considerable: you can link yourself reading directions, commenting on a student's work, or answering students' questions.
What's also great is that it's just as easy for students to use. All they need is an enabled microphone, and they can record themselves and share their link. Several teachers at BIS use this to encourage "class discussions" while we are "distance learning;" they pose a question to their students, use Vocaroo to record their responses, then post their link to a shared doc next to their names.
The real power in Vocaroo is in how simple it is. Being able to hear a teacher's (or student's) voice can make a world of difference when combating the distance in "distance learning."
3. Google Meets
I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did.
Google Meets is another function of the Google G Suite. You access it the same way you would Google Classroom: through the "waffle." This one's icon is a green speech bubble with a camera inside.
Essentially, Google Meets is a video chatroom that enables multiple people to "meet" virtually. It can be used with or without webcam enablement (which I know is something most schools have to consider); all that you really need is a working microphone.
Full disclosure, I'm still playing around with this platform (our tech department ran an awesome seminar on it before we transferred over to "distance learning"), but I'll try to provide the basics and how I've been using it so far.
First, after you click on the icon, you'll be transported to a screen that says "Join or start meeting." You are then prompted to either enter the meeting's code, more on that in a second, or create your own meeting.
If you are the "creator" of the meeting, you'll be prompted to copy down the meeting's "code" and link as soon as you enter the session. You then simply share this info with anyone you want to meet with.
This tool is great for conferencing and answering questions. Again, one of the major hurdles I'm noticing while "distance teaching" is the inability for everyone to simply ask and answer questions. This bypasses this issue. I've used it a few times with students now; I turn off my webcam and treat it like a phone call. You can host more than one student at once, you can invite other teachers to join, and you can respond to a complex question that might be hard to clarify through text alone.
My school also uses Google Meets for grade-level team meetings each day. For that, we often enable our webcams so we can see each other while we talk. This helps boost that emotional and social piece that's hit hard by "distance learning." You can have full discussions without being locked to a million email chains, and you can genuinely get a sense of how everyone's doing. It's a win-win, as far as I'm concerned.
4. Newsela (www.newsela.com)
Newsela is truly fantastic.
In short, Newsela is an online newsstand geared specifically towards elementary and middle school students. They update with new content daily, often adapted from reputable sources, provide teaching guidelines for handling complex topics, and have a very user-friendly interface.
Newsela offers a free service, but their main site is subscription based. I'm not sure if that's been changed in the wake of this rise in "distance learning," as many online services are giving extended free trials to help teachers work through these challenges.
I'm fortunate to belong to a district that has access to the paid subscription site, and, let me tell you, there's a lot of good stuff to explore.
You can create a "class" through Newsela; assign specific articles; track reading levels; link assignments through Google Classroom; assign quizzes and writing assignments, and access a constantly updating database of reliable news.
What I love about Newsela is that it's current. It updates daily; I have it set so I get an email debrief of their top 3 new articles each morning. I'm not going to lie; I sometimes go to Newsela to get a better handle on major stories as they unfold.
Newsela is great for creating assignments, especially providing supplementary materials or asking students to conduct research in a student-friendly, verified atmosphere.
One of my favorite ways to utilize Newsela, however, is to just let the kids explore. There're so many interesting articles; giving students a choice activity where they can seek out an article they want to read is always a way to up engagement, and you might learn something about that student you didn't know.
All in all, I would definitely recommend giving Newsela a look.
5. Flipgrid (www.flipgrid.com)
Okay. So this is the one I have the most experience with.
I'm not going to spend a ton of time going over the specs of Flipgrid. Mostly because I've already made a much more in-depth how-to sheet and Google Slides presentation that pretty much covers all of it. Both of which are linked below.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wmdiSAdF5sk7ssn4e6b06Cvg7-VJjxdUTLERzvNwVHA/edit?usp=sharing
Instead, I'm going to recap how I've been using Flipgrid this week.
First and foremost, Flipgrid is completely free. This wasn't always the case, so, if you tried it before and saw it was a paid service, you may want to revisit it.
Flipgrid is a video hub. You (and your students) can create short videos, which can then be linked directly through Google Classroom or posted through a hyperlink, and then viewed by other students in your class. Flipgrid offers teacher approval for videos, video monitoring, and several security measures to ensure that the content produced remains in a closed circle.
This week, I've been using Flipgrid to record daily messages to my students. I typically read their agenda for the day, answer any questions I anticipate popping up, and offer my encouragement as we all move through this extremely weird situation.
I also use Flipgrid to create response videos to particular questions or trends that I'm noticing in student work. Students always have the option to contact me through a few channels I've set up, but sometimes it's not realistic to type out a really long answer, or maybe you're noticing that nearly every kid in class has the same question. That's when I make a Flipgrid resource, link it, and go from there.
I'm a big believer in trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for our students as we continue moving ahead. Letting them see me and hear my voice, even if it's just on a quick, two-minute video, in my opinion, helps to achieve this goal.
Flipgrid also helps you stay organized by creating a nesting system of "grids" and "topics." I go over this more in depth in the presentation, but you can really build a great bank of resources through Flipgrid videos, and you don't always have to be the one who makes them! Students can create videos responding to a topic (though this again may be tricky depending on whether or not you have webcams enabled), and there's a whole library of free resources ripe for the taking!
I hope all of this helps. As a fairly anxious person myself, I'll admit to feeling a lot better having written this post. That's one last thing I'd like to leave you with: find ways to take care of yourself.
I know this platitude gets repeated a lot, and it can be so easy to disregard. But it is so essential, especially in stressful times. Find something that makes you happy, and set boundaries so you can have that time to do it. You are not shirking any other responsibilities. You have a responsibility to take care of yourself so you can take care of the others who need you.
For me, I feel my anxiety fading whenever I write. I feel a sense of perspective return, and those moments of panic ebb away. I know they'll be back, but I also know what I have to do to make myself feel better.
So please, be good to yourself, be good to each other, know that mistakes will be made, and that we're all going to have to be patient.
This has never been done before.
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