This week鈥檚 question-of-the-week is:
What are your 鈥済o-to鈥� instructional strategies and tools for making a virtual classroom work?
Most Classroom Q & A columns begin with some comments from me, followed by responses from several guests.
Today鈥檚 post is a little different鈥擨鈥檇 like to use this space to succinctly list what鈥檚 been working for my students and me over the past year.
In addition, you can also read the well over 100 columns that have appeared in this space over the past 12 months written by educators and students about teaching and learning during the pandemic. Many have been collected at . However, you鈥檒l have to scroll through more recent columns to find the ones that have been published since September.
For understanding more about the underlining research and reasons for what I describe here, you might want to check out a previous column, Four Ways To Help 69传媒 Feel Intrinsically Motivated to do Distance Learning.
None of these strategies is particularly new or unique. I suspect that many teachers are already using variations of most鈥攊f not all鈥攐f them now. Perhaps, however, they鈥檒l spark a few new ideas. All of us, including our students, could certainly use some 鈥渃hange-of-pace鈥� activities right about now.
I do want to preface this list by saying that, though my classes are generally working out OK, just as in my face-to-face classroom in normal times, I have more than my share of virtual duds!
Here is what I鈥檝e been doing (not necessarily in any order of priority):
1.Developing student-leadership teams.
It became clear to me early that if I wanted my online classes to be successful, I was going to need help. And the best place to get it was going to be from my students.
I quickly identified those who seemed to exhibit some leadership skills (tried to get others to talk in breakout rooms, asked questions, responded when I invited suggestions) and asked them to be on a class-leadership team. Members would be responsible for leading breakout rooms, contributing to class discussions, identifying other students who should join the team, answering questions in the chat that I might have missed, and regularly evaluating with me how the class was going and what changes might need to be made to improve it. Leadership-team members also complete a
I have always tried to support student voice and leadership鈥攊nformed by my prior 19-year community-organizing career鈥攂ut never to this extent.
It鈥檚 been critical to the success of my classes and is a practice I will continue when school returns to 鈥渘ormal鈥� times.
2.Using games for learning reinforcement and engagement.
I regularly use games in the face-to-face classroom with small groups using mini-whiteboards as the key elements for most of them. After teaching a concept, whether it鈥檚 when to use 鈥渉as鈥� and 鈥渉ave鈥� to ELL Newcomers or the Dunning-Kruger Effect to IB Theory of Knowledge students (which also include ELLs, though not Newcomers), 鈥済amifying鈥� formative assessments are productive and fun.
In the virtual space, I鈥檝e regularly used these tools:
- . It鈥檚 free, has thousands of games on just about any topic that have already been made by other teachers, shows the question and the possible answers on the same screen (which means students don鈥檛 have to split their screens to see both), allows for real-time monitoring of student responses, and has tons of other helpful features.
- Though Quizizz is our class favorite because it engages all students all the time, works very well for small classes鈥擨 use it periodically for a change of pace. It鈥檚 a full-class activity where teams take turns answering the questions.
- As most teachers know, it鈥檚 easy for students (and all of us) to 鈥渟pace out鈥� when watching videos. In the physical classroom, when I had it in me, I would periodically stop videos we were watching, ask a question, have students share with a partner, and then invite some to comment to the entire class. does a little of that and turns watching videos into a game like Quizizz or Kahoot, as well.
There are other games I use, as well, and you can find them at .
3.Having students complete weekly 鈥淐heck-In鈥� surveys and making sure I respond to them.
I send out simple bilingual to all my students at the beginning of the week. They ask how they are feeling about their class with me, school in general, and their personal lives, as well as if they are having any technology issues. In addition, there鈥檚 a goal-setting question for the week and a reflection on the one they had previously set. Lastly, there鈥檚 this very important question: 鈥淚s there anything else that you think it would be helpful for Mr. Ferlazzo to know about how you or your family are doing?鈥�
Sending out these surveys is useless or even harmful if students don鈥檛 see that I read them and take what they write seriously. If students rate how they are feeling about school or their personal lives very low, I鈥檒l text them via the app or from my personal cellphone (I鈥檝e always given that number out to students, and it has never been abused). More importantly, I have learned critical information from answers to that final question, including family-member surgeries, COVID-19 infections, and job loss, and have been able to immediately respond with texts voicing concern, emailing meal-delivery gift cards, and connecting students to school counselors.
These surveys don鈥檛 completely replace the frequent one-minute conversations I have during the school day in normal times鈥攚hen I can notice a student demeanor or facial expression鈥攂ut they鈥檒l do for this virtual learning situation.
Post-pandemic, now that all our students will have laptops, I鈥檒l definitely continue to use these weekly surveys鈥攏ot as substitutes for those one-on-one conversations but as tools for refining them and making sure I don鈥檛 miss anyone who is facing challenges.
4. Making sure students know that I miss them when they are absent.
In 鈥渘ormal鈥� times, I don鈥檛 follow-up with a student unless they are absent from my class two or three days in a row. In distance learning, since we don鈥檛 meet every day, every absence takes on more importance.
Most of the time (I can鈥檛 say all of the time because some days I鈥檓 just too exhausted), I send a simple text either through Remind or my cellphone: 鈥淲e missed you today. I hope you鈥檙e OK!鈥�
Ninety percent of the time I receive a response, and it鈥檚 usually a tech issue, health concern, or caring for a family member. More important than the information that is gained is the fact that students know they were missed. If we don鈥檛 feel like we are missed at a class, a family reunion, or a gathering of friends, most of us will be less likely to attend the next time. We all want to feel valued. Now, students are so used to my contacting them that half of the time they will 鈥減reempt鈥� me by texting me ahead of time saying they will be absent.
My virtual class attendance is usually between 80 percent and 95 percent. I have no doubt it would be lower if I didn鈥檛 send those texts.
5.Regular use of 鈥渂reakout rooms鈥� and student presentations.
In the face-to-face classroom during normal times, I use small-group instruction a lot鈥攊ts benefits are .
This question is: How can those benefits鈥攐r, at least, some of them鈥攂e transferred to a virtual setting where students may or may not know each other?
To set the stage, I spent the first several weeks doing many to help students other so that we could build a 鈥渃ommunity of learners鈥� instead of a 鈥渃lassroom of students鈥� (these can be done anytime during the year鈥攃ertainly, I鈥檝e done my fair share of 鈥渞estarts鈥� well into the school calendar!). These low-stakes lessons鈥攕ome which required students to work together to produce something and some requiring them to make presentations in small groups鈥攈elped 鈥渂reak the ice.鈥� Even now, every warm-up activity that students share in breakout rooms has one that is directly tied to the lesson AND an answer to a personal question (What is your favorite app and why? Tell us something about a family member).
In addition, thanks to my reading an , each class begins with a student sharing a story about someone 鈥�.
Now, a typical agenda for one of my classes looks like this:
*Warm-up
* Class dedication
* Breakout room (each led by a leadership-team member) to share warm-ups
* Class sharing where students need to say something one of their breakout-room members said
* A short lesson given by me
* Breakout rooms (sometimes , sometimes with group members selected by me)
*
* 69传媒 share presentations in other breakout rooms
* Full-class discussion where students share important insights they learned from their classmates
* Reinforcing game
* Closing class ritual (cameras on, everyone clapping because we鈥檙e all wonderful)
Adequate class time is always given to students to complete the breakout-room activity, so no one has to reconnect outside of class (which would be logistically challenging).
6. Last, but not least, always greeting students by name as they enter Zoom and, as much as possible, saying goodbye to them when they leave.
69传媒 feeling a is critical to academic success. Several of the activities I鈥檝e already mentioned increase the odds of that happening in the virtual classroom.
Saying their names always at the beginning of class and more often than not at the end is one more not insignificant way to help build that connection. During 鈥渘ormal鈥� times, it鈥檚 possible that a student never hears his/her name said by a teacher during a full class day, and the odds of that happening are certainly greater during distance learning.
How do I know this is important? Well, sometimes I am distracted for a moment when class is beginning and I鈥檒l miss someone who entered the room. At the beginning of the year, it wasn鈥檛 uncommon in those circumstances for the missed student to shout out, 鈥淢r. Ferlazzo, you didn鈥檛 say hello to me,鈥� after which I would obviously apologize and say, 鈥淗ello!鈥� Interestingly, if that happens now, without me saying a word about it, students instead initiate saying, 鈥淕ood morning/afternoon, Mr. Ferlazzo.鈥�
Again, I don鈥檛 pretend that these six strategies are magical or even particularly innovative.
They are, however, working for my students and me.
I just hope I have enough 鈥済as in my tank鈥� to continue doing them until the end of the year.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it鈥檚 selected or if you鈥檇 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.
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