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Distance Learning – Issues and Solutions

The Issue

Solutions

Slide image from Will Richardson 2015 TED Talk with a list of stating we know how to do this
Slide image from Will Richardson 2015 TED Talk
Screen capture from BIG Question Zoom presentation June 9th, 2020

Articles and Research

Edutopia Videos

Edutopia Tools and Strategies Articles

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Morning messages are a valuable strategy for teachers to use when kids are learning from home. They establish predictability and routine, and when designed to include an interactive component, can help boost “motivation and engagement and build classroom community,” writes educational consultant Lisa Walton. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ To keep things simple, Walton uses a weekly schedule of recurring themes, and during remote learning, delivers morning messages via Google Slides: ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ • Math Monday: Weaving a math puzzle or problem into morning message, “provides extra time for math. It also allows me to introduce or review topics in a fun and low-stakes manner,” writes Walton.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ • Tell me about it Tuesday: Posing a question online like “What is your favorite book that we have read this year?”, and asking students to respond privately, or during class discussion, can help teachers get to know students, strengthen academic concepts, and teach social and emotional learning skills. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ • Would you rather Wednesday: Perennial favorite “Would you rather…” questions can be silly, academic, or reason-based and provide an easy opportunity for kids to express opinions. For older students, Walton suggests using them as a springboard to discuss fractions and probability.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ • Think outside the box Thursday: Draw just one part of an object and ask students to complete the image as they see it within a set time limit. For at-home learning, a parent or guardian can print out or replicate the partial drawing for students to complete and share. This activity can be especially beneficial for creative students who struggle academically, Walton says.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ • Figure it out Friday: Walton closes out the week with riddles, analogies, or word puzzles with varying degrees of difficulty that students can work on alone or in small groups to help build their critical thinking skills. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Link in bio.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ #TeachersOfInstagram #TeachersOfInsta #TeachersOfIG #Teacher #Education #TeacherLife #ProudToBeATeacher #DistanceLearning #RemoteLearning #TeacherGram #GoogleSlides #Teaching #TeachingIdeas #teacherideas

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To make a virtual learning space bloom, writes veteran online educator Caitlin Krause, you need to look beyond the tech and focus on the “mutual care and enthusiasm for the community connection.” She recommends the following six practices: 1. Take self-care seriously—whether you practice mindfulness or just regularly pause to stretch. “Defend it as the first priority…and your virtual learning space will notice your greater capacity for responding to the uncertainty that’s systemic right now,” writes Krause. 2. In the early stages, emphasize connection over content. Begin synchronous lessons by taking a collective three breaths, for instance—then add an ice-breaker in the form of a storytelling exercise that’s also a community check-in. 3. Plan groups so everyone has a role. While researching a topic, for example, let some students collect new terms for analysis, while others curate the best references and resources. 4. Embrace questions. Let kids wonder out loud while “going through processes of inquiry, research, and documentation of discovery.” This encourages risk-taking and builds meaningful learning. 5. Practice active listening, a mindfulness technique that increases “awareness and focus on the speaker and their purpose, instead of thinking about what we are about to say next,” she writes. 6. Consider changes to your grading, making it more conversational and prioritizing verbal feedback and self-assessment. Link to article in bio. #Teacher #Teachers #TeacherLife #Education #School #Teaching #Student #Learning #Students #Teach #Classroom #OnlineClassroom #VirtualClassroom

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From Leah Henry, Educator: Help students take responsibility for their learning at home by having clear expectations and a weekly routine to eliminate confusion. For students who have six or seven classes, demonstrate how to use the calendar feature on your LMS or help them build their calendar on a device or in a notebook. If they have collaborative work, have them schedule time for that work in the calendar and invite the other students to work with them. Remind students to create a space in their home where they can learn without distraction, and be flexible about allowing students who can’t meet live to access the materials, watch a recording of their class, or catch a later session. #Education #TeachersOfInstagram #Student #Teaching #School #Classroom #Learn #Learning #Students #Educator #ITeach

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From Rebecca Alber, Professor: Routines and consistency continue to matter greatly and are necessary for creating a smooth remote learning environment. As a closing routine, ask your students to think about a goal they would like to set for themselves. It can have to do with the unit of study, or it can be a personal goal. Try sentence starters like these to prompt their writing: Tomorrow, I will be ready to _____. Tonight, I will _____. By the end of the semester, I will _____. Have students share with another student or in small groups, and ask for a few volunteers to share with the whole class. You can share your own as well. #teachertips #classroom #teachersofinstagram #educatorsofinstagram #teaching #educator #educators #teachers #teacher

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Collaboration Tools and Processes

General

  • Zoom
    • “It provides videotelephony and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social relations. “
  • YouTube Live Streaming
    • “YouTube Live is an easy way to reach your community in real time. Whether you’re streaming an event, teaching a class, or hosting a workshop, YouTube has tools that will help you manage your stream and interact with viewers in real time.”
  • Remind
    • “Simple to use: If your community can text, they can use Remind. Two-way messaging: A direct line between the people who matter most to student success. Built for education: Making communication easier for educators—not more complicated.”
  • Trello
    • “Trello is the Fun, Flexible and Free Way to Organize Plans, Projects & More. Go from Idea to Action in Seconds with Trello’s Intuitively Simple Boards, Lists & Cards.”
  • Slack
    • “Slack brings the team together, wherever you are With all of your communication and tools in one place, remote teams will stay productive no matter where you’re working from.”
  • Flipgrid
    • “Empower every voice. Flipgrid is 100% free for all educators, learners, and families. Engage and empower every voice in your classroom or at home by recording and sharing short, awesome videos…together!”
  • Screencastify
    • “Screencastify is the #1 free screen recorder for Chrome. No download required. Record, edit and share videos in seconds. Videos autosave to your Google Drive.”
  • Screencastify Submit
    • “Effortless video assignments. Submit is a fast, secure, and easy way for students to record and submit videos.”
  • Edublogs
    • “An edublog is a blog created for educational purposes. Edublogs archive and support student and teacher learning by facilitating reflection, questioning by self and others, collaboration and by providing contexts for engaging in higher-order thinking.”
  • Feedly
    • “Feedly is a news aggregator application for various web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android. It is also available as a cloud-based service. It compiles news feeds (including student blogs) from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others.”
  • Explain Everything | Interactive Whiteboard with Real-Time Collaboration
    • “Tell your story with any kind of media and engage with screencasting whiteboard videos.”
  • Quizlet
    • Quizlet makes simple learning tools that let you study anything. Start learning today with flashcards, games and learning tools — all for free.
  • Flexiquiz
    • “Certificates. Randomize questions. Maximum test attempts. Redirect to another URL. Colors. Question Banks. 2 Admin or Trainer accounts only $20 a month. Upload media & more. Free Plan Option. Multiple Question Types. Mobile Ready. Powerful Reports.”
  • EdPuzzle
    • “Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS.”
  • Pear Deck
    • “Imagine if you could engage every student in your class, every day. What if you could instantly see who’s confused and who’s ready for more? That’s the power of Pear Deck. And now, with the Pear Deck for Google Slides Add-on, you can add the magic of formative assessments and interactive questions to your presentations right from Google Slides.”
  • Kahoot
    • Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform, used as educational technology in schools and other educational institutions. Its learning games, “Kahoots”, are user-generated multiple-choice quizzes that can be accessed via a web browser or the Kahoot app.
  • Padlet
    • “From your hobby to your career, your class notes to your final exam, your mood board to your runway show, padlets help you organize your life.”
  • Nearpod
    • “Nearpod is an instructional platform that merges formative assessment and dynamic media for collaborative learning experiences.”
  • Stormboard
    • “Make your meetings, brainstorms, and projects better! Use our digital sticky notes, whiteboards, and workspace for business processes like Agile, Design”
  • Learningapps
    • “LearningApps.org is a Web 2.0 application, to support learning and teaching processes with small interactive modules. Those modules can be used directly in learning materials, but also for self studying. The aim is to collect reusable building blocks and make them available to everyone. Blocks (called Apps) include no specific framework or a specific learning scenario. The blocks are therefore not suitable as complete lessons or tasks, instead they must be embedded in an appropriate teaching scenario.”
  • Google Slides
    • “Google Slides is a presentation program included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service.”
  • Google Sheets
    • “Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service.”
  • Genius Scan
    • “Instantly scan documents. Genius Scan smart algorithms automatically detect your document, apply perspective correction and enhance the colors. “
  • Seesaw
    • “Student driven digital portfolios and simple parent communication. For iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Chromebooks and Computers with Chrome browser.”
  • Instagram
    • For relating content
  • SafeYouTube
    • “Watch, crop and share YouTube videos safely without comments, ads, or other distractions.”
  • Must-Have Google Chrome Extensions for Teachers by New EdTech Classroom
    • Screencastify (screencasting)
    • Tab Scissors (cut items from web)
    • Tab Glue (work with cut items)
    • Web Paint (can modify web pages online)
    • Share to Classroom (for Google Classroom)
    • Google Keep (online sticky notes – can collaborate)
    • Save to Google Drive
    • Screenshot (picture of web page)
    • Google Translate
    • Google Calendar (tracks time and has reminders)
    • SmallPDF (converts file formats)
    • Fun extensions
      • Bitmoji
      • Giphy

Music

Game

Film

Running a Distance Learning Advisory Committee

Presentation Summary

The organization, planning, communication, preparation, execution, documentation, and student support are covered in this presentation.

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

by Ibram X. Kendi – goodreads.com/book/show/25898216-stamped-from-the-beginning

Chapters

PART I – COTTON MATHER

1. Human Hierarchy

2. Origins of Racist Ideas

3. Coming to America

4. Saving Souls, Not Bodies

5. Black Hunts

6. Great Awakening

PART II – THOMAS JEFFERSON

7. Enlightenment

8. Black Exhibits

9. Created Equal

10. Uplift Suasion

11. Big Bottoms

12. Colonization

PART III – WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON

13. Gradual Equality

14. Imbruted or Civilized

15. Soul

16. The Impending Crisis

17. History’s Emancipator

18. Ready for Freedom?

19. Reconstructing Slavery

20. Reconstructing Blame

PART IV – W. E. B. DU BOIS

21. Renewing the South

22. Southern Horrors

23. Black Judases

24. Great White Hopes

25. The Birth of a Nation

26. Media Suasion

27. Old Deal

28. Freedom Brand

29. Massive Resistance

PART V – ANGELA DAVIS

30. The Act of Civil Rights

31. Black Power

32. Law and Order

33. Reagan’s Drugs

34. New Democrats

35. New Republicans

36. 99.9 Percent the Same

37. The Extraordinary Negro