Listening Comprehension... The POWER of the Play Button!

Listening.... an action we ask students to participate in throughout their entire school day, especially now that we are 100% online. Between the verbal directions, educational songs, and weekly wonders stories- our students should be rocking it in listening, right? If only that were the case. After my first year, it dawned on me that my students scored higher in Research than Listening. I didn't understand why. Listening comprehension is being provided with an audio passage and then having to answer questions about it. I understand that it is a difficult task for even my auditory learners, but after having provided countless activities throughout the year- why were students still struggling? It was a simple realization that the problem wasn't what I was doing but how I presented it. With this simple tweak, I changed students mentality of how they perceived their listening abilities, but also helped them realize a very valuable test taking strategy. Here's how the power of the play button changed everything. 

Behind the Scenes:

When my grade level first introduced Listening Wednesdays -as we liked to call it- to students . We would play the weekly wonders audio passage for the students a few times through, take notes and then have students answer questions on the passage. It went great, but students weren't internalizing that it was necessary to replay the audio passage because as educators we had control of the play button. When students finally did get the chance they didn't know how. I realized my role in this had to be more a facilitator and allow students to take that play button power. 

1. Selecting a Passage & Questions 

When I think of selecting a passage- I always lean towards a passage that is grade level and that has questions that will assess a skill or strategy they have worked on, however, feel free to pick a passage that you think is best. For the first one, I pick something very simple and engaging. A good resource to utilize is the weekly Listening Comprehension story in the Wonders Curriculum since it connects to the skill and strategy being taught that week or even finding a passage on Readworks.org.  

2. Audio  File & Questions 

Voice Memos Ios App

Once you have a passage- you then want to think about the questions to ask and how it will be heard.  If you use the week Listening Comprehension story in Wonders- you will have to create your own questions. I like to frame them based on the comprehension skill, context clues, and or comprehension strategy. Due to time, I like majority of them to be multiple choice and then I may add in a short constructed response at the end depending on grade level. I make add these questions to a google form for easy grading. Even though the curriculum already has an audio file I like to read the story with my "Voice Memos" app on my phone and upload to the drive. I like this because students internalize the importance of expression and prosody when reading.  

If you use a passage from Readworks.org you can filter to find "Human Voice Audio" and select which comprehension questions you would like your students to answer. The only downside to using this option is you have to monitor students and teach them how to set it so they can see the audio file and questions side by side and not be tempted to go back in the text for the answer since it is listening. 

3. Introducing students to their Assignment

When I ask students to get ready to take a listening quiz I always go through the following steps:

•  Have students open up their notebooks and write the title of the passage on top to take notes
• Read each question and the answer options aloud. I ask for clarification  the questions. I will not define any vocabulary if it is eludes to the answer or define comprehension skill/strategies, but will allow students to use their anchor chart notes. 
• Play the audio file once time through without stopping. I ask students to not write anything down but visualize the story in their heads. Once it is done they can take notes on how much they remember. 
• I will revisit the questions again and ask students to look at their notes to determine if they have all the answers to the questions. This answer will 99.9% of the time be NO. This is important because it allows them to see that replaying is important. I will let them know they will be re-listening and trying to fill in any gaps of notes during the first round. 
• I play the audio file again and I pause approximately every 30ish seconds or at the start of new headings. During the pauses I ask students to take notes. I continue this until the entire audio passage has been played. 
• I remind students that their notes will be referenced and that when answering the questions their notes should match their answers. 

4. Assigning  the Listening Quiz

Once I have previewed the questions with students and I know that they have at least listened to the audio two times with me then I will post the assignment for them on google classroom with both the google form and audio file. This is so they can continue at their own pace. If they are using Readworks then I will post the link in google form. I wait until after we have gone over it together so I don't have students trying to rush through the activity. 

5. Monitor and Hold Students Accountable

Once I have released the assignments I open up Lanschool to see which students are choosing to revisit the audio file and/or who are using appropriate test taking strategies. I also ask that if students have questions that they chat me on zoom or on Lanschool as to not interfere with other students who are revisiting the audio file and to give them quiet time during the quiz.  To ensure students aren't just 

blindly answering I ask that students grab a highlighter and highlight their notes that support the answer they selected. I will either collect these notes if in class or ask students to submit on Class Dojo. 

                                                                 Lively Teaching,

                                                                  Jessica Magana

Challenging Math Problems for K - 8th (Open Middle)

 

As we approach the end of the semester tomorrow, I hope that you have found ways to give yourself grace during these unprecedented times.

I wanted to quickly share a resource that I have been using in the past and how it has been updated to help with Distance Learning during these past few months.

OpenMiddle is a website made up of challenging math problems from Kindergarten to High School.  The concept of OpenMiddle is to present the same problem to all students and allow for a variety of different solutions within the constraints of the problem.  I enjoy these problems because it challenges students at a DOK Level of 2 or 3 and encourages students to persevere in solving mathematical problems.

The updated version has all of their problems now accessible on Google Slides - which has saved me a great amount of time.  Students are asked to use the digits from 0 to 9 to solve a problem presented to them.  The Google Slide version allows students to click and drag these digits on the slide - very convenient for students.

First Grade Example:

Fifth Grade Example:

The one additional item I add to each slide is a place for students to explain to me how they solved the problem.

Eighth Grade Example that I used last week:

I also stumbled into a way of getting all students involved while using this example - I am still refining the protocol but here is how it went.  When two students solved the problem (they would send me a chat saying that got the answer), I would create a breakout room with those students and two students who had not gotten the answer yet.  Both students would share their slides in the breakout room and explain how they solved the problem.  After sharing, the group would try and come up with a third way of solving the problem and the two students who did not have answers yet would use this third method as their own.  As my main room became smaller and smaller, I was able to offer more guiding questions to the remaining students until everyone had an idea of how to actually solve the problem.  After a couple periods, I decided that breakout groups could 'copy' the slide and put new solutions on that slide - thus earning some extra credit points for the day.

Link to Open Middle Google Slides for Kindergarten through 8th grade:  Open Middle Google Slides

I realize that this is the end of the semester but I hope that you consider using this resource sometime during the second semester and find the new Google Slide version more student friendly than the old paper version.

Remember, give yourself grace, and be willing to give yourself more grace during these difficult times,

Kevin Stott                        

De Anza Middle School    

7th/8th/IM I Math              

Virtual Sprint Routine with Eureka Math

 If you're familiar with the Sprint Routine in the Eureka Math curriculum, then you know how valuable it is in supporting students' fact fluency.  Not to mention, that it's such an upbeat fun activity the kids truly love them.  Unfortunately, as with many other things in online learning, it's difficult to do with the same effect and energy.  

I work as a seasonal associate for Great Minds (parent company of Eureka Math) over the summers, and had the privilege of learnng how to deliver a sprint routine virtually.  I have since adapted and taught it to my kids this year and I truly think its alllllmost as fun as it is in the classroom! So if this is a key piece you've been missing from your Eureka Math lessons, I hope this helps!

The routine as follows:

1.  Have the students open their Sprint book to the desired lesson, Sprint A. You will explain to them that they must work down the columns and not skip around.  They are only to do the very best they can  in the 60 seconds and they are NOT intended to finish the sprint. Make sure they understand the directions for that particular sprint. (I usually display mine either under the doc cam or digitally by sharing my screen to ensure they are all on the right page)

2.  Ensure all their cameras are turned on and they are ready.  Ask them to hold their pencils in the air until you see everyone has done so.  Set the timer for 60 seconds and say "ready, set, go!"

3.  When the timer goes off I say "drop your pencil and put your hands in the air!" I'll quickly scan and call out the names of kiddos who hands aren't in the air.

4.  Then I'll ask them the draw a line under the last problem they completed and get ready to check their answers. When I go over the directions for how we will check them I say, "If you answered the problem and got it correct, chant 'YES!' and put a check mark next to that problem.  If you answered it but got it wrong, then silently circle it.  Here's the important part: As I'm calling out the answers, once you get to the one you LAST completed, turn your camera off."  Then you want to quickly and engergetically read off the answers.  I stop about every 10 or so remind them to turn their camera off once they get past the last problem they've completed.  Once all cameras are off, you can stop reading the answers.

5. Next I have them count their total # correct (subtracting any they got wrong ) and send it to me privately in the chat (they can send it private or public whatever they're comfortable with).  I watch their responses and then call out the student who answered the most correct and we then decide on a cheer to give that student. (e.g. cheese grater cheer, chili pepper cheer, truck driver cheer, etc.)

6.  I toggle back to the view of the sprint and facilitate a discussion analyzing the sprint.  I will point out a few patterns and then ask the kids to type into the chat "what patterns do you see?" "What parts were hard or easy?" "Which parts slowed you down?" etc.  Then after the dicussion (just a couple of minutes), I give them about 30 seconds more to continue practicing where they left off on the sprint.

7.  After that we take a quick movement break.  We will to 2 movement skip counting exercises, the first one fast-paced, the second one slow.  For instance, the first one you can have the kids skip count by 2's up to 20 and back down while moving their arms quickly like windshield wipers.  For the second exercise, skip counting by 3s up to 30 to the movement of slow shoulder rolls (see my video below).  The purpose of this is get them moving and also get their brains warmed up with the skip counting.

8. Now the kiddos are ready to complete part B of the sprint.  You will tell them that their ONLY goal is to simply get just ONE more correct than they did on side A.  Again the goal is not to complete the sprint. Have them turn to side B and again put their pencils in the air.  Once you see everyone ready, say "ready, set, go!" and start the timer for 60 seconds. When the timer goes off instuct them to put their pencils down and hands in the air.  Then repeat step #4 from above.

9. THIS TIME however, after they calculate their total # correct, they do not send it to you in the chat.  This time they will calculate their improvement score from side A to Side B.  Meaning how many more correct did they get on side B.  Then they send you that # via the chat (either public or private).  This time we celebrate the student who had the most improvement and we again choose a cheer for that student.  I will sometimes also celebrate if a student completed the sprint, or even sometimes I choose the students with the top 3 improvement scores.  The cheers are the best part- the kids love them! (see my previous blog post on cheers).

Below is a video of my students conducting this virtual sprint routine.  By NO MEANS is it perfect.. lol.. but hopefully it will give you a good idea of how you can also implement this into your virtual classroom!

CLICK HERE to see a virtual sprint routine lesson in my classroom!

Virtually Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net

Engagement in Kinderland

    Student engagement has been the most sought out strategy for all grade levels during online learning. How do we keep students engaged with online learning? Many teachers have discovered a variety of ways and resources to help students stay on task, stay engaged, and participate during lessons. Most students in grades first through eighth grade have had some experiences with technology and online resources. They have been in a classroom and understand classroom routines and procedures. Now, imagine being a kindergarten student with little to no prior knowledge of a classroom or technology. Many kindergarten teachers, myself included, have been trying to find ways to help these students. First, we had to teach our students as well as their parents how to get online and how to access online resources. Next, we had to gradually build our online stamina during lessons. Last, we had to find creative ways to keep them engaged. 

    As soon as I received my classroom roster, I had to immediately contact the parents and signed them up for ClassDojo. It is the quickest and fastest form of communication for parents and it translates languages. What I love about ClassDojo is that I can post instructions, photos, and videos for the parents. This is a great resource not only for parents to communicate, but for students to use if they are having technical difficulties. I can record step by step instructions on how to login to any app or program I want. I can record directly on ClassDojo and it saves the video on our Class Story and they stay posted all year long. This is a great tool for showing students and parents how to use the Clever app. I gave the students a QR code badge to login instead of typing in their username and password each time. On Clever I linked my zoom meeting to make logging into our zoom meetings easier for students. All they have to do is tap my link. No meeting ID or password to login. I have also linked Starfall and YouTube videos for students to easily access. These resources have helped make logging in so easy that the students are able to do it all by themselves. If we were in class, I could have shown students one-on-one and see what mistakes they are making in real-time and help as needed. Since they are new to online learning and working from home, there is a lot of communication and picture sharing done through ClassDojo. 

   

    Kindergarten students are normally in class for 180 minutes per day. Five and six-year-olds have a hard time staying focused for that long. In the first few weeks of in-person instruction, we gradually increased our instructional day. Students are given many breaks and transitions. They start with free play because many students come to school crying, upset, and have had little to no structure at home. We have to build upon this. It was a whole new ball game with online learning. I began the year with only one hour of instruction per day. This was agonizing because the students did not want to sit down that long on Zoom and the home environment can be very distracting. Many students were on cell phones because our iPads had not arrived yet. Each week, I added 20-30 minutes. I added classroom leadership roles; this gives them something to look forward to and stay online during the entire instructional block. I gave them many dance breaks. I needed to build their stamina. Now, we are at 180 minutes per day. They have one 10-minute break and one 20-minute break.  They can log off during breaks if they choose to. They are now able to log themselves back in on their own. I give Dojo points for students that actively participate and stay for the entire Zoom meeting. If students are having trouble focusing or coming back from breaks, I stop and do something fun with students or announce some fun activities for the day. I also make it a priority to stick to a consistent schedule daily.  I had my own learning curve on how to my students continually engaged.

 

  I learned that with online learning I had to shorten lessons and break them up. I had to give clear step-by-step instructions and come up with a plan if students did not have what they needed. At the start of the year, students received their curriculum materials as well as whiteboards, dry erase markers, crayons, glue, scissors, and notebook paper. Students can choose which materials to use during lessons. This helps students that leave materials at the babysitter's or the other parent's house not feel like they couldn't complete their work. We take many GoNoodle breaks to help students get up and move after prolonged sitting. I also added music breaks during math lessons. There are plenty of music and movement songs geared towards academics. Jack Hartmann is our favorite. He has many songs and chants geared to movement while learning concepts. Another break I give students is directed drawing. We love Art for Kids hub on YouTube. It's a family YouTube channel that was created to help young students learn the art of drawing. The students love these breaks and it gives them something to look forward to. I also do scavenger hunts with the students. They can look for something that starts with a letter, sound, a number, a color, measurement, weight, senses, and personal. The students are given explicit instructions on what the item can and cannot be. The students love it when I say, "On your mark, get set, GO!!" These ideas took time and I had to stop and listen to my students and their needs. I wouldn't have been able to do these kinds of scavenger hunts in the classroom. Students look forward to these hunts.

    At the end of the day, I always praise my students for working hard and staying the whole class time. I tell them how sad I am that class is over, but that I will be excited to see them the next day. I make sure that the students know how much I care for them and how excited I am to see them each day. I also remind them that I love to see their classwork and that it makes me happy to see their progress. I have the students hold up their work and I take a picture of them. I post it on ClassDojo for the parents to see. This gives students pride in showing the work they are doing in class. Now, by no means have I mastered engagement in kindergarten! What I have learned, however, is that every day is a new day... students change daily and that I will glean something new each time I spend with them simply by listening to their needs. My students' needs come first, especially during this pandemic. Students need to hear they are loved, cared for, and are important. 

Sincerely,

Marcy Mesa

Formative Assessment using Quizizz

Formative assessment during distance learning has not been the most straightforward task to accomplish. I've been searching for formative assessment strategies that improve and guide my instruction and student learning. Let's get real. Daily formative assessment is challenging. It takes time, a little thing that we lack as teachers, especially online. But it is so worth it! If you use formative assessment, review the data, and use it to help guide your instruction, you will see instant results with student learning and success in your classroom. Secondly, we all know that student engagement is a hurdle that we all continue to face. Why are these our struggles? One – The lack of physical proximity. We are not able to get instantaneous feedback on the effectiveness of our teaching delivery. Two – One cannot control the student's house's environment to ensure 100% attention to the virtual class.

Today I'm going to share my favorite "techy" formative assessment/engagement resource with you that has made my life so much easier. 

Quizizz!

Quizizz is an easy way to make formative assessments exciting and engaging for your class. It is very similar to Kahoot, but it has a little more flexibility and versatile usage options. The difference between Kahoot and Quizizz is that Kahoot must be teacher-led, and kids see the questions and answers on the board and use their devices to select an answer. Quizizz, on the other hand, can be self-paced, and the students will see the questions and answers on their own devices.  

How does Quizizz work?
Teachers log into Quizizz http://quizizz.com/signup with their Google account and view a library of public quizzes. You can search for quizzes by the name of the subject. One of the coolest parts about Quizizz is that you can search for premade quizzes or create your own. Why re-create the wheel when someone has done the work for you!? When you log in, you default to the public section, which allows you to search. 

Then hundreds of quizzes about your topic will pop up. Once you've picked a quiz, you can conduct it in class in live mode or assign it as an asynchronous activity for students to practice on their own time. I share the link with my first graders via Lanschool, and they can immediately join the quiz.  

My favorite feature is the questions can be asked in various ways from multiple choice, checkbox, fill in the blank, poll, or open-ended.   

Here are the reasons I choose Quizizz above other quiz apps.

1. Students can view questions on their computers

Here's why I think this matters

• My students don't have to switch between my screen and theirs during this activity, eliminating students from accidentally logging off.
• My students are engaged directly with the question and answer options that reinforce the content taught to make it easier to read and allow students to enable device-level read-aloud if they need it.

2. My students can join the link and skip the code entry step to save time and sanity. Just click on "share via" on the join screen to generate a join link.

• I share this via Lanschool, and my students can join with a click instead of asking me to repeat the code out loud several times.
• If wifi issues are slowing someone down, my students can join the quiz after it's begun.

3. I can quickly bring the attention back to my screen to review results together during or at the end of the entire quiz. 

• I can choose from various settings like whether to show the answers in-game or post-game, set a question timer, show leaderboard (which infuses competitive spirit and keeps students on their toes).  
• During the quiz, students see the questions and answers on their screens. On your teacher account, you will see a leaderboard and each student's progress. You can choose to display this on the screen while the students are playing or only view yourself. 
• There also is an instructor-paced mode so that you can pause for discussion between questions.

Ideas to jumpstart your first Quizizz:

• Start a discussion with a poll question.

• Create a quiz based on an engaging audio or video clip.

• At the end of a lesson, use an open-ended question to gather feedback.

Here is a quick video on my class answering a Quizzizz question...

Positively Teaching,  

Randi Muehlen

Forever in the Middle: Teaching grammar virtually

 

As any secondary ELA teacher knows, finding the time to teach grammar and editing skills to students is hard. There is SO much to teach and such limited time to teach it all. This year has been even harder with the shortened instructional minutes. i-Ready has lessons for a few of the standards, but not all of them. Also, Collections does offer slideshows called Grammar Notes, which are pretty interactive but there does need to be some preparation done to create accountability for students. After trying multiple approaches and not finding the results I was looking for, I switched to creating lessons through EdPuzzle.

What is EdPuzzle?
EdPuzzle has a large variety of created lessons from teachers but also allows you to upload a video of your own and create checkpoint questions during the video. The video will stop at these points and require an answer from the students. You can also select the option to prevent skipping ahead, which requires the students to watch the video before they answer the questions. 

How is this used to teach editing and grammar?
As an alternative to the traditional daily grammar warm ups many teachers use during class time, I have been creating videos for students to watch on Monday (our office day). The video is about 5-8 minutes long and presents sentences with errors then walks students through the editing process, as you would in the classroom. At strategic points in the lesson, students mark which changes should be made by answering multiple-choice questions. I record my videos then edit them to pause at the right moment to ask a question as I would ask in the classroom. Once students respond, the video continues and I discuss the right answer. 

Sounds good, but is it a lot of work?
Recording the video each week takes no more than 10 minutes and then adding it to EdPuzzle and creating questions is another 15 minutes. For a week's worth of grammar and editing practice in one day, it takes about 30 minutes of preparation. That's not bad, especially considering that EdPuzzle lets me know exactly how my students did with data reports. 

Data and Feedback
Before using EdPuzzle, I was meeting with students during Zoom and sharing the sentences to edit over the screen. I then gave them five minutes to complete a Google Form that asked questions about what needed to be added or changed in the sentences. After that time was up, we went over the sentence together. The problem with this was that it was difficult for students to see the edits as they were working independently on the Google Form unless they wrote it out for themselves as they worked. When students were using the EdPuzzle lessons, I have seen an increase of 30% in overall passing rates. More importantly, students have told me how helpful the videos are and that they feel like they are actually learning how to fix mistakes. That feedback is more meaningful than any information data can provide. 

This is all a continuous learning cycle and it has definitely been a learning opportunity for every single teacher. The good news is we made it through an entire semester this year and survived!

Keep the magic alive,

Kandyce Valverde
7/8 Language Arts
Witsey Middle School

Powerful Thinking Routines (That Work Online Too!)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: “Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners,” written by Ron Ritchhart et al., is the best professional development book I have ever read. I was introduced to this book during a district book club in the spring of 2017. I love two things about this book: 1) how easy it is to use across disciplines and 2) that I can use various routines depending on the text I’m using and the thinking I’m hoping to foster within my students. Over the last three years, I have used each of the thinking routines multiple times. I use them so much that my students wind up learning many by name. 

During distance learning, not using these thinking structures has been frustrating for me because of how often I used them in the classroom. I thought about how I could virtually recreate the routines, but I couldn’t visualize how it would have the same impact. So, with the stress of everything else, I put this recreation on the back burner. Then, an educator friend then shared this article with me, and I was instantly excited by the possibilities. 

Since reading the article, “Support Online Learning with Powerful Thinking Routines,” written by Caitlin Tucker, I have been able to use a couple of the thinking routines in my virtual classroom with my students. Tucker took five routines and “created Google Slides for teachers to copy and use in an online learning scenario. Each slide deck focuses on a specific thinking routine and is designed to engage the entire class. That way, students can learn with and from each other.” Each slide deck has 30 copies of the same slide so that each student may work on their slide and have the ability to see what their classmates are thinking. The teacher may also share a particular slide with the whole class to showcase certain thinking. 

Here is the first thinking routine that I introduced to my students: 

Chalk Talk 

What? This routine helps students build understanding in a collaborative way by putting forward ideas, questioning one another, and further developing the ideas. 

How? I used Jamboard to do this with my students. I started with a question in the middle of the board and asked students to respond using a yellow post-it. They were given 2 minutes to add their initial post-it. Then, I gave them two minutes to read over their peers’ answers. I invited them to reply to one of their classmates’ thoughts with a green post-it. On this green post-it, they could question their peers, agree with them, or challenge their thinking. Finally, I asked students to read through the post-its for the third time
and respond to an original post or question in a pink post-it. 

When? Over the last two weeks, I’ve used the chalk talk routine three times with each of my classes. We’ve used it with an SEL lesson (pictured), an ELA writing brainstorm, and a reading discussion. My next step with this routine is to have multiple questions on different slides of the Jamboard for students to choose which questions they’d like to answer. 

What students think? One student said that she loved how this routine “forced her to read her classmates’ thinking.” Overall, I felt that my students were more engaged than our typical lessons, and I felt like my old teacher-self, which puts a smile on my face. 

Jenni Merry 

Trying to Add Some Normalcy During Abnormal Times

 In my last blog post, I explained how my kindergarten team is distributing materials weekly to our students.  This gives me an opportunity to see most of my kids in person every Friday, even if it is to just wave through the window.  They  know if my door is open, then they can call for me and I will come over and have some small talk (masked and from a distance, of course).  They look (from the door) in wonder around the room  they so desperately want to be in every day.  They smile with delight when they see their projects or anchor charts we created together via Zoom on the wall.

Having the students pick up materials weekly allows for me to ask for projects to be returned.  I have been faithfully decorating our classroom with their work.  In fact, I never not considered doing this, even though the students aren't physically there to see it regularly.  Doing this simple act provides me with a bit of normalcy in these very abnormal times. At any time, I can glance around and smile at the absolute sweetness that is my students' work. I also have their photos I took on orientation day on my main wall.

There have been a few adult visitors to my room that are taken aback that I have posted so many things on my walls, that it got me thinking that maybe other teachers are not.  So, if you are one of those teachers I would highly encourage you to do  this, if you can safely. I truly feel that walking into my classroom each day seeing my students' creativity brightens my mood.

Here is a Shape Monster project we did in October.  The students chose their shapes, colors, and presented their monster in Seesaw.  I attached the QR code from Seesaw on each one so I could so I could see them present their monster at any time.

 Watch the video for the above monster. It is heartwarming. 💖

These are the circle maps we made for each letter of the alphabet during the first 26 days of school.  I bring them down when we do more in depth studies of the letters and sounds.

Each student painted their own personal representation when they came to campus in person for assessments.

Here is a letter project students completed at home. Each student chose a letter, drew pictures that go with their letter, and presented their letter project in Seesaw.

Here are some class charts we made together, à la Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Successful Students via AVID.

Names with beans.

I really hope you consider adding student work to your walls, if you are able to.  Even though I do not get to be with them physically in our classroom, I feel they are always there with me.

Happy Virtual Teaching!

Erin Grebel

When Life Gives You Lemons Make Lemonade!

I was recently privy to one of my husband's weekly work meetings. Like many companies nowadays, the company is global--bringing together people from widely differing backgrounds and educational experiences into a virtual environment where current issues can be addressed and resolved.  Like a fly
on the wall, I listened, from the perspective of an educator, to how he and his colleagues engaged with one another and what the subject of their conversation was. What skills had become "second nature" to this group of adults that I could intentionally teach to my students? I discovered that their seemingly run-of-the-mill conversation was actually a treasure trove of useful information that had short-term and long-term classroom applications. I concluded that, whether intentionally or not, in many ways, remote learning is preparing our students for their future by reinforcing life skills; some of these have historically been a part of our unwritten social skills curriculum (i.e. classroom rules/etiquette) and some have emerged thanks to our new normal. Even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, teachers are still turning lemons into lemonade! Here's how:

1) Our students are learning to listen carefully and speak when it is appropriate. It can be difficult on Zoom to determine when someone has finished speaking, especially without those physical cues that we are accustomed to in our "real" classroom. As a consequence, unintentional interruptions are unavoidable. Therefore, I've introduced my students to responses such as:

• I'm sorry for interrupting.
• My apologies. I didn't realize you were still speaking.
• Oh, pardon me. Why don't you go ahead and share first?

2) Our students are learning the importance of creating and maintaining a "professional" workspace. Creating a viable workspace enables students to mentally prepare for the day's work. 

3) Our students are realizing that even though they are "Zooming" from home, they still need to dress in a suitable manner. I won't wear my pajamas if you promise not to wear yours.

4) Our students are learning to stay on topic. Birdwalking is neither a college nor a career readiness skill, but knowing how to add pertinent and meaningful input to a conversation, via chat, Flipgrid, or otherwise, is integral. 

5) Our students are learning to become self-aware. Students need to be especially self-aware during an asynchronous work time when their teacher isn't there to assign a break. Students need to ask themselves questions such as:

• Do I need to give my eyes a break from the computer?
• Do I need to stretch?
• Do I need a restroom, water, or snack break?

As educators, we know that the intention of our Common Core State Standards is to ready our students to successfully attend college and/or begin a career. I would argue that this time of remote learning is positively benefiting them in ways we perhaps have not considered. Is this the ideal situation? Of course not. I miss the old days. That being said, the half-empty glass of lemonade can also be seen as half-full. 

Still Making Lemonade,

                                                                        Lola E. Jollie