(logo whooshing)
- Hello, and thank you for joining us
for this part of e3's online learning educator series.
This series was created to assess schools
by providing different tools and strategies,
make online learning successful for teachers and students.
I'm Lawrence Ke Xu
dean of instruction, assessment, and innovation.
I'm here with two of my colleagues,
Mr. Zhang and Mr. Cerruti.
Mr. Zhang is a math learning facilitator,
and Mr. Cerruti is a computer science learning facilitator.
Today we will cover the topics
of how to introduce Zoom to students.
How to engage students when using Zoom.
How to manage the class in Zoom.
How to structure instructions in Zoom.
How to check for understanding
and how to use Breakout Room efficiently in Zoom.
We're from e3 Civic High, a public charter school located
in the downtown central library.
Our school received the school's Closure Notification
on March 13th,
along with the rest of the schools in the county.
On that day, we quickly developed a distance learning plan
and shared it with our scholars and parents.
On the following Monday, March 16th,
we started distance learning model
by using Google Meets as the platform.
The next day, we transitioned from Google Meets to Zoom
and had Zoom lessons.
Hardly wait to introduce our scholars.
Mr. Zhang will lead us through.
- So one of the first things we did was post
the links of the Zoom meetings in Google Classroom,
as well as Google Calendar,
so that students would have two places they can go
to access our Zoom meetings.
And then we also rolled out some netiquette education
through our advisory period,
which is very similar to homeroom
for many other schools and districts.
And essentially, we emphasized that all scholars needed
to have their video cameras on.
One for the socio-emotional aspect,
where scholars can be social,
see each other on camera and interact with each other.
And another was ensuring the safety of all scholars
while they are in our classrooms.
And then we also wanted them to, you know,
prepare like it was a regular school day.
So get out of bed, get dressed, eat breakfast.
And so they would come into the virtual classroom
with the mindset that they're ready to learn.
And then we are also continuously exploring and learning
about Zoom,
as well as the virtual learning environment together.
So, how we engage students with Zoom?
First, one of the biggest things that we use is
screen sharing on Zoom,
so that all students can see what we see.
Whether that be slides or discussion boards or whatever.
And then we also use Pear Deck.
And then Nearpod is another substitute for Pear Deck,
where students can individually see the slides
that you have shared with them.
And then we also build in discussion boards
through Google Classroom as well as Padlet,
so that students are able to have those discussions
like they would in the classroom,
but on an, in an online format.
Emotional support is really important
while we are in this learning space.
So, we have mindfulness checks throughout the day.
We try to do fun things like virtual backgrounds with Zoom
so that students get some, you know, creative and fun ways
to engage in the classroom.
And then we also hold office hours
either during lunch or after school,
so that students who need additional support can
still come see us in the virtual learning environment.
So, here are just some examples of like mindfulness checks.
So, for warm ups, you know, students could write things
like Rose, Bud, Thorn,
just to kind of reflect on how things have been going.
Talking about the good things as well as challenging things.
We might also do like
three-minute or five-minute meditation exercises,
just to calm students down and prepare them
for the school day.
And then we also really make sure to build student buy-in
because that has been really important,
especially in an online environment.
So, first establishing a clear structure
with the daily agenda,
and then presenting interesting problems
that students really want to think about and solve.
And then through all of that,
building in collaborative activities
so that students can still work together, in this time.
And some of the keys there are assigning roles
so that all students have ownership,
going into those collaborative activities.
And then providing, you know, word problems,
multi-step challenges,
where they really have to think things through.
So, here is an example of one of my slides
in math that I've used.
This graphic organizer makes it much easier for students
to follow along.
And then with Zoom, you can also write on your slide
so that students can know what to fill in the blanks.
And it really breaks things down
and scaffolds for students appropriately.
So, all of that can still be done on Zoom.
And then this is an example of a word problem
that I've given my students,
where they've had to work in groups
to write an inequality about the weight that the elevator
at our school, e3 Civic High, can hold.
And then they are on the next slide then asked
to solve the problem that the group wrote.
There might be some group share outs.
And so every student has a role when
in these collaborative activities.
And then lastly, engaging students through physical movement
while in this learning environment.
And I have an example of that on the next slide as well.
So this is something that I've done recently
where I asked students to take a picture or a video
of something at home
that can represent a polynomial expression.
I uploaded a couple examples here
so that they could see what I have done
or what I have found.
And then I asked them to go to Padlet to upload those
so that, you know, they can view each others' pictures
or videos and start kind of a discussion board there.
That require them to like move around
in their home to find things.
Some of my students, you know, when outside
to shoot a basketball.
So those are just more engaging things that we've done
through Zoom.
And then the classroom management aspect,
making sure that all video cameras are on.
We're able to monitor all of our students' activities
on their laptop through Dyknow.
We're able to have one-on-one conversations through Zoom
and breakout rooms.
And then there's the community building piece,
so that all students can feel included and safe
in this virtual environment.
And with that, with community building,
I just do a lot of check-ins
where, you know, students can talk to each other
and share their thoughts
about how all of this is affecting them and their family.
Now, Mr. Cerruti will talk about structuring instruction
in Zoom.
- Teaching with Zoom is not simply teaching
your regular classroom lesson, but online.
You need to change your instruction slightly to handle Zoom
on both to take advantage of its advantages
and to diminish the disadvantages
that you're going to experience.
There's three different modes of instruction
that we'll talk about here
that may be familiar to other types
of instructions you've seen before, like flipped classroom.
The synchronous learning that goes on
when everybody's connected together in Zoom,
the asynchronous learning that you push off to, to offline,
and then the small group learning that goes on.
We need to remember that online,
our students aren't going to learn as much as they would
if you were directly in front of them in the classroom.
So we need to keep our instructions simple.
We need to break it down even smaller than we would
in the classroom into individual parts.
And we need to include student presentations
and class discussions
to keep it engaging and to provide that socialization.
Our asynchronous work should provide
formative checks built in.
And we can do this with a bunch of different tools
that we have available to us.
Some of the examples are Ixl, Edpuzzle, Khan Academy,
and through Google Forms.
Checking for understanding in Zoom can be done
with built-in Zoom tools as well.
So we can just use the Zoom built-in emotions
to have applause or thumbs up in the reactions.
And this gives us the ability to instantly check
are you following?
We can also use the Zoom polling
to ask a question and get back a response.
And those can be set up on the fly or in advance.
Zoom also gives us the ability to have votes
in the participants tab,
so we can ask a yes or no question
or even phrase a question such
that a yes or no answer can handle it
and answer that directly through Zoom.
And in that way we can check all the students
whether they're following us at the time.
This is important because in Zoom,
you're not going to see all your students at the same time.
And you're not going to have a lot
of the body language clues that you're used to seeing,
so you need to replace them with specific checks
for understanding.
We can also use Pear Decks, which we've talked about before,
to get accountability as we're going through
our direct instruction.
And have them fill in answers as we go through
and see that everybody's keeping up with the class
and mastering the material.
It's important again in Zoom
to make sure you have a random call.
So, you may want to use a separate tool
that picks who to call on.
One of the problems is again is typically
you only see a portion of your class in Zoom.
The rest of the class is hidden from you.
So you may forget about a student.
A student may drift to the back of the room, for example,
So, randomly calling on your students,
make sure that everyone's getting checked.
Finally, don't forget about games that we can use
to check for instruction.
Things like Kahoot, Quizlet, and Jeopardy are great ways
to build engagement.
And simultaneously, get a feeling for
is your class keeping up with the material.
Breakout rooms are an amazing tool in Zoom
if you learn how to use them right.
One of the most important things is when
you break your students out into breakout rooms,
you are putting them out on an island by themselves.
Now, you can drop in and check on them,
but they're not gonna have somebody
to immediately turn to and ask a question.
So, they need to know before they go to the breakout room,
what the task is, what's expected of them, how to get help,
and what they're responsible for bringing back
to the session to share.
You need to make sure you're consciously grouping students.
While for a small task, you might say it's okay
to randomly group the students,
which Zoom can do for you.
Be aware that if you have a student
who needs extra language support,
that you're putting somebody with them
that can help translate those instructions.
As a teacher, you need to move
between those groups frequently
to make sure the groups are on task.
Students can use the Ask for Help button
to page you to a room.
But, you need to be more proactive and drop into each group
and make sure that they know what their instructions are
and that they're getting called out.
Make sure the students are accountable
for accomplishing something in their breakout room
by building in a part of your activity
where they bring back to share.
I also use one-on-one discussions in breakout rooms.
So, if I need to discuss a scholar's grades,
I can pull them into their own separate breakout room
for that discussion.
So, when I create breakout rooms I always add,
add a few extra breakout rooms,
a few carrels for students who may want to work
on their own that day,
and also one for my office.