791 Blog #7- Insights on Transitioning to Remote Learning My mind is very obsessed right now with finding the magic combination of learning activities that will keep my students engaged, connected, learning, and challenged in a positive way. What is that magic combination? And is it humanly possible because right now I feel like I am doing hours and hours of lesson planning to try and find that magic formula. How do I keep the lessons simple and direct enough for my kids with wifi issues and disruptive learning space at home to get through and still meet the needs of my kids that are craving a challenge and look bored out of their mind with the pace online. The learning I have gained from my Touro classes has basically taken my technical skills and teaching methods from something equal to about a TV dinner of variety to a pretty solid buffet of educational experiences and options. Some of my “recipes” need more practice, but I am so far from where I started in March 2020 that I just have to take a moment to enjoy the new tastes and flavors that are becoming my new teaching staples. The tools that are really adding spice to my lessons are Hyperdocs, Ed Protocols, Screencast, Edpuzzle, Pear Deck, Google forms, and Google slides- especially for group projects. When we need to review and just play together, Gimkit is my kids’ favorite online game. Mote is my new go to tool for giving voice notes for feedback in Google classroom and Google Classroom in general is working really well for assigning and grading class assignments. Before the pandemic in March, I only used GC for delivering the link for a test or project. I can’t even imagine how I could do virtual teaching/ remote learning without Google classroom and these other tools. Before I was exposed to all ideas from the reading assignments in this class I mostly planned and taught to the whole group synchronously. The idea of having my students move through a lesson using a Hyperdoc or Screencast where they drive the learning individually and have choice about how and when they will do the learning, plus choice about how they will show me they accomplished the learning- these ideas were so far from my pre-covid style of teaching it’s just hard to even imagine. After looking back over my notes from Baggio, Clarke, and Dervyn and exploring the ideas in the UDL website I realize that the real beauty of a big, diverse learning buffett is that the learner gets choice in how they learn because they probably know what works best for their brain when it comes to learning new information. They also probably have a way to demonstrate their learning that is especially meaningful and enjoyable for them, a way that taps into their unique personality traits, point of view, and individual learning preferences. For so long my teaching served the same course to every student. I always tried to “make learning fun” but fun and engaging to my tastes may be a really unpleasant learning experience to a student that has different preferences than me. Choice is so fundamental to learning and I think I can make it a priority in my lesson planning and it will become a new protocol for me and my students.
2 Comments
Amy Bardwell
12/2/2020 07:14:00 am
I love your thoughts on how things are going with our teaching world right now. Expecially, the concept of having a buffet of educational choice for your students. How luck they are to have you as a teacher!
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Janine Burt
12/2/2020 12:15:24 pm
Hi Betsy, I love your food analogy for your lessons and trying to "spice" them up with the use of tech tools. But it sounds like the real journey of discovery is in your new thinking about how each student learns best. I have conversations with teachers every day about how they feel like they are not meeting the needs of students despite the fact that they are working harder than ever. I don't know that the "magic combination" is attainable right now, but like we tell our students there is so much learning in the struggle to figure it out. I appreciate your positive outlook!!
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AuthorHello! Welcome to my blog! This will be a fun place to share thoughts about teaching and learning. I am a middle school science teacher at Redwood. When I'm not teaching, I'm hanging out at home with my family or enjoying nature somewhere in the valley. Archives
March 2021
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