I have had the opportunity to teach online for a few years now. Through this time, I have learned some tips and tricks for creating a full e-learning / distance learning / online unit for students. (Can we talk about all of the names being tossed around? Sheesh!) I want to take a moment to share the steps I take to create online learning opportunities for my students.
1. Determine a platform.
The first step in designing virtual instruction for distance learning is determining a platform to house your lessons, activities, documents, and links. Often, this will be determined for you by your district. Many schools are using Google Classroom, Edmodo, Canvas, or individual classroom web pages for this purpose. If you need help in setting up a private classroom web page for your platform, check out the video I posted in this blog post.
2. Start with the standards.
For me, this part feels safe and familiar. Identify the standards and learning goals you wish for your students in the upcoming unit. Create your “I can” statements. This helps me break down my instruction further. For example, in my argumentative writing unit, I will identify the following learning goals.
I can create a hook statement that engages my reader, drawing them into my persuasive argument.
I can create an arguable thesis that also states my counterargument.
I can craft a persuasive argument paragraph using logical reasoning.
I can incorporate text evidence into my argument paragraphs, and I can cite each piece of evidence correctly.
I can embed textual evidence within my paragraph seamlessly - no lonely quotes!
I can craft a counterargument that refutes the strongest argument against my stance on the topic.
I can create a conclusion that restates my thesis statement and leaves the reader with a lasting impression.
These learning goals help me determine the content for my lessons, in this case, video lessons. This gives me focus in planning those larger units.
3. Plan or identify the assessment - how will students show what they know.
What will you be looking for in that summative assessment? For the argument writing unit, this is likely the argumentative essay. Some standards and units of study allow for a good amount of voice and choice. Where applicable, I highly recommend this option, especially in online learning. Students will be at home and surrounded by distractions. The more they are engaged what they are learning the better! I wrote about a blog post about allowing for voice and choice in summative assessments - check that out here!
4. Consider how you will ask students to deliver this assessment to you virtually.
The method that students will use to submit assignments to you will vary based on the platform you have chosen for distance learning. Written work can easily be submitted through Google Classroom, Edmodo, Canvas, or even delivered through email. This gets a bit trickier, however, when you are hoping to allow for voice and choice in your assignments, or when that assessment isn’t just a written assignment. Perhaps you want to assess your students speaking and listening skills, or their ability to discuss a text with their peers. Perhaps you wish to conduct a debate or allow students to present a speech. Perhaps students were using their creativity to create a hands-on project. These tasks can be tricker in an online setting. Thre are a good number of tech tools out there that will allow you to meet all of these needs for your digital learners. From Google Meets or Google Hangouts to Flipgrid or Padlet, there are tools to meet that need. A list of great tech tools and support for each is posted below.
Quick List of Digital Tools for Summative Assignments:
Small group discussions - Padlet, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Google Hangout, Flipgrid
Speech - Screen Cast-O-Matic or Screencastify. Students can record themselves presenting the speech and upload the video to your platform’s turn in space.
Pictures. Students can take pictures of their projects or creations and upload these for assessment.
5. Determine a method for delivering lessons.
So, at this point you have determined your standards, your goals, and your final assessment. Our administrators would be so proud! A new layer to this online learning is figuring out how to get those lessons to students. In a traditional brink and motor we load up our PowerPoint or Google Slide show. We stand in front of our students and away we go. We add in think, pair, share opportunities, we get students up and moving with gallery walks, we have stations for engagement, escape rooms for fun practice. This bag of tools, that was working just beautifully, is going to look different now. The motivations behind incorporating each of these activities into our daily lessons is so important, and still very possible to continue doing in an online environment. It is just going to look a bit different.
Delivering Content in a Lesson- My favorite way to deliver instruction is through Zoom. This feels like the most like classroom teaching for me. Within Zoom, you can share a PowerPoint with your group of students while they are in the “classroom” with you. They can ask questions via the chatbox or through their computer’s microphone. You can draw on the screen, use a blank whiteboard, allow students to chat with one another, allow for individual work time in separate ‘break-out rooms,’ etc. Most importantly, you can record these sessions for students who don’t make the live session, or for students to watch again as they need help. There are many, many amazing tutorials on YouTube to get you started with this!
Providing Directions or Quick Mini-Lessons- for quick direct instruction lessons or directions, Screencastify (works well with Google Classroom) and my personal go-to, ScreencastOMatic, are great. I personally love giving my students video directions in lieu of, or at least in addition to, written directions. Students with barriers to reading will often skip reading the directions, they miss meaning in those directions. A quick screencast video showing the daily agenda slide or the weekly Google calendar (grab a free Google calendar here) will help students to fully understand the directions. This is especially true as you use your natural teacher tendency to elaborate and fully explain. It is just what we do!
Think, Pair, Share- A fun version of this can happen through Flipgrid. A quick account set-up and you are ready to post that think, pair, share type question. Then, students can respond to that question with short video responses. They will pop up on the screen like a grid. They can view each other’s responses. You can set a time limit on their videos, which can be helpful if you looking for quick responses.
Gallery Walks and Graffiti Walls- These types of activities can happen on Padlet. Padlet is a great tool for getting students to respond to a prompt, question, or text. You can create a ‘wall’ for students to post their ideas upon. You can generate a link to share with your students while keeping this wall private from general public viewing, which is important for student privacy. You can even generate separate ‘walls’ for certain members of a group so they can host a book chat or literature circle discussion. Students can add videos, links, or just chat with one another. This can be used a general graffiti wall for responses to a text or even interesting vocabulary words.
Stations or Group Discussions- Google Meet, Google Hangouts, or Microsoft Teams. Both Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are organizational based. Check with your district for use of these two options. My district does have Microsoft Teams, so we do use this to meet with students (and also with each other as we distance learn). Google Hangouts is a chrome extension perfect to pair with Google classroom. You can bring students into a small group. They can video chat, or if they are not comfortable with this feature, they can just use the typing feature for a chat conversation. This is also a great tool for individual conferencing with students. I love to meet with them about their writing, and give them personal feedback in this manner. Plus, it saves me the trouble of having to write all of that feedback down. We can work on drafting writing together - or editing their writing together. It is a powerful tool in my online teaching handbook.
Escape Rooms- Escape rooms are still a very real possibility in online teaching. My favorite way to approach escape rooms is through the Zoom tool mentioned above. Within Zoom, you can create breakout rooms for your students. You can also assign students to each room so they are collaborating together in their own rooms. Students can solve the puzzles and private chat you their codes/answers to move on to additional steps or escape the room!
6. Create digital support materials and activities.
For this purpose, I create Google Slides or Google Docs. I know that some teachers are uploading PDF documents and using an app called KAMI to help students edit these. This is just something that I am not as familiar with. One tip that I can recommend is this: if at all possible, put all of the documents for one unit into a student notebook. This way you are assigning one digital document with the many pages they will need to work on throughout the unit. For the digital units I sell on TpT, I really have tried to create full students notebooks that help students stay organized through longer units. Students can digitally submit the same document throughout the unit, and you can assess pieces at a time. This gives you a space to leave them feedback throughout the unit, and NO LOST DOCUMENTS! :)
7. Create a daily schedule for students.
I use this Google Slide template to create a daily schedule for my students. This is a week view for students. Each week, I add a new slide. This allows students to go back to previous weeks if they fall behind, or look ahead (if you allow them to see this.) You can share with students the topic of each online lesson, and even link the Zoom invite into the slides. Then, you can lay out what you expect students to accomplish each day. My students have found this helpful as we work through larger units.
8. Allow time for conferencing - establish office hours.
I establish office hours for my students. This is a space where they can join me on Google Hangout or Zoom to chat about their learning. I do often find that my students will email me their questions, and I will create the meeting as they need.
9. Build check-ins throughout.
As I always tell my students, unlike our traditional classroom setting, I cannot see when they are struggling. I cannot look out onto the sea of faces and notice their perplexed expression. We talk a great deal about becoming an advocate for their own learning, reaching out when they need help. (Blog post on this coming soon.) That said, this is a challenge for students, so built-in check-ins are really important. One method I find helpful is just a quick Google Form. You can create this form in Google and share the link out with students. Ask any questions you feel pertinent in this check-in. I like to end with an open question asking students what they need from me. This way, I can get a quick read on who needs to meet with me in a conference, or who may need a remediation lesson. Their responses can be tabulated in a spreadsheet as well, which also makes this an excellent way to give students a quiz. As an added bonus, there are even apps that will grade any multiple choice questions for you!
10. Give virtual feedback.
The easiest way to provide virtual feedback is through Google Classroom. I recently wrote a blog post about two great apps that will help you create rubrics and provide meaningful feedback to students quickly and efficiently. Check out the Orange Slice Google Add-On. There is also a pair of apps to help you grade faster, called Goobric and Doctopus. There are amazing video tutorials for each of these options on YouTube!
Canvas and Edmodo also have features embedded that will let you provide digital feedback to your students.
Grading long essays? I actually prefer to create mini-screencast videos. I pull their document up on the screen and talk to them while I make comments on their documents. It allows me to leave less typed explanations because the video’s verbal explanations will do that. I can just put in a comma or a period to mark the spot in the comments feature of Google Docs. Then, I can send this quick video to students to help them edit and revise.
11. Start it all over with the next unit!
I have almost 50 digital units for sale in my TpT store to help you get started with this if you are interested. Check this out if you are looking for some prepared digital units! A few of these are linked below as well. Be sure to check out my freebie library for some free digital units as well!
