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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS: HOW TO HELP YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE GOOD CHOICES

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A Friend is Someone Who - read aloud | SEL books for children, books for kids' social skills #read

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A Friend is Someone Who - read aloud | SEL books for children, books for kids' social skills #read

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A Friend is Someone Who - read aloud | SEL books for children, books for kids' social skills #read

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Diversity for Kids | "Mixed" Read-Aloud | Social Emotional Learning

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Diversity for Kids | "Mixed" Read-Aloud | Social Emotional Learning

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Diversity for Kids | "Mixed" Read-Aloud | Social Emotional Learning

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De-Escalation Spaces: Helping Students Manage Emotions

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De-Escalation Spaces: Helping Students Manage Emotions

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De-Escalation Spaces: Helping Students Manage Emotions

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Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools

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Explore resources and case studies that demonstrate how to bring restorative justice to your school or classroom.

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The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning ( ) defines CASEL Responsible Decision Making as "the ability to make constructive choices about personal behaviour and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms."

Primary students are working on making simple decisions with growing independence. They can benefit from carefully considering options to day to day decisions.

Guiding primary students to make simple T-charts with pros and cons of a decision or having them come up with a few reasons why they have made a choice are great activities that promote the process of responsible decision making.

They need support to:

identify options that are available to them in a decision,

build confidence that they are capable of making their own choices,

evaluate and reflect on the results of their decisions.

Decisions can be big or small. These videos help children understand that they can make their own decisions.

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Responsible Decision Making Primary - SELspace

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identify options that are available to them in a decision, build confidence that they are capable of making their own choices, evaluate and reflect on the results of their decisions. Decisions can be big or small. These videos help children understand that they can make their own decisions.

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It has been widely accepted that incorporating social and emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom can positively impact student behavior and outcomes. In fact, a growing body of research has shown that incorporating SEL competencies into teaching can result in improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance. So in what ways can teachers implement good SEL strategies?

In this fourth installment of our five-part series on the SEL competencies, we're going to take a look at how you can incorporate relationship skills into your classroom.

Relationship Skills in Your Classroom

When your students move on to career and college, being able to work well with others will become a crucial life skill, which is why it's important for students to develop good interpersonal skills early in life. Give students the opportunity to work together on projects in groups or with partners. When assigning partners, try to pair students who are less confident, shy, or insular with students who are more social and self-confident.

When conflicts arise, use it as an opportunity to have students reflect on how their actions affect others. Serve as a mediator and help students communicate constructively, actively listen to one another, and come to a compromise that works for everyone. Foster friendship and kindness in the classroom-set friendship goals-but also be sure to teach students about leadership and responsibility so they will think about the consequences of their actions before caving to peer pressure and unhealthy choices in order to "fit in."

It's also important for students to learn how to form relationships with their teachers so they can self-advocate, but speaking with a teacher directly can be too intimidating for many students. Foster communication by providing students with multiple avenues of contact, such as by phone or e-mail, and encourage students to reach out to you for help.

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (n.d.). Core SEL competencies. CASEL. Retrieved from https://casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning-and-positive-behavioral-interventions-and-supports/

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (n.d.). SEL impact. CASEL. Retrieved from https://casel.org/impact/

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011, February 3). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432.

PBIS World. (n.d.). Teach relationship skills. Retrieved from http://www.pbisworld.com/tier-1/teach-relationship-skills/

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Relationship Skills: Applying SEL in Your Classroom

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It has been widely accepted that incorporating social and emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom can positively impact student behavior and outcomes. In fact, a growing body of research has shown that incorporating SEL competencies into teaching can result in improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance.

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Find lessons on Social Awareness for all grades. Free interactive resources and activities for the classroom and home.

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3 Ways to Help Students Improve Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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3 Ways to Help Students Improve Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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No doubt, the coronavirus pandemic is transforming the world of education.

Many schools are curating educational resources for at-home learning- some for a few weeks, while others have decided to keep learning digital for the remainder of the school year.

With parents and caregivers struggling to balance their new realities with work and the school life of students, learners of all ages will need to learn and use vital self-management skills now more than ever. The success skill of self-management fosters the ability of students to follow through on study plans, complete tasks and assignments, and keep schedules. PBL teachers and parents can teach and reinforce this skill in collaboration.

Here are three ways to integrate self-management skills into projects while students are at home.

1. Create a Daily Schedule

Now that kids are learning remotely, the time is ripe for getting them acclimated to a daily routine that gives them voice and choice over how their day is spent. And when integrated into the process of completing a project, planning and producing a daily schedule is a relevant product. Students become invested in the process- hopefully for the long haul, as this habit is useful throughout life. Both research and insights from some of the most creative minds (past and present) provide evidence that keeping routines and daily rituals leads to better self-management in tandem with personal, professional, and academic success.

This practical daily schedule by Dr. Neil Gupta is an editable tool that learners can use and adapt as they do projects at home. However, parents will have to bear in mind that some learners will need modeling and reminders for sticking to their daily schedule.

Other helpful tools for crafting and keeping daily schedules from the PBLWorks student handouts collection include:

2. Use a Weekly Schedule

Both parents and educators are well aware that COVID-19 is forcing many learners into temporary but prolonged periods of isolation. Learning to create, manage and follow larger schedules/timetables can help students not only manage their weekly learning, but promote other important and healthful activities.

Illustration credit: Cody Wood @codywoodillustration

It is important to note that weekly schedules are not to be confused with the daily schedule mentioned above. Weekly schedules are more structured, store more information, and provide an enhanced aerial view of tasks and projects that need to be spread out for effective completion. Moreover, keeping a weekly schedule is key for evaluating whether time spent permits for successful completion of tasks, provides ample study time, and allows for activities that are consistent with a healthy lifestyle.

Our very own PBLWorks National Faculty member Kiffany Lychock created a home learning schedule for her own children to use, which can also be leveraged and adapted by parents and teachers managing remote projects.

Other tools and templates from Algonquin College can help students create weekly schedules, and offer useful strategies for assisting learners in spreading activities out, planning time for fun, and practicing essential time management for both academics and real-life tasks.

3. Stick to Deadlines

Being at home and not having the reminder of the daily bell schedule can cause some of our kids to forget the importance of honoring deadlines and due dates. PBL teachers and parents can help remedy this by reinforcing it in remote projects for students and also by modeling it - in spite of today's challenges.

Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious; students typically miss deadlines because they:

Get stuck and don't know what to do

Are not aware of the consequences of procrastination

Are easily distracted

Do not take their work seriously

Do not have a plan/schedule

Developing and implementing a schedule is a critical self-management skill that, when integrated as part of project work, helps students prioritize and calendar all tasks and due dates accordingly. The Project Management Log: Team Tasks and the Project Work Report: Individual tools from PBLWorks are helpful for this purpose and can complement discussions during daily check-ins between students with both parents and teachers.

And for learners who need the most reminders, an additional scaffold that I use with my own children is to make their deadline(s) "famous"! I do this by writing their due dates on post-it notes and leave them everywhere I know they will look (i.e., the refrigerator, their cellphone, game console, etc.).

Give yourself a break.

The initial days of COVID-19 may leave some of us feeling as if our kids (or even we ourselves) are not as productive as we hoped, and attribute it to poor self-management. If this is the case, don't punish yourself. Current circumstances call for us to de-stress, reboot, and take the time to utilize these helpful tools for helping our kids figure out how to keep moving forward in their learning.

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3 Ways to Help Students Improve Self-Management Skills in At-Home Learning

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How teachers and parents can support students in creating daily and weekly schedules and sticking to deadlines.

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As an educator, I always felt I knew my learners extremely well. While it is great if an educator or parent knows their kids so well, it's actually not enough. The real magic comes when we teach kids to start understanding themselves and develop strong self-awareness skills. Self-awareness is having a strong understanding of oneself. That includes understanding our thoughts, emotions, strengths, challenges, needs, and dreams for the future.

Self-awareness is important for children and younger learners because it sets the stage for success. If kids have a better understanding of their emotions, actions, and abilities, they can make better choices to help them be successful in and outside of the classroom.

Here are a couple quick examples of why self-awareness matters:
Imagine a child who just starts crying in class. The child is so upset that they can barely get a word out, and no adult in the room understands what happened. Finally, the child points to the math worksheet they were working on. It has answered scribbled out. The teacher finally realizes that the child was frustrated with the work and did not know how to solve the problems. If that child had stronger skills for self-awareness, he or she could have asked for help, tried a new strategy, asked a peer, or taken a break if their frustrations were escalating.

Next, let's consider a student with stronger self-awareness skills. This learner knows they want to play on the basketball team this year, so they make a concerted effort to improve their skills and talk to the gym teacher about how to join. By understanding their hopes for the future, this learner has a much better chance of achieving their goals.

The good news is that self-awareness skills can be taught and practiced on a regular basis. Of course, it's important to note that self-awareness skills don't develop all at once. Learning them is a process that takes time and practice.

If you want to get started right away, consider checking out this Self-Awareness Unit developed specifically for social emotional learning. It covers everything from building confidence and understanding emotions to using positive thinking skills and considering hopes and dreams. As a bonus, it is the first unit in the complete SEL Yearlong Elementary Curriculum.
Here are some strategies you can try to get your learners started:
Encourage kids to use their strengths. If a student is strong with technology, let him or her be the technology support staff in the room. If another child loves music, let them help pick out some calming selections to play during morning work. The options are endless. All kids deserve a chance to shine.

Teach skills for confidence. Confidence provides a great sense of self-understanding and self-awareness. Feeling confident doesn't usually come on its own, though. Teach kids how to be confident by learning how to take risks, develop a growth mindset, and celebrate their wins.

Have kids compliment themselves. Encourage students to write a "compliment list" about themselves. They can post this list somewhere at home or keep it in their binder to remind themselves of their strengths

Let kids share their passions. Give a weekly show and tell time that allows kids to share something important to them. Whether a student is playing the flute for their classmates or telling about a new insect they found, these are moments that can help each child develop a stronger sense of what they are most interested in.

Try new things together. We are all works in progress! Kids need lots of opportunities to try different things and find out what they are most passionate about. Play different genres of music, read different types of texts, and encourage activities that students might not have tried before. Every new opportunity is a chance for students to learn about who they are.

Teach about emotions. Even if students have a basic understanding of feelings, they may fully grasp other more in-depth emotional concepts. Teach students to learn a larger emotional vocabulary, explain that emotions have different levels (slightly annoyed to irate), and discuss how you can feel multiple emotions at once. Learning about emotions will help children understand their own feelings on a day-to-day basis.

Create a daily emotion check-in time. Children benefit greatly from understanding their own feelings. Give 5 or 10 minutes each morning to allow students to check in with themselves. You can have them write in a journal or fill out a check in form to share how they are feeling.

Embrace a growth mindset. All kids should know that they can accomplish more when they work hard and have a positive mindset. Teach what it means to have a growth mindset. Practice a growth mindset with your learners and encourage it on a daily basis. This can help build confidence and a greater understanding of what students can really do.

Discuss hopes and dreams. No matter the age, everyone should have aspirations to look forward to! Give time to discussing hopes and dreams for the future. You might discuss where students want to travel to, what activities they want to try, and what they hope to be like in the future. Note that hopes and dreams can change over time, so this is something you can revisit time and time again.

Research career interests. It's never too early to consider future career paths! You can assign careers to students or let them choose. Have kids find some interesting facts about that career and share it with the class.

Develop and monitor goals. Meet individually with students and help them come up with specific goals they want to work on. Again, this is something that can be done with all ages. Whether their goal is wanting to read three chapter books or complete all their homework, SMART goals can help kids have a greater understanding of where they are and what they need to do to improve.

Schedule student conferences. Meet with each student individually on a regular basis. This might look different depending on how many students you work with. The more regularly you can meet with your learners, the better. Spend just 5-10 minutes discussing how the student is doing, what is working well, and what they could improve. This student conference format can help kids gain understanding into where they are and what they need to do to continue working towards goals.

If you are looking for resources to teach self-awareness skills right away, check out this Social Emotional Learning Unit for Self-Awareness or this Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for the whole year.

Whether you decide to start teaching the lessons right away, or just implement a few small strategies throughout the year, know that self-awareness is an important skill for all learners to develop!

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As an educator, I always felt I knew my learners extremely well. While it is great if an educator or parent knows their kids so well, it's actually not enough. The real magic comes when we teach kids to start understanding themselves and develop strong self-awareness skills. Self-awareness is having

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Restorative Justice- Reentry into the community

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Restorative Justice- Reentry into the community

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Handling Serious Harm through Restorative Conferences Pt. 2 Workshop Packet

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Handling Serious Harm through Restorative Conferences Pt. 1 Workshop Packet

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Circle Practice Scenario - Suspension for knife possession

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Building Relationships | Apologizing | "Zach Apologizes" Read Aloud | Social Emotional Learning

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Building Relationships | Apologizing | "Zach Apologizes" Read Aloud | Social Emotional Learning

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Building Relationships | Apologizing | "Zach Apologizes" Read Aloud | Social Emotional Learning

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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Color with Frame_Mindfulness Poster Size

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5 Incredibly Fun GAMES to Teach Self-Regulation (Self-Control) | Early Childhood Development

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Find quality children’s literature to teach children emotional awareness. Then, use book activities to engage, have discussions, and further their ability to express their emotions.

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Set up a scavenger hunt to work on attention, focus, and mindfulness. Focus on ways children can show responsibility at home.

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Instruct students to keep a special journal to record challenges and emotions, events, and memories. Encourage them to try to think of one positive thing each day. This self-regulation and mindfulness activity can also include writing prompts. Try our Feelings Journal to get you started!

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Use positive quotes about growth mindset to get kids ready to learn. These growth mindset posters can be colored and then hung around the house as reminders to persevere and not give up when things get hard.

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MANAGING EMOTIONS, ANXIETY, STRESS, WORRY.

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MANAGING EMOTIONS, ANXIETY, STRESS, WORRY.

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Check out this resource that helps parents teach their children to work on managing emotions at home. Use it to introduce and practice emotion vocabulary.

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Have kids create a vision board of things they want to do in the future. You could suggest they think about tomorrow, next week, or over the summer, or even next school year!

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Spend some time creating self-affirmation cards at home and post them throughout the house as gentle reminders.

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Suggest that families find a small mirror and post the saying, “I Am” at the top. Add sticky notes with positive words, such as special, kind, and hardworking, around the mirror that they can recite.

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Remind children that they can offer to do a favor or perform a chore for someone in their family. Make it a goal to work towards – once per week, or perhaps every day!

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Use Mind + Heart Morning Meeting slides to guide students in a virtual morning meeting to start your online class. This exercise will help them build self-management skills. Kids will enjoy connecting and sharing with their teacher and peers

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Learning from home can be hard and takes adjustment. Discuss how kids can be their best selves while learning at home. They can then color and create the “Be my best self” hat found in the distance learning activities pack (free below).

https://www.youtube.c

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Work with the kids to learn that they can overcome challenges with persistence and hard work. Remind families to resist immediate assistance with rushing to help so their child can learn on their own. Ask them to use empowering language such as “you’re hanging in there, I’m proud of you,” and “You’ll get through this and be so happy with your progress.”

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With distance learning and extended time at home, videos will likely be popular. Have students pause to discuss feelings, emotions, consequences, and other valuable concepts. These books and videos that encourage empathy provide helpful examples!

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Create a list of ways to be kind at home and then make a calendar of acts to complete in a month. Encourage students and their families to do them together.

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Encourage students to collect unused toys, books, or other items to donate when this is all over.

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Cut out a paper heart as in this meaningful activity and write on it – “Before you speak, think and be smart, it’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart.” Afterward, crumble up the heart and open it again. Discuss how you can’t remove the wrinkles just like you can’t take away those hurtful words.

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Be sure to address each child during your online chat by name. Encourage them to feel free to talk to you directly. For example, try to limit times when students must remain muted. Or, allow a few minutes at the beginning or end of your meeting with them to allow them to see and talk to each other. Share your email address and allow them to email you. Although it’s hard, attempt to respond to each one personally. End the email with warm comments to let them know they are special and loved.

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Instruct students to cut out paper hearts. Have them write personal messages of thanks, kindness, or appreciation for others. They can leave them on the windows or front door for service workers to see. Alternatively, they could post them in their house for family members to find.  https://www.firstpalette.com/printable/hearts.html

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Encourage families to connect their child online with a friend for a virtual chat on a platform, such as Zoom, Facebook Messenger Kids, or a Facetime call.

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After a short lesson on how to write an email, have kids write one to their teacher, a friend in the class, or a family member. They will enjoy getting an email message in return! An adult can also write an email message from a child.

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Encourage kids to connect with one friend or family member on the phone each week. This exercise is beneficial for everyone!

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Remind kids how to be a good friend with the book and video examples in this post.

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Kids are naturally spending extra time with family. Provide them with home connection ideas that build a strong family foundation. Suggest a family game night, eating meals together at the table, having daily check-in chats to talk about how things are going, and so on.
https://lollyjane.com/100-family-time-ideas/

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Use this Responsibility unit to guide students in learning what responsibility means and how they can be responsible.

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Build your kids’ confidence by having them practice making their own decisions. Encourage parents to refrain from running to the rescue every time there is a struggle. Remind them to focus on their strengths and nurture their unique skills and traits. Give them responsibility and set them up for success with achievable goals.

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Every time the child accomplishes something new, have them write it down on a slip of paper and place in a special jar.  After some time, encourage kids to share the entries to see the growth.

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Encourage families to establish routines and a dedicated place for learning in the home. Provide a schedule and ask families to post it visibly for kids. Teach kids how to organize the work they complete or take photos of their work for sharing virtually.

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Discuss situations that you can or cannot control. Create a poster with a circle on it.  Inside the circle, draw and write things you CAN control.  Outside the circle, draw and write situations that you CANNOT control. This will help calm children who experience anxiety during uncertain times.

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Help kids set a home learning goal and discuss things they can do to work towards it. Create a plan! Use the template provided in the distance learning activities pack to learn how to establish goals.

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Encourage families to establish routines and a dedicated place for learning in the home. Provide a schedule and ask families to post it visibly for kids. Teach kids how to organize the work they complete or take photos of their work for sharing virtually.  https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/learning-at-home/homework-study-skills/how-to-make-a-portable-homework-station

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Encourage families to “catch” their kids when they are being responsible at home. Every time they are helpful with extra chores, remembering responsibilities, or working hard at their schoolwork, they can get a hole punch in a card (click here for this free incentive). Reward kids with a virtual high-five when they have all the spots punched out!

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Communicate in multiple formats

Provide active learning opportunities

Make Learning Social

Gamify with Badges and Certificates

Provide timely and useful feedback

Add self-assessment opportunities

Improve course accessibility for all

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Most educators will agree that student engagement is paramount for a high quality learning experience. Not everyone agrees on what is meant by student engagement or how to achieve it. One definition of student engagement is "the amount, type, and intensity of investment students make in their educational experiences."

How Can You Engage Students in Online Learning?

A question that's increasingly top of mind for educators at universities and colleges is how to engage students online? The number of distractions available these days coupled with the difficulties of remote education mean that online student engagement is at a risk of falling. And instituions can't simply think about their online educational offerings appeal to students for one class-what's more important is how to keep those same students engaged in online learning over the course of a semester. It's one thing to have someone's attention at the start of a module-maintaining that same level of focus throughout the duration of a course is different story.

Here Are 7 Ways to Engage Students Online

Here are a few ideas for increasing and ensuring higher levels of student engagement in online courses:

1. Communicate in multiple formats

Online education provides instructors with multiple avenues for communicating with students. Course email and discussion forums tend to be the standard communication tools, but don't overlook embedded audio and video, chat rooms or instant messaging, broadcast text messaging, and home page announcements. Explanatory screencast videos tend to be well received by students, and are increasingly easy and inexpensive to create.

Educators may also want to consider the use of audio or voice notes as a way to engage students online. Recording a piece of feedback and leaving it for a student to listen to adds a personal touch and creates another layer of connection between student and teacher-extra important when that student and teacher may never meet in real life. Voice notes also have the benefit of being asynchronous. Teachers don't have to spend time trying to book meetings in calendars for real-time video calls and students are free to listen to the recorded notes when it suits their schedules.

2. Provide active learning opportunities

A common misconception about online learning is that students only sit in front of their computers. That might be true if the course is designed that way, but one way to engage online learners is to get them out of their chairs (or beds) and get them involved in active learning. One definition of active learning is "hands-on learning," although that could probably include "hands-on your mouse," which is not the suggestion here. Assign your online students to interview people working in the field, or to otherwise bring their learning out into the community where they live. Case studies, group projects, or gathering and analyzing local data are just a few of the many examples of active learning.

3. Make Learning Social

Social platforms, if used effectively, can help build a sense of classroom community among the students and between students and instructor.

Many instructors are looking at social media as ways to spice up their courses and engage students in topical learning. Consider adding a Twitter badge to your course homepage and then using a hashtag to push posts with course-relevant content to your students. Alternately, you may want to start an Instagram account for your course, where you share supplementary content that students may find interesting.

Don't think of social platforms as a place to repurpose your existing course content. For example, reposting a picture of a diagram students already studied in class may not create much interaction. Posting an article on Twitter that's relevant to your course and encouraging students to share their thoughts in a thread would likely create more engagement and could spark interesting conversations.

When using social media, it is very easy to get overwhelmed. With each passing day, new apps seem to come out of nowhere. Meanwhile, trying to keep up with posting on multiple channels can get exhausting. If you choose to use social media in your course, we recommend choosing one social platform and using it consistently.

4. Gamify with Badges and Certificates

Gamification is the practice of incorporating game-based elements into courses to help students acquire knowledge more quickly. Seeing how well video games are at keeping the attention of students, educators and learning designers cottoned onto to implementing parts of these games into their curriculum in a bid to improve online student engagement.

There are many ways that you can add gamification elements to online courses, without going the route of building a full game-based learning course from start to finish (which has been accomplished by a few ambitious educators). As a more intermediate step, consider adding badges to your course for recognizing student accomplishments along the way. Badges that are rewarded on the basis of achieving particular competencies can be offered as a way of rewarding student performance and encouraging continued engagement.

They've also been shown to improve student motivation. In a study from Nurse Education in Practice, researchers found that student attendance, satisfaction levels and motivation all improved when nursing students were awarded digital badges. They concluded that badges and certificates can act as an extrinsic motivator for students.

5. Provide timely and useful feedback

Feedback to students about their performance is extremely important in the effort to keep students engaged in the learning journey. Quick responses to discussion posts and email questions can help keep students on track for the next assignment or activity. Turnaround time on grading of assessments can also have an impact on future student efforts. Students should never have to engage in the next assessment without receiving feedback on the previous assessment. Feedback that is detailed and positive in nature tends to be more effective than faint praise or unclear messages.

6. Add self-assessment opportunities

Encouraging students to reflect and assess where they're at in their learning journey while they're still taking the course is a great method of formative assessment. For one thing, it encourages the student to be an active participant in their own education. Instead of the student relying on an educator to tell them how they're doing, self-assessment puts the student in the driver's seat, empowering them to see if there are any gaps in their learning.

Providing opportunities for self-assessment allows students to take more responsibility for their own learning. Some suggestions for self-assessment include: allowing students to grade their own discussion posts, or providing input for their own grade for course participation. A course-based ePortfolio or learning plan can be used to encourage students to build their own personal learning plans while identifying their preferences for multiple assessment methods. Self-assessment can be a motivating and sometimes humbling experience, but it is also an empowering one, whereby the student can come away feeling more energized about the path forward.

7. Improve course accessibility for all

Student engagement can be reduced for all when course content is provided in a way that isn't accessible. Regardless of whether a student relies on assistive technology or not, having course materials that don't create barriers to learning is an ongoing need for students in online education. The pandemic pivot that the majority of institutions were forced to make in 2020 shone a light on the barriers that many students face when it comes to gaining an education. Everything from a learner's physical and emotional capability, to their socio-economic status, to where they physically live can play a role in how well they perform throughout post-secondary studies.

With respect to engaging students online, institutions should first gain an understanding of what technologies students have access to, as well as how regular that access may be. Some students cannot use a computer all the time, or may not have access to strong Wi-Fi. If you are using an LMS that doesn't support offline, responsive learning, this would hinder a student's learning experience.

We're aware that not every challenge can be solve overnight. That's why taking consistent steps toward accessibility improvement of course materials is a good practice for educators to engage in on a frequent, periodic basis.

If you're interested in learning more about best teaching practices with respect to online learning and other areas, check out our upcoming webinars and the Brightspace Community for more information.

Written by:

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7 Tips for Increasing Student Engagement in Online Learning

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Discover ideas for increasing student engagement to higher levels in online learning courses.

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Open with social time (directed or non directed) circle or break-out sessions

Partner with students, families and colleagues

Keep lessons dynamic with the use of multimedia, screen-sharing and breakout rooms

Publicly honor their work by posting pictures

Be clear, caring and flexible

Weekly updates and reminders to families and students

Offer “must do” assignments that consist of our core learning and “may do” assignments for families who want more ideas to engage their students in learning

Online office hours for individual  or small group support

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Photo: Mills Teacher Scholars

As we all speculate on what schools will look like in 2020-21, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: distance learning will continue to be at least part of our reality.

This new medium of learning failed to include a large percentage of students in its first few months. How can we change this for next year? What strategies can teachers and leaders employ in order to engage all students in distance learning?

I am a third-grade teacher in a public school near Richmond, CA, where 90% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, nearly half are English learners, and many families are grappling with the health and economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past two months I have researched, created and collaborated with colleagues on a winding journey towards my goal of 100% student engagement in distance learning.

As the school year comes to an end, I can now celebrate that all of my 22 students engaged in distance learning daily. Along the way, I have learned many things about what students and families need from me in this uncertain and unusual time.

While recognizing that every community may be experiencing this pandemic differently, I have compiled my learning into some tips that may be helpful to educators seeking to reach all of their students in this time of distance learning.
Partner with students, families and colleagues
Family and teacher communication is foundational to supporting student learning - and more essential than ever in distance learning. I plan to begin the new school year by meeting virtually with each student and their family, listening to their needs and daily routines, collaborating on student learning goals and making a communication plan together.

I have found that some students spend the school day with parents, while others may be in the care of an older sibling, grandparent, or friend. Teachers' ability to get in touch with each student's primary caregiver during the school day is critical to building and sustaining student engagement.

Teachers are adapting to this new form of education at a rapid pace, and collaborating with one another benefits all of us. My school has partnered with Mills Teacher Scholars in order to facilitate rich collaboration during both in person and distance learning. Through my conversations with colleagues I have worked through challenges, shared my strategies and learned from the successes of others.
Engaging and social lesson plans
All children need unstructured social time with friends, both for their emotional well-being and to support their engagement in school. Before my daily lesson, I offer open social time for my class on Zoom. This supports their social and emotional needs while simultaneously incentivizing on-time attendance. Using this method, I have 100% attendance most days for my remote lessons.

Over the months, I have experimented with many technologies in order to make my lessons as interactive as possible. Students lose interest in lessons more rapidly when online than in person, so I have found that keeping lessons dynamic with the use of multimedia, screen-sharing and breakout rooms supports engagement and motivation in students.

Students and families send me photos of their art and science projects and I regularly post them on our ClassDojo. This public honoring of their work is both motivating and an expression of care.
Be clear, caring and flexible
Before rolling out new procedures, I created tutorial videos in both Spanish and English to walk families through each component of a typical agenda. I also send weekly updates and reminders to families to keep the communication alive.

In this deeply challenging time for families, flexibility from teachers and schools is not only compassionate, it is essential to making remote learning work. Apart from a one-hour live lesson in the morning, I don't have a set schedule for students or a time the assignments are due.

I offer time guidelines but leave it up to families when they want their child to be doing the work. I also offer "must do" assignments that consist of our core learning and "may do" assignments for families who want more ideas to engage their students in learning.

I know some students need more hands-on support, and so I offer daily office hours via Zoom as well as small group time after whole-group lessons.

As we head into a new school year, let's remember to partner with our students, families and colleagues in order to establish a caring classroom community, even if it's from a distance. I believe that with attention to social and emotional needs and creative planning, we can engage all of our students in successful distance learning.

***
Jessie Welcomer is a 3rd grade teacher at Montalvin Manor K-8, a Title I public school in San Pablo, California. She and her colleagues partner with Mills Teacher Scholars To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource's no-cost daily email on latest developments in education. to support their professional learning and collaboration.
The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. Commentaries published on EdSource represent viewpoints from EdSource's broad audience. As an independent, non-partisan organization, EdSource does not take a position on legislation or policy. We welcome guest commentaries from teachers about how they are adapting to distance learning. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.

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COMMENTARY: Getting to 100% student engagement in distance learning

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Photo: Mills Teacher Scholars As we all speculate on what schools will look like in 2020-21, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: distance learning will continue to be at least part of our reality. This new medium of learning failed to include a large percentage of students in its first few months.

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Build online learning community

Discuss assignments

Ask questions

Share personal experiences

Reflect and think critically about someone’s opinion

Get exposed to new ideas

Share perspectives

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Do you ever think about your association's online learners and how they manage to fit your courses into their busy lives?

Imagine: after a long day of work, errands, and household chores and duties, they manage to find time to finish the week's assignments for the online course they're taking with your association. It's a lonely life. Watching videos alone. Reading alone. Studying alone. If only they could talk with other students about their coursework, struggles, experiences, and ideas.

Lifelong learners don't have to tolerate isolation and loneliness. A learning community makes courses more engaging and enjoyable. The associations using our TopClass LMS can offer their online students the benefits of a learning community thanks to our integration with the Higher Logic online community platform.

We've got Higher Logic on the mind this week because WBT Systems is a Silver Sponsor of the Higher Logic Super Forum from October 15 to October 17 in Arlington, Virginia. There is no better place than the Super Forum to meet other association professionals who manage online communities and to learn how to get improve the experience of your online community members.

Enhance the online learning experience with a learning community

You might wonder: what exactly goes on in an online course's community? In a few words, it's where learning sticks.

In an online learning community's discussion forums, students can:

Discuss assignments.

Ask questions.

Share personal experiences.

Reflect and think critically about someone's opinion.

Get exposed to new ideas.

Share perspectives.

Why are these activities so significant?

Active learning helps information go from short-term to long-term memory. Information doesn't stick when it's received passively and nothing further is done to recall it. For information to become knowledge, learners must engage in activities that help them make meaning of the content they've digested.

A learning community helps put that information in context. In discussion forums, students recall information to answer the instructor's or classmates' questions, participate in discussions, help explain difficult concepts, go deeper into a subject, or pursue related topics.

Learning communities are an example of reciprocal, peer-to-peer learning in action. Sandra Milligan, director of the Assessment Research Centre at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education, analyzed data from more than 100,000 learners in the University of Melbourne's MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). She identified five distinct levels of learning:

Level 1: Reader - the online course serves as a textbook.

Level 2: Consumer of instruction - the online course serves as a tutor.

Level 3: Self-regulated producer of learning - the online course serves as a tutor with a user support group.

Level 4: Collaborative learner - the online course serves as a collaborative learning environment.

Level 5: Reciprocal teacher - the online course serves as a reciprocal, distributed learning environment.

Learning communities enter the picture at Level 3 and help learners progress to Level 5. Milligan suggests discussing these levels with learners and showing them what they can do to move to the next level of learning expertise. Feedback, she said, "can be the rocket fuel of learning."

More benefits of an online learning community

A supportive and collaborative learning community helps students acquire and retain knowledge. Even though they're alone while reading coursework and watching videos, they're not working in isolation. The community helps to instill a sense of belonging and camaraderie which keeps students engaged and motivates them to persevere.

Because of the community's discussion forums, students have the opportunity to develop relationships with fellow students. They soon realize they're all in it together and can rely on their mutual support system when having trouble. A learning community holds each other accountable. You don't want to be the one who doesn't show up to do the work.

An online course and community is a more comfortable environment for introverts than a traditional classroom setting. They have time to think about what they want to say before 'raising their hand.' They can refine their comments before clicking the 'send' button.

A learning community is a safe space where students can share ideas, take risks, and ask for help. At the start of the course, instructors should review community guidelines-the standard for all your online programs. Instructors and students share the responsibility for maintaining a safe and productive community space.

How instructors can improve the learning community

When a learning community is built into online course design, instructors go beyond their traditional role as the 'sage on the stage' in front of passive learners. They also become the 'guide on the side' who encourages students to become active learners.

In the learning community, instructors should pose questions that prompt discussion. They should regularly join in the discussion and model the behavior they seek. For example, show students how to follow up someone's contribution with additional questions, point out insightful comments, and pose an alternative or dissenting opinion respectfully.

Some students will inevitably fall behind. If you don't keep them engaged, they will likely abandon the course and perhaps never try an online course again. If they're behind, they won't be able to participate in discussions about the current week's coursework, but you can engage them in more general discussions. Let them know they're still part of the community even though life temporarily got in the way.

Everyone needs to be heard. Make sure students can contact you if they want to privately request help, complain, vent frustrations, or report unacceptable community behavior.

Hold weekly live 'office hours' so students can 'visit' and ask questions, clarify issues, or just hang out to chat.

Members join associations with the expectation of having opportunities to develop relationships-do what you can to make that happen. Dedicate a section of the community to personal, off-topic discussions. This place for everyday conversation helps students relax, blow off steam, and bond with each other.

A learning community makes a huge and memorable impact on a student's experience with your online educational programs. It facilitates a more effective and enjoyable learning experience by helping students apply what they've learned, retain knowledge, and develop relationships.

At the Higher Logic Super Forum next week, we'll demonstrate our award-winning LMS for associations, TopClass, which is fully integrated with the Higher Logic online community platform. If you have questions about integrating a learning community into your e-learning programs, we'd love to talk with you.

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Improve Student Success with an Online Learning Community

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Do you ever think about your association's online learners and how they manage to fit your courses into their busy lives? Imagine: after a long day of work, errands, and household chores and duties, they manage to find time to finish the week's assignments for the online course they're taking with your association.

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Make first contact before the course begins

Create an introductory activity

Provide opportunities for learner interaction

Encourage resource sharing on social media

Chunk your content

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By Ali Briggs.

Student engagement is a concept often discussed in education and an abundance of research exists on the topic. Student engagement is something instructors want to see and feel in their classrooms. Generally, student engagement tends to be viewed as the level of interest students show towards the topic being taught; their interaction with the content, instructor, and peers; and their motivation to learn and progress through the course.

Online learning presents new challenges when compared to a traditional classroom because students are separated from their instructor by a computer screen. How can we engage our students in the content, learning activities, and assessments? How can we prevent feelings of frustration or isolation and keep them motivated? These questions are frequently asked by online instructors looking to maintain the same levels of engagement they see and feel in their face-to-face classrooms.

I have a deep interest in this area and decided to explore it further by completing an online workshop from the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) called Fundamentals: Increasing Interaction & Engagement.The learning objectives of the workshop were twofold: Identify strategies that help overcome obstacles to student engagement and develop a plan to improve student engagement in your online course. Obstacles to student engagement were broken down into three areas: social, administrative, and motivational. Looking at student engagement barriers in this way made them seem easier to overcome. I found the experience helpful and have summarized ten ways to overcome barriers to student engagement online based on what was discussed during the workshop.
OLC is a professional organization devoted to advancing quality online learning. They offer a variety of workshops on topics related to online learning. William & Mary faculty and staff can contact April Lawrence for OLC workshop registration information.
Overcome Social Barriers

It's important to build community in an online course. Students may become disengaged if they feel isolated or if they don't get to interact with their instructor and peers. Foster community in your online course and overcome social barriers to student engagement with the following strategies:

1. Make first contact before the course begins. Send an email message to introduce yourself and provide instructions on how to get started. Add a personal touch by including a short video message relaying the same information so students can get a sense of your personality.

2. Create an introductory activity. Connect your students with each other and make them feel like they're part of a community of scholars. Create a simple Blackboard discussion forum for introductions. You can also ask students to upload a picture to their Blackboard profile.

3. Provide opportunities for learner interaction. Blackboard discussion forums, Padlet walls, or VoiceThread activities are great ways to promote student interaction. You can also create online study groups where students meet through Google Hangouts or another video conferencing service. The first study group could be guided by instructor-created questions and then you could challenge students to come up with future questions. WM Apps are an easy way for students to develop content together and WM Wikis also provides opportunities for collaboration.

4. Encourage sharing. Social media can be used to engage students in your content. Students can share resources related to the course informally through a Facebook group or Twitter hashtag. You can even embed a Twitter feed into your Blackboard course!

Overcome Administrative Barriers

Students may get frustrated if they don't know how and when to contact you. They may also get discouraged if they don't know their progress in the course or if expectations aren't clearly communicated. Set your students up for success using these strategies to overcome administrative barriers to student engagement:

1. Establish contact methods and hours. Communicate your email address and phone number as well as the best days and times to reach you. Let students know in advance when you'll be away longer than 24 hours to avoid feelings of frustration. Besides email and phone, you can hold online office hours using Adobe Connect or Google Hangouts. These services allow you to share your screen with students and have drawing capabilities.

2. Provide directions often and in various ways. Be clear and concise with your directions and expectations. Also provide your directions in multiple ways, such as through email and within the online course. If you create a video with instructions on how to complete a task be sure to provide the same directions in text.

3. Provide effective and timely feedback. This is important in any course, especially online. Make your presence known in a discussion forum by getting involved early and asking questions that keep the discussion going. Students should also be aware of their progress throughout the duration of the course. Blackboard's Assignment tools and Grade Center can help you communicate student progress. Self-check activities also help guide student learning and prepare students for course assessments.

Overcome Motivation Barriers

Procrastination can happen to the best of us! Students may face additional distractions when completing online course work from the comfort of their own home or in a busy coffee shop. Overcome motivation barriers to student engagement and keep your students on track using these strategies:

1. Chunk your content. Simply put, chunking means breaking down information into smaller pieces that are easier for the brain to digest. Content should be organized in a logical way that guides the learning process. Conceptually-related information should be grouped together making it more meaningful and easier to understand. Video lectures should also be broken into shorter segments, usually 5-7 minutes. Read more about chunking from eLearning Coach Connie Malamed.

2. Send reminders to keep students on track. Populate the course calendar with deadlines and send reminders to your students so they stay on track. If a student falls behind, make time to speak with that student on what he or she can do to get back on track. It's also helpful to provide some sort of checklist for students so they know what they have to complete and when.

3. Use a variety of multimedia and modalities. You will have different types of learners in your course and using a variety of content-delivery methods and learning activities will help keep them engaged. If your course is text-based, consider including images or graphs to clarify concepts. You can also replace some of the text with videos or audio depending on the topic. Small changes can drastically improve the learning experience for your students.

As you can tell, there are many different ways to engage your students in an online environment! What strategies have you used to increase student engagement in your online or blended course? Share your ideas by commenting below.

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Ten Ways to Overcome Barriers to Student Engagement Online (Academic Technology: At the College of William and Mary) - OLC

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Learn more about student engagement in one of our workshops: Fundamentals: Engaging Learners In Online Discussions or Fundamentals: Increasing Interaction & Engagement By Ali Briggs. Student engagement is a concept often discussed in education and an abundance of research exists on the topic. Read More >

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Helpful apps, tools, and platforms to help you as you set up your distance learning environments during your school closures.

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If we missed any helpful resources along the way, please let us know and we'd be happy to add it to our list.

131+ Tools for Distance Learning

We've scoured the web for helpful apps, tools, and platforms to help you as you set up your distance learning environments during your school closures.

If we've found the organization has announced something confirming COVID-19 supports, we include the link within the description of the tool.

Full Curriculum Coverage Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. Curriculum coverage of ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, AP, SAT®, ACT®, Regents, STAAR, and Common Core needs. Click here to evaluate Albert for free.

2. ABCmouse: Reading, math, science, art & colors curriculum for ages 2-8. They offer a 30-day trial after you watch their video on their homepage.

3. BrainPOP: Over a 1,000 short animated movies for grades K-12 in all subjects, with quizzes and related materials. You can request free unlimited use of the BrainPOP suite for the duration of your school closure here.

4. CK-12: Free and customizable K-12 open educational resources that are aligned to state curriculum standards.

5. EducationCity: Targeted at grades PreK-6 providing lesson plans, resources and activities. 21-day free trial here.

6. Edulastic: Library of standards-aligned practice questions to create assessments in minutes. They're offering Premium and Enterprise features for free until July 1, 2020. Learn more here.

7. IXL: K-12 curriculum supports for math, language arts, science, stocial studies, spanish, and Common Core. Teachers can start a 30-day trial account here.

8. : 100% free covering a wide range of subjects. Particularly strong in STEM subjects.

9. MobyMax: Targeted towards K-8 teachers providing CCSS-aligned content, assessments, and activities. Free COVID-19 support announcement here.

10. Nearpod: Thousands of customizable lessons with student activities. Request support here.

11. PBS: Free K-12 classroom resources ranging from media galleries, videos, and lesson plans. Create a free account for full features.

Reading or English Language Arts Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. ELA content is high-interest, evidence-driven, with built-in differentiation. Click here to evaluate Albert for free.

2. Accelerated Reader: Reading quizzes on a variety of books. Requires subscription.

3. ActivelyLearn: Standards-aligned ELA, Science, and Social Studies for promoting students to stop and ask questions. COVID-19 offer here.

4. Book Creator: Lets you create digital books online. Fosters creativity in the classroom for telling stories and more. They're offering 90-days of free access you can start using here.

5. BoomWriter: For grades 2-8. Somewhat similar to Book Creator in that it allows students to create original stories that can be published into softcover books. But also allows teachers to send students engaging fiction and non-fiction and vocabulary exercises.

6. CommonLit: 100% free site that provides a digital lesson library, formative insights, and interim assessments. Features some Spanish materials as well.

7. Epic: Digital library for K-5. There are learning videos and quizzes within as well.

8. Learning Ally: Equitable access to a large library of "human-read" audiobooks, including, curriculum-aligned literature, fiction and nonfiction, and STEM textbooks.

9. MyOn: Digital library of 6,000 titles sorted by grade and Lexile reading level. Requires subscription.

10. Newsela: Leveled readings to build literacy skills. Most require a subscription.

11. ReadWorks: Free content, curriculum, and tools for grades K-12 targeted at building reading comprehension. You can read about their recommendations regarding using the site remotely here.

12. Starfall Reading: Targeted at K-3 for teaching basic English reading and writing skills. Lots of games and phonics. Some features require a subscription.

13. StoryKit: Simple free storybook creation app that allows students to add pictures and recordings with their own voices. Targeted at K-5.

14. ReadTheory: This is an online reading comprehension platform that is completely free for teachers.

Writing Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: 100% free grammar course with over 3,300 original practice questions and explanations. Includes contemporary, informative and engaging texts and aligns to Common Core, Regents, and TEKS standards.

2. Draftin: Simple site that allows you to have students share drafts with easy version controls. Good for those who may not want to use Google Docs and wants to emphasize focus in writing. Has a free version.

3. Grammarly: Free browser extension or desktop tool that detects tone, typos, and helps build cleaner writing skills.

4. Hemingway: Similar to Grammarly, provides annotations to help make student writing bolder and more clear. Free.

5. Quill: Free writing and grammar activities for K-12. Includes lessons for teachers to lead writing instruction as well as diagnostics.

6. Scholastic Story Starters: Tool focused for K-6 to help students brainstorm ideas for writing a fictional story. Prompts for adventure, fantasy, and sci-fi are included.

Math Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Hundreds of free questions and explanations in Foundations of Algebra and Algebra 1. Aligned to Common Core, Regents, and TEKS standards. Albert is providing supports for impacted schools you can learn more about here.

2. Dad's Worksheets: This site provides printable worksheets, online calculators, games and puzzles for free. Targeted for K-6.

3. DeltaMath: Interactive math practice for middle and high school students. Accounts are free for teachers and students.

4. Desmos: Free online graphing calculator that includes digital activities for students from 6th to 12th grade. Teachers can create accounts to assign student activities.

5. Free Math App: A platform where teachers can assign, review, and leave feedback on student work.

6. FunexpectedApps: Targeted for kids 3-7 to develop mathematical thinking. They are offering a pack of free activities and a free desktop version of their app.

7. Geogebra: Online tools for graphing and geometry. Classroom resources and activities are free.

8. Illustrative Mathematics: Free math curriculum and resources for grades K-12 with a focus on creative word problems.

9. LegendsofLearning: 2,000 3rd through 8th-grade math and science games and simulations correlated to state standards. They are offering free access to all premium features for schools closed due to the outbreak for the duration of their closure.

10. Mathigon: An interactive math textbook where students can learn and practice new concepts. Targeted towards high school students.

11. Mathletics: An adaptive, interactive math platform centered on math challenges and quizzes that allow students to "compete" with one another. Schools and home users can try a 30-day free trial.

12. Mathsonline: A collection of math tutorial videos, questions, and summaries. Accounts are required, but students, teachers, and parents can get a free trial.

13. Mathspace: An adaptive mathematics platform including practice questions and interactive textbooks.

14. Myimaths: Math lessons and homework assignments for students ages 11 to 18. Schools can sign up for a 30-day free trial.

15. National Association for the Education of Young Children: Activities that parents and guardians can do with young children (elementary and below) at home.

16. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Resources and activities for student exploration of mathematics.

17. SplashLearn: Game-based math learning program for grades K-5 available on iOS, Android, or Web. They're COVID-19 support announcement can be found here.

18. The Math Learning Center: Free games and activities for students in Pre-K through 6th grade.

19. VirtualNerd: Math video support in middle school, Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry.

20. Youcubed: Inspirational math tasks, films, and textbooks to help students develop a growth mindset.

21. Zearn: Digital lessons and printable activities aligned to EngageNY and Eureka Math. Resources are free and targeted towards grades K-5.

Language Learning Distance Learning Tools

1. Duolingo: 100% free language learning. Personalized with immediate grading and gamification. Optional paid subscription to remove ads and get offline access.

2. Fabulingua: Teaches Spanish through magical interactive stories on phones and tablets specifically for kids ages 2-10. FabuLingua is suspending their subscription services and providing their entire platform for free to those impacted.

3. FluentU: Language immersion through real-world videos. 14-day trial is available to sign up for.

4. Fluency Matters: Provides e-courses that include e-books, audiobooks, quizzes, and activities. Typically $3.50/student. They're offering extended 21-day trials. More information here.

5. justlearn: Here you can find a native tutor and online teacher to help you with language learning.

6. TeachVid: Allows you to create language learning content with interactive text reconstruction activities and quizzes

7. English Tools: Over 25 free tools for learning English language learners, including grammar tools, worksheet creation tools, and more.

Science Distance Learning Tools

1. Albert: Thousands of standards-aligned practice questions for grades 6-12. Science content is high-interest, evidence-driven, with built-in differentiation. Click here to evaluate Albert for free.

2. Discovery Education: Arguably best known for their science textbooks, but also support other STEM subjects. They are providing free access to their materials for the remainder of the school year. Learn more here.

3. Mystery Science: Interactive lessons targeted at K-5 science curriculum that are NGSS-aligned and Common Core aligned. They've made their most popular lessons free here.

4. STEMScopes: K-12 STEM curriculum with digital resources, print materials, and exploration kits. General information of how their online platform can support during this time can be found here.

Computer Science Distance Learning Tools

1. Codecademy: Free basic courses in computer science. Paid subscription optional; subscription unlocks members only content, study-plans, real-world projects and community support.

2. Minecraft Education Edition: Perfect for students to learn problem-solving - free lessons through June 30 with more details here.

3. Penjee: Free site that provides a supportive way to learn your first text-based programming language.

4. Tynker: Coding site targeted for ages 5+. Includes a complete coding curriculum, automatic assessments, and classroom management tools. Google form for COVID-19 supports can be submitted here.

Social Studies Distance Learning Tools

1. Library of Congress: Classroom materials and digital collections for teachers that align to CCSS as well as state standards. Sortable by Common Core, State Content, and Organizations.

2. National Constitution Center: Free online civics learning including the Interactive Constitution and Scholar Exchanges, live virtual interactive conversations about the Constitution.

3. Seterra: Geography games for students. Targeted primarily at grades K-5. Learn more about their free access announcement here.

4. Smithsonian Education: Features a Learning Lab that allows you to build collections and educational experiences for students. Also has a Game Center for younger STEM learners and an extensive library on AMerican history.

5. Stanford's Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum: Provides free lessons and assessments for students to evaluate online information. The Stanford History Education Group provides other history lessons for free here as well.

6. Teaching Tolerance: Site dedicated to providing free resources K-12 for creating civil and inclusive school communities. You can build a learning plan following their guide here.

7. Zinn Education Project: Targeted towards grades 6-12 built off Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Free downloadable lessons and articles you can use based on theme, time period and reading level.

Return to the Table of Contents
Music Learning Distance Learning Tools

1. Cyber Fret: Video based guitar lessons.

2. Metronome: Online metronome.

3. Moosiko: Online practice tool for guitar teachers to help their students learn chords, play songs, and track skills.

4. Ultimate Guitar: World's largest source of guitar tabs.

5. Online Guitar Tuner: Tune your guitar online.

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131 Tools for Distance Learning & Strategies for Student Engagement | Albert Resources

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Has your school closed? We put together a list of 100+ digital and online tools to support distance learning and remote classrooms here.

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns It’s OK to Back Away

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Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns It’s OK to Back Away

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Listen Better Kids #5- Video "Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns It's OK to Back Away;"

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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Expression Recognition Exercise for Kids on the Spectrum

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Expression Recognition Exercise for Kids on the Spectrum

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Expression Recognition Exercise for Kids on the Spectrum

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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My Wallaby Won't Use His Words! Social Skills songs for kids, learning songs for kids from PlayKids

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Self Awareness Featuring The Character Effect™ Characters

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Self Awareness Featuring The Character Effect™ Characters

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Self Awareness Featuring The Character Effect™ Characters

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Read Aloud | My Strong Mind | Social Emotional Videos for Kids | Books for Kids | Kids Books

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Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by Shelly Becker

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO SELF MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO SELF MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 13 - SELF MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 11: SELF-MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 11: SELF-MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 11: SELF-MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSON WEEK 9: SOCIAL AWARENESS!

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSON WEEK 9: SOCIAL AWARENESS!

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSON WEEK 9: SOCIAL AWARENESS!

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Social Emotional Learning: Social Awareness Exercise - First Book PSA

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Social Emotional Learning: Social Awareness Exercise - First Book PSA

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Social Emotional Learning: Social Awareness Exercise - First Book PSA

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For All the Times | Jubilee Project Short Film

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Relationship Skills Week 3

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Relationship Skills Week 3

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Relationship Skills Week 3

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Empowering Children with Relationship Skills

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Empowering Children with Relationship Skills

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Empowering Children with Relationship Skills

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Video Lesson - Friendship Soup Recipe: A NED Short

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Video Lesson - Friendship Soup Recipe: A NED Short

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Video Lesson - Friendship Soup Recipe: A NED Short

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 9: RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 9: RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS WEEK 9: RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

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Social Emotional Learning: Relationship Skills Exercise - First Book PSA

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Social Emotional Learning: Relationship Skills Exercise - First Book PSA

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Social Emotional Learning: Relationship Skills Exercise - First Book PSA

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Kid President's Guide to Making a New Friend

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Kid President's Guide to Making a New Friend

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Kid President's Guide to Making a New Friend

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Improve COMMUNICATION SKILLS in Children with HIGHLY EFFECTIVE Games | Early Childhood Education

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Responsible Decision Making Week 3

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Responsible Decision Making Week 3

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Responsible Decision Making Week 3

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Help children make good choice | Decision Making skill (SODAS Method)

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Help children make good choice | Decision Making skill (SODAS Method)

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Help children make good choice | Decision Making skill (SODAS Method)

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SEL Video Lessons Responsible Decision Making Skills Week 2

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SEL Video Lessons Responsible Decision Making Skills Week 2

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SEL Video Lessons Responsible Decision Making Skills Week 2

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Decisions Can Be HARD! | FUZZABOOM (Kids Puppet Show)

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Decisions Can Be HARD! | FUZZABOOM (Kids Puppet Show)

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Decisions Can Be HARD! | FUZZABOOM (Kids Puppet Show)

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS: WEEK 9 - MAKING GOOD CHOICES

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS: WEEK 9 - MAKING GOOD CHOICES

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SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING VIDEO LESSONS: WEEK 9 - MAKING GOOD CHOICES

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What should DANNY do? By Ganit & Adir Levy - Children's Books Read Aloud

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What should DANNY do? By Ganit & Adir Levy - Children's Books Read Aloud

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🦸‍♂️ What should DANNY do? By Ganit & Adir Levy - Children's Books Read Aloud

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