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Center to Improve SEL and School Safety (WestEd)

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Center to Improve SEL and School Safety (WestEd)

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Notes from an overview provided by a member of the Center. Includes links to numerous resources from the Center

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Checks for understanding for in-person or online learning

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Checks for understanding for in-person or online learning

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From Jay McTighe

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Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

Bob Daemmrich / Alamy Stock Photo

Using formative assessments designed to check for understanding and provide students with feedback and support is one of the most effective ways to improve and enhance student learning. Yet because of the need to cover large amounts of information and develop many skills, teachers may not take time checking to make sure students understand a concept or can effectively apply a skill, and, if they don't, figuring out ways to improve their learning.

Thankfully, there are practical, proven formative assessment techniques that teachers can use as a quick "pulse check" to gauge students' understanding. The eight techniques here can be applied across grades and subject areas in virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning environments.

The results of these checks should not be graded since the purpose of formative assessment techniques is to obtain feedback to use in improving teaching and learning, not to evaluate learning. It's important that students understand the purposes of these techniques, that mistakes are OK-and even expected-and that they will not be graded on their responses.

Thumbs up: I understand _____ and can explain it in my own words.

Wave hand: I'm not completely sure about _____ and doubt I could explain it.

Thumbs down: I don't yet understand _____ and cannot explain it.

Ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their degree of confidence in their understanding of a concept, principle, or process. For example:

Self-assessment and self-reporting can be unreliable, so use a random calling technique to periodically select students with their thumbs up (e.g., pull names out of a bowl) and ask them to explain.

In virtual learning environments, students can signal on camera or post designated emojis to signal their understanding levels.

Present students with a few binary-choice statements or questions containing an understanding or a common misconception and have them select a response (e.g., True or False, Agree or Disagree) and share it via a whiteboard, cell phone app, or hand signal (e.g., thumbs up or down). This efficient technique is particularly effective to use in checking students' prior knowledge or potential misconceptions before beginning new instruction.

True/False: When dropped from the same height, a bowling ball will land before a marble.

Agree/Disagree: Is this an example of alliteration?

Here are a couple of "choosing" formats with examples:

In virtual learning environments, students can use the chat box feature to record their choices, or respond to a poll.

3. Picture It

Draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth.

Develop a concept map to illustrate how a bill becomes a law.

Create a story map or sequence diagram showing the major events in the story.

Visual representations, such as graphic organizers and concept maps, are widely used to enhance learning, and can also be used as formative assessments. Have students create a visual or symbolic representation (e.g., a graphic organizer, web, or concept map) of information and abstract concepts and then be prepared to explain their graphic. Picturing techniques are especially useful to see if students understand how various concepts or elements of a process are related.

In virtual learning environments, students can post their visuals on a Google slide or Pinterest board, or in Nearpod or Jamboard.

4. Troubleshoot It

1. Identify the flaw or error, and (even better)

2. Correct it.

One of the most efficient and effective quick checks for understanding involves troubleshooting. Present students with a common misconception or a frequent procedural error. See if they can:

Present a rough draft of writing and ask students to serve as an editor to mark compositional and grammatical errors.

Have students review work on a multistep word problem to identify computational mistakes and reasoning errors, and correct them.

In a photography class, show photos reflecting common compositional errors or flawed exposure or lighting, and have students recommend needed corrections using photo editing software.

Their responses will provide a quick check of the depth of their understanding.

5. Summarize It

Compose a tweet in 280 characters or less answering the question: What is the big idea that you have learned about _____?

Record a one-minute podcast or vodcast using an app on a smartphone or tablet to summarize the key concepts from one or more lessons.

Prepare a weekly letter to your teacher (or parents) summarizing something that you now understand as a result of your learning during the past week.

Here are a few examples of this technique:

Create a "real life" word problem to see if other students understand how to calculate surface area.

Locate a news article or blog post that presents an example of the tension between individual rights and the common good.

Find examples of symmetry somewhere in our school or on the playground.

Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new situations. Accordingly, one of the best checks for understanding is to see if students can apply material in a somewhat novel context. This technique includes asking students to find or create new and novel examples to illustrate a newly learned concept.

Develop a five-minute lesson to teach a younger student about how supply and demand can affect the price of things. Use one or more specific examples that we have not discussed.

Your friend has been absent and missed the last two lessons where you learned about community helpers. Draw a picture of at least five helpers in our community to help them understand the concept of a community helper.

This is a more involved, but valuable, formative assessment technique. Ask students to teach a new concept or skill to someone else-a new student, a student who has just returned from absence, or a younger child. You'll be able to gauge their degree of understanding as you review or observe their lesson. Here are two examples:

In virtual learning environments, students can record a lesson using a laptop, tablet, or cell phone camera.

8. Analogize It

A more sophisticated technique invites students to develop an analogy or metaphor to illustrate a newly learned concept or skill. The effectiveness of their explanatory analogy or metaphor can give you insight into their understanding. However, be cautious when interpreting student responses to this technique-a student may very well understand a concept but be unable to generate an appropriate analogy. Asking students to explain their analogies will give you further insight into their understanding.

A fraction is a part of a whole like a wheel is a part of a bicycle.

Formative assessment is like tasting a meal while you're cooking because it provides feedback that a cook can use to make adjustments to improve the meal.

Here's a prompt for students: A _____ is like a _____ because _____.

Students can also create visual analogies (combining techniques 3 and 8). In virtual learning environments, students can post their analogies and metaphors in a chat box or on a Google slide or Pinterest board.

Note: Several of these techniques (especially 1, 2, 5, and 8) can be naturally used in conjunction with another popular formative assessment technique-an exit card-given to students at the end of a class period or end of the school day.

While these techniques can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of teaching and the quality of students' learning, they're not ends in themselves. Instead, they should be seen as the first step in a " feedback cycle." The next step is to act on that feedback-reteaching something that many students failed to learn; correcting misconceptions that may be revealed; and/or providing scaffolded support to students who need it. Moreover, when students are given feedback, they must also be given opportunities to use it, such as revising their work, practicing the skill, or correcting errors. (Getting feedback without a chance to use it is like eating without digesting!) Then, the formative assessment cycle reboots as revisions can be assessed again, with progress noted and new learning goals set.

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Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

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Things you can do in advance to make your live session as engaging and productive as possible. Note: this is still a draft and still being updated, but this link will always give you the newest version. It also references tools used in my district.

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Getting Ready for Live Instruction hyperdoc

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Getting Ready for Live Instruction Click to play audio on any slide! When you are finished with the content on any page, click anywhere to see the next page! Don’t want to see the whole document? Click a link on the left to go straight to that section.

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Strategies to maximize synchronous instruction

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Strategies to maximize synchronous instruction

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This presents some strategies applicable across grades and subjects.

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Maximizing Synchronous Instruction Click to play audio on any slide! When you are finished with the content on any page, click anywhere to see the next page! Don’t want to see the whole document? Click a link on the left to go straight to that section.

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Collection of Asynchronous History Lessons Curated by @historysandoval

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Collection of Asynchronous History Lessons Curated by @historysandoval

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Follow @historysandoval on Twitter; she posts amazing resources!

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♥️ FROM AMAZING PEOPLE ON TWITTER (image: amplifier.org)

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​Have you students DO SOMETHING while they are watching your video.
This could be note taking, guided questions, etc. It can be using a program like EdPuzzle where you build formative assessments, but it could also be just having them write on a piece of paper. I really recommend the idea of creating a HyperDoc to correspond with what they watch. No matter what you choose, the key is to be active during the video and not just at the end.

​Trust me, students are going to get burned out of watching teachers sitting at their desk and talking TO them via Zoom. Those types of videos are OK for direct instruction where students are watching LIVE (this is synchronous).
But, don't discount asynchronously as well (watching at different times, locations). This can allow student to learn at the best time for them AND for you it opens up a world of other possibilities of what you can record.
Set up a camera (it can even be your phone) and record you in more of a learning environment. It doesn't have to be complicated, just grab a tripod and think about where you can put yourself. Here's a few ideas:

Have you noticed kids today watching Netflix and how many of them like having subtitles on every show they watch?
Can you guess why?
It easier for them to process the dialogue.
So, the idea of having subtitles helps virtually everyone retain more, be it ESL or native speaking students.

Plus, YouTube now "listens" to your posted videos and will add captions automatically. So, nudge your students to turn on those captions. ​And speaking of captions, a great way to support ELs and their families is to help with the translation of your videos. Here is an incredible presentation titled " Translate Almost Anything" from Amanda Sandoval and Carrie Smith. Be sure to check out the slide on YouTube translator Chrome extension.

Your videos don't have to be just your head talking or a screencast of your screen. Demonstrating something is a powerful way to teach. When setting up your camera for this keep in mind to make it look like it is from YOUR eyes or a First Person view. This is often seen in YouTube tutorials and it serves as an effective way to "see how something can be done".

Therefore, if you have anything that is a manipulative you can demonstrate it in front of you. Or it can even be a first person view of you sketching out on paper like you see here. ​
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How to set up a camera like this can be done a million ways . Do a search for " overhead table top tripod" and you find ones to just buy on Amazon or how to get creative and make your DIY version of one of these

If you are going to be doing more of a traditional stand and lecture think about what YOU will be looking at. If you are just staring at the camera the entire time it becomes a little unnverviing and feeling like you are just staring. On the other end, if you are constantly looking at your board, or notes it comes across as if you are either unprepared or checked out. Move your eyes to what you are looking at. Switch it up from looking just at the camera to looking at what you want your students to look at.

Since many of us will be spending a fair amount of time with our students via Zoom or Google Meet, think a little about your background. The number goal for what is behind you should be this: IT SHOULD NOT DISTRACT!
Now many of us will find ourselves doing this several ways which, in my opinion, you should avoid

One of the more popular type of videos where teachers can deliver their instruction as of late has been the screencast. These videos consist of a teacher narrating while the viewer watches the teachers screen. The teacher has the option if they like to add a webcam video of themselves usually in one of the corners. These type of videos all a teacher to replicate online a traditional type of lecture where they would want the class to focus on two things... the visuals of what the teacher wants them to see (slidedeck, photos, math problem, etc) and sound of the teacher's voice.

There are quite a few programs out there you can try out.
From the top of the line and kind of pricey Camtasia
To the easier and cheaper to use, browser based tools like Screencast-o-matic and my favorite Screencastify. If you haven't tried making one of these, give it a shot and you'll really just how easy it is to create and share your video with any of your classes.

Although teachers are comfortable with standing in front of their classrooms and teaching to those real-in person faces in front of them, many may not have the same level of comfort when trying to teach to their screen. The folks at Screencastify put out these "24 Tips for Creating High Quality Screencasts" a few years back and the tips are just as relevant in all that we are dealing with today.

One of the most common questions I get about delivering video instruction is
"should I make my own or just show my students videos made by others"
There are pros and cons for sure in this and here is my two cents:
Videos from others usually look fantastic and have a greater production value. Some of these are done by people or groups who spend a lot of time and money to produce them. For example the videos on Crash Course channel will be look WAY better than any that I could ever produce! Plus these creators often put in tons of time to make them just perfect where as we will be facing one of our toughest challenges ever in education and staying on top of being a video content creator will be a challenge.
But on the other side, anyone else's video will always lack one thing....
THEY ARE NOT YOU!
* You are the one who knows the level of your students
* You are the one who understand the standards
* and you are the one who has a relationship with your students
So for me in the end.... the importance of connecting and engaging with you students is the reason why I think you should make your own.

Now I know it won't be easy and for myself I know I may not always follow all these tips. You can see one of mine from the spring below

In watching this again and reflecting I see what worked and what I can improve on in the future.
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And for you all, do what you can and don't get yourself overwhelmed... and in the end, remember the most important thing you do when you turn on the record button with your kids - just talk, be kind, and let them know they matter.

Best of luck to all of you and your journey!

Thanks to Logan Fiorella, Ph.D.and the following journal for inspiration:
Mayer, R. E., Fiorella, L., & Stull, A. (2020). Five ways to increase the effectiveness of instructional video. Educational Technology Research and Development, 1-16.

Plus a huge shout out to some of my Twitter PLN for their input and ideas on this post:
Andy Losik
Brian Biggs
Connie Mimura
Karalee Wong Nakatsuka
Cristinia Bustamante
Tom Covington
Amanda Sandoval
​Sarah Kiefer

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​Have you students DO SOMETHING while they are watching your video. This could be note taking, guided questions, etc. It can be using a program like EdPuzzle where you build formative assessments, but it could also be just having them write on a piece of paper.

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9 Ways Online Teaching Should Be Different from Face-to-Face (Cult of Pedagogy)

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9 Ways Online Teaching Should Be Different from Face-to-Face (Cult of Pedagogy)

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Sponsored by PowerSchool and ISTE U

It's a pretty safe bet that most teachers will be doing some form of online teaching in the coming year. Maybe you'll do it full-time, maybe it will be some kind of hybrid model, but one thing is for sure: This time around you won't be dropped into it without warning.

So with this chance to take a breath and do more thoughtful, intentional planning, the next question is What do we do differently? What shifts do we need to make in our face-to-face teaching practices to make the most of online learning?

To find out, I sought the help of Melanie Kitchen, a Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Staff Development serving 19 school districts in Western New York state. Melanie has years of experience working with teachers on developing blended learning and has now shifted to helping teachers develop best practices for remote learning.

Melanie Kitchen

I asked Melanie to share some ways online teaching should be different from face-to-face teaching. She came up with nine: three that are specific to community building and communication, and six that focus on instructional design. Along with these differences, she also shared a few things that should stay exactly the same.

Community Building & Communication

1. The first weeks of school should be devoted to community building and digital competency.

Resist the temptation to dive right into curriculum at the start of the school year. Things will go more smoothly if you devote the early weeks to building community so students feel connected. Social emotional skills can be woven in during this time. On top of that, students need practice with whatever digital tools you'll be using. So focus your lessons on those things, intertwining the two when possible.

"If you are explicitly teaching persistence," Kitchen says, "maybe I'm going to give you a challenge that's not content-related, but something that you might have to kind of grapple with. But when I assign that, if I'm using Google Classroom, then I'm going to assign that through Google Classroom and teach you how you're going to open an assignment, how you're going to submit it, how you'll be receiving feedback. So you are teaching these skills all at once, and it's not something separate or extra. It's just all done together."

Other good resources that can guide and inform the conversations you have in these early weeks are:

2. Communication with parents needs to be more thorough, streamlined, and predictable.

Parents are also adjusting to this new way of doing school. Because they are sometimes expected to play an even more prominent role in supporting student learning, they need more support from you. "We really need parents to be our partners in this learning community," Kitchen says.

Here are some guidelines:

Establish a consistent location and predictable schedule for sharing information. When parents know where and when to look for information from you, they'll do a better job of keeping up with it and following through on their end. Weekly updates are a good way to keep everyone informed about what's going on in your class. And rather than toggling around between emails, text alerts, blog posts, website announcements, and newsletters, choose one platform for outgoing information and stick to it; if your whole school can do the same you'll see even better results.

Set clear expectations and boundaries for communication. When can students and parents expect to hear from you? How and when can they get in touch with you when needed? If you don't set boundaries you'll end up feeling like you have to be available 24/7, which will quickly lead to burnout. Establish regular office hours and advertise them in an easy-to-find place so parents know when you'll be most accessible.

Create a backup plan for off-hours and tech support. If parents or students need help outside of your regular office hours or they need help with technology, who can they contact? Make this information clearly available.

Make communication multimodal. Although it's important to consistently post through one platform, it's also helpful to provide the information in more than one mode. For example, you might offer written announcements and record the same announcements in a short video each week so students and parents can choose the format that works best for them.

Provide parent tech training. Parents will be better able to support students if they understand how to use the technology, so provide them with tutorials on the tech you use, including whatever platform you use to disseminate information.

3. Community and connection need to be a priority for teachers, too.

"Teachers need to connect with each other now more than ever," Kitchen says. Your school leadership should be building in regular opportunities for you to stay connected to your colleagues during this time. If they are not, create those opportunities for yourself.

Staff meetings should still be held regularly-even if it's through a videoconferencing platform-to keep staff connected.

During these meetings, some time and attention should be given to teacher well-being and emotional health.

Smaller groups like teaching teams or content-area PLCs can offer even more support.

If you're not getting the support you need, seek it out through platforms like Twitter.

This article offers a more in-depth look at teacher well-being: How to Support Teachers' Emotional Needs Right Now.

Instructional Design

4. Teacher collaboration is even more important.

Meeting the challenges of online learning gets easier when we work together. "As we're all trying to get to know these students better," Kitchen says, "we need to be working together to do that." That means working more closely with specialists to make sure our lessons and materials meet the needs of all students, partnering with others in our content area to plan instruction, working together on cross-curricular projects, and dividing up the things all students need (like technology instruction) among teachers on a team or grade level so students aren't doing the same lessons over and over and our work isn't duplicated.

Fortunately, collaborating online can be even easier than trying to do it when we all teach in the same physical building. "This virtual environment has provided us the opportunity to break down those walls, to break down those silos," Kitchen says. "Our schedules and time constraints that we may have had before will come down. We may have more opportunity to partner with people that we didn't have the time or the space to be able to do that before."

5. "Face-to-face" time should be used for active learning.

Online instruction is made up largely of asynchronous instruction, which students can access at any time. This is ideal, because requiring attendance for synchronous instruction puts some students at an immediate disadvantage if they don't have the same access to technology, reliable internet, or a flexible home schedule.

But you're likely to offer "face-to-face" or synchronous opportunities at some point, and one way to make them happen more easily is to have students meet in small groups. While it's nearly impossible to arrange for 30 students to attend a meeting at once, assigning four students to meet is much more manageable. Kitchen likes "campfire groups," which are permanent groups of about four that stay together for long periods of time. This arrangement allows students to get to know each other better and establish more trust. Students might be rearranged for other activities to provide some variety, but the campfire groups would provide a stable base throughout the school term.

So what kind of instructional activities should be used for these different formats?

What works best, Kitchen says, is to keep direct instruction-things like brief video lectures and readings-in asynchronous form, using checks for understanding like embedded questions or exit slips.

You can then use synchronous meetings for more interactive, engaging work. "If we want students showing up, if we want them to know that this is worth their time," Kitchen explains, "it really needs to be something active and engaging for them. Any time they can work with the material, categorize it, organize it, share further thoughts on it, have a discussion, all of those are great things to do in small groups."

Small group strategies she strongly recommends:

6. Content needs to be simplified and slowed down.

Online instruction is not conducive to covering large amounts of content, so you have to choose wisely, teaching the most important things at a slower pace. To make those choices, Kitchen recommends asking some key questions:

What really holds leverage for the students? What has endurance? What knowledge is essential?

What knowledge and skills do students need to have before they move to the next grade level or the next class?

What practices can be emphasized that transfer across many content areas? Skills like analyzing, constructing arguments, building a strong knowledge base through texts, and speaking can all be taught through many different subjects.

What tools can serve multiple purposes? Teaching students to use something like Padlet gives them opportunities to use audio, drawing, writing, and video. Non-digital tools can also work: Students can use things they find around the house, like toilet paper rolls, to fulfill other assignments, and then submit their work with a photo.

7. Instructions should be easy to find, explicit, and multimodal.

Because you are not in the same room with students, your instructions have to work a lot harder than they do in a brick-and-mortar setting.

Provide instructions in a consistent location and at a consistent time. This advice was already given for parents, but it's worth repeating here through the lens of instructional design: Set up lessons so that students know where to find instructions every time.

Make instructions explicit. Read and re-read to make sure these are as clear as possible. Make dogfooding your lessons a regular practice to root out problem areas.

Offer multimodal instructions. If possible, provide both written and video instructions for assignments, so students can choose the format that works best for them. You might also offer a synchronous weekly or daily meeting; what's great about doing these online is that even if you teach several sections of the same class per day, students are no longer restricted to class times and can attend whatever meeting works best for them.

8. Traditional grading practices should take a backseat to feedback.

"We saw a transition during emergency remote teaching where each of us had different requirements about grades or no grades, pass and fail," Kitchen says. "This whole environment really needs to be supported by communication and connection. If I'm to receive an A or a 95 or a 65, that doesn't necessarily tell me as much as verbal feedback or print feedback to what I'm doing right, what I can improve on."

So when teaching remotely, put the emphasis on formative feedback as students work through assignments and tasks, rather than simply grading them at the end.

Most learning management platforms, like Google Classroom, have built-in features for giving feedback. Use these as your primary method.

Tools like Floop offer other ways to provide on-the-spot feedback and can be especially good for math.

Feedback should be frequent and specific. Consider some of the methods shared by Matthew Johnson in Flash Feedback.

Provide a pathway for students and parents to give YOU feedback on assignments as well.

9. Summative assessment should focus on creation.

In online learning, Kitchen says, "There are so many ways that students can cheat, so if we're giving them just the traditional quiz or test, it's really easy for them to be able to just look up that information."

A great solution to this problem is to have students create things. These can be videos, podcasts, digital or physical art, writing pieces, comics, and so on. "It's a lot more difficult to cheat when you have to make something or do something. And it also integrates all of the areas and it builds up, all of that learning builds up into this creation that they will do."

For assessment, use a detailed rubric that highlights the learning goals the end product will demonstrate. A single-point rubric works well for this.

To help students discover tools to work with, this list of tools is organized by the type of product each one creates. Another great source of ideas is the Teacher's Guide to Tech.

When developing the assignment, rather than focusing on the end product, start by getting clear on what you want students to DO with that product. This list from Bill Ferriter explores the difference:

Image Credit: Bill Ferriter (CC BY-NC-ND)

What Stays the Same

Not everything in online teaching is different. Some aspects of good teaching should definitely stay the same.

Clear and consistent communication

Creating explicit and consistent rituals and routines

Using research-based instructional strategies

Determining whether to use digital or non-digital tools for an assignment

A focus on authentic learning, where authentic products are created and students have voice and choice in assignments

The teaching environment may not be the same as we're used to, but it's important to remember that good teaching is still good teaching. "All of those things that we know are really good practices can still be done virtually," Kitchen says. "It just might look a little bit different."

You can find Melanie on her website, creativecuriosity.org, or on Twitter at @MelKitchenEDU.

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9 Ways Online Teaching Should be Different from Face-to-Face

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What shifts do we need to make in our face-to-face teaching practices to make the most of online learning? What can stay exactly the same?

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Three simple tips:
1. Embed journaling
2. Create opportunities for dialogue
3. Build in self-reflection

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Technology integration is a double-edged sword: While it can make us more powerful and help us overcome what appear to be insurmountable obstacles, it can also create more barriers if used improperly.

I’ve learned this the hard way, through trial and error. For three years, I worked for an education technology start-up company and network of micro-schools dedicated to personalized learning. While our goal was to help every child reach their full potential through individualized, digitally driven content, I learned over time that many digital tools have dehumanizing effects: They chip away at human connection, limit opportunities for heterogeneous groupings and cross-ability collaboration, and have kids turning toward screens instead of their teachers and fellow learners.

Most of us have little choice now about incorporating digital pedagogy into our teaching. But that doesn’t mean we have to succumb to the dehumanizing effects of individualized or digitally driven education technology. We don’t have to force students to use web-based adaptive tools or make them simply watch videos of us teaching. There are ways to humanize digital pedagogy, in an effort to preserve our students’—and our own—sense of humanity while we’re all teaching and learning remotely.

These are my best suggestions for engaging students in learning using technology.

3 Tips for Keeping the Human Element When Using Technology

1. Move away from industrialized curriculum and toward journaling: It seems to make sense to turn to web-based, adaptive tools at a time like this. They promise to make it easy for teachers to manage learning from afar, and might make it easier to give lessons a personalized feel by creating playlists of activities.

But we cannot let our curriculum start and end with these activities. Even though we must use digital technology for distance learning right now, this is also an excellent time to leverage open-ended tasks, complex instruction, and journaling, allowing students to post pictures of their journal entries through Seesaw or Google Drive.

Journaling might entail providing a math task with multiple solutions for students to solve independently. It might entail reading a story, and asking students to respond to a variety of journal prompts in a reader’s notebook or thinking journal. It may entail free or creative writing, bounded by a genre study or journaling rubric that still allows the teacher to provide structured feedback and help students progress in their writing.

After students have time to work on their own, you can host a discussion online so they can share their work and have an opportunity to connect with one another over academics, just like you would in your classroom regularly.

2. Create opportunities for dialogue and discourse: Social interaction is a critical component of complex instruction. To fully capitalize on the benefits of complex instruction, we must create opportunities for dialogue and discourse, in an effort to keep kids thinking critically over the course of this quarantine. Many of us have audio or video conferencing capabilities at our fingertips. Google Meet and Zoom are just two tools that grant educators the ability to have live meetings with their classrooms. Doing so can preserve some semblance of normalcy and maintain the dialogue and discourse that we value in our classrooms.

But the need for this goes far beyond social interaction. True, deep learning happens not on a worksheet or through a series of decontextualized videos and closed-ended questions. Learning is a conversation; it requires human connection and interaction. In order to preserve the humanity of learning experiences when we’re dependent on digital technology, it’s important to think of these conferencing tools as a means for empathic extension—as a tool for connecting with others when face-to-face human connection just isn’t possible or safe.

3. Build in opportunities for self-reflection: The current crisis is allowing all of us—educators and parents included—to reflect on what it truly means to learn. We are being reminded that learning is more about the process than the product. Sending home worksheet after worksheet is unlikely to result in fruitful learning that will stick.

I’ve been posting additional activities for my students through Seesaw dedicated only to reflection. In these activities, I attach a video that includes a “think aloud” in which I share my thinking on open-ended questions related to readings or solutions to open-ended math tasks from our math curriculum. At the end of the video, I ask my students to consider a few questions and record a video response:

What went well for you with this task?

What will you do differently next time?

How has your thinking changed?

All of these remind students that learning neither starts nor ends with the activity they’ve completed. It can—and will—be connected to future activities, and by taking them through the process of reflecting on the task, I create the expectation that they will need to apply new learnings to future tasks.

The Privilege of Learning Online

Do not take this opportunity for granted. So many students around the country are unable to access rich learning experiences online for myriad reasons—from lack of internet access to the impending financial crisis at our doorstep. We must acknowledge this privilege and do it justice.

In an era of social distancing, we’re all searching for some form of social closeness right now. By humanizing digital instruction—and by using it as an opportunity to connect with your class—you’re fulfilling one of the most important functions of schooling. You’re providing not just meaningful and structured academics but community—social connection that is necessary and will be much appreciated by all involved.

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An elementary teacher who has worked for an edtech start-up argues that it’s important now—with teachers and students working separately—to promote reflection and social connection as tools for learning.

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Some of these can be done or adapted for use during synchronous instruction

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Social-emotional learning (SEL) is one of the most promising frontiers in educational research. Because intellectual and social-emotional development are linked, teaching both is the best way to promote lifelong success. But many schools don't know how to ensure that their social emotional learning activities are focusing on the right skills.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a leading expert in integrating SEL into school curriculum, has compiled a list of core competencies for students to learn. These five key skills are:

Self-awareness: the ability to identify and assess your thoughts, feelings, and values, as well as how they intersect with your behaviors

Self-management: the ability to not only identify but regulate emotions, thoughts, and actions

Responsible decision-making: the ability to make positive, constructive choices about your behavior

Social awareness: the ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, as well as learning social and ethical behavior

Relationship skills: the ability to get along and make meaningful connections with people in their life

Helping your students learn the CASEL competencies can be as easy as reading books about diversity or holding a class service project. Try these fifteen fun class activities to help your students develop strong SEL skills at school.

Self-Awareness

1. Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness, the ability to focus on the present and accept one's circumstances, is a self-awareness skill that can significantly reduce stress and anxiety.[1] To teach mindfulness in class, put on a guided meditation recording or read one aloud to your students. Encourage them to put their thoughts and feelings aside and focus on the meditation as much as they can.

For younger students, try simpler breathing exercises to help students develop mindfulness without overextending their attention span.

2. Reflective Writing

Reflective writing not only helps students develop self-awareness but empathy and compassion, too.[2] Start each day by giving students five to ten minutes to write about a prompt that encourages self-reflection. By practicing reflective writing every day, this can help students learn to consider their thoughts and feelings in a self-aware way.

Not sure what questions you should give your students? Here are a few prompts that encourage self-analysis:

3. Emotional Vocabulary Lists

Self-awareness activities are a great way to help students understand emotional cues. Include several words that describe emotions to your class vocabulary lists, like "joyful" or "scared." Whenever you introduce a new emotional vocabulary word, take time to discuss what it means and how students can recognize this feeling in themselves and others.

For older grades, try complex emotional vocabulary words like "jubilant" or "apprehensive" to broaden their emotional understanding.

Self-Management

4. Grounding Techniques

Grounding techniques are a stress management exercise used to orient someone in the present when they're emotionally overwhelmed. By focusing on their senses instead of their thoughts or feelings, grounding techniques can teach students how to calm down and manage their emotions when they are upset. Teach grounding techniques as a class and help students practice them when they feel stressed.

Here are a few grounding techniques for you to try out with your students:

5. Self-Management Party Games

Plenty of popular children's games can teach children how to regulate their behaviors. Turn on some music, sort children into groups, and play any of these well-known games that model self-management:

After playing these games, bring your students back together for a class discussion on what they learned about listening and being respectful to others.

6. SMART Goal Challenge

Self-motivation is an essential component to social-emotional learning. If you're not sure how to self-motivate your students, try challenging them to reach their potential by setting SMART goals as a class.

At the beginning of the month or quarter, work with each student to set a SMART goal for themselves. SMART goals must be Specific, Measurable, Agreed-Upon, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Check in with your students several times throughout the month to measure their progress and support them if any challenges arise.

If your students meet their goal by the agreed-upon end date, give them a piece of candy or other reward. If they don't, offer encouragement and work with them to accomplish their goal.

Responsible Decision-Making

7. Class Contract

One way to encourage responsible decision making is by collaborating with your students to create a classroom contract. An effective classroom contract should contain two things: your expectations as a teacher and your students' own hopes and needs for the school year.

Putting a contract together with your students can help them feel like their voices are heard and that you're willing to listen. To make this activity interesting for your students, you can even include "exciting" information like class parties or rewards for meeting academic goals. It's fun and, more importantly, establishes your classroom environment as one where everyone's choices matter.

8. Student Council

Depending on your needs, you could involve your entire class in student council or have them elect representatives. By bringing your students in to discuss classroom needs and upcoming events, student councils can involve your class in the school community while teaching them responsibility.

If you've never held a council before, hold a discussion with your class to decide which student council ideas would work best.

9. "What Would You Do?" Activity

Practicing how to make tough decisions can help your students learn how their actions affect others. Give your students a list of situations in which they would have to make an important choice. Have them write down an answer to each situation by themselves, then discuss their answers as a class.

Here are a few problem-solving scenarios to get your students started:

While playing with your little brother, he accidentally breaks your favorite toy. What do you do next?

You see a new girl playing by herself at recess. What do you say to her?

You're eating a sugar cookie and your friend asks if he can have a bite. How do you respond?

Social Awareness

10. Classroom Service Projects

Service activities are a fun and meaningful way to connect your students to the word around them. By helping others, a class service project can also help students develop empathy. Here are a few service project ideas you can do as your class to make your community a better place:

11. Listening Circles

To begin this activity that teaches active listening, separate your class into groups of four or five students. Have students take turns answering a get-to-know you question. If any student interrupts the person talking, remind them that everyone gets to a turn sharing their answer.

Here are a few question ideas:

At the end of the activity, come together for a class discussion about what they learned in their groups. To make sure every student feels included, try pairing students up and having them share one thing about their partner after the activity.

12. Diversity Story Time

Teaching diversity in the classroom is an essential component of social awareness. During read-aloud story times, try to pick books about people of different cultures, race/ethnicities, religions, and other backgrounds. After reading one of these books to your students, discuss how differences make the world a better place and ask what they learned from the story.

Here are a few popular children's books about diversity to get you started:

It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler & David Lee Csicsko

Families, Families, Families! by Suzanne Lang

Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match by Monica Brown

Relationship Skills

13. "Make New Friends" Bingo

"Make New Friends" Bingo is a fun and interactive game for developing social skills, particularly verbal and nonverbal communication.[3] You can play it at the beginning of the school year or anytime you want to have a get-to-know-you activity in class.

To play, make a bingo card with generic traits in each box, like "I have a pet" or "I was born in the summertime." Have your students try to find a different person for each square until they get five in a row. Then, ask each student to share something interesting about themselves that correlates to a box with the class.

14. Team Puzzle Game

Put students into teams of three to five and give each one a jigsaw puzzle to put together. Instruct them that to complete the puzzle, they need to work together as a group. For an added challenge that encourages teamwork, try giving your students a time limit for completing the puzzle.

When students work together, even younger grades can put together complex puzzles. Your students will be amazed by how much they can get done with a little collaboration!

15. Conflict Resolution Read-Along

Helping children resolve conflicts teaches them skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. And, thanks to the timeless lessons they teach, fairy tale read-alongs can help your class get a discussion on conflict resolution skills going.[4]

Choose a beloved fairy tale to read as a class, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As you read the story to your students, ask them the following questions:

What is this story's main conflict?

What do the main characters want to happen?

How can the characters work together to make everyone happy?

Then, turn the discussion to recent conflicts students have had in their life. Have your children share about times when, like the fairy tale characters, they felt conflict with another person. Ask them how they worked with that person to make the situation better, as well as any advice they have to share with the class.

Why Teach Social Emotional Activities?

Research suggests that the cognitive processes that control social-emotional and intellectual development are interconnected. This means that providing both SEL and academic lessons in class is the best way to help students succeed. Students who attend SEL programs at school are more likely to:

With the five CASEL competencies as a guide, educators can make sure that they're providing effective and well-rounded SEL programs in their classrooms. Use these social and emotional skills activities to give your students the tools they need to thrive in school and everywhere else, too.
Sources:
Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004, July). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57(1), pp. 35-43.[1]

DasGupta, S., & Charon, R. (2004, April). Personal Illness Narratives: Using Reflective Writing to Teach Empathy. Academic Medicine, 79(4), pp. 351-56.[2]

Mascott, A. (2015, August 17). Meet New Friends Bingo Game. Retrieved from scholastic.com: https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/meet-new-friends-bingo-game.html.[3]

The Nemours Foundation. (2016). Personal Health Series: Conflict Resolution. Retrieved from kidshealth.org: https://classroom.kidshealth.org/3to5/personal/growing/conflict_resolution.pdf/.[4]

Hong, S. (2011, March). The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82 (1), pp. 405-32.[5]

Zins, J. (2016). Social and Emotional Learning. Retrieved from healthyselfesteem.org: http://healthyselfesteem.org/about-self-esteem/social-and-emotional-learning/.[6]

Coholic, D.H. (2011, January 07). Exploring the Feasibility and Benefits of Arts-Based Mindfulness-Based Practices with Young People in Need: Aiming to Improve Aspects of Self-Awareness and Resilience. Child & Youth Care Forum, 40(4), pp. 303-17.[7]

Aber, J. L., Jones, S. M. Brown, J. L. Chaudry, N. & Samples, F. (1998). Resolving Conflict Creatively: Evaluating the Developmental Effects of a School-Based Violence Prevention Program in the Neighborhood and Classroom Context. Development and Psychopathology, 10, pp. 187-213.[8]

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15 Activities for Teaching CASEL Core Competencies

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With these strategies for CASEL competencies as a guide, you can make sure that you're providing effective SEL programs in your school.

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Digital Citizenship for Distance Learning

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Digital Citizenship for Distance Learning

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By Holly Clark

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Now that educators must conduct classes online without the time to really talk to students about appropriate commenting and replies, we are faced with the realization that students might post things we hope they won't. One large school district has already warned teachers that students have posted inappropriate content during Zoom class meetings . This can be scary. But it doesn't have to be if we think about how students learn-by doing. So let's teach our students to take ownership of their digital interactions.

Helping Students Take Ownership

The best way to get students thinking about digital citizenship is to have them take ownership of the process and ideas. We can do this-even from home!

As an example, when school is in session, I start the year in an engaging way by having students work collaboratively to create our class Acceptable Use Policies ( AUP). This meaningful communal activity involves critical thinking, relationship building, communication, and collaboration. Because students come up with the guidelines together, they follow them with more fidelity, and when needed, they naturally police themselves. It really is a thing of beauty.

To Begin This Student Ownership Process - Start with Questions

Teachers should present an age-appropriate practice scenario and ask students to think about questions like :

What does it mean to be kind?

What does it mean to be kind online?

What can happen if someone is not kind online?

How can students be kind and add value to our digital conversations?

What are the best ways to respond to another student?

How can we add value in our responses?

Does it help you to practice or think about what you will say first?

When is a response too long, when is it too short -and when is it the perfect amount? How do we know? Can you find examples of each?

Teachers can pose these questions in an online chat via Teams or a Google Meet. If those are not your tool of choice, consider creating topics in a Digital Citizenship Grid or an Activity in .

We Can Build This Uplifting Atmosphere, Even Remotely

Students need to explore and think about their responsibility as good digital citizens. To do that, use an exploratory text set that allows them to explore content and think about it as they move across examples.

Here is a HyperDoc Exploratory Set you can take and make your own.

In this Hyperdoc, students watch videos, look at other student-created examples. They explore the concept of kindness, mutual respect and appropriate commenting and replies. They end by creating their own graphic that they will share with the class. You can customize this experience for your grade level. Make sure you make age-appropriate video choices. Older kids can-and should-hear stronger messages.

The end product asks students to create their own version of an AUP via a graphic. If they have access, they can work in a group with other students via video calls, commenting on slides, or Powerpoint. They could even create their own Sway project on digital kindness.

The learning goal is to understand how kindness plays out online.. To illustrate their thinking and understanding by creating their own graphic to support appropriate digital interactions. These can be posted in Google Classroom, Teams, or on .

Get Students Thinking

The important part is to have students critically think about their online interactions and explain their thinking, so you know if you might need to help them along the kindness spectrum.

When you involve students, they will surprise you with their ability to understand the choices behind their digital interactions. Stronger, more active student voice equals greater student buy-in, and a more respectful and community-oriented learning atmosphere.

If you do modify this HyperDoc please share by posting in the Infused Classroom FB group . And add any additional information you think would help. I would love to see your versions because we are #bettertogether.

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Digital Citizenship for #DistanceLearning | The Infused Classroom

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Now that educators must conduct classes online without the time to really talk to students about appropriate commenting and replies, we are faced with the realization that students might post things we hope they won't. One large school district has already warned teachers that students have posted inappropriate content during Zoom class meetings .

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From LuckyLittleLearners.com

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Zoom Activities to Use with Distance Learning

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Zoom is being used by teachers and students all over the world right now. Here are our favorite Zoom activities to use with your classroom.

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Maximizing Skill Building During Live Instruction Slide Deck

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Maximizing Skill Building During Live Instruction Slide Deck

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Slides from Leslie Gahn's ACTFL Webinar.

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Maximize Live WL instruction Grahn Webinar Slides - 21 May 2020

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Maximizing Skill Building During Live Instruction (ACTFL Webinar)

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Maximizing Skill Building During Live Instruction (ACTFL Webinar)

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NOTE: this webinar is only available through August 31!! The PDF of the slide deck is uploaded as a separate item in this padlet.

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Maximizing Skill-Building During Live Instruction: Guiding Students Along the Proficiency Continuum

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Resources curated by the sites of the California Math Project

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Resources curated by the sites of the California Math Project

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Some will be for synchronous and others for asynchronous instruction.

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COVID-19 Teaching Resources - Google Drive

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From the Society for Health And Physical Education--some of these are synchronous and others are strategies that would be done asynchronously.

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Coronavirus Resources for Physical Education and Health

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SHAPE America Coronavirus resources help physical education and health education teachers across the country as many schools and school districts are moving to distance learning due to COVID-19.

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National Arts Education Association

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The Art Educator Toolkit contains strategies, approaches, lessons, units, and tools that are curated by representatives from every NAEA division and our membership at large to support you in successfully navigating the shifting landscape of teaching and learning (including in-person, hybrid, and distance-learning).

Teaching Tips

Sample Educational Frameworks

Letters Advocating for Visual Arts Education

Distance Learning Resources

Fill out my online form.

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The Art Educator Toolkit contains strategies, approaches, lessons, units, and tools that are curated by representatives from every NAEA division and our membership at large to support you in successfully navigating the shifting landscape of teaching and learning (including in-person, hybrid, and distance-learning).

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Arts Education Webinar notes (California Department of Education)

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Arts Education Webinar notes (California Department of Education)

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Date: 7/2/2020

Facilitators: Rachael Maves and Shanine Coats

Partners:

The California Arts Project ( TCAP )
California County Superintendents Educational Services Association Statewide Arts Initiative

Presenters:

Courtney Sawada, Director or the Southern Counties California Arts Project

Armalyn De La O, Region 10 Lead (San Bernardino County Office of Education)

Nicole Robinson, Fontana Unified School District

Zachary Pitt-Smith, Oakland Unified School District

Kimberly Ramos, Rialto Unified School District

Key Takeaways

Introduction

The arts are part of the adopted course of study for grades one through six and are required course offerings for grades seven through twelve.

There are multiple contexts for arts education in school that students now may encounter through distance learning.

Sequential standards-based arts education in transitional kindergarten through grade twelve develops "aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative expression" in dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts. The 2019 Arts Standards and soon-to-be-adopted Arts Framework provides guidance for this.

Career technical education for arts, media, and entertainment integrates career, technical, and arts learning and readies students for career and college. The Career Technical Education Standards for California Public Schools provide guidance for this.

Preschool students can access arts instruction that focuses on artistic play, process, and arts learning in the context of child development. The California Preschool Learning Foundations documents provide guidance for this.

Integrated arts instruction can further one's understanding of the arts and in one or more additional content areas.

Arts education plays a vital role in students' mental health and well-being. Through the artistic processes, creative practices, and social interactions inherent in arts learning experiences, students acquire and apply the knowledge and skills necessary to establish and maintain positive relationships with others, set and achieve goals, practice empathy for others, recognize and effectively express emotions, and make responsible decisions (all of which are tenets of social and emotional learning).

When learning from a distance, the arts provide multiple ways for students to communicate ideas, experiences, and feelings that may be challenging or impossible to express linguistically.

The 2019 Arts Standards embrace discovery and experimentation and process-focused arts learning experiences.

Overview of the 2019 Arts Standards

The goal of the PK-12 California Arts Standards is to develop artistic literacy. Artistic literacy involves recognizing and utilizing arts as communication; creative personal realization; culture, history, and connectors; a means to well-being; community engagement, and profession.

The California Arts Standards are written for the five arts disciplines of dance, media arts (new in the 2019 standards), music, theatre, and visual arts. They are student centered and inquiry based and emphasize process as well as product.

Organization

The standards are organized by four artistic processes: creating, responding, connecting, and performing (for dance, music, and theatre); presenting (for visual arts); producing (for media arts). The artistic processes intersect, often occur simultaneously, and are broken down into process components that provide many entry points for learning.

Anchor standards articulate generalized outcomes of learning and are the same for all disciplines and all grade levels.

Discipline-specific student performance standards articulate what students are able to do or demonstrate by the end of the grade, course, or proficiency level.

Enduring understandings (EUs) and essential questions (EQs) work together to support an inquiry-based approach to arts education. The EUs and EQs state big ideas or important understandings and guide inquiry for arts learning.

The new arts standards follow a paradigm shift from content-based to performance-based, which is like that of other content areas with standards updated in the last decade (English language arts, mathematics, science, etc.). They are student centered and focus on what students will be able to do rather than identifying the specific content and skills that teachers will teach.

The teacher's role is to use their discipline expertise to determine the most appropriate content to teach with the goal of preparing students to demonstrate proficiency in the standards and ensuring that students have sufficient and substantial opportunities to practice throughout the year to move toward mastery.

Examples of Distance Learning for Arts Education

Presenter: Nicole Robinson, dance educator, Fontana Unified School District.
Ms. Robinson shared five areas in which students grew as learners and emerging artists, which translate into the inquiry questions below. She provided a video of students from her Career Technical Education Arts Media and Entertainment (CTE AME) extended day program with examples of how they approached these questions.

Given new locations and environments for dancing, how can we reinvent choreographic ideas and uses of space? Does this alter the artistic intention of the work?

What does dancing together look like in a virtual world? How can we use technology to create togetherness?

How can we redefine collaboration on dances and movement ideas when we are so far apart?

What is the impact on creating and performing processes when creating works for recording? What do we need to consider in terms of camera angles, lighting, editing, and what are the impact of those elements on the artistic design of the work?

What does working in "revised spaces" mean for the choreographic process, revision, and performance for the camera?

Other Key Points

Student circumstances may not match with teacher circumstances. Essential to be aware of and sensitive to the possible differences in student home responsibilities and what they have access to in terms of space, time, and technology in their homes. To inform instructional choices, teachers could students survey asking questions such as: Do you have reliable internet? Do you have a space to move? Are you caring for siblings during the day?

There may be privacy issues when using cameras to see students for synchronous instruction. It can be helpful to have students participate in movement classes asynchronously and possibly share recordings of their work.

Virtual instruction can be an opportunity for students who typically choose to be in the background in the physical classroom to shine.

The extended day CTE AME program had 100% participation. We attribute this to the authentic nature of the program, which was audition and application based.

There is no perfect remedy for delays and stalling of technology during live studio classes other than to be flexible and stay calm because it always comes back online.

Presenter: Zach Pitt-Smith, middle school music teacher, Oakland Unified School District, and urban representative for the California Music Educators Association

Reflections on his online teaching experience

The benefits of music education in our current context-many students have expressed that they wake up and go to school because of their music classes. It may be the only thing that gets them through the day. This is no different now that they're at home.

Some students are suffering financially and emotionally, and technology problems can become a barrier. To counterbalance these negatives, it can be empowering to have students engage in some self-directed work to find topics that are meaningful and personally relevant that they are excited about.

Some students are uncomfortable with seeing themselves on the computer screen during synchronous learning. It can be helpful to have them dim the lighting.

Some video conference platforms allow the teacher to change their background to a photo of a familiar place such as the music classroom or an aspirational place such as Carnegie Hall.

A reminder about virtual ensemble projects-they are not a simple outcome of teaching ensembles; they also are a technical product that requires production skills that a music teacher may not have. Teachers may need to help administrators understand this distinction if asked to produce polished performance recordings, such as Pomp and Circumstance to be used for a graduation ceremony.

Sample video conference approaches (video of students is included in the presentation)

Have everyone muted except for the teacher so that the teacher can demonstrate.

The teacher can mute and unmute a student to "call" on the student to come up and play in front of the class. Some students who wouldn't normally do that in the classroom, feel more comfortable doing that virtually.

"Follow the Leader" with the prompt of the B flat major pentatonic scale and an improvisation that is passed along from student to student. The sample includes several common challenges, including a student without an instrument and a student without their video streaming. Follow the leader also provides the teacher with formative feedback.

Presenter: Kimberly Ramos, high school visual arts educator, Rialto Unified School District.

Online structure and approach

Weekly calendars for each class with suggested amounts of time for each lesson, due dates, and project titles that were coming soon to create interest.

Scheduled office hours

Starting with a review to get a sense of participation and limitations, similar to a practice round

Student surveys to understand the availability of supplies, technology access and for Advanced Placement classes, the days and times students would be able to meet online

Consistent formats and structures for each week which included

Weekly assignment directions including directions, links, and examples provided in a slide deck format

Student work for one week including research, planning, student artwork images, and reflections to be submitted in a single document

Format for presentations remained the same every time

Framing lessons through the four artistic processes and process components. For example,

CONNECT through research (such as through video links of artists talking about their work or inspiration, or a specific skill being taught, such as creating homemade camera filters for a cell phone);

IMAGINE and PLAN their artwork and CREATE using materials that they chose;

RESPOND to question prompts that were reflective about their process; and

PRESENT their work to the whole class using an online presentation where each student added a slide an image of the work they created along with their response to a prompt.

Supports

Colleagues in her weekly Visual Arts Professional Learning Community meetings

Social Media to network with educators from across the nation and utilize other resources such as The Getty Challenge on Twitter

Websites such as The Art Assignment

Please send any questions to DistanceLearning@cde.ca.gov.

Questions: Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division | CFIRD@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0881

Last Reviewed: Monday, August 03, 2020

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Date: 7/2/2020 Facilitators: Rachael Maves and Shanine Coats Partners: The California Arts Project ( TCAP ) California County Superintendents Educational Services Association Statewide Arts Initiative Presenters: Courtney Sawada, Director or the Southern Counties California Arts Project Armalyn De La O, Region 10 Lead (San Bernardino County Office of Education) Nicole Robinson, Fontana Unified School District Zachary Pitt-Smith, Oakland Unified School District Kimberly Ramos, Rialto Unified School District Key Takeaways Introduction The arts are part of the adopted course of study for grades one through six and are required course offerings for grades seven through twelve.

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Drawing prompts to start class (or at other times)

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Drawing prompts to start class (or at other times)

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Students could hold up to the camera on their device after drawing.

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The first five minutes of any art class can become chaotic quickly. It's important to have a daily routine for students to follow. Using bell ringers is a great strategy to help settle students and save time. It sets the tone for a productive class.

Bell work can be presented in various ways. From answering questions to writing down vocabulary words, the possibilities are endless!

One engaging idea is to start each class by having students complete "The Daily Draw."

Students come into class, take out their sketchbooks, and complete the drawing prompt as they wait for further instructions. This practice serves as a way to get students involved and ready to learn in a quick, easy way.

A drawing prompt is a great way to start class, but it's just one option. If you're looking for more ways to get your students seated and settled, be sure to check out the Insider Secrets for Successfully Managing the Classroom PRO Learning pack! There's an entire section devoted to successfully starting each class period.

The key to effective bell work is to make it as engaging as possible.

Below you'll find a list of 100 Silly Drawing Prompts. These prompts are a great way to get your students warmed up for class. You might even find your students rushing to your room to see what silly drawing idea you'll come up with next!
Download Now
100 Silly Drawing Prompts

Animals

Food

People

1. Draw your art teacher on an island.

2. Draw a teacher eating a pizza while dancing.

3. Draw a person with fruit for hair.

4. Draw a basketball player dunking a chicken.

5. Draw a pirate in a hammock.

6. Draw your teacher as a zombie.

7. Draw your art teacher with a beard.

8. Draw yourself with a super power.

9. Draw a clown sneezing out flowers.

10. Draw a person with donuts for eyes.

11. Draw a cowboy in Antarctica riding a polar bear.

12. Draw yourself as a fairy.

Make Believe

1. Draw something other than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

2. Draw a troll riding a unicorn.

3. Draw what your imaginary friend would look like if we could see them.

4. Draw a dragon breathing rainbows.

5. Draw an alien driving a car.

6. Draw an elf jumping on a trampoline.

Objects/Places

Other

These ideas are not only great for bell work but can be used for sketchbook prompts as well. If you're looking for even more sketchbook ideas, check out an additional 100 right here.
What silly drawing prompt would you add to this list? What kind of bell work do you do in your art room?

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100 Silly Drawing Prompts to Engage Your Students - The Art of Education University

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The first five minutes of any art class can become chaotic quickly. It's important to have a daily routine for students to follow. Using bell ringers is a great strategy to help settle students and save time. It sets the tone for a productive class. Bell work can be presented in various ways.

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10 Chromebook-Friendly Programs for Art Classes

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10 Chromebook-Friendly Programs for Art Classes

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One surprising option that is not mentioned in the section on G-Suite: Google Draw.

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With the move to hybrid and remote learning, many school districts have been working to secure student access devices. Purchasing large quantities of devices takes a considerable budget, but it is necessary to get one step closer to achieving equity in education. Many art teachers and creatives enjoy using Apple products to help meet our software and creation needs. If it were up to us, we'd probably all request a MacBook lab in our art rooms. However, this isn't always economically feasible.

While it may not be the device of choice in an art room, Chromebooks are an affordable way to increase access to technology in schools. So, now that your students are using Chromebooks in the art room, what are the best programs and tools students can use?

Here are 10 tools and programs that are great for Chromebooks:

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Alternatives

One of the most disappointing things about Chromebook use is the lack of access to run some of the Adobe Creative Cloud applications. While technically, there are ways to get these programs on your Chromebooks, it will take some help from your IT programs and will require the set up of remote student logins coming from another device. Sounds confusing, right? If you don't have the knowledge base or ability to make this work, here are some programs that will run on Chromebooks.

1. Pixlr E and Pixlr X

Pixlr provides two web-based platforms accessible from any web browser. Pixlr E is primarily a photo editing platform similar to Photoshop, while Pixlr X is a lighter version with fewer features. Both have a slight learning curve and can be a great option for students who are new to editing programs. Here is more information about the two programs.

2. Photopea

Photopea is a program similar to Photoshop-so much that the basic interface shares a lot of the same features. However, it has less power and processing capabilities. The program allows for a variety of brushes to be used, and even allows for the creation of vector images like Illustrator. This digital Acrimbaldo activity is a great beginner lesson to introduce your students to the program.

3. Gimp

Gimp is a free program that runs on the Linux operating system. It has similar features to Photoshop but needs to be downloaded to the Chromebook. Here is information on how to do that.

4. Gravit Designer

Gravit Designer is a free vector creation tool. All of the basic vector creation tools are included. If you're looking for something with similar features to Adobe Illustrator, this will be a great one to test out with your students.

5. Boxy SVG

Boxy SVG is another Illustrator-like program. It is a web-based platform that only requires a student login; nothing needs to be downloaded. While this free program does have basic vector creating features, the interface is a bit clunky and takes some time to get used to.

Photo Editing Platforms

While the above programs provide image and graphic creation capabilities, the programs below are best suited for photo editing on a Chromebook.

6. Lightroom

Adobe apps like, Lightroom can be run on Chromebooks after being downloaded from the Google Play store for free. It will have some similar features to the desktop version, but overall will run more like the app on an Android device or iPad.

7. Polarr

Polarr is a free, web-based program that allows for the editing of RAW images directly on your Chromebook. It's best for editing photos and not creating new graphics and images from scratch.

Instructional Tools

8. Google Suite

Naturally, since Chromebooks are Google devices, they are optimized for running apps with the Google Suite. When in doubt utilizing Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, and Classroom is a safe bet. Google Slides and Docs provide an excellent opportunity for students to collaborate and work. Because of the ease of share features between teachers and classmates, it's a wonderful way to provide direct feedback on student work or to have students provide critique and feedback online.

Additionally, using Google Docs and Slides is an easy way for students to share the process of what they are working on. With instruction and coaching, students can make it a practice to upload their completed work for the day. If the document is already shared with you, you will be able to provide immediate feedback, and students don't have to turn in a new assignment daily, they can just add to it. All of these programs tie seamlessly into the use of Google Classroom; if you need more ideas for how to use it in the art room, go here.

9. Kami Chrome Extension

Kami is an extension that allows students to actively engage with a text by highlighting, commenting, and annotating. Teachers and students can download digitally annotate PDFs, ebooks, worksheets, or use Google Docs with Kami. It also integrates within Google Classroom to provide immediate, timely, and specific feedback for students and their artwork.

10. InsertLearning

InsertLearning is a Chrome extension that allows you to make any website or PDF annotatable and interactive for students. You can insert instructions or questions for students to answer directly on a webpage, article, or PDF. Once you add what you would like to to the article, you can share it directly with your students through email, link, or assign it in your Google Classroom. Students can then highlight, annotate, answer your questions, post sticky notes, or even short videos to the assigned website/article for you to grade!

These are just ten different tools that will work well with Chromebooks in your art classes. If you're new to using technology in your classroom or doing online learning for the first time, all of this can seem very overwhelming. As you start on your new journey, try picking one or two of these programs to master. Once you feel comfortable with implementing and using them with your students, you can expand your knowledge base.

What questions do you have about using Chromebooks in the art room?
Do you have a favorite program, app, or extension that works well on Chromebooks?

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10 Chromebook-Friendly Programs for Art Classes - The Art of Education University

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With the move to hybrid and remote learning, many school districts have been working to secure student access devices. Purchasing large quantities of devices takes a considerable budget, but it is necessary to get one step closer to achieving equity in education. Many art teachers and creatives enjoy using Apple products to help meet our [...]

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33 ways to build relationships during distance learning

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33 ways to build relationships during distance learning

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Some of these strategies are for asynchronous instruction.

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Relationships matter. We know this. We've always known this.

In fact, it's the exact reason many of us chose education as a profession. We believe in the power of connection in learning and in life. And collectively, we're very, very good at cultivating strong bonds with students.

Since COVID-19 struck, though, it's become a topic that has left many of us scratching our heads. It was hard enough to maintain relationships during emergency virtual learning plans last March. But now, we'll have to build relationships from behind a screen with a brand new crop of kids we've never met face-to-face.

Here's the good news, though. The key components of what makes a good relationship such as respect, trust, and support haven't changed. And, we can still show genuine interest in their interests virtually. We don't have to start from scratch either. Many of the relationship-building strategies we've grown accustomed to implementing face-to-face are transferable (with a little ingenuity).

Will it look the same? No.

Will it feel the same? Maybe not.

Will it be more challenging? Of course.

Relationships likely won't form as organically, so we'll have to be strategic. But, it can be done and done well! Also, because of the limited social interaction our students have had these past six months, many will be craving a connection. In fact, they need it. So, let's capitalize!

Here are 33 adaptable strategies for fostering strong teacher-student relationships in a K-12 virtual environment:

1. Screencastify Your Welcome Message: Pre-record a warm "welcome to class" message as well as a class overview using Screencastify. This tools allows you to record your screen, face, voice, and more. It's a great way to show them how to navigate your virtual classroom.

2. Establish a "Netiquette" Together: Using Padlet, ask students to share ideas of virtual class rules/norms they think are needed to build a successful online community. Group the ideas. Then, facilitate a conversation to guide the formation of your class netiquette. Their voice matters most in this!

3. Morning Meetings: Conduct Responsive Classroom morning meetings (as often as your virtual learning schedule allows) to cultivate community while reinforcing social-emotional skills. This article explains how one teacher transitioned his morning meetings to the online environment. Morning meetings are well worth the time in secondary classes as well. All students need to feel safe and connected, especially amid a pandemic.

4. Teacher Trait Wish List: What makes a remarkable teacher? Have students use a word cloud generator such as Mentimeter to share one or more traits they hope to disover about you this school year. Use their responses to deepen the dialogue. For example, you might say, "I see many of you wrote respectful. What are some ways I can show you respect?"

5. Student Interest Inventory: Have students (or parents depending on age level) complete a short survey to gather insights about student interests. Google forms work great and will store their responses so you can easily revisit the data as needed throughout the year.

6. Parent Expertise Inventory: Send out a short survey to parents asking them about their interests/areas of expertise. Find ways throughout the year to utlize their talents to support instruction. For example, if you have a parent who's a writer, perhaps they could join a synchronous session or make an asynchronous video to discuss their writing process. This authenticizes learning and creates rapport with parents.

7. Virtual Q&A: At the start of the year, host a virtual meeting outside of regular school hours should students/parents have questions that need answering. Record and post it for later review if possible.

8. Mental Health Check-Ins: We want to give students permission to feel and can do this by creating a safe, caring virtual environment. Prompt discussions about the ups and downs of daily life. Be sure to share yours. Students can share their roses/thorns, peaks/pits, highs/lows, etc. Help them name their feelings and expect varied levels of vulnerability. Students will gradually open up over time.

9. EdCamp(ish) Breakout Rooms: Based upon the data you collected on student interests, create several general discussion topics (such as sports or music) and give students 5-10 minutes to share about their interests in small-group breakout rooms using Zoom.

10. Refrigerator Decor: Create and snail mail a card (standard business or postcard size) including a welcome message along with contact information and a headshot for students/parents to easily reference on their fridge. This will be a daily reminder that you are a real person who can be easily contacted.

11. Say Their Name: During synchronous sessions, greet each student every time. We can't stand at the door, but we can acknowledge their presence. A quick, "____ (insert name), I'm glad you're here" ensures every child feels seen.

12. Tell Me Something Good: Start sessions simply by saying, "Tell me something good." Students can say it or type it in the chat box depending on preference. This activity usually gets people smiling, and will help you gather insights into their lives.

13. 2×10 Strategy: Struggling with a student? The 2×10 strategy suggests spending two minutes a day for 10 days in a row connecting with them about their interests/life in some way. While engaging for two minutes may not always work in the virtual world, find quick ways to connect such as sending a private message during live video conferencing or writing a personal message along with feedback on a piece of their work. This can be a game changer!

14. Meaningful Mementos: Using Seesaw or Flipgrid, have students show and tell about a personal artifact from their life. This is an eye-opening way for you to learn about students and for them to learn about each other. It also sends the message that you care about their lives and experiences outside of the classroom which supports culturally responsive teaching.

15. Share YOU: Students will let you into their lives if you let them into yours. Share your quirks and imperfections! They want/need to know you're human, and it'll help them feel more comfortable in their own skin while engaging in the virtual world which can be intimidating.

16. Music Playlist: Have students send you their favorite songs (with clean lyrics) and find ways to embed them into synchronous/asynchrounous instruction. Think of incorporating them as a soft start/end to class or when transitioning between activities. We may not be able to decorate the walls, but we can use little touches like this to instill a sense of ownership of their classroom.

17. EduBlogging: If you teach reading/writing, have students create their own personal blogs in place of composition writer's notebooks. Let them write about interests and topics of choice often. Edublogs can be easily shared with peers which motivates and builds community, but privacy settings can be adjusted when preferred, too.

18. Pic of the Day: During the first two weeks of school, share a daily picture of yourself taken at a special event, with your family, while on vacation, etc. After students get a read on who you are as a person, start featuring one student pic per the day.

19. Emoji Temperature Check: To gauge the mood of the "room", ask students to quickly draw/hold up or private message you an emoji. Reaction tools can also help you assess the climate of the classroom.

20. Connect Before Correct: Carve out time to call/email parents just to say something positive about their kid. This opens up the line of communication and means so much to students and parents.

21. Virtual Lockers: Have students design a virtual locker to reflect their interests. Make a copy of this template from Inside Education, Outside the Box.

22. The Art of the Handwritten Letter: Send a handwritten letter to a student. This is a lost art (and a time-consuming one) but there's nothing quite like receiving one. Plus, it'll make students feel like you're real.

23. Lunch Bunch: Schedule virtual lunch bunches either "just because" or as an incentive as your schedule allows. Many divisions are prohibiting one-on-one video sessions (and secondary students may not want to do this), so doing them in partnerships or small groups might be more inticing. If you have young children you're juggling, let them join! You can learn a lot about students and vice versa through normal, everyday chit-chat!

24. Class Mascot of the Week: Celebrate pets! Spotlight one per week.

25. Digital Photo Collage: Rather than posting pictures to a "Family Wall" bulletin board, create a digital collage of family/friends. Have each student send you a pic of a loved one and drop them into your Google photos. Then, go to https://photos.google.com/foryou and choose the collage option. Keep it some place that's visible to the students from time to time.

26. Open Mic: Once you've created a sense of community, provide a time/virtual space for students to share special talents. This is a great way to send students off after a synchronous session. Keep in mind, though, not everyone will want a stage, so make it optional.

27. Celebrate Birthdays Their Way: Give students a few options for how they'd like you to celebrate their birthdays. Some may not want to be in the spotlight. Do they want the class to sing "Happy Birthday" to them? Would they prefer an eCard? Could they use a homework pass? Would they like to receive video messages from classmates in Flipgrid? Let them decide!

28. Virtual Spirit Days: Think about special days to host such as Team Tuesday (to celebrate sports). Have students snap pics of their participation and post something about it in a discussion board thread.

29. Brain Breaks: Integrate fun brain breaks into instruction to re-energize and refocus students. GoNoodle offers a variety of movement, yoga, and mindfulness activities for younger students. Secondary students could take a snack break or walk around their block. Let your hair down and join in brain breaks with students, too!

30. Say Hey Emails: Send a quick email/video to each student from time to time just to say hi. Keep it casual and personal (not strictly academic).

31. Gamification: Introduce game-based learning platforms to your students such as Gimkit or Kahoot using "just for fun" topics such as pop culture trivia. Embed the game within a synchronous session so students can interact while playing. Personalities emerge during a little friendly competition!

32. The Johari Window: Building relationships requires self-awareness. How open are you? This is a good thing to reflect upon especially as we enter this brand new learning space. We also benefit from seeking feedback about ourselves from students to minimize our blindspots. Check out this video on The Johari Window which explains four quadrants to better understand ourselves.

33. Be Anti-Racist: Last but perhaps most critical, take action to stand up against racism. Many of our students, especially those who are BlPOC, have been impacted to the core by recent events. Launch developmentally appropriate discussions about race, racism, and racialized violence. See this resource How To Be An Anti-Racist Educator as well. Keep listening, learning, and leaning into tough topics. We can't build relationships with every student unless every student knows we're an advocate, ally, and activist.

And remember, the most important relationship to nuture is the one you have with yourself. The next several months will be hard (which is the understatement of the century). Make sure you're being good to you!

As a former colleague used to always remind me, "You can't pour from an empty cup."

I hope these ideas help. You've got this! We've got this.

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Virtual Learning: 33 Ways to Build Relationships - teachtrainlove.com

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"No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship." ~Dr. James Comer Relationships matter. We know this. We've always known this. In fact, it's the exact reason many of us chose education as a profession. We believe in the power of connection in learning and in life.

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Some of these strategies are also applicable to asynchronous instruction.

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Holly Clark

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20 Ideas for Video Conferencing with Students | Infused Classroom

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Educators have access to LOTS of video conference platforms to use with students. Microsoft schools are likely to use Microsoft Teams video meetings or Skype. Google schools are going with Google Meet, and some schools are opting for Zoom and other tools.

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Holly Clark and Matt Miller

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Using video to assess attention during live interactions?

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Using video to assess attention during live interactions?

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This document was created by Torrey Trust.

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Use Google Forms or Pear Deck

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This could be used as a quick community builder or brain break

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The first five minutes of any art class can become chaotic quickly. It's important to have a daily routine for students to follow. Using bell ringers is a great strategy to help settle students and save time. It sets the tone for a productive class.

Bell work can be presented in various ways. From answering questions to writing down vocabulary words, the possibilities are endless!

One engaging idea is to start each class by having students complete "The Daily Draw."

Students come into class, take out their sketchbooks, and complete the drawing prompt as they wait for further instructions. This practice serves as a way to get students involved and ready to learn in a quick, easy way.

A drawing prompt is a great way to start class, but it's just one option. If you're looking for more ways to get your students seated and settled, be sure to check out the Insider Secrets for Successfully Managing the Classroom PRO Learning pack! There's an entire section devoted to successfully starting each class period.

The key to effective bell work is to make it as engaging as possible.

Below you'll find a list of 100 Silly Drawing Prompts. These prompts are a great way to get your students warmed up for class. You might even find your students rushing to your room to see what silly drawing idea you'll come up with next!
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100 Silly Drawing Prompts

Animals

Food

People

1. Draw your art teacher on an island.

2. Draw a teacher eating a pizza while dancing.

3. Draw a person with fruit for hair.

4. Draw a basketball player dunking a chicken.

5. Draw a pirate in a hammock.

6. Draw your teacher as a zombie.

7. Draw your art teacher with a beard.

8. Draw yourself with a super power.

9. Draw a clown sneezing out flowers.

10. Draw a person with donuts for eyes.

11. Draw a cowboy in Antarctica riding a polar bear.

12. Draw yourself as a fairy.

Make Believe

1. Draw something other than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

2. Draw a troll riding a unicorn.

3. Draw what your imaginary friend would look like if we could see them.

4. Draw a dragon breathing rainbows.

5. Draw an alien driving a car.

6. Draw an elf jumping on a trampoline.

Objects/Places

Other

These ideas are not only great for bell work but can be used for sketchbook prompts as well. If you're looking for even more sketchbook ideas, check out an additional 100 right here.
What silly drawing prompt would you add to this list? What kind of bell work do you do in your art room?

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100 Silly Drawing Prompts to Engage Your Students - The Art of Education University

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The first five minutes of any art class can become chaotic quickly. It's important to have a daily routine for students to follow. Using bell ringers is a great strategy to help settle students and save time. It sets the tone for a productive class. Bell work can be presented in various ways.

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Engaging ideas for fostering student connection with each other and with their teacher

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Eduprotocols are engaging lesson frames that can get students learning actively in synchronous settings

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EduProtocols: Teach better, work less, achieve more with easy to use lesson frames to spark student engagement.

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Engaging Students with Expository Reading

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Engaging Students with Expository Reading

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This link was shared in the Empowered EDVenture Facebook Group. It draws on the popular work of Eduprotocols to engage students in expository reading work