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COVID-19 Checklist to Support LGBTQ Students

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Kathleen Scalise and Dylan Wiliam

As educational researcher Paul A. Kirschner has pointed out, traditional distance learning bears as much relationship to what schools and districts are doing now- what he calls "emergency remote teaching" -as elective surgery in a well-appointed medical facility does to emergency surgery in a makeshift field hospital in a war zone (2020).

Over the last 60 years, we have learned quite a lot about the best ways to teach students when they are not in front of us. Research can never tell teachers exactly what to do-classrooms are far too complex-but it can provide some indication of the kinds of constraints that are important to take into account when designing teaching of any kind, and, just as important, identify the "best bets" for making "emergency remote teaching" as effective as possible.

The psychologist David Ausubel argued that the single most important factor influencing learning was what the learner already knew, and that to be effective, teachers should ascertain this and teach accordingly (1968). Even in face-to-face teaching, when students all start out with similar amounts of knowledge around a new topic, they will vary dramatically in the sense they have made of what they have heard, seen, or done. It is only by assessing students that we can determine whether they have understood what they need to understand.

Attention to these processes is even more important in emergency remote teaching, where the usual cues surrounding learning comprehension are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, and the range of attentiveness and attendance is broader than with in-person learning.

One formative assessment framework that we think is particularly useful derives from considering the roles of teachers, learners, and their peers in terms of three key processes in instruction (see Figure 1): where students are going, where they are now, and what they need do to improve.
Figure 1: 5 Instructional Strategies
Over the next few Express issues, we'll lay out practical remote techniques for each of the five strategies. This month, we'll start with the first one: clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions.

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

In some districts and in some teacher observation protocols, teachers are expected to begin each instructional episode with a clear statement of the learning intentions. We agree that teachers should always be clear about the intended results from an instructional session, but whether this intention is shared with the students-and if so, at what point-is a professional judgment that should be left to the teacher.

For online sessions, there are many occasions when it might be more appropriate to begin by asking students to write down what they already know about a topic or to begin with an organizing question, such as "Why does it take longer to cook potatoes in an oven at 220°C than it does at 100°C in a pan of boiling water?" The teacher might then share the learning intention with students halfway through the session, at the end of the session, or even at the beginning of a subsequent session.

In all this, it is essential to remember that learning is a change in long-term capability. Although we cannot judge learning until we can check whether students can still do something they've learned at some point in the future, teachers need to make decisions in real time ("Do I need to spend more time on this, or can I move on?"). As well as clear learning intentions, it is useful for teachers to develop success criteria.

Making Success Criteria Count

Success criteria are sort of "I'll be happy if..." statements, which indicate what level of performance the teacher feels is necessary for learning to take place. There are at least four different forms that criteria can take:

1. As limitations on what is expected. For example, a teacher might decide that students are ready to move on to something else when they can, in a session, reliably add two fractions where all numerators and denominators are less than 10.

2. As practice in applying learning to different contexts. For example, when students have been discussing the distinction between mass and weight on earth, we could ask them whether someone's mass and weight would be the same on the moon.

3. As descriptions of what is expected. For example, in a literary analysis, students might be told that the best work demonstrates analytical and interpretive skills, explores alternative approaches and interpretations, and has sustained and concise writing.

4. As scaffolding for students' responses. For example, in early-years art instruction, students might be told that when drawing a face, the eyes should be halfway down the face and the distance between the eyes should be similar to the width of one eye.

Success criteria allow us to make better instructional decisions about what to do next and help students manage their own learning.

Making Learning Intentions Visible
Elementary Grades
What does sharing learning intentions and success criteria look like in remote teaching?

For elementary students, one example could use four tools: Google JamBoard, a virtual whiteboard available for students to work collaboratively; Google Hangouts, which allows virtual participants to meet in a group and share text, voice, and video chats; Padlet, a virtual bulletin board where participants can collaboratively display information on any topic; and AnswerGarden, an online feedback app to elicit brief responses. Other analog tools could work depending on what technologies schools have adopted.

Students can list and adopt success criteria based on a range offered from the instructors, who encourage them to go deeper. Students digest descriptions into their own words in graphic displays to underscore mastery of intent and to establish buy-in. Instructors can use AnswerGarden to finalize responses and complete shared learning intentions. Students in one AnswerGarden group working on learning about social contracts might specify "kindness, understanding, and listening individually and collaboratively" as their shared intentions, but might not capture what would be the success criteria of these elements.
Secondary Grades
It is important for teachers to encourage grounding concepts in observable ways. For instance, students might show "kindness" in Zoom by completing an assigned peer review on time and getting their own work in on time so their classmate is not left waiting. They might show "understanding" by an encouraging reply in a discussion board reflection. They could combine this with collaboration and individualization if their reply includes actionable feedback. Educators can encourage even young students to reflect in detail about what resonated or was confusing and avoid generalities such as "I liked that!". Educators can encourage active listening with "role plays" over Zoom, where students are given a scenario and a character to play. Classmates who are not in the role play can serve as "screen writers" who offer up helpful dialogue lines in the chat box to the players.

In secondary education, we introduce Mistake-Centered Active Exploration (MCAE) in Advanced Placement science and mathematics courses. MCAE is an approach that focuses on reviewing and valuing mistakes made during online learning. Teachers can employ error review in many online settings, such as if the platform or tools are capturing work products. Technology often easily allows for collecting and collating products and providing various types of self, peer, and teacher review feedback or associated work samples. MCAE requires a bank of reasonably robust assessment tasks, such as interim assessments, teacher common assessments, or curriculum-embedded activities.

For the MCAE mistake emphasis, the approach inculcates a "love" of mistakes. One of the first student tutorials begins:

"Most people ...hate making mistakes, they hate admitting they made mistakes, and they really hate digging into their mistakes to understand why they made them and how to learn from them moving forward. This is too bad because our mistakes are pretty much the most valuable thing we have when it comes to learning something new. Way more valuable than getting something right, because mistakes help us figure out what it is we have to learn to get where we are trying to go" (Scalise, April 8, 2020).

What does this have to do with sharing learning intentions and success criteria? In MCAE for the secondary context, we can classify mistakes in science and math into three groups: 1) content mistakes, 2) strategy mistakes, and 3) careless mistakes. Content refers to the educational standard teachers are assessing, rather than simple declarative factual knowledge. This may overlap with disciplinary core ideas, practices, and crosscutting concepts, all contained within a science standard. Throughout teaching sessions, students learn what these types of mistakes look like for a given assessment task. They also learn how to describe and correct the mistakes, which then become a type of success criteria.

A content mistake might be failing to acknowledge that mass is conserved for a chemistry exercise (e.g. claiming a house burns down and the mass no longer exists but has "burned up" with the house). A strategy mistake could be knowing mass is conserved but not that conservation is the strategy to solve a particular chemistry exercise (e.g. the house burns down and the mass had to go somewhere, so consider where the mass could have gone if there is just a little bit of ash left?). A careless mistake might be using the wrong units to account for the conservation issue, such as grams instead of kilograms.

In terms of shared intentions through limitations on what is expected, the teacher decides that students are ready to move on when they are making few or no mistakes in the initial realm. But within the same task, students will find other mistakes still emerging that they can value as learning lessons.

This does not mean that the student isn't responsible for other capabilities, such as strategy, from the start. But if teachers find students are turning to tools or approaches that are out-of-scope or show limited utility for a task, the instructor's feedback can scaffold where to turn until students are closer to mastering the essential standard. In this way, instructors explicitly tell students what the limitations and expectations are. As students progress, they see they need to develop strategic competence and adaptive reasoning for the given set of tasks.

The shared learning intentions expand into a zone of development, where the teacher and student continue to make meaning together by establishing new expectations in mistake analysis.

Stay tuned for next month, when we discuss how to apply the next two strategies of formative assessment in remote teaching.

References

Ausubel, D., Hanesian, H., and Novak J.D. (1968). Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (pp vi).

Kirschner, P.A. (2020, May 2). Ten tips for emergency remote teaching. researchED Home. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIc1lL6-tcw

Scalise, K. (April 8, 2020). Mistake-centered active exploration [video].

Kathleen Scalise a professor at the University of Oregon in the Department of Methodology, Policy and Leadership. Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) is emeritus professor of educational assessment at University College London.

More on This Topic: 3 Strategies for Promoting Deep Learning Virtually

ASCD Express, Vol. 16, No. 7. Copyright 2020 by ASCD. All rights reserved. Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.

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Formative Assessment for Remote Teaching: Understanding Learning Intentions

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Kathleen Scalise and Dylan Wiliam As educational researcher Paul A. Kirschner has pointed out, traditional distance learning bears as much relationship to what schools and districts are doing now- what he calls "emergency remote teaching" -as elective surgery in a well-appointed medical facility does to emergency surgery in a makeshift field hospital in a war zone (2020).

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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Now, instead of troubleshooting problems on the spot, his students are tackling other jobs from their homes - "everything from contributing to the help desk blog to dealing with random technical issues," Wong says. Two students, for example, helped him produce a video tutorial explaining how to use Google Meet in Google Classroom. "A teacher had questions about it, and everyone's videoconferencing now, so we decided that could be useful to a lot of people."

Just updated our @BHShelpdesk site with our new video and included a link to the Burlington Public Schools digital resources page. Thanks again to Help Desk students Sameeha Baig and Sam Norman for helping me with the video! https://t.co/pX8zRjB1nf

- LeRoy Wong (@leroywong) April 28, 2020

Remote Student-Run Help Desks Can Get Tricky

Also focused on videoconferencing at the moment is the student-run help desk at Bethlehem Central School District in New York. The district relies primarily on Google Meet and Zoom, explains Navaar Johnson, the help desk supervisor and senior network and systems technician. "Our students will be supporting both, and they'll be helping instructors with any issues in Google Classroom as well," he says.

Much like the BSD help desk, the one at BCSD was born of necessity. Budget cuts had forced IT to downsize, so the department approached district leaders to suggest students fill in the gap. The approach they settled on has the team in IT managing the student help desk as an internship program, Johnson says.
Find out how BCSD launched its student-run help desk program.
"Students apply and they go through a full interview, and we look at recommendations and prior work experience, if they have any," Johnson says. Many do not, but that's usually OK. "Last year we had 36 students. We try to take as many as we can."

When the district closed its buildings last semester, there wasn't much his help desk students could do, Johnson says. Under normal circumstances, they would have been repairing Chromebooks, either by hand or using Chrome Remote Desktop. But with students at home, "it was a tricky situation," he says. "We'd always provided supervision as they worked, and that was impossible. We really didn't have a good solution."

For the new school year, Johnson says, everything depends on the district's operating model. When his help desk students are onsite, he'll welcome them into the dedicated service room to tackle any issues that need to be addressed. "Anything they can feasibly take care of, I'll absolutely be handing it over to them," he says. That includes the repair of damaged Chromebooks used for remote learning and possibly conducting remote instructional sessions with students or teachers having difficulty with videoconferencing and other software.

And when his student-run help desk interns are in the throes of remote learning themselves? "What I know for sure is we'll be staying in touch with them," Johnson says. "They've always been a huge help to us, and moving forward, we hope to continue utilizing them in any way that we can."
MORE ON EDTECH: Here's what it takes to run a successful student help desk program.

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Student-Run IT Help Desks Adapt to the World of Remote Learning

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Now, instead of troubleshooting problems on the spot, his students are tackling other jobs from their homes - "everything from contributing to the help desk blog to dealing with random technical issues," Wong says. Two students, for example, helped him produce a video tutorial explaining how to use Google Meet in Google Classroom.

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Gamification Works!! We know when we gamify activities it increases student engagement and increased engagement increases student learning. In my webinar today I went over how to create digital badges using Google Slides and Google Drawings.

Make Badges in Google Slides

I have created a template in Google Slides to help you to quickly create digital badges.

Create a copy of the template and then wait for the "Make Badges" menu to show up next to the Help menu.

Authorize the Add-on

I have NOT submitted this Add-on to Google. You will get a warning that it has not been authorized by Google, because I did not ask them to. It is safe to authorize. This (and all my Add-ons) collects NO user data.

Make Badge

By choosing "Make Badge" a slide will be added to the Google Slides that has a round circle on it with a thick border. I have updated the Add-on so the template has a transparent background. This is not noticeable unless you download the slide.

Design Your Badge

Use the Insert menu to add Word Art or add clipart images.

Make More Badges

By using the Add-on you can quickly create another badge. Simply select "Make Badge" and a new slide will be added.

Download the Badge

To use the badge, you will need to use the File menu and choose "Download." Choose PNG as the file type. Using PNG will maintain the transparency of the background.

Drag the Badges Onto Student Work

I am a fan of using Google Slides over Google Docs. One of those reasons is I can drag images onto student work as digital stickers. Notice that when you download the badge in Chrome it downloads to the downloads bar. You can drag from the download bar right into a Google Doc or Slides! Save the downloaded badges to a folder on your computer and you can drag from the folder right onto student work as well. If you save them to Google Drive, use the Insert menu to insert images from Drive.

Badge Game

If you are using my spreadsheet for leveling up the Google Slides badges will not work. Make a copy of the game template:

Google Drawing

Instead, create your badges in Google Drawings to use them in the spreadsheet.

Square Canvas

After creating a new Google Drawing go to the File menu and choose "Page Setup." Change to a custom canvas size. I like to use the units of Pixels and choose 500 by 500 pixels. (5 inches by 5 inches is close enough if you would rather.) Just make the two dimensions match so that the canvas is square.

Shift Key

After making a square canvas use the shapes tool to create a circle. By holding down the Shift key it will create a perfect circle. Center the circle on the canvas. Red lines will show when you are centered both horizontally and vertically.

Thicker Border

The real key to creating a good looking badge is to thicken the edge of the drawing. Next to the paint can is the line color tool. Next to the line color tool is the border weight. Have at least a border weight of 8 pixels.

Design Badge

Just as before, design your badge how you wish. Use the paint can to change the badge color. Add images and text to the badge.

Publish to the Web

It is important that you do NOT use the link at the top of the URL. You must use the File menu and choose "Publish to the Web." Click the Publish button. Then copy the link from the publish.

Badges Tab

Back on the spreadsheet for alicekeeler.com/badgegame where you made a copy go to the Badges tab along the bottom. In Column B paste the link from your published Google Drawing. This will swap out the default badge I made for your custom one!!

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Make Badges with Google Apps - Teacher Tech

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Gamification Works!! We know when we gamify activities it increases student engagement and increased engagement increases student learning. In my webinar today I went over how to create digital badges using Google Slides and Google Drawings. I have created a template in Google Slides to help you to quickly create digital badges.

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... And by "WOW!" I mean: Wow, I need to use these with my students. OR ...Wow, I need to share these with my colleagues. OR Wow, I am inspired to develop my own digital history project. Of course a synthesis of all 3 is the sweet spot. That was the course of action leading to the development of my US History in a Global Context project.

What is digital history? Indeed, defining your terms is usually a great place to start. I have found these explanations to be useful and bring moments of clarity which ultimately furthers the conversation and utility of these types of projects.

1. The American Historical Association: "Digital history might be understood broadly as an approach to examining and representing the past that works with the new communication technologies of the computer, the internet network, and software systems."

2. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University "Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as databases, hypertextualization, and networks, to create and share historical knowledge."

I have had the pleasure of working on multiple digital history projects. So, let's look a bit further and see what formats digital history projects can take. In short, when we discuss digital history, we can be referencing a number of types and purposes. The common aspects being that they are accessible to the public and organized around a theme(s). This list comes (in part) from the Organization of American Historians.

Archive: a site that provides a body of primary sources. Could also include collections of documents or databases of materials.

Essay, Exhibit, Digital Narrative: something created or written specifically for the Web or with digital methods, that serves as a secondary source for interpreting the past by offering a historical narrative or argument. This category can also include maps, network visualizations, or other ways of representing historical data.

Teaching Resource: a site that provides online assignments, syllabi, other resources specifically geared toward using the Web, or digital apps for teaching, including educational history content for children or adults, pedagogical training tools, and outreach to the education community.

Gateway/Clearinghouse: a site that provides access to other websites or Internet-based resources.

Podcasts: video and audio podcasts that engage audiences on historical topics and themes.

Games: challenging interactive activities that educate through competition or role playing, finding evidence defined by rules and linked to a specific outcome. Games can be online, peer-to- peer, or mobile.

Wonderful! With classrooms having access to computers and moving to 1:1 formats, quality digital resources is in demand. The good news is that they are out there. But these are only good if they get used. To that end, I have curated a collection of digital history projects that are designed for high school and higher education history and social studies classes. These selections offer a variety of implementation pathways allowing immediate use with students (either in full or in part). Additionally, these would be relevant for history/social science methods classes.

Here is one more general resource, a short video, to help frame and advance your understanding before you dive into the digital history resources.

What project did I miss? What do you think of these? Let me know and contact the project designers so they know who is using the resource they created. Enjoy!

1. The 68.77.89 Project: Arts, Culture, and Social Change: Created by The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, this resource was just launched in early 2018! Students will be challenged to apply the lessons from the experiences of Czechs and Slovaks to better understand issues of democracy today and their responsibility for preserving democracy for the future. 68.77.89 is designed for students in grades 9-12. It provides a set of 12 learning activities in 4 modules that meet Common Core, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate standards. The activities can be used as a set designed to be used together, or in single modules as free-standing lessons. Images of the 4 modules is below.

2. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database: This is a remarkable tool which synthesizes data with visualization formats very effectively. The database "has information on almost 36,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. In order to present the trans-Atlantic slave trade database to a broader audience, particularly a grade 6-12 audience, a dedicated team of teachers and curriculum developers from around the United States developed lesson plans that explore the database. Utilizing the various resources of the website, these lessons plans allow students to engage the history and legacy of the Atlantic slave trade in diverse and meaningful ways. Here is one example of a search I did.

3. Slavery Images: Don't let the simple look of this collection dissuade you. It is a remarkable resource! "The 1,280 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the pe riod of slavery. This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public." The search feature is easy and inviting. This photo is from their collection. Powerful indeed. Interior courtyard, where captive Africans were assembled, and "Gate of No Return," the passageway through which they were led to the beach and from there to slaving vessels waiting offshore. (Photographed by Michael Tuite in Ghana; Aug. 1999)

4. Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: This is an intriguing world history curriculum. Given the unique geography of the transitions currently underway in the Middle East (several geographically contiguous North African states) and the likelihood that interactions between Europe, northern Africa, Turkey, and the Arab world will constitute a vitally important sub-region of globalization going forward, new cross-Mediterranean tendrils of economic and civil society connectivity will be necessary to help anchor these transitions. An outline of the modules can be viewed here.

5. Rethinking the Region: North Africa and the Middle East: Another contribution to the field of world history, this project "analyzed the common categories used to describe and teach the Modern Middle East and North Africa in existing World History textbooks. Based on this research, we offer robust alternatives for Grade 9-12 social studies teachers and multicultural educators that integrate new scholarship and curricula on the region. To this end, we examined the ways in which the region is framed and described historically, and analyzed categories like the 'rise and spread of Islam,' the Crusades, and the Ottoman Empire. Narratives surrounding these events and regions tend to depict discrete and isolated civilizations at odds with one another. To remedy this oversimplification, our work illuminates the manners in which peoples and societies interacted with each other in collaborative and fluid ways at different political and historical junctures.

6. Histography: "Histography" is interactive timeline that spans across 14 billion years of history, from the Big Bang to 2015. The site draws historical events from Wikipedia and self-updates daily with new recorded events. The interface allows for users to view between decades to millions of years. The viewer can choose to watch a variety of events which have happened in a particular period or to target a specific event in time. For example you can look at the past century within the categories of war and inventions. Histography was created as a final project in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Guided by Ronel Mor. Below is a screenschot of the platform.

In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks... The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors-experienced college-level instructors-volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms." This is being used in high schools as well. Also, you can offer insights and edits for the editors to consider.

8. Mapping American Social Movements in the 20th Century: " This project produces and displays free interactive maps showing the historical geography of dozens of social movements that have influenced American life and politics since the start of the 20th century, including radical movements, civil rights movements, labor movements, women's movements, and more. Until now historians and social scientists have mostly studied social movements in isolation and often with little attention to geography. This project allows us to see where social movements were active and where not, helping us better understand patterns of influence and endurance. It exposes new dimensions of American political geography, showing how locales that in one era fostered certain kinds of social movements often changed political colors over time." The screenshot below shows a sample of an interactive map. Fantastic!

Made by the invaluable team at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, Eagle Eye engages middle and high school students in solving and creating interactive challenges about Congress, American history, civics, and government with Library of Congress primary sources. This helps develop students' civic understanding and historical thinking skills. It is highly interactive and invites students and teachers to use existing challenges and develop their own.

10. Mapping the 4th of July: Mapping the Fourth of July is a crowdsourced digital archive of primary sources that reveal how Americans celebrated July 4 during the Civil War era. These sources reveal how a wide range of Americans - northern and southern, white and black, male and female, Democrat and Republican, immigrant and native born - all used the Fourth to articulate their deepest beliefs about American identity during the great crisis of the Civil War... Whether you teach at the college or high school level, your students will jump at the chance to learn about how a previous generation of Americans celebrated the Fourth. (Yes, there were fireworks!) These are engaging documents that open up big themes: North-South differences; the causes and consequences of the Civil War; African American experiences of emancipation. On our website you'll find standards-based assignment guidelines that make it easy to integrate it into your courses.

11.Back Story: Incredible podcast focusing on American history topics in a range of contexts. The hosts are fun, informed, and engaging. BackStory is a weekly podcast that uses current events in America to take a deep dive into our past. Hosted by noted U.S. historians, each episode provides listeners with different perspectives on a particular theme or subject - giving you all sides to the story and then some. Also, a resources icon indicates that the episode has educator resources available. Use BackStory in your classroom! Just go to the episode archives and filter by episodes with resources.
12. Woodrow Wilson Center - Cold War International History Project:
This resource feels like the "godfather" of digital history projects. "Since its establishment in August 1991, the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) has amassed a tremendous collection of archival documents on the Cold War era from the once secret archives of former communist countries. CWIHP has become internationally recognized as the world's preeminent resource on the Cold War." The help organize and search the trove of documents, you search using a map, timeline (going back to 1866... great extended context) and contains over 30 featured collections (sample below).

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12 Digital History Projects That Will Make You Say WOW!

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And by "WOW!" I mean: Wow, I need to use these with my students. OR ...Wow, I need to share these with my colleagues. OR Wow, I am inspired to develop my own digital history project. Of course a synthesis of all 3 is the sweet spot.

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Teach and learn with The Times: Resources for bringing the world into your classroom

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Duplicate the Tab when Collaborating in a Google Doc

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I've always loved using education technology to support my students, so now that my school community is learning online, choosing digital tools to inspire my kids feels like such an exciting opportunity for me. But when I lead a PD session for fellow teachers on virtual teaching, I often hear questions like, "There are so many digital teaching tools! How are we supposed to know what to use when?"

It's true - there are a lot of tools out there! But ed tech doesn't have to feel stressful or scary - and as we find new ways to build virtual tools into our lesson plans, we can do so much to empower our students' learning! We can all get comfortable choosing and using digital teaching tools by connecting them to our goals for our students and ourselves - and by trusting in our "why."

When I share my approach with fellow teachers, I describe it as "designing backwards." First, I ask myself, "What learning outcome do I want my students to achieve? If I were to explain why my kids were doing this activity, what would I say?" When I take that quick moment to set my "why," I can work backward from that outcome - I can think about the tools that might get my students there. As a teacher, I want every tool to support three goals I always have for my kids: I want to encourage them to grow independently; I want to build up their learning skills; and I want to empower them to master standards.

Every educator is different, and your approach to promoting student success should be your own - but in recent months, ed tech has become so central to what we teachers do, and I believe the more we share our knowledge, the more we can do to support our kids! (For example, I know that sometimes, getting students to participate in online classes can be a challenge - so I've shared a good foundational resource on building up virtual engagement at the bottom of this post!) That's why I'm excited to share my process of selecting digital tools to serve my teaching goals - and make a difference for my students:

1. Using virtual tools to promote voice and choice
If we want kids to become independent learners, we need to give them choices in how they learn. (I've included a link to a great, quick read on the power of voice and choice at the end of this post!) When I share an activity or an assignment with my students, they're all going to be progressing toward the same learning goal - but if I can give them choices in how they explore new content and tackle new skill challenges, I can gradually get them to take ownership of their learning. For example, when it's time to talk about a reading, I want each student to participate, but I also know that if I give them choices, they'll engage with the material more deeply. Teaching in a virtual classroom gives me some really exciting tools for promoting that differentiated learning: I use breakout rooms in Zoom or Google Meet to create discussion groups, pair them with shared Google Docs or Slides and give each student choices on how they engage and what their responsibilities are. One student might be the group scribe, another might be in charge of making sure everyone has a chance to contribute - every voice is valued and supported.

2. Building learning skills by building ed tech skills
Next, I take a look at how comfortable my students are with using educational technology to learn. That's a journey for all our kids, just as growing our own confidence with digital teaching tools is a journey for us educators. When I share a new project with my students, I want them to feel excited about getting started. So if it's early in the school year, I'll choose and model a tool we can use simply, so they'll feel confident using it on their own - but I'll make sure it's a tool I can build on for deeper learning in the long term, too. The next time we use that tool, I can ask them to stretch a bit more - and that means I can get them to stretch a bit more in their learning, too!

To continue my example above, the first time I used breakout rooms as a tool to teach my kids, I gave them each a partner to work with, rather than a whole group, and that was the only tab we had open. Then we scaled up: I expanded group sizes and student roles. Then I added assignments that students open in a second tab and refer to with their group. Then I added collaborative docs that students open in a third tab and contribute to as they switch between the breakout room tab and the assignment tab. (I'm dropping some simple, evidence-based guidance on scaling up with ed tech tools below.) As my students become more skillful at using multiple digital tools to work independently and collaboratively, those tools empower them to become more skillful at really digging into new material. At every step, their ed tech skills boost their learning skills.

3. Using digital feedback to promote student success
Feedback isn't separate from learning, it's part of learning, and that's why this third step connects right back to the first - to voice and choice. Just as I build choices into each learning activity, I build choices into each opportunity to demonstrate mastery - so that each time I provide feedback, I can celebrate and encourage each student's individual progress. But when we're not sharing a physical classroom with our students, we need to think a little differently about using feedback tools to really promote their success. And while providing live feedback can be a big part of our virtual teaching practice, it's essential to provide guidance that our kids can hang onto and to which they can refer back.

Research suggests that providing feedback for kids to watch or listen to, rather than read, can be incredibly effective in encouraging them to keep trying and growing. (Catlin Tucker's work really inspired me on this, so I'm sharing a breakdown from her below.) That's why, when I'm ready to give my students feedback, I use a tool that lets me record myself navigating through their work and talking about what I see. When I need to make a correction, I can make sure my tone feels affirming and supportive. And I can really convey my excitement about what they've accomplished - I can say, "This is an incredible thought I'm seeing you explain here. I'd love for you to dive deeper into this idea, and I think it would be a wonderful project for you!" Sometimes I use a program called mote to record audio feedback; other times I use Seesaw to record videos, but it can also be done with Screencastify. These tools have been absolutely transformative for my students: They get to see and hear the moment when I get excited about their creativity and insight- and that gets them excited about rising to a new challenge. As they dig into new learning, they replay my feedback for encouragement, and it really fuels their passion for growth!

An ed tech tool is just a tool, and its meaning and value come from you - from the "why" you bring to every step of your practice. Next time you need to choose a digital tool, consider taking a moment to set your "why," to center your goals for your kids - and to trust yourself as their teacher. When we take that moment to sharpen our confidence and focus, we can take another look at that cluttered, complicated field of tools - and home in on the technology we can use to really make a difference for our students.

Here, I'm sharing a few resources that inform my approach to teaching with tech, and I hope you'll find them useful in your own practice, too:

We teachers can do so much to empower one another as we grow - so I hope you'll share your ed tech journey with me and our fellow educators in the Teacher2Teacher community!

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Starting With "Why": How I Choose Digital Tools to Support My Students

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I've always loved using education technology to support my students, so now that my school community is learning online, choosing digital tools to inspire my kids feels like such an exciting opportunity for me.

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It's a common refrain among the change-resistant: "We've always done it this way." But in a difficult year, where charting the unknown has become a daily occurrence, it's a tough argument for a school to make. We've never done things this way-meaning it may be the perfect opportunity to do them differently.

In our work with schools and districts from across diverse geographies and demographics, the Institute for Teaching and Leading has seen first-hand the incredible hard work of leadership teams and educators to adjust to this new and ever-changing landscape. Our organization works with schools and districts across the country to create more student-centered learning experiences, which gives us a unique view to the changes that are, and are not, happening at scale.

While the possibilities for flexible, innovative learning models are myriad, stories from across the country make it clear that as a nation, we are largely missing this opportunity. The vast majority of emergent virtual and hybrid learning models appear to be "stuck at substitution"-that is, they seek to recreate or translate the brick-and-mortar school experience into the cloud without stopping to ask which aspects of those models may not truly serve students in the time of COVID-19 or beyond.

What's Changed?

Some of the ways in which the pandemic has shifted the education landscape are less obvious than closed schools, socially distanced classrooms or masked recess periods. Working families are now juggling conflicting priorities. If they are working from home, parents may still not be available to help their children with coursework during the school day; if they are working outside the home, students are often attending class from a grandparent or other caregiver's house. In some cases, high school students may be tasked with overseeing the care and schooling of their younger siblings as well as their own, and in homes where adults have lost jobs or had hours cut due to COVID, older children are often working during the traditional school day to support the family.

Offering only a virtual version of the traditional classroom and bell schedule is no longer sufficient to serve students or families across these diverse situations and needs. We need to rethink how, where and when we are delivering instruction and making learning accessible.

Moving Past Substitution

When we say "stuck at substitution," some readers may recognize the SAMR model of education technology integration. The SAMR framework describes four different levels of technology use, from Substitution to Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition (SAMR). At its most basic level, education technology can be used to simply substitute: to replace traditional methods of teaching and learning with ones that are digitally mediated, but are still based on the same basic structure and pedagogy. For example, a digital worksheet is still a worksheet in the same way a traditional six-period bell schedule done via Zoom or Google Meets is still a basic substitution of the physical classroom setting for the virtual one.

Common Sense Media

At the next level, edtech can be used for augmentation, to bring some other affordance or benefit to the teaching and learning experience-for example, when that worksheet becomes a shared Google Doc that allows for collaboration and increased critical thinking. The essential task remains the same, but the technology adds a new aspect to the work. Most schools and districts that we see are augmenting the virtual learning model by using technology to offer an enhanced experience. They might, for example, use Jamboard, Padlet or Kahoot to allow students to demonstrate mathematical thinking, to visually share ideas or to practice vocabulary concepts in a cloud-based setting, while retaining the basic bell schedule and relying primarily on live, video call instruction.

At the modification level, students and teachers use technology in a way that changes the traditional student task. In other words, it allows the learner to create an authentic product or to demonstrate mastery in a way that isn't confined to paper and pencil. Similarly, at the modification level, schools and districts reevaluate how they use time and resources. That might mean creating solutions that fit the needs of struggling students and families rather than relying on the ability of those same families to continue engaging in a model that was not built with a pandemic in mind. Most of the examples that appear in the section below fall into this category.

When technology is truly reimagining the task at hand, then we say that it is leading to redefinition -a totally new and different way of interacting with instructional material, building understanding or demonstrating mastery. In this case, it often comes down to fundamental changes to the very structure of virtual and hybrid learning models. Redefinition means thinking beyond existing paradigms and schedules that are built for an on-campus experience. It is the opportunity to imagine entirely new ways of teaching and learning-for example, attendance policies that emphasize engagement versus seat time, blended learning models that leverage technology for anywhere, anytime learning, and instructional design that allows increased student choice and participation.

The How, Where and When of Student Engagement

Some schools and districts are already exploring what can happen when they take the technological foundation they have already built and leverage it to better serve their learning communities, by modifying and/or redefining how, where and when they are delivering instruction and engaging with students and families. Here are just a few examples we've seen.

Realizing early on that "regular" school days no longer worked for all learners and their families, Northern Cass School District #97 in North Dakota began conducting evening class sessions to allow for greater flexibility for working students and their caregivers. As an added bonus, they discovered it also helped teachers who were struggling to support their own children in hybrid or virtual learning while teaching on a full-time schedule.

In northern New Mexico, Taos Academy Charter School, where one of us, Elizabeth LeBlanc, serves as the director of teaching and learning, uses a flexible schedule to conduct one-on-one and small group work in the afternoons and to offer on-demand support through Homework Hotlines in the morning. Every student's individual weekly schedule is designed for that learner's needs, strengths and challenges.

Westminster Public Schools in suburban Colorado is offering students greater voice and choice by incorporating more open-ended explorations and student-driven projects into their curriculum. They are working with students through their competency-based system, which prioritizes content mastery and self-paced work, to redefine learning tasks for increased engagement.

Live-streaming has offered an additional layer of support and engagement in Pennsylvania's Northern Lehigh School District during hybrid learning; on their off-campus days, students can attend the live-streamed class synchronously or can view the recording later for key content if they need support in their coursework.

In rural Milton Area School District in Pennsylvania, students work asynchronously (or self-paced) one day of the week to allow teachers to conduct family outreach, re-engage absent learners and hold remediation and academic support sessions as needed.

At YES (Yuba Environmental Science) Charter Academy in California, going virtual has not stopped their hand-on learning as their teachers structure STEM exploration activities that students can do with everyday objects; during the instructional blocks, educational assistants meet with small, flexible learning groups to address targeted needs in reading and math.

Right now, many schools, districts, educators, and students are surviving, but not thriving in this variable world of education during COVID-19. The examples above, however, show that this does not have to be the case, and that innovative thinking may be more important than ever before in helping us meet the needs of students both during and after the pandemic.

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Now Is the Time to Redefine Learning - Not Recreate Traditional School Online - EdSurge News

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It's a common refrain among the change-resistant: "We've always done it this way." But in a difficult year, where charting the unknown has become a daily occurrence, it's a tough argument for a school to make. We've never done things this way-meaning it may be the perfect opportunity to do them differently.

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Student assessment has changed in the new millennium. Though there's something to be said for old-fashioned paper and pencil methods, new technologies are evolving daily to assist teachers with this task.

In this article, we'll look at different ways to assess student learning using technology. Here are nine methods of online assessment that are sure to support training, engage your audience, and provide teachers with insight into their students' learning process. But first, let's understand the assessment process.

What Is Assessment?

Simply put, assessment is the process of gathering information on what students know based on their educational experience. The results are typically used to identify areas where improvement is needed and ensure that the course content meets learning needs.

What is the purpose of assessment?

As per the definition, the common goal of assessment is to evaluate and improve student learning, but the objectives can vary slightly, depending on the type of assessment that's used.

There are two basic types:

Formative assessments occur within an online course or lesson and are used to determine how well a student is learning the material. They're best when they are ongoing, consistent, and provide critical feedback to learners.

Summative assessments are sometimes referred to as a final exam and measure what the student has learned after completing a course. They can validate how well your content supports the course's overall learning goals.

Obviously, assessments are about more than just grades. When meaningful and well-constructed, they help students gear up for success by challenging them to reflect, interact, and apply their knowledge to answer questions, solve problems, and communicate information.

How Do You Evaluate Students Online?

There are several approaches for evaluating students:

The best method to use will vary, based on the learning needs and objectives. For example, an online quiz will be appropriate if your goal is to measure knowledge gains quickly. But if you want to test your students' interviewing skills, you're better off using a dialogue simulation.

9 Ways to Assess Student Learning Online

Let's see how we can use nine of the most common assessment methods to support student learning. Сheck out this infographic for an overview.

1. Online Quizzes

Quizzes are a traditional assessment tool. Plus, when paired with technology, they are an excellent way to engage student learning. Quiz questions can take a number of forms, such as multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and hotspots. One benefit of quizzes is that they are short and easy to assess. Another is that question order and options can be randomized, so each student's quiz is unique.

Online quizzes are ideal for measuring learning results across a wide audience. Since each student takes the same test, you can compare and contrast results across different classes, schools, or communities.

A non-graded online quiz can be given prior to the start of a lesson to gain a baseline measurement of a student's existing knowledge. You can also embed a knowledge check test into a module to reinforce concepts taught in the lesson, or make a final graded test at the end of the course to evaluate students' overall performance.

How can I create an online quiz?

Online quizzes can be easily created using an eLearning authoring toolkit such as iSpring Suite. iSpring Suite includes a quiz maker tool that offers 14 question types. You simply need to choose the appropriate templates to put together a quiz for your students quickly and easily. You can enhance your test by providing detailed answer feedback, adding info slides, and creating individual learning paths, depending on how well each employee is performing on the quiz.

2. Open-Ended/Essay Questions

Open-ended or essay-type questions are one of the most popular qualitative assessment methods. They prompt learners to explore their thoughts, feelings, and opinions, while testing their overall comprehension of a topic. This type of question encourages critical thinking and is best suited for evaluating higher-level learning. Essay questions require a longer time for students to think, organize, and compose their answers.

How can I create an open-ended assessment?

Open-ended assessments are one of the question types available in iSpring Suite. Unlike many other questions types, they cannot be auto-scored in online courses, so instructors will have to take the time to review them one by one.

3. Drag-And-Drop Activities

Drag-and-drops are a type of assessment that show a learner's ability to link information and apply knowledge to solve a practical problem. You can incorporate both images and text in a drag-and-drop activity, giving it a real-world feel that is both challenging and engaging.

It's essential to use this assessment type when you want learners to be able to apply knowledge in a real-life situation.

How can I create a drag-and-drop activity?

iSpring Suite provides a drag-and-drop template that allows you to move text boxes, images, and shapes to a specific place on the page. To create an assessment, you need to upload the images into a question template and then simply identify the drop target.

4. Online Interviews

You can incorporate a video conference within your online teaching to give learning a more personal touch. During brief online interviews, students can demonstrate their proficiency in language, music, nursing, and other courses, for example, where mastery of specific skills is an important requirement. Sometimes it may be beneficial to conduct group interviews - for team project reports, for example.

Interviews can also include a mentoring component enabling students to get immediate feedback from instructors and help them feel more responsible about their studies.

How can I create an online interview?

You can share online interviews with the help of web conferencing tools like Zoom. For best results, take the time to plan out your interview before it begins. Prepare your questions in advance and schedule a time for the meeting to occur. Allow your online learners a way to provide feedback or interact with the interviews.
Zoom Boom: How to Bring Training to "Live" →
5. Dialogue Simulations

A dialogue simulation is a way to train learners for real-life conversations with customers, colleagues, and others. When creating a conversation activity based on a situation that a student may face on the job, let them know what to expect and provide a safe place to practice their reactions and responses.

For example, with dialogue simulations, you can help your students master sales and customer service skills or test how well they are prepared for a job interview. These activities can also be a good learning support tool for experienced workers who want to refresh skills they haven't used in a while.

How can I create a dialogue simulation?

You can create activities similar to dialogue simulations manually, using simple slides, but it will take you a lot of time and effort to create this kind of branching scenario in PowerPoint. But with iSpring Suite, you can design a conversation sim quickly and easily.

Start by mapping out the scenario you want to create. Think over the scenario and script, choose a suitable character and location from the built-in library or upload your own, and create a dialogue with iSpring by offering learners a choice of responses and giving feedback. As with a typical quiz, learners will get points for correct answers and lose points for inaccurate ones.

6. Online Polls

Polls allow you to capture feedback directly from your audience about their learning experience. They can be used to measure anything from learning satisfaction (Kirkpatrick Level One feedback) to why a student made a particular choice during a lesson. Online surveys are highly engaging for learners because they allow them to share their opinions, make themselves heard, and are quick to complete.

You can also use poll questions when you want to quickly grab and focus your learners' attention on something important or break the ice during an online group interview session. For the latter, you can simply carry out a mood survey.

How can I create an online poll question?

If you host webinars via web conferencing solutions, you can use built-in tools for conducting polls. There are also some specialized online platforms like SurveyMonkey that allow you to create, send, and analyze surveys.

You can also build a survey with eLearning authoring tools like iSpring Suite. All you have to do is to choose a ready-made question template supported by the iSpring QuizMaker tool, write the question and answer choices, or a text field for open-ended responses.

7. Game-Type Activities

Game-type activities turn a series of test questions into a game. For example, a trivia game might ask learners to answer a certain number of questions within a period of time and award points based on the number of correct answers.

Game-based assessments are considered fun, and not "tests", so they are generally a good indicator of true skills and knowledge. Besides, they have been shown to enhance learning by promoting the development of non-cognitive skills, such as discipline, risk-taking, collaboration, and problem solving.

Add game-type activities when you want to engage and challenge your students in a non-traditional way. Organizations have found that game-type activities work well in employee training, while schools have found that high-achieving students enjoy competing with their peers in learning games.

How can I create game-type activities?

Quizlet and Kahoot are two popular applications that teachers can use to create fast-paced interactive learning games. Quizlet allows you to create a study set of online flashcards for learning terms and definitions, while with Kahoot, you can build engaging quizzes and let your students score points by answering quickly and correctly.

There are also many other apps, such as GimKit, Formative, and Plickers, that can add a game-show experience to the classroom.

8. Peer Evaluation and Review

Peer evaluation turns the tables to put learners into the instructor's seat and allow students to review and edit each other's work. Such activities give each participant a chance to reflect on their knowledge and then communicate their feedback in a consistent and structured way.

How can I create a peer evaluation assessment?

Third-party platforms, such as TurnItIn's Feedback Studio, enable students to read, review, and evaluate one or more papers submitted by their classmates using rubrics or prescribed assessment questions. Teachers are able to log in and track individual participation in the activity and monitor comments or peer evaluation feedback.

As a best practice, the instructor should map out and clearly explain the steps of a peer review and evaluation process prior to launch. Be sure to provide a rubric or set of guidelines for each participant to follow to ensure that evaluations are conducted in a consistent manner.

9. Forum Posts

A forum is an online discussion board organized around a topic. Asking students to contribute to a forum post is an excellent way to gauge their understanding, pique their interest, and support their learning. In this activity, students are given a critical thinking question based on a lesson or a reading, and are asked to reflect on both. Their answers are posted to a forum and their peers are given the chance to respond.

Use this method when you want learners to interact, communicate, and collaborate as part of the learning process, while checking their comprehension of the topic.

How can I create a forum post assessment activity?

Start by creating an online message board exclusively for your class in your LMS or some external platform like ActiveBoard. Identify common topics or themes that you can align messages to. Set participation goals and guidelines that explain acceptable standards for posting (be respectful of others, avoid foul language or personal criticism, etc.).

The facilitator should review postings on a regular basis and provide constructive feedback or guidance to participants.

10 Online Assessment Tools for Distance Learning

We've already mentioned some assessment tools that are perfect for online evaluation. Let's sum up what software instructors might need for which purposes, and consider some other tools.

1. iSpring Suite

iSpring Suite is a comprehensive eLearning authoring toolkit that teachers and instructors love. It allows you to create interactive quizzes, surveys, and dialogue simulations for student assessment, as well as PowerPoint-based courses, video tutorials, interactions, and flipbooks. Despite having so many options, the toolkit is extremely easy to use and is perfectly suited for those who have no experience in eLearning content development.

2. Socrative

Socrative is a quiz making tool that enables you to create tests with multiple-choice, true/false, and short answer questions. It also has some interesting features like exit tickets for the students to gather feedback on the lesson and a fun Space Race game where students "race" to the finish line.

3. Spiral

Spiral is a set of 5 apps for formative assessment. You can provide assessment in real time and hear from all of your students, turn slides into a discussion thread, let students create and share collaborative presentations, and turn videos into a live chat with questions and quizzes.

4. Peergrade

Peergrade is an online platform for hosting peer feedback sessions with students. Once you set up your assignment, learners start working on and then submit their work - text, files, videos, links, and even Google docs. Students can review each other's works and act on the feedback. There's also a teacher overview where they can see everything that is happening in the assignment.

5. EdPuzzle

EdPuzzle is a tool designed specifically for working with videos. It allows both teachers and students to add voice-overs, resources, comments, and quizzes to videos. Instructors can also check if learners are watching videos, how many times they're watching each section, and if they comprehend the content.

6. Mentimeter

Mentimeter lets you build interactive presentations with 13 interactive question types, including word clouds and quiz, and see how the students vote on/respond to questions and engage with the presentation in real time. With this tool, you can export results in a PDF or Excel file, and analyze learners' results.

Also read: → Best Interactive Presentation Tools for Teachers

7. Google Forms

Google Forms is a simple widely used tool for building surveys and graded quizzes. You can create multiple-choice or short answer questions for students to complete, specify correct answers and points, and provide feedback for correct and incorrect responses.

8. Quizalize

Quizalize is very similar to Kahoot. It lets you choose from over 12,000 official released tests to teacher-created resources or allows you to build your own. You can get instant data on each student's progress and automatically assign various resources to students depending on their quiz score.

9. Nearpod

Nearpod is a web-based tool for making interactive classes with engaging activities like virtual reality, simulations, and gamified quizzes. It allows you to remain abreast of how far along your students are with formative assessments, including polls, open-ended questions, draw its, and more. You can get student insights in real time and in post-session reports.

10. Fluency Tutor

Fluency Tutor is designed to track and assess students' oral reading progress. You can share reading passages with your class and receive recordings of the assigned passages. The tool comes with a library of over 500 ready-made reading fluency passages.

Final Thoughts

Online assessments are a critical part of eLearning and should be undertaken with the same level of care and rigor that you put into creating your learning content. The good news is that you don't have to be a programming genius to build them. There are many online assessment tools that allow you to generate engaging tasks for online evaluation. Choose your way to assess student learning and related software to align your needs and the results you want to achieve.

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9 Assessment Methods for Using Online Learning [Infographics]

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Check out these nine online assessment strategies that will support both classroom and distance learning, and provide insight into your students' results.

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In the 26 years since CASEL introduced the term "social and emotional learning," the research and practice of SEL have grown tremendously. Today, educators talk about SEL in many ways and hear about a multitude of strategies for implementation in schools and classrooms.

As the creators of the most widely cited SEL definitions, CASEL now sees a need to clarify what's necessary to achieve the vision of SEL for all educators, adults and young people. We've updated our definition and framework to pay close attention to how SEL affirms the identities, strengths and experiences of all children, including those who have been marginalized in our education systems. CASEL has continued to highlight the importance of enhancing the social-emotional competence of all young people and adults, while putting additional emphasis on how we can all learn and work together to create caring and just schools and communities.
CASEL's Definition of SEL (2020 Update): "Social and emotional learning (SEL) SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities." is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. CASEL will be explicit about how SEL can advance educational equity and excellence
As we continuously learn and refine our collective understanding of SEL and accelerate the movement across research, practice, and policy, we've highlighted four priorities:
CASEL will work alongside researchers, educators and policymakers to address issues of identity, agency and belonging that are fundamental to human development
We know from research that attention to students' holistic learning and development can promote high-quality educational opportunities and outcomes for all children across race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation and other differences. Importantly, SEL has potential to promote the academic, social and emotional development of all children. SEL can also help adults and students co-create more equitable schools and communities. While SEL alone will not solve the deep-seated inequities in the education system, it can help adults and students build more meaningful relationships and develop knowledge, skills and mindsets to interrupt inequitable policies and practices, create more inclusive learning environments and nurture the interests and assets of all individuals

By elevating young people's perspectives and experiences, SEL affirms who they are as individuals and helps students and adults understand how their unique identities support and shape their learning. By offering opportunities for students to use their voice, examine social problems and work alongside adults to co-create solutions, SEL can help cultivate change agents and leaders who will meaningfully contribute to their communities and the world. By fostering deeper connections and meaningful relationships, SEL can help create a sense of belonging and more inclusive learning environments and communities.

74 Interview: CASEL President on the Importance of Maintaining Quality in Social-Emotional Learning, Paying Attention to the Adults and Work as the Next SEL Frontier
CASEL will continue emphasizing how environments, relationships and broader contexts shape learning and development
With these priorities in mind, our updated framework reflects expanded definitions and examples of five core social and emotional competencies - self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. The updated language pays attention to personal and social identities, cultural competency and collective action as part of SEL. It also emphasizes the skills, knowledge and mindsets needed to examine prejudices and biases, evaluate social norms and systemic inequities, and promote community well-being.

SEL is most beneficial when school leaders and educators enhance both the competencies of young people and adults and the systems in which those competencies are promoted. Poorly implemented SEL will be less beneficial and actually may harm kids when contexts are ignored. Authentic partnerships among schools, families and communities are critical to creating equitable learning environments, supportive relationships and coordinated practices to truly promote SEL across all the settings where students live and learn.
CASEL will support schools, districts and states to infuse SEL systemically into curriculum and instruction, out-of-school time, discipline, student support services, professional learning and ongoing assessment for continuous improvement
Our framework continues to underscore the importance of establishing equitable learning environments and coordinating SEL practices across classrooms and schools, with additional emphasis on the essential roles of families and community partners.

When SEL is woven into the daily life of school - from academic instruction to discipline practices - it is more likely to produce the many benefits that research has documented, including the promotion of students' skills and attitudes, improved school climate and long-term academic achievement. This requires district and state policies and resources that help adults strengthen their own SEL and professional skills to support and sustain the healthy development of one another and the young people they support.

Given the uncertainties and challenges of today's world, our education systems should prioritize SEL to build healthy relationships, engage students and support adults to contribute to more equitable schools and communities. SEL is not a panacea or silver bullet; there is much more to learn about how best to implement SEL to promote equitable outcomes, and how to sustain high-quality implementation long-term.
Karen Niemi is president and CEO of , the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning.
At the same time, SEL is grounded by a growing body of research and bolstered by overwhelming demand from principals, teachers, parents and students. Our hope is that SEL will not only improve schools today, but help build a better world tomorrow.

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Niemi: CASEL Is Updating the Most Widely Recognized Definition of Social-Emotional Learning. Here's Why

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In the 26 years since CASEL introduced the term "social and emotional learning," the research and practice of SEL have grown tremendously. Today, educators talk about SEL in many ways and hear about a multitude of strategies for implementation in schools and classrooms. As the creators of the most widely cited SEL definitions, CASEL now [...]

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Background

The Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness (DTSDE) is a research-based process that has served as the cornerstone of New York State's school and district improvement efforts since its development in 2012.

The comprehensive DTSDE process serves as the foundation of the improvement cycle by providing an in-depth analysis of the quality of the school's educational offerings. The DTSDE process involves a team of reviewers, with one representative from the State Education Department and one representative from the district, to examine closely multiple components of school success through the use of comprehensive research-based DTSDE Framework.

Teams visit classrooms and meet with stakeholders to provide their feedback on the quality and the effectiveness of the education offered to students, as opposed to visiting a school with a checklist for compliance purposes. This process allows the schools to reflect on both what is being done and how it is being done. This process also provides opportunities to ensure that schools are culturally responsive to the needs of the community.

The review process relies on clearly defined protocols to ensure consistency across New York State. Throughout the implementation of the DTSDE, the State has used feedback from the field to enhance the process. Based on feedback and lessons learned from initial implementation, the State made refinements to the tools used and to the visit schedule to ensure that the review process is as beneficial as possible to schools and districts. As part of this shift, the visit has gone from evaluative to a technical assistance opportunity. As a result, the review process is now much more of a collaboration between the team of reviewers and the building principal.

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The Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness (DTSDE) is a research-based process that has served as the cornerstone of New York State's school and district improvement efforts since its development in 2012. The comprehensive DTSDE process serves as the foundation of the improvement cycle by providing an in-depth analysis of the quality of the school's educational offerings.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our lives, OLC has heard from K-12 educators that resources are needed to support the transition to remote learning. This is especially true given that in many communities the tools and technology may not be available to support a move to a fully online environment. As a means of assisting our community with the task of preparing for an effective remote learning environment, we've been compiling a list of helpful tools and resources. This is not an all-encompassing collection but is meant to support K-12 educators in this critical time.

The following list focuses on resources for teachers planning to deliver remote or online instruction.
We also invite you to review our other resource collections for faculty and general resources.
Foundational Workshops from OLC

OLC offers a number of professional development courses, both instructor-facilitated and self-paced, that can help instructors and schools get up to speed on essentials and key considerations for online teaching.
Note: The OLC Institute can provide these workshops and others as an on-demand, online offering if you have a minimum of 10 registrants for the workshop. Request an on-demand offering
Shared Resources from Our Community

Topical Resources

Planning Instruction

Creating a Digital Classroom Space Certificate - Earn a continuing education certificate free while learning how to create digital classroom space that works for both you and your students. Learn how to organize your time, use technology tools, and communication tools to manage the online classroom effectively.

5 Tips for Remote Learning - This resource provided by ReadWorks provides step by step instructions for creating a remote learning environment (with specific examples using ReadWorks), from setting up a digital class to assigning readings and creating a student library. ReadWorks is free for teachers and schools.

Learning Schedules

Universal Design for Learning & Accessibility

Accessible Remote Teaching - This guide is intended to help faculty teach in accessible ways during remote teaching situations.

- This site provides a number of free learning tools.

S TEM

- A website that provides research based teaching methods, math tasks, videos, and online courses for teachers and students with the goal of reducing math failure and inequality in the United States and beyond.

- A collection of unique and engaging digital activities to help students learn math and love learning math. DESMOS also has a page dedicated to announcements related to COVID-19 .

Illustrative Mathematics - A blog post from the Illustrative Mathematics team that outlines multiple resources as well as links to other free digital assets for teaching math.

Museum Resources

Sites for Hosting Learning Content

Digital Resources

Teachers Pay Teachers (mix of free and paid): An extensive digital resources site where teachers can go to get resources, knowledge, and inspiration created by other teachers from grades PreK through 12.

Digital Learning Sites

Educational Tools Search Sites

Student Engagement

Discussion Board Presentation: - A mini-presentation that focuses on some general tips and ends with 4-5 example tools teachers can use to facilitate remote dialogue.

Addressing the Social-Emotional Needs of Remote Learners - With the rapid switch to providing education in a fully remote format, teachers need to be proactive in making sure that students are getting the social-emotional support they need. This can be challenging. In this recorded webinar, a panel of experts will provide best practices on how you can best meet the needs of your students.

Continuous Improvement

Rural Tech Project - A $600,000 challenge to advance rural technology education and prepare students for the careers of today and tomorrow. The U.S. Department of Education invites high schools and local educational agencies to propose technology education programs that use competency-based distance learning.

Quick facts:

A challenge for rural educators . The challenge is open to any publicly-funded school or local educational agency serving students in grades 9-12 in rural communities. "Rural" is broadly defined as a non-urban, non-suburban area. An area may be considered rural based on its population density and/or distance from suburban or urban hubs. See the eligibility criteria for further guidance.

$600,000 in cash prizes. Up to five finalists will be selected to receive an equal share of the $500,000 Phase 1 cash prize pool. At the conclusion of program implementation, one grand-prize winner will receive an additional $100,000.

Two years of ongoing support . From January 2021 through August 2023, finalists will have on-the-ground assistance, expert mentorship, and access to virtual resources as they plan, run, refine, and report on their programs.

K-12 Podcasts

Teacher Wellness

Upcoming Events

None at this time.

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Resources for K-12 Educators Teaching Remotely

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our lives, OLC has heard from K-12 educators that resources are needed to support the transition to remote learning. As a means of assisting our community with the task of preparing for an effective remote learning environment, we've been compiling a list of helpful tools and resources to support K- 12 educators in this critical time.

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Join us for the 2020-2021 school year!

The goal of the Hamilton Education Program Online is to help students in grades 6-12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by using primary sources to create a performance piece (e.g., a song, rap, poem, or scene) following the model used by Lin-Manuel Miranda to create the musical Hamilton. The program consists of classroom activities and digital resources that can be incorporated into a regular curriculum on the Founding Era. Students participating in the program will have the chance to submit their performance piece and be selected to see a performance of Hamilton in New York City.

If you have any questions, please email eduhamonline@gilderlehrman.org.
Register/Login

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Hamilton Education Program Online | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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Join us for the 2020-2021 school year!The goal of the Hamilton Education Program Online is to help students in grades 6-12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by using primary sources to create a performance piece (e.g., a song, rap, poem, or scene) following the model used by Lin-Manuel Miranda to create the musical Hamilton.

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In special education, teachers say that schedules, sensory supports, and close collaboration with families can help smooth the transition to remote learning during coronavirus.

Katie Papaccioli, a special education teacher in New York City, holds up a student's lesson.

Around the nation, K-12 schools are frantically trying to adapt to abrupt closures during the coronavirus. But while all teachers are struggling with the new normal, special education teachers in particular are facing unparalleled challenges transitioning both their teaching-and their students and families-to home-based instruction tailored to each student's needs.

"When you say 'special education,' you are talking about an umbrella of ages, interests, abilities, and disabilities, within which are individual needs identified by their Individualized Education Program," explains Margaret Shafer, a third-grade teacher in Morton, Illinois, echoing questions raised by our readers, who wonder how they can provide sufficient support for each of their students who each have very different requirements to learn.

Unlike developing a whole-class lesson plan online, special education teachers are now tasked with developing unique plans for every student that align with their IEPs, as required by federal mandate. One huge hurdle, teachers say, is determining if both the learning and services students are accustomed to receiving in school-things like gross motor remediation and behavioral therapy-can even be offered in a home-based setting or through digital resources.

Both special education and general education teachers have also questioned how much parents and caregivers will be able to help, given that students with special needs often rely on specialized coaching and instruction like cues or sensory activities that keep them on task. "[My students] are non-verbal and need one-on-one direct instruction with multiple prompts or redirection," explained Beth McGreevy Dworak on Facebook. "Many have attention and behavior deficits and are unable to independently complete most tasks."

Additionally, many students with special needs thrive within the structure of the school day, say educators in our audience, who worry students may be disproportionately impacted by the upheaval brought on by the coronavirus.

But though the new reality is a sudden and upsetting shift, special education educators already have some ideas on how to make the best of it.

Setting up Home-Based Learning

While time is of the essence, special education educators recommend working on establishing an appropriate learning environment and objectives for students and their families before launching into a detailed list of to-dos and daily activities.

What's it like at home? Phone calls to families early on can give teachers a sense of each students' home set-up. Teachers can ask questions like: Will parents be home all day? Will they be working while at home? Is internet available? What electronic devices can students use? Is there space in the home to set aside for gross motor or sensory activities? Teachers can then map individualized plans to the available resources.

"The teacher's work transforms from a direct learning model to a coaching model: The teacher now supports the families through the process of understanding school expectations and goals and objectives," said Patti Sullivan-Kowalski, a senior director of student supports and special education in Meriden, Connecticut.

Recalibrate goals and objectives: After understanding each student's circumstances, Kathryn Fishman-Weaver, director of academic affairs and engagement for Mizzou Academy, suggests that teachers evaluate which IEP goals are achievable in the new environment, and then work with families to break learning targets into manageable benchmarks.

According to federal regulations, schools have greater flexibility in meeting IEP objectives during the pandemic and should work to the best of their ability to provide what services they can-even if they are digital-recognizing these services may not be the same as what a student receives in school.

Proactively engage (but be flexible): Parents are also likely to need continuous guidance, say educators, who advise checking in regularly with families via phone, video conference, or email to make sure they feel supported. For parents and caregivers whose first language is not English, educators encourage translation services like a three-way interpreter to ensure sufficient communication. The Meriden school district created a Google classroom group just for parents of children with special needs so they can connect to each other and swap ideas about what's working well (and what's not) at home.

Kathryn Nieves Licwinko, a special education teacher in Sparta, New Jersey, says teachers should try to be more flexible about their own hours, and make themselves available via different modes of communication to adjust to differing family circumstances.

"Many students have parents still working who are not home with them, so it becomes more difficult for them to complete assignments," she said. "I have students who haven't come into contact with me for a week now because they haven't been able to get onto their device and their parents aren't home to help."

Student Goals and Learning

Upending a regular routine can be especially upsetting for students with special needs, our audience asserted-so teachers and families should work together to create home learning activities that resemble the school day.

Emphasize structure: "Most of my students thrive under structure and routine. They benefit from having teaching staff available for constant instruction, clarification, and focus," said Eric Fieldman, a high school special education teacher in Collingswood, New Jersey. "Being at home, even with the same level of academic work, lacks the same focus and can lead to inconsistent work effort."

Fieldman and other teachers recommend creating a daily list of activities-broken into small chunks with plenty of breaks-that, if possible, follow a similar order to the schedule students had at school. Because many students with special needs respond well to visual cues, a schedule board (tactile or digital) with images of activities that prompt students what to do when can be helpful, teachers said. Fieldman also recommends using a kitchen timer, which reminds students of a bell schedule at school.

Dan Vollrath, a high school special education teacher in Flemington, New Jersey, adds that parents may even want to try having learning activities take place in different spaces or rooms in a home, as students are used to shifting locations at school depending on what they're learning.

Communicate with parents and caregivers clearly: While teachers are likely to create instructional videos (or written directions) for students, our special education educators also advise creating them for parents to teach them how to set up and support their children in various activities. Some video services offer translations for parents whose first language is not English. Teachers can also think of ways parents can use generic objects in the home to teach skills, like Cheerios, toothpicks, or pennies, which can be repurposed as math manipulatives.

Still, parents and teachers shouldn't feel everything from school can or even should be replicated. "There is not a perfect parent out there who can manufacture a full 'school experience' given the school, time, and resource limitations," said Sarah Kesty, a middle school special education teacher in Chula Vista, California. "It's OK not to replace school, and it's certainly OK not to plan every activity down to the minute."

Meeting sensory and movement needs: Educators also are keen to point out that students with special needs may need additional sensory modifications and supports-listed in their IEPs-to help them learn and grow. Teachers said parents can use simple objects like colored play dough and bubble wrap or brain-based games like Jenga if students need to release energy. Rice and beans placed inside pockets can substitute as a weighted vest or blanket to provide a sense of security, while writing and drawing in shaving cream can reduce tension while boosting language development. Even hugs, deep breathing, or allowing a child to run around outside can help.

Overall, teachers in our audience recommend keeping a level head and doing the best they can amid challenging circumstances.
Emelina Minero contributed to this article.
"I do believe that a lot of wonderful learning can take place for special education students at home," said Shafer. "However, special education is a complex web of strategies and activities dependent upon student needs, and at home, students are not likely to get the academic learning they would receive in the classroom. Still, we have no choice but to try."

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New Strategies in Special Education as Kids Learn From Home

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In special education, teachers say that schedules, sensory supports, and close collaboration with families can help smooth the transition to remote learning.

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Ed Tech Resources to Support Special Education Practitioners

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As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread, schools around the globe are shifting to online learning in an effort to slow the spread of the disease.

Members of ISTE's professional learning networks have been hard at work identifying key practices for successful online learning. Here are some of the best ideas from educators from around the world, many of whom have already been teaching during coronavirus closures.

Prepare and practice

1. Ensure digital equity.

Equity is the biggest obstacle in preparing for online learning, and the first thing you should be thinking about. If your district is not 1:1 and does not have devices to send home with everyone, survey teachers and families ahead of time to figure out who will need devices and bandwidth.

Jenna Conan, technology integration specialist at All Saints' Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Texas, points out that most families don't have one computer per person. During a school shutdown, parents may also be working from home, meaning several people could be competing for one or two computers. Therefore, make sure all online apps work on mobile devices in case a laptop is not available.

For teachers or students who don't have Wi-Fi at home, districts must figure out how to buy or rent Wi-Fi hotspots and then have a plan for distributing both devices and hotspots. If you have advance warning that a shutdown is imminent, districts can send devices and hotspots home with students before the closure. If a shutdown happens abruptly, plan a pick-up time and location, and arrange to deliver devices and hotspots to those who cannot pick them up.

Keep in mind that students who have individual education plans (IEPs) need to have access to their specific accommodations during the closure, including video access to aides and logins for apps.

2. Practice.

Schools that regularly have digital learning days - and have worked through home-connectivity and device issues - are already ahead of the game, says Michael Flood, ISTE Digital Equity PLN Leader. But if your school has not laid the groundwork, consider this to be an opportunity.

Teachers not already using a learning management system regularly, need to dive in now so that there will be no interruption in communication in the wake of a sudden closure. Teachers should train themselves and their students on the apps and technology tools they may need to use in the event of closure. Practice in the classroom and then send students off to try using the tools from home, says Sandra Chow, director of innovation and digital learning at Keystone Academy in Beijing.

Chow, who has been teaching online since coronavirus shut down her school in early February, says educators won't regret spending time on this.

"None of this learning will go to waste moving forward," she says, "as many of the skills learned during the online learning period will be equally beneficial in a regular classroom."

3. Provide clear expectations to staff and parents.

During a closure, communication between administrators, staff, parents and students is more important than ever.

"In an online environment, everyone's anxiety is high and channels of communication need to be frequent, clear and succinct," Chow says.

For big-picture communications, prepare an FAQ outlining all the details of how the school will operate during a closure so staff and parents are on the same page.

David Lowe, a parent and former assistant principal whose children's district in Washington state switched to remote learning on March 9, recommends the FAQ include where to find the daily assignments; a list of sites and tools the students will need, how to log in and what to do if the technology doesn't work; and, finally, the expectations of parents. "There's a lot of information to sift through and parents are working hard to make sure they're clear on what they should be doing to best support their students."

In addition to posting and distributing FAQs, schools should set up communitywide texting to communicate quickly and then advise people where to find follow-up messages via email or on your website.

Next, prepare a step-by-step guide on how to access and use online learning tools and curriculum. Make sure you present this information in various formats including video and text and include screenshots and screen-casting tutorials.

Ask families to make sure all students - especially the youngest learners - know how to log in to the apps and know their passwords. Teachers need to know how to take attendance. Provide extra tech support and make sure parents and teachers know how to ask for help.

Communication should go beyond logistics and academics. David Miyashiro, superintendent at Cajon Valley Union School District in California, recorded a video for the teachers in his district outlining what the district has been doing to meet academic and basic needs of students. But he also covered at length the importance of meeting the social-emotional needs of students.

"Based on the input our principals have received from you and the input we received from our parent leaders, it's obvious that flexibility, human connection and guidance for our staff, students and their parents during this time is most important for the engagement and continued progress of our students," he said in his address to teachers.

4. Take time to plan.

If a shutdown occurs before your staff is ready to teach online, invest some time - even if it's just a day or two - to prepare before rolling out online learning with the students. The brief delay in starting online lessons will pay off in the long run. In the Washington district where Lowe's three children attend, staff spent time getting ready for an impending closure.

"The district took a whole day for all the teams to get together to create a plan for online learning," he said. "It was a really smart move."

Teams divvied up and tackled everything from logistical issues, like the setup of Zoom meetings, to instructional ones, like different home support models, and then reported out to the larger group. When the district shut down two days later, teachers got two planning days before fully jumping into online learning with the students. The team and individual planning days helped smooth implementation.

Even if a closure is sudden and offers no time to plan before schools are shuttered, it is still prudent to plan before beginning online lessons.

5. Pack your bag.

Make sure you have access to everything you need from home in case you are not able to return to school or bring home your school computer and move your files into the cloud.

Implementation

6. Establish daily schedules.

Expectations should be clear about when teachers and students need to be logged on. A full day in front of a screen is a lot for kids and teachers, especially for families who may be sharing one device. Many schools are choosing two check-in times - a morning meeting and an afternoon check-in - and then allowing families flexibility about how they organize the at-home school schedule.

Other schools are reorganizing the school schedule, by spreading one school day over two days. Students attend three classes in the morning and have the afternoons to work independently and interact with those teachers during "office hours." The next day, they attend the rest of their classes online in the morning and then have office hours with those teachers in the afternoons.

Sometimes it can be difficult to anticipate the roadblocks that students might face while navigating this new territory. Nadine Bailey, teacher librarian and technology integrator at the Western Academy of Beijing, suggests picking one student per grade and monitoring their "expected" path throughout the day from tool to tool to make sure everything is working as it should. If not, be flexible and make changes along the way.

It can be trickier handling specialty classes like PE, robotics or art. Adam Hill is a blogger and teacher at Victoria Shanghai Academy in Hong Kong, which has been closed since Jan. 22 and began offering remote learning on Feb. 5.

Hill's school found that students were struggling to make time each day for specialist instruction so they decided to allocate one day per week for all elective activities.

7. Provide robust learning.

In extreme circumstances like an impromptu closure, it's tempting for teachers to upload worksheets for students to complete and return. But online earning during a closure - especially during extended closures - should be at least as engaging as the classroom experience (if not more) or students will suffer.

Educator Alison Yang developed an online learning guide, which stresses that online learning should never be an excuse to assign busy work, but rather to address clear engaging learning objectives. Bailey, the Beijing teacher-librarian, adapted Yang's guide into one for parents to help them understand the objectives.

For key principals that ISTE recommends are:

Break learning into smaller chunks.

Be clear about expectations for online participation.

Provide immediate (or at least frequent) feedback through online knowledge checks, comments on collaborative documents and chat to keep students motivated and moving forward.

Include virtual meetings, live chats or video tutorials to maintain a human connection.

Chow's leadership team in Beijing met virtually to design an online learning plan, which included training for video production and other tools, online learning pedagogy as well as social-emotional training.

She stressed that the community will need time to adjust. Provide manageable and achievable goals to work on each week, listen to feedback and communicate frequently, she says.

8. Design independent learning.

Keep in mind that parents might either be at work or working from home and unable to help much. It's important to design learning that does not require a lot of support from parents who might already be overwhelmed.

Lowe, the parent from Washington state, said expectations about parental support might be the biggest issue for him and his wife. Providing guidance for parents on how they can be supporting their kids in an online learning model is also helpful.

"It feels similar to homeschooling right now," Lowe said. "The biggest challenge is parents supervising what their kids are supposed to be doing and at what time."

Lowe acknowledges that his family is lucky. He's a consultant who can work from home and his wife is a teacher, so they are available to pitch in. Not all parents will be able to cope as easily, especially those with small children who can't work from home.

"One of the best things our schools have done to support parents is streamlining information by creating one place for all the assignments, schedules and expectations," he said. "The closer to a checklist you can make these resources, the better."

9. Address the emotional toll.

Check in with students and coworkers, especially those who are less comfortable with digital tools to see if they need any help or someone to talk to. Being sequestered at home can be isolating and exacerbate the fear of dealing with a global crisis. Taking time to check in about feelings of anxiety is just as important as checking on academics.

In his guide to online learning, Rushton Hurley, an ISTE member and founder of Next Vista for Learning, shares a story from expat teachers in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus. After weeks of largely being confined to their apartments, teachers began calling each other and leaving the lines open, even if they weren't talking. They simply wanted the comfort of being able to speak up and have someone hear their voices. If a closure lasts for a long time, you will miss your students, and they will miss you and each other, Hurley said.

While it may seem fun to work from home, it can be challenging to keep to a regular schedule. Some things that can help include:

Take regular breaks.

Making time to exercise.

Keep to a regular sleep schedule.

Limit distractions when possible (turn off social media notifications, for example).

Set daily and weekly goals.

Make time to socialize, even if it's virtually.

10. Choose the right tools and stick with them.

A wide variety of technology tools, many free, are available to help. Jason Reagin, edtech consultant and teacher in Incheon, South Korea, has put together a Wakelet of apps offering free upgrades during the global crisis.

With so much out there, it can be tempting to try to use everything. Instead, limit the number of tools, apps and platforms so students and their parents are not overwhelmed.

It may be a little harder for students to follow classroom assignments when you are not there face to face. Some ideas from Arizona State University for helping kids focus are using different colored fonts on-screen to help learners distinguish important ideas. Try to keep online instructions short, simple and clear. Consider making video instructions instead of text.

Videoconferencing will take you and your students into each other's homes so it's important to consider privacy. Some programs let users blur your background. Dress as you would for attending school and expect students to do the same.

Online learning also presents a great opportunity to review digital etiquette and embed digital citizenship into online collaboration activities.
Jennifer Snelling is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon. Diana Fingal is ISTE's director of editorial content.

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10 strategies for online learning during a coronavirus outbreak

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As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread, schools around the globe are shifting to online learning in an effort to slow the spread of the disease. Members of ISTE's professional learning networks have been hard at work identifying key practices for successful online learning.

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Combatting the Challenges of the Concurrent Classroom with the Station Rotation Model - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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I’ve been a fan of the station rotation model for years. As I support teachers struggling to navigate the demands of the concurrent classroom, I find myself continually returning to the station rotation model as a strategy to design and facilitate learning for this challenging teaching assignment. First, I want to identify a few of […]

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You probably are not in the habit of creating sections in a Google Form but I would recommend you use sections often.

Create Pages

Think of sections like pages. If you have a lot of questions you want to break it up into pages.

Last Icon on the Toolbar

When adding questions to your Google Form, which is the first icon on the floating toolbar, also add sections. Sections are the LAST icon on the toolbar. It looks like two rectangles.

Shuffle Questions

In the settings, if you choose to "Shuffle question order" all of the questions will be shuffled, including "what is your name?" Questions are shuffled WITHIN the section. By creating a section just for demographics questions such as "What is your name?" you can ensure that question will never be at the end of your Form.

Sample Form

Try this sample form. Notice that I have the demographics questions in the first section. The second section has a set of questions, but since I turned on "Shuffle question order" they are likely scrambled. I have a 3rd section (page) with another question.

Go to the Next Section

By default your Form flows from one section to the next section. Notice it says "After section 1 Continue to the next section."

Change Page Navigation

Under the section, click the tiny arrow to change the default flow of the Form from the next section to a specific section. Sometimes it makes sense to have a section of questions hidden. For example, at the beginning of the school year you may need to have new students fill out a Form with information pertinent to beginning of the year activities. You want to reuse this same Form next year so you do not want to delete the questions. But if they are in a section that can be skipped until you want to use those questions again then changing the flow of the Form destination can make sense.

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Google Forms: Adding Sections - Teacher Tech

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You probably are not in the habit of creating sections in a Google Form but I would recommend you use sections often. Think of sections like pages. If you have a lot of questions you want to break it up into pages.

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Didn't get a chance to say thank you to your kid's teacher? It's not too late.

Here are some e-gift ideas that will go straight into their inbox.

1. Reading materials

2. A sweet treat

3. Caffeine fix

Retailers like Tim Hortons, David's Tea and Starbuck's all offer electronic gift cards-most can even be personalized. For a more local option, check out Giftly, which has an array of independent coffee shops that offer e-gifts and are listed based on where you live.

4. Movie night

Get them ready for when theatres open back up with a Cineplex gift card. Cards start at $10 and include a personalized message.

5. Let them choose

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5 teacher gifts you can give without knowing their mailing address

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Didn't get a chance to say thank you to your kid's teacher? It's not too late. Here are some e-gift ideas that will go straight into their inbox. Retailers like Tim Hortons , David's Tea and Starbuck's all offer electronic gift cards-most can even be personalized.

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With fewer kids on campus, it's not time to paint the cafeteria or clean out the bookroom.

All of us are out of our norm, but we must remain focused, and we cannot leave our virtual students behind. Perhaps we can gain much-needed ground academically if we approach the current situation with efficacy and strategy.

In that view, this article provides best practices for the virtual administrator when it comes to evaluating students and teachers.

As teachers and students get in the groove of curriculum and instruction, virtual administrators can begin to monitor specific groups of students. Below is a list of categories of students and what you might do to monitor their progress.
Students Who Are Not Engaged and/or "Missing"

Have teachers send a list of students who have not logged in, and/or log in then disappear throughout the day. You may want to double-check the log ins for these students before getting involved - is it a technology issue or truancy issue? If no or low engagement has been made by students and/or parents, call home. Virtual teachers may need even greater support, especially as young students learn to discipline themselves to sit in front of a computer all day.

Give students who are lagging a certain number of days to catch up. Tell them when you will call home again for an update in a specific amount of days.

Continue to check in with the teacher and get an update of improvement for the child.

Seniors

Schools should already have a spreadsheet of high school seniors and what they have completed and/or are lacking to graduate. Consult this list and reach out to those seniors who are not on track.

Ask your guidance counselor to update you weekly on the seniors who are lacking credits, grades, and/or test results to graduate.

Call specific seniors and their parents and develop a plan if they are not complying. Is virtual education the best option for those who are not engaging?

Consider sending a letter to all seniors to continue to motivate and support them during this difficult time. Some may be down about the possibility of canceled events and traditions. Let them know you care and are thinking about them.

ESE Students

Have ESE teachers check in with specific students and spot check their understanding of this new modality. Are accommodations still appropriate or being met in other ways?

Schedule ongoing updates with ESE teachers, and ask those teachers to provide you with a written update on all of your ESE students. Pinpoint students who are performing below potential. Ask the ESE teacher to create a plan for specific students.

If virtual instruction is not working for a child, talk with the parent about your concerns and create a plan for success.

ELL Students

Ask bilingual aides to check in with specific students and spot check their understanding of their teacher's plans for the week.

Schedule ongoing updates with bilingual aides, and ask aides to provide you with a written or verbal update on all of your ELL students. Pinpoint students who are performing below potential. Ask the bilingual aide to create a plan for specific students.

If virtual instruction is not working for a child, talk with the parent about your concerns and create a plan for success.

Tier 2 or 3 Students/Lowest 25%

Have teachers and/or interventionist check in with specific students and spot check their understanding of the plans for the week. If groups are made within groups using virtual technology, do students and/or parents know how to move between groups and meetings? If not, does the district have a technology help desk or other entity that can help?

Schedule ongoing updates with teachers and/or interventionist, and ask those teachers to provide you with a written or verbal update on all of their lowest 25% students or Tier 2/3 students. Pinpoint students who are performing below potential. Ask the teacher and/or interventionist to create a plan for specific students.

Teachers and/or interventionist can and should provide interventions to Tier 2/3 students through virtual meetings just as in the traditional setting. You may need to review schedules to ensure how and when this is happening.

If virtual instruction is not working for a child, talk with the parent about your concerns and create a plan for success.

Possible Retentions

If a student is showing that they could possibly be retained, how have we worked individually with that student to make gains? Have we scheduled time with the teacher or interventionist to discuss these students?

Call parents and set up a conference to discuss possible retention and the power of the remaining time and importance of virtual instruction.

Free and Reduced Lunch Students

Consider having a Title I contact or paraprofessional reach out to free and reduced lunch parents who are not participating in food distribution programs. Make sure parents know about the food distribution system and how to access or reserve meals. Share when other community partners may be providing food and/or groceries for those in need.

Even though students are virtual, make sure parents know that federal lunch forms still need to be completed.

Homeless Students

Consider having a Title I contact or counselor reach out to homeless families to see if there are any needs or concerns for these families.
Students with Multiple Discipline Referrals

Consider having the assistant principal or dean call home to check on students who have exhibited behavior issues or received multiple referrals in the past.

Work with the parent and explain different Positive Behavior Support techniques that could be used in the home.

Have the assistant principal or dean set up a routine call with the student to check on completed work and/or behavior. You know those students best. Do they need calls first thing in the morning or after lunch? When do they most need motivation?

Remind the assistant principal or dean to provide support to virtual teachers as students may have distracting behaviors and/or find difficulty in maintaining their attentiveness for many hours in front of a computer each day.

Once teachers become comfortable with virtual teaching, you may begin to offer feedback in more areas than instruction. Remember that teachers, especially new ones, need help in other areas as well. Below is a list of ideas to help monitor teachers' progress as well:

Review teacher evaluation procedures with new teachers. Remember the eval instrument is more than instruction. Professionalism and ethics are also important to point out, especially as virtual instructors will have much more access to a student in their home setting. It might be beneficial to cover what is appropriate and what is not when messaging students, etc.

Ask to sit in and help a new or struggling teacher make a phone call home. Give feedback on how to improve communication with parents. If students are new or teachers are new, there might be instances where a teacher and parent have never met. Relationships may be harder to solidify, so communication home will be important.

Consider holding sessions on specific topics concerning virtual education - how to use specific technology platforms or how to access district resources? Listen to what teachers need and provide professional development opportunities. Recruit your curriculum and instruction experts at the district or within your school to help.

Spotlight innovation in an email, newsletter, or at a faculty meeting.

Administrators can self-check who they need to monitor by thinking of a typical, traditional school day. You might ask yourself - who would I typically check on first thing on a Monday morning? Whose class would I walk through first period? Which group of students would I check on during lunch? By mimicking your normal schedule, you will be sure to think about those individuals, groups of students, and/or specific teachers that might need guidance or a helping hand.
Beyond Evaluation
It's also important to make "good calls" too during this time. Good calls not only mean something to the individual receiving them, but they are good for your mental health as well . If you see a child going above and beyond during an online class, give them a congratulatory call. If you see a parent putting out the correct information for the school in an online group, send them a quiet thank you note. If you see a teacher or staff member taking time to help an individual child or family, make sure to recognize them at your faculty meeting.

If we stay on the offensive and learn from these challenging times, in the end, we will build an even stronger system in our efforts to provide a world-class education for all students.
About the Author
A. Russell Hughes is the superintendent of the Walton County School District (WCSD) . Walton County school enrollment totals 10,500 students with over 1,000 school district employees. The WCSD office is located in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, but the county's boundaries run from the Alabama line (Paxton, Florida) to the Florida coast (Santa Rosa Beach, Florida). Superintendent Hughes has spent his career in education. Mr. Hughes has worked at all levels, as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal. He is currently entering his second term as Superintendent and has recently been named as a top 25 "Superintendents to Watch" by the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).

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Evaluating students and teachers: Best practices for virtual administrators - Trusted

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With fewer kids on campus, it's not time to paint the cafeteria or clean out the bookroom. All of us are out of our norm, but we must remain focused, and we cannot leave our virtual students behind. Perhaps we can gain much-needed ground academically if we approach the current situation with efficacy and strategy.

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On April 12, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2019, which amends Education Law §3012-d, which revised the requirements for APPR plans approved by the Department after April 12, 2019. For additional information regarding these statutory changes, please see the Department's June field memo.

As a result, at its October meeting, the Board of Regents adopted emergency regulations to implement the changes to the evaluation system. A copy of the Board of Regents Item and regulations are available on the Board of Regents website.

In response to public comment received during the 60-day public comment period following the adoption of the emergency regulations, the Board of Regents adopted revised amendments to the regulations at its February 2020 meeting. The Board of Regents item and the revised regulations can be found here.

Where practicable, existing requirements for teacher and principal evaluations are carried over in their entirety. For the required subcomponent of the student performance category for building principals, as an alternative to SLOs, building principals may be evaluated based on an input model process using evidence of principal practice that promotes student growth related to the Leadership Standards. This option is now also available for the optional subcomponent of the student performance category. Additionally, a new section was added to the Department's regulations that allows for school districts and BOCES to submit a variance request to implement new and innovative approaches to educator evaluation so long as such approaches are consistent with Education Law §3012-d. Pages three through ten of the Board of Regents Item includes a summary of the key changes.

Status of Current APPR Plans and Next Steps

Although the Board's regulations take effect immediately, until your school district or BOCES receives approval from the Department of a new APPR plan consistent with the requirements of Education Law §3012-d as amended by Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2019, you must continue to implement your currently approved APPR plan. During this time, school districts and BOCES must continue to implement all the measures in their approved APPR plans, including any SLOs based on teacher and course-specific results; principal and building-specific results; school- or program-wide group, team, or linked results; or district- or BOCES-wide results.

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On April 12, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2019, which amends Education Law §3012-d, which revised the requirements for APPR plans approved by the Department after April 12, 2019. For additional information regarding these statutory changes, please see the Department's June field memo.

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Never before have we entered into a year of teaching so unprepared. This, despite hours of PD at best and sleepless nights pondering solutions at worst. We weren't sure until the first students logged in virtually or showed up to our in-person hybrid classes what it would be like to live stream, teach kids how to unmute themselves, or take attendance with unstable technology. For some teachers, the thought of a principal evaluating them is almost laughable as they struggle with other challenges. Nationwide, admins, teachers, and lawmakers now weigh the pros and cons as they endure the challenge of day to day life as an educator in 2020. Let's look at ways teacher evaluations might work in the land of COVID-19.

Observations without "counting" the rating

Some admins have decided that they will still evaluate teachers by being "in" the classroom. However, they have stated these ratings won't count for or against the trajectory of the teacher's career. One Illinois principal, who follows the Danielson framework, says they have received new guidance on evaluating remote or online teachers. The evaluation company suggests admins use virtual learning walks to determine:

what practices support an organized virtual classroom space

how the teacher is supporting students socially and emotionally

how student participation is being encouraged

This principal, and others using the model, will engage in observations and give feedback to teachers. But, she says there is "too much stress to base student achievement in evaluations from whether or not parents are supporting learning at home." Her acknowledgment that virtual learning sometimes isn't a level playing field is a relief to some teachers who don't want the perceived extra judgment.

Another admin in this same situation said that the focus should be on encouraging teachers through positive feedback and focusing on what is working. A principal in New Mexico adds that they also will be withholding summative evaluations as they "take Danielson for a test drive" this year.

Evaluations conducted as usual

In some districts, admins will be conducting full evaluations as normal. Unfortunately, teachers are feeling the stress. One teacher says, "Frankly, I'm not happy about it...I feel like it's just one more thing added to our plate on top of our workload being basically tripled in a remote setting. I can see its benefits obviously, as we all want to grow as educators, but I also just feel like it's hard to get a decent observation in over a computer screen."

Some teachers feel a sense of understanding and a lack of judgment from their administrators. Especially ones they've worked well with for many years. For others, the potential additional set of eyes is too much when they are already feeling insecure about the process. One worried teacher posted on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE Facebook group : "...it feels like I'm not doing anything well with having to teach face to face and remote kids at the same time."

Evaluations linked to test scores

Many teachers have expressed concern at the idea of being evaluated on their test scores. They feel they cannot be held to the same standards as previous years due to inequities in learning environments during virtual learning. 30-year education expert and nationwide conference presenter Patty Duncan (currently advising for Vooks reading programs), works with teachers and admins across the country battling the "how to evaluate this year" question. She explains that while teachers are used to being evaluated, they are actually their most difficult critic. The new situation also creates more "intense" emotions as teachers already feel drained.

Duncan is concerned about the connection to test scores. "Those must change," she says. Education experts have already started examining the depths of the COVID-19 learning losses from the spring, which most agree shouldn't be reflected on a teacher's ability. "Let's work to make evaluations opportunities for growth. This is a change that was necessary before the pandemic and now we have an opportunity to do just that." If standardized testing is on hold, evaluations based on it may need to be too.

Mixed teacher reactions

What if you need an evaluation to achieve the tenure status you've waited for? What if you need an evaluation to be removed from a probationary period over the last few years? For some teachers, evaluations are necessary to further their careers. A delay would mean they are in the same position as last year, possibly completing probationary tasks or wondering if their career is safe while they wait to achieve tenure.

On the other hand, some teachers feel the evaluations are linked to a platform they've never used before. One 24-year veteran teacher, who will have three formal live Zoom observations and informal drop-ins says, "I think it's ridiculous! I wasn't trained to teach online...Why observe this year?"

Another teacher posts on the Facebook group: "No big deal. Observations make me better. And most admins should be extremely understanding of the differences. But I am still teaching. My kids are still learning. I love constructive criticism."
What do you feel about teacher evaluations during COVID-19? Share in the dialogue on our Principal Life Facebook group. Plus, It's Not Just Where You Are, Teachers are Quitting all Over the Country.

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Evaluating Teachers Who Are "Building the Plane While They Fly It"

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Never before have we entered into a year of teaching so unprepared. This, despite hours of PD at best and sleepless nights pondering solutions at worst. We weren't sure until the first students logged in virtually or showed up to our in-person hybrid classes what it would be like to live stream, teach kids how to unmute themselves, or take attendance with unstable technology.

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The job of a school leader can be an isolating one-now more so than ever. In this recurring Education Week advice column, two experienced former principals-Tamara McWilliams and Sharif El-Mekki-take turns sharing their decades of expertise with their colleagues.
Have a question? Send it in to AskAPrincipal@educationweek.org and check back to see if it appears in an upcoming column.
We're going to be fully remote in the fall. How can I observe my teachers and give meaningful feedback in a virtual setting? The prospect of watching a recording of Zoom classes feels a lot more impersonal than a classroom visit. Should I even be focusing on teacher evaluation now? I want to keep things positive, but I also want to establish clear expectations for our virtual learning.
TAMARA McWILLIAMS: Your question is on the lips and in the emails of many principals and teachers right now as we look into the great unknown of the coming school year. And while there are many things that our schools may or may not be doing that look alike for this year, everyone wants clear indication for what is expected; clearly communicating your expectations for instruction is a good place to start.

In addition to stating those expectations, we must make time while preparing for the start of school to have discussions on a district level about goals for teacher growth and teacher feedback for the year ahead-whether schools are fully remote or providing a hybrid model.

Teacher input is central to this process. With the level of preparation required of our teachers in the virtual classroom, they will want administrators to recognize their work and give feedback on the effort. I agree that Zoom lessons do not offer the same level of engagement as the live classroom. However, I've attended more than one lively Zoom learning session that was a testament to the creativity and innovation of the teacher. If a school is fully remote, that is what the students are receiving, so administrators need to be immersed in the virtual lessons, too.

Perhaps the question for us to ask our teachers this year is: How do you want to grow professionally in this new environment? How can we help you grow by giving feedback and support? Goal setting with teachers for professional growth and learning has always been an extremely individual part of our job as administrators. This year, those conversations will be even more specific to the teacher's needs.
As my school community tries to be more accountable for racial equity, we've talked a lot about asking the tough questions: "What is working? For whom and why? And who is not being served?" I've noticed that the follow-up question of, "What are we going to do about this data?" is really difficult for our teams to approach. How can I coach my team to look at our achievement data as a system issue and not internalize it as a personal failure?
Your question is an incredibly important one for districts. Equity audits are an important part of giving districts and campuses the data to know where the challenge spots and opportunity gaps can be found-but then what? Teaching and learning are very personal endeavors, and I agree with you that we must be careful to not treat the data like a personal attack or a personal failure for our teams-but how?

Trust is an essential component to making equity advances with our staff. Honesty is equally important. Let your teachers know that this is not a blame game and that the focus of looking at the data critically is to move forward, not continue to lament where we are today.

Creating culturally inclusive classrooms is a serious issue that needs our attention and our dedication. We must move toward a solution and not stall out in blaming each other, ourselves, or circumstances beyond our sphere of influence as educators. Before you can move forward with an action plan, you may also need to have discussions about collective efficacy and deficit thinking, while assuring teachers that we do have the power to improve the gaps revealed by the data. Only once the faculty has had a chance to voice concerns over "why the data is what the data is" can we focus on an action plan.

I advise picking one student-learning objective and one student population to work on for the first grading cycle of the new school year. You can gather data from a six-week action plan and apply it to another population with another student-learning expectation for the second cycle. Or, if you do not make the gains you needed on that first objective, stick with your first plan through the second grading cycle before widening your focus.

An action plan with specific timelines and strategies to gather new data keeps our focus on closing the gaps and finding workable solutions for the needs of our students. Awareness, intentionality, and focus give our teams a plan to go into battle united.
I'm going to be mentoring a few new principals this coming school year. Is there anything you wished you had known in your first year? I'd love to be able to share some tips beyond just my own experience!
Mentoring new principals is one of my favorite things to do in education. Good for your district to allow you to invest your valuable time in their growth. Where to begin?

Communication with staff is so important for a first-year principal. I would encourage them to dedicate themselves to the weekly email to staff. The hitch with the weekly email is to make sure that it happens every single week, before the week begins. This allows for encouragement, logistics, reminders of the vision and mission of the staff, shoutouts for all the good things happening on campus, and-perhaps the best benefit-responses from the veteran teachers who will chime in to remind the new principal of what he or she has forgotten to put in the weekly email.

I have found it helpful to keep an elaborate planner and to hold onto old planners from year to year. I can go back to September three years ago when I was an elementary principal and see what was on my list of must-dos. I can also use my calendar to give my future-self reminders. For instance, at the end of last December, I wrote notes to myself of what I needed to remember for this December for the high school campus. Take time each month to plan your month strategically so the inevitable daily fires don't take your attention away from your monthly goals.

Never underestimate the power of a positive sticky note left on a teacher's monitor or a thank-you card in their box (or inbox) on a random Tuesday. Teachers will appreciate the time you took to write the note and the affirmation from the principal.

One of the first things I learned to prioritize as a principal was that my first job every day was to keep everyone safe-staff and students. Learning cannot happen if we are not physically and emotionally safe. This has become my guiding principle as an educator. In all my decisions concerning discipline, curriculum, infrastructure, and budget, I look at physical and emotional safety first.

In fact, when I disciplined or met with students, be they tall or small, my opening question was always, "What's my first job?" After a few weeks of having me as their principal, each one of my students learned to respond, "To keep me safe." That lens would set the tone for the rest of the conversation. Students, parents, and your staff should know that above anything, you will work hard all day, every day to keep them safe.

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How to Evaluate Teachers During Remote Learning, and Other Advice for Principals (Opinion)

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The job of a school leader can be an isolating one-now more so than ever. In this recurring Education Week advice column, two experienced former principals-Tamara McWilliams and Sharif El-Mekki-take turns sharing their decades of expertise with their colleagues. Have a question?

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One of the many questions facing districts and states during the coronavirus school shutdowns: How can schools grade their teachers during a disrupted school year?

According to an analysis by the Education Commission of the States, at least seven states have waived all state requirements for teacher evaluations. At least six have waived certain requirements, like the use of student-growth data in evaluations. And a minimum of eight states have issued flexibility or guidance for school districts. (ECS did not do a full 50-state analysis.)

"Everybody is trying to make decisions quickly and is aware of the challenges" of conducting evaluations during school shutdowns, said Tiffany McDole, a senior policy analyst for the commission.

Thirty-four states typically require student-growth measures on teacher evaluations, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality, and of those, 26 require that the state standardized test be the source of the data. However, all states have won waivers to skip federally mandated standardized tests this year, and many other local or statewide assessments have been canceled, too.

Classroom observations are another key component of an evaluation. But those look different now-teachers are trying to adapt to a new world of distance learning, and there are persistent inequities with student access.

North Carolina's education department, for instance, has warned districts that only a small portion of what the state's observation rubric addresses would be accessible to a virtual observer. Districts that are considering observing online instruction should "proceed with extreme caution," the department said.

Even so, experts say that school leaders need to find some way to still give teachers feedback.

"I totally get that districts and school systems are triaging now," said Dan Weisberg, the chief executive officer of TNTP, an organization that focuses on teacher quality. "They're in a very, very tough situation, and teacher evaluation is not going to be the biggest priority by any stretch."

That said, "I think it's incumbent on schools and school systems to give teachers feedback," even if it's informal, he added. "Part of learning is getting feedback. It's much more difficult now, [a supervisor] can't just walk into a classroom and observe, but I think teachers would appreciate getting feedback to the extent it's possible from coaches, principals, and assistant principals on how they're doing and how they could do better."

States Issue Evaluation Waivers

Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma all issued broad waivers of state requirements, according to the ECS analysis. School districts there will no longer have to submit evaluation data to the state.

"The lack of state requirements is not an indicator that evaluation and professional growth do not matter," said Colleen O'Neil, the associate commissioner of educator talent for Colorado, in a statement. "It is an indicator that flexibility in requirements is needed for districts to focus their work as they see is needed to support their students and teachers."

Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah issued waivers of specific state requirements, ECS found. In New Jersey, for example, student-achievement measures will not count toward educators' evaluations this school year, because the education department "cannot ensure equitable inclusion of student growth across the state."

And in Tennessee, the state legislature passed a bipartisan bill that says that for this school year and the next two, student-growth data that comes from 2019-20 assessments will not be counted in a teacher's evaluation, unless using the data results in a higher evaluation score for the teacher. Teachers in nontested grades and subjects will not be evaluated using an alternative growth model this school year, unless the use results in a higher score.

The bill, which has been signed into law, sought to "eliminate as much stress as we can" for educators, state Rep. Jason Hodges tweeted.

'There Aren't Any Great Answers'

Other states-like Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin-have issued flexibility or guidance for districts, which are ultimately responsible for making decisions around evaluations.

The Indiana State Teachers Association had asked the state to waive teacher evaluations entirely and rate all teachers "effective" so they could receive a raise or a bonus. Gov. Eric Holcomb didn't go that far-but he did offer districts some flexibility in an executive order.

Teachers can either keep their evaluation score from last school year, as long as they aren't on an improvement plan, or administrators can conduct new evaluations that don't include either student scores from canceled tests or observations that weren't already completed before schools shut down.

Ohio's department of education told local school boards that if they haven't yet completed their teacher evaluations, they could choose not to conduct them "if the board determines it would be impossible or impracticable to do so."

Scott DiMauro, the president of the Ohio Education Association, said local teachers' unions across the state are currently working with their districts to figure out the best approach. Many teachers, he said, are frustrated that they might have to start their evaluation process all over again next year. (In Ohio, districts can decide to evaluate their "accomplished" teachers every three years, and their "skilled" teachers every two.)

For teachers in the core tested subjects and grade levels, their student-growth component is based on value-added measures, which have already been calculated-so if their observations have been completed, they're set, DiMauro said. But for other teachers whose evaluations depended on student data from spring assessments, their fate is still up in the air.

"It's complicated," he said. "We get a ton of questions. There aren't any great answers."

DiMauro said he's also cautioned districts against conducting online observations. Teachers, he said, are already stressed and working hard to provide meaningful opportunities for learning in uncharted territory, especially since not all their students have internet access. Some teachers are struggling to even know where their students are.

"In times like these, the formal evaluation process really needs to take a back seat," DiMauro said. "In the grand scheme of things, ... we're much more concerned about the health and safety and wellness of our kids and our members, and to get too hung up on the formal aspects of evaluation I think is unrealistic."

'It's New to Them, It's New to Me'

For now, in states where the decision has been left up to the districts, principals are trying to support their teachers the best they can.

"We're still building the plane about what the end-of-year closeout process will look like," said Ryan Daniel, the principal of Chillum Elementary School in Hyattsville, Md.

In her school, teachers who did not get their classroom observations completed before schools shut down will receive a default score that is a districtwide average and won't negatively impact the evaluation.

Doing online observations was not an option, Daniel said. Her school serves a large English-language learner population, and not all students have access to the internet.

While she has still popped into teachers' online lessons to offer informal feedback, "it's not a true depiction of a classroom," she said. "We know there's still going to be a lot of gaps in learning, and distance learning is very new."

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, Principal James Edmond, Jr., is proceeding with online observations for the few teachers at Woodside Elementary School who had not yet finished that part of their evaluations.

The observations might look different than they would in a normal year, and Edmond said he's conscious of the fact that teachers have been adapting to a new reality on the fly.

"No matter how tech-savvy they were, this is a whole new level of instruction," he said. "We've had multiple conversations about how you're a first-year teacher all over again."

But the ultimate goal of observations is to support his teachers, Edmond said, adding that he thinks this is an opportunity for professional growth.

"I don't want them to feel any type of trepidation about me sitting in," he said. "This is a way for us to have some really interesting professional conversations. It's new to them, it's new to me-we can grow together through it. ... It's really about making them better."

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Should Teachers Be Evaluated During Coronavirus School Shutdowns?

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One of the many questions facing districts and states during the coronavirus school shutdowns: How can schools grade their teachers during a disrupted school year? According to an analysis by the Education Commission of the States, at least seven states have waived all state requirements for teacher evaluations.

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This year, the first day of school looked very different for the tens of millions of students returning to class. But through unprecedented change and the stress that's come with it, educators and students have led with resilience, reminding us that learning starts with connection, community, and well-being. As defined by the Committee for Children, social-emotional learning (SEL), or what happens when we're developing self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills, is vital for success in school, work, and every other facet of our lives.
"Learning is both a social and emotional process and school is an emotional roller coaster... Right now, parents, educators, and students are emotionally out of balance. We are seeing unprecedented levels of anxiety, stress, and... Click To Tweet
In Marc Brackett's book, Permission to Feel, he describes how and why emotions matter for:

Attention, memory, and learning

The quality of our decision-making

Our relationships and social interactions

Physical and mental health

Performance and creativity

Technology can play a key part in enabling SEL at scale and supporting the crucial functions that impact school, work, and life. Today we're announcing two Microsoft Teams features and a OneNote feature designed for emotional literacy and transparency, plus a virtual learning opportunity with Goldie Hawn's MindUp organization.
1. New Praise Badges in Microsoft Teams recognize moments of SEL growth
New SEL features for Microsoft Education

Teams is the hub for learning, engagement, and collaboration, with built-in tools to tailor learning to student needs. Today, more than 230,000 education institutions use Teams for remote and hybrid learning.

Now those tools include SEL-specific Praise Badges. Educators can use Praise Badges to recognize student social skills, grow emotional vocabulary, and give valuable recognition to the daily wins in their students' learning.

Praise Badges are based on the Big Five model, a well-known SEL framework recently used by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in their global assessment program. Educators can use these badges to recognize specific skills that contribute to the Big Five personality traits. These skills reflect the entire domain of social-emotional skills, and are intentionally chosen to be:

Predictive of success in a wide range of important life outcomes and events

Appropriate for 10- to 15-year-olds

Comparable and relevant across different cultures, languages, and social and school contexts

Relevant for the future

The badges were developed through a human-centered design approach that brought teachers and students directly into the product development process, ensuring that we create useful and authentic tools that will aide in their existing classroom practices.
2. New SEL sticker pack for OneNote creates an emotion-driven feedback mechanism
Praise Badges are available now in chats and class team channels, with the new SEL-specific badges expected in late September. Once available, you can ask your IT admin to enable them, giving educators and students at your school all-new ways to meaningfully connect and grow together in Teams.
3. New Reflect tool in Microsoft Teams makes emotional check-ins a daily routine

Using Teams means collaborating-a skill of its own that requires self-regulation and self-awareness. The Reflect messaging extension in Teams helps educators connect with their students and implement SEL into the daily class flow-discussions, assignments, projects, and more-through quick check-in questions and polls.

These check-ins are a simple way to guide students to reflect on and identify how they're feeling, helping them lead with self-awareness as they participate in collaborative environments like Teams.

Support for Reflect:

Emotional expression: The long-term impact

The opportunities created by Praise Badges, SEL stickers, and Reflect check-ins for students to grow their emotional vocabulary are more than just literacy lessons. Brackett cites the need to develop a rich emotional vocabulary and the power that it can bring.

Brackett also cites the need to develop a rich emotional vocabulary in describing how we and others are feeling.

"Critical to SEL is the cultivation of a rich emotion vocabulary," shared Brackett. "Without the words, children's needs can't be met. Language also is a pathway to regulating emotions."

Developing emotional vocabulary that enables students to express their needs and self-regulate has a long-term impact, and not just in the school context. In 30 to 40 percent of the fastest-growing occupations, technical, cognitive, and SEL skills are considered of value when evaluating job candidates-and 58 percent of employers report that current graduates aren't delivering in the SEL area. SEL is a key future-ready skill of its own, with a place in school curricula.

Educators prioritize SEL

Educators have always known that SEL is critical for well-being, but they're low on time, resources, and support needed to implement more SEL in curriculum. In a survey conducted by Microsoft and The Economist on emotion and cognition, 40 percent of educators say they would prioritize these skills if they had more time.

Educators aren't the only ones expressing the need for greater SEL practice in schools. In a separate research study by Microsoft and The Economist entitled "Preparing the Class of 2030," in which both students and teachers participated, 50 percent of teachers said they provided adequate feedback around social-emotional skills-but only 30 percent of students agreed.

The SEL journey continues
"Nothing is more important right now than to provide all children with knowledge and tools they need to manage stress, regulate emotions and face challenges of the 21st century with optimism, resilience and compassion," Goldie Hawn,... Click To Tweet

Turn-in celebrations: Joy is a natural part of completing and turning in assignments, but Teams for Education takes it one step further. When students turn in an assignment, they get to experience our animated turn-in celebrations. While we're always committed to helping students achieve, we also believe in celebrating effort, heart, and every little step along the learning journey. Turn-in celebrations let students know that their efforts are seen-and that joy is just as important as hard work when it comes to learning. See how turn-in celebrations work.

MindUP and Microsoft collaboration: In addition to the SEL-driven solutions in Microsoft Education products, we've also developed an exciting new virtual learning opportunity in collaboration with Goldie Hawn's MindUP organization. Designed for educators and parents, each session will offer tips and strategies to best prepare our children and youth for going back to school and making their mental health and well-being the priority.

SELinEdu: Microsoft supports the work of the SELinEdu online community, which has grown to over 7,000 educators. We're also a founding committee member of the Karanga Global SEL Alliance through our partnership with Salzburg Global Seminar. With the critical importance of SEL in schools, Microsoft Education is honored to be a part of this growing community working to support the well-being of students and educators.

Learn with us

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New features in Teams and OneNote support social-emotional learning approaches | | Microsoft EDU

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This year, the first day of school looked very different for the tens of millions of students returning to class. But through unprecedented change and the stress that's come with it, educators and students have led with resilience, reminding us that learning starts with connection, community, and well-being.

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NVPS has created and curated resources to ensure a smooth launch to the school year. Community-building resources include organizing Google Classrooms and attending to students' social and emotional needs.

Are you unsure of how to teach effectively with technology? Use the resources here to provide feedback, formatively assess, model instruction, and facilitate collaboration.

Explore these resources to make the most of G Suite for Education and other free, online tools and applications that make remote learning engaging and interactive.

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NVPS has created and curated resources to ensure a smooth launch to the school year. Community-building resources include organizing Google Classrooms and attending to students' social and emotional needs. Are you unsure of how to teach effectively with technology? Use the resources here to provide feedback, formatively assess, model instruction, and facilitate collaboration.

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NYSRE US History & Government (Framework) Exam Part III exemplar released!

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NYSRE US History & Government (Framework) Exam Part III exemplar released!

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A Roadmap on How to Design Options and Choice for Remote Learning

Change is scary - especially when it happens in the cloud. Believe me! I met my husband, Lon, on Match.com almost 17 years ago. I was supposed to meet someone in person - not online! And we are supposed to be teaching in-person - not online. But oh, how change (and COVID-19) breeds innovation.

Just think of all the changes in the ways we eat, shop, and travel: Doordash, Amazon Prime, and Uber hover below our fingers. Just like our lives have been impacted by technology - so too has teaching and learning. We not only had to change what we do and how we do things but we had to do it very quickly.

So, we want to help you get to the next level with your remote learning. We have created the UDL Remote Learning Flowchart that will help you troubleshoot and streamline the development and delivery of your UDL lessons remotely. The flowchart is built upon our UDL Flowchart and suggests considerations for you and your students will need to be successful in a remote environment. If you find that you are able to answer "yes" to each question in the flowchart, good for you! You are well on your way to eliminating barriers to learning. If however, you find that you cannot say "yes" to everything, we have provided some resources for you to check out to make the changes that you need.

Obviously, we aren't going to nail this every time, and that is okay. You don't have to do this by yourself - get students and other teachers involved in your process so that you can get as much input as you can. As always, all feedback welcome!

The UDL Flowchart includes some important points to remember when you are going online or remotely with your lessons.

Start here!

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Universal Design for Remote Learning

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A Roadmap on How to Design Options and Choice for Remote Learning

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Change is scary - especially when it happens in the cloud. Believe me! I met my husband, Lon, on Match.com almost 17 years ago. I was supposed to meet someone in person - not online! And we are supposed to be teaching in-person - not online. But oh, how change (and COVID-19) breeds innovation.

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When used effectively, iPads can develop thinkers and problem solvers. They can be used to transform learning inside and outside of the classroom, and offer limitless opportunities. Many educators are effectively integrating technology in the classroom using iPads to achieve the 4C's, or "super skills," that digital learners need to compete in our global society.

But in order to do that, the focus has to shift from apps to content: that's when true redefinition takes place. When my district rolled out our iPad initiative in 2012, teachers thought they needed specific apps for every content area. Eventually, we ended up with literally thousands of apps in our portal. This was extremely overwhelming, difficult to manage, and eventually, a turn-off for teachers.

Are you ready to adjust your teaching for this new learning revolution? Let me take you inside the idea of SAMR with a helpful metaphor: Starbucks. The simplest way I know to describe the levels in the SAMR model is using a visual created by Tim Holt, who uses Starbucks as a unique way of looking at the model.

Image created by Patricia Brown.

What's the SAMR Model?

The key to powerful and authentic technology integration is selecting digital tools that are appropriate for the task. One way to measure this is through the SAMR Model, which was developed by Ruben Puentedura to provide educators with a framework for successful technology integration. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. The SAMR model allows you the opportunity to evaluate why you are using a specific technology, design tasks that enable higher-order thinking skills, and engage students in rich learning experiences.

SAMR is like looking at a menu. You have so many choices: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. Sometimes you want a latte, sometimes you just want that plain cup of coffee--you have the opportunity to pick a new menu choice as often as you like, depending on the task, the content area, or the level of student engagement.

Image created by Tim Holt.

Substitution: Same Task, New Tech

At the substitution level, you are substituting a cup of coffee that we could make at home or school with a cup of coffee from Starbucks. It's still coffee: there's no real change. Reading a book on the iPad would be considered substitution, as you are simply substituting a handheld book for a digital book. Taking notes or writing an essay using Google Drive or Evernote instead of using paper and pencil are other examples of substitution. Although these activities engage students and enhance learning, the level of tech integration is low: teachers are just substituting technology for things you could do without technology.

Augmentation: Improve the Task with New Features

At the Augmentation level, you are taking regular coffee and making it better by adding ice, or a little cinnamon on top. We didn't change the coffee, but it tastes better because we augmented and enhanced it with additional ingredients. With a digital book, students can click on a word and get a definition, synonym, or a link that may take them to more information about that subject area. While writing, they can highlight a word, spellcheck, customize and format font.

Skitch or PicCollage are both great apps that allow you to augment learning by annotating images. Students can find objects in the classroom, take pictures, then label their work, whether it be math, word work, or science. Using a video camera app students could complete a fluency bootcamp, where they would record themselves reading a passage, and play it back checking for fluency and expression. Although these examples enhance learning, the tasks do not change.

Modification: Changing the Task

At the Modification Level, we add some bells and whistles to the augmented coffee. We add a little whipped cream, caramel, and some special flavoring, and we now have a salted caramel mocha with a fancy design. At this level, technology allows for significant task redesign, like collaborating in real-time using Google Drive. Students are motivated to write for their peers and engage with a global network. To use technology to modify learning, we add multimedia through video, sound and audio. Students could create a soundtrack in Garageband for a multimedia presentation. Students could use iMovie App to create iMovie Book Trailers, or digital stories using the Videolicious app. Modification involves changing the task, and personalizing the project.

Redefinition: A Whole New Task

Finally, at the Redefinition level, we are ordering a pumpkin spice latte, redefining a regular cup of coffee to something you can only get at Starbucks. We are completing a task that cannot be done without the use of technology. I compare redefinition to the higher order thinking levels in Bloom's Taxonomy like analyzing, creating, and evaluation. The students are researching, sharing, collaborating, and connecting with not only their classrooms but with classrooms around the world. They are generating questions, and exploring topics and content using current technologies available to them.

Teachers are going beyond the four walls of their classrooms through virtual book club discussions through Hangouts, taking Virtual Field Trips to visit the white House kitchen to learn about nutrition, or talking with astronauts from Nasa to complement their space unit through Google Connected Classrooms. Students are developing mapping, critical thinking, and problem solving skills through Mystery Skypes, completing collaborative writing through Kidblog, and connecting to the world through social media like Twitter.

Our school used QR codes and Augmented Reality to make our annual art show interactive. Using a whiteboard app like Educreations, a teacher created an Array Hunt lesson to help her fourth grade students make a real-world connection with arrays by finding arrays around their school, then created a video to show their learning. Students are using iBook Author, or Storybook Maker to create their own digital books are more ways students can reach redefinition levels.

Using the SAMR Model in Your Classroom

As I studied more about the SAMR model, I learned that as we travel through the four levels of integration, the goal doesn't have to be to reach the redefinition level with every lesson. Sometimes all we want is the plain cup of coffee, and sometimes we want that Starbucks-only pumpkin spice latte.

Authentic learning does not fit in a one-size (or one beverage) fits all type of learning environment. The role of the teacher changes in a modern classroom, as our students can be curators and producers of content too. This involves a mindshift on both ends.

When you think about how you will use technology in your classroom, ask yourself these questions to determine where it lies on the SAMR Model.

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A Guide for Bringing the SAMR Model to iPads - EdSurge News

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When used effectively, iPads can develop thinkers and problem solvers. They can be used to transform learning inside and outside of the classroom, and ...

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Each major web browser shares a large number of keyboard shortcuts in common. Whether you're using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, or Opera - these keyboard shortcuts will work in your browser.

Each browser also has some of its own, browser-specific shortcuts, but learning the ones they have in common will serve you well as you switch between different browsers and computers. This list includes a few mouse actions, too.

Tabs

Ctrl+1-8 - Switch to the specified tab, counting from the left.

Ctrl+9 - Switch to the last tab.

Ctrl+Tab - Switch to the next tab - in other words, the tab on the right. ( Ctrl+Page Up also works, but not in Internet Explorer.)

Ctrl+Shift+Tab - Switch to the previous tab - in other words, the tab on the left. ( Ctrl+Page Down also works, but not in Internet Explorer.)

Ctrl+W, Ctrl+F4 - Close the current tab.

Ctrl+Shift+T - Reopen the last closed tab.

Ctrl+T - Open a new tab.

Ctrl+N - Open a new browser window.

Alt+F4 - Close the current window. (Works in all applications.)

Mouse Actions for Tabs

Middle Click a Tab - Close the tab.

Ctrl+Left Click, Middle Click - Open a link in a background tab.

Shift+Left Click - Open a link in a new browser window.

Ctrl+Shift+Left Click - Open a link in a foreground tab.

Navigation

Alt+Left Arrow or Backspace - Back.

Alt+Right Arrow or Shift+Backspace - Forward.

F5 - Reload.

Ctrl+F5 - Reload and skip the cache, re-downloading the entire website.

Escape - Stop.

Alt+Home - Open homepage.

Zooming

Ctrl and + or Ctrl+Mousewheel Up - Zoom in.

Ctrl and - or Ctrl+Mousewheel Down - Zoom out.

Ctrl+0 - Default zoom level.

F11 - Full-screen mode.

Scrolling

Space or Page Down - Scroll down a frame.

Shift+Space or Page Up - Scroll up a frame.

Home - Top of page.

End - Bottom of page.

Middle Click - Scroll with the mouse. (Windows only)

Address Bar

Ctrl+L or Alt+D or F6 - Focus the address bar so you can begin typing.

Ctrl+Enter - Prefix www. and append .com to the text in the address bar, and then load the website. For example, type howtogeek into the address bar and press Ctrl+Enter to open www.howtogeek.com.

Alt+Enter - Open the location in the address bar in a new tab.

Search

Ctrl+K or Ctrl+E - Focus the browser's built-in search box or focus the address bar if the browser doesn't have a dedicated search box. ( Ctrl+K doesn't work in IE, Ctrl+E does.)

Alt+Enter - Perform a search from the search box in a new tab.

Ctrl+F or F3 - Open the in-page search box to search on the current page.

Ctrl+G or F3 - Find the next match of the searched text on the page.

Ctrl+Shift+G or Shift+F3 - Find the previous match of the searched text on the page.

History & Bookmarks

Ctrl+H - Open the browsing history.

Ctrl+J - Open the download history.

Ctrl+D - Bookmark the current website.

Ctrl+Shift+Del - Open the Clear Browsing History window.

Other Functions

Ctrl+P - Print the current page.

Ctrl+S - Save the current page to your computer.

Ctrl+O - Open a file from your computer.

Ctrl+U - Open the current page's source code. (Not in IE.)

F12 - Open Developer Tools.

Does one of these keyboard shortcuts not work in a specific browser, or is there another important one we missed here? Leave a comment and let us know.
Image Credit: Mikeropology on Flickr (modified)

Chris Hoffman is Editor in Chief of How-To Geek. He's written about technology for nearly a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami's NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than 500 million times---and that's just here at How-To Geek. Chris Hoffman
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47 Keyboard Shortcuts That Work in All Web Browsers

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Each major web browser shares a large number of keyboard shortcuts in common. Whether you're using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, or Opera - these keyboard shortcuts will work in your browser. Each browser also has some of its own, browser-specific shortcuts, but learning the ones they have in common will serve you well as you switch between different browsers and computers.

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On PowerSchool Parent, you'll hear from real "Power Parents" and their stories of how they aim to be a good partner in their student's education success. Par...

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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.

Come back for more.
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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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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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I was bullied in high school. The bullying took the form of humiliation, physical assault, and mental torment. At the time, it was simply thought of as "kids being kids." Not a single administrator or teacher did anything to check in, help me, or stop the bullying. Many of my teachers laughed it off when they witnessed it.

This had an impact on my self esteem and my beliefs about people's intent - at work and in other aspects of my life. At the same time, I have always had the ability to see the many sides of conflict. Since elementary school, I have been the go-to mediator with peers, co-workers, and beyond. I have been building my empathy muscle my whole life.

My professional path brought me to community mediation at a nonprofit and it was in this role that I first learned about restorative justice. Since then, I've dedicated my work to building restorative justice programs at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center and in school districts such as Berkeley Unified and Oakland Unified School Districts.

What is Restorative Justice?

Restorative justice views "harm" as a fracturing of relationships, rather than something that demands punishment. A restorative justice process is a way to uncover true needs and heal relationships via meaningful accountability.

How might restorative justice apply to a conflict? Restorative justice allows the impacted parties to talk about what happened, how they are feeling about it now, the impact it had on everyone, and ultimately what can be done to make it as right as possible. Restorative approach can help school communities avoid the need for exclusionary discipline and reduce repeated offenses. People who have been harmed often have questions that only the person that harmed them can answer. Often time these questions are simple like "why me?" or "what led you to do this to me?" The process allows for these and other questions to be answered and to begin the healing process.

Restorative justice originates from an indigenous paradigm - it is community based, relational, and inclusive. The process creates equity by giving everyone a space to talk and be heard and by addressing the root cause of harm. We often say harmed people harm people, so it is important to uncover and address the original harm too. The restorative talking circle process is often implemented to start this conversation.

Restorative Talking Circles and SEL

One restorative practice that is supporting SEL in classrooms is the use of restorative talking circles. Circles are an effective way of building a community where people feel connected and develop communal ownership of the classroom. This kind of connectedness creates an environment where authentic engagement and deep learning can happen. Students may bring their cultural values into the space, creating a shared ownership of the classroom.

Circles typically start with an opening practice, for example a few minutes of mindfulness, to create an intentional space. The opening is followed by a "check-in" with each of the members of the circle. When first establishing the circle, the group may co-create shared guidelines and discuss personal and shared values. This lays the foundation for a rich and meaningful dialogue followed by a check out and closing.

If the circle is a response to harm or conflict, we may discuss what happened and the impact. We eventually discuss how to make things as right as possible and come up with a plan to repair the relationships and re-weave the fabric of the community. The ability to make something right - or as right as possible - is a gift that all people impacted by harm deserve.

Simply by sitting in a restorative circle in the classroom, students learn valuable social and emotional skills such as patience, empathy, active listening, and impulse control. These skills fall into the five SEL competencies that the Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) supports schools in teaching and practicing: self awareness, self management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills.

Not only does a restorative circle allow people to practice these skills, it can also be used to explicitly teach them. For example, one could do a circle on what it means to be an ally, what respect looks, sounds and feels like in our classroom, or to make a consensual decision about something that affects the community?

Restorative justice is a values based practice. In a circle, shared guidelines and values are always created as a group before the main discussion. We generally use the same core guidelines across the school district and then invite additional ideas for the discussion. We adapted a version of guidelines set forth by Kay Pranis and Carolyn Boyes-Watson in their book "Circle Forward, Building a Restorative School Community", Living Justice Press 2014. They are:

Respect the talking piece - A meaningful object is passed around the circle. The person holding it is the only one that speaks. Everyone else actively listens.

Speak and listen from the heart - Speak your truth and listen with an open mind.

Speak and listen with respect - Pay attention to your triggers and how you express yourself.

Remain in circle - Be present.

Honor privacy - Keep the conversation private. Participants may discuss the level of confidentiality they feel they need.

It is important to build a foundation in shared values so that all participants, especially students, can bring what is important to them (family, culture) into the space. This allows for a classroom to be a shared space rather than the teacher's room. Teachers do not need to be experts in their students lives, and they cannot control what a young person may experience outside of the classroom, at the same time they can provide opportunities to create a learning environment that resonates with a student based on what the student has indicated in circle is important to them.

Student Leadership: The Circle Keepers

A major tenet of restorative justice is working with people rather than doing to them. To support this, every year in Oakland hundreds of youth are trained as circle keepers to support circles in the school community. This supports students as leaders and encourages them to engage in their own education. In their training, youth are not being manipulated to do things adults should do; rather students are empowered to participate in and lead restorative justice because it resonates with them. We must ask ourselves who are we doing this for, students or adults? Do adults want students to learn self management so they can be quiet, orderly and compliant, or do we want them to practice that competency so they may create and maintain positive relationships during and after their education?

By sharing the circle keeper role, adults working in restorative schools are practicing and learning SEL skills alongside students. As teachers learn alongside students, they become more aware of their own biases and triggers. Often adults become more aware of how their behavior can impact children in a positive way - especially youth of color, and students who express their gender in non-heteronormative ways, who feel adult bias the most.

How to Get Started

There is no plug and play model for implementing restorative justice practices at a school. Restorative justice implementation is profoundly related to the eco-system of each school or district. Schools must first assess the environment for readiness. Administrators, teachers, students and parents can identify what factors conducive to restorative justice are already in place and what they can do better. All staff should be trained and receive coaching and feedback throughout the year.

The OUSD Restorative Justice Implementation Guide is a navigational tool we developed in Oakland in partnership with Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) to help members of the school community identify indicators such as: What's working in our school? What could we do better? What positive things are happening that RJ can support? What do we need to rethink?

It is difficult to implement restorative justice on a piecemeal basis. Restorative justice is a school wide phenomenon and more effective to implement if most, if not all, of the teachers are trained in circles and receive coaching support as they learn the art of circle-keeping. Student leadership can expand to include restorative practices for community building and responding to harm and conflict.

Restorative Justice and Creating Safe Spaces

Today's students want to engage with school curriculum, but in a culturally relevant way. They want to soak up what the teachers are trying to give them, but many of them need a space that creates safety first. Students may need to break free from the cycle of harm and aggression that experiencing trauma can set in motion. According to a 2017 report from the National Survey on Children's Health, 46% of all children in the US have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE). Bringing restorative justice practices into schools and districts can help to provide an environment where they can heal and break the cycle.

Each day when I go to work at Oakland Unified School District I ask myself how I will transform this system rather than become it. It takes a relentless intentionality and a deep commitment to self reflection. Restorative justice practices help me and others in our school community practice and build our social and emotional skill set so that we can be in right relationship with each other and create a place and space where robust and engaging learning can happen. We need to radically shift the way we have been educating our students for the last 150 years to something that works for all of our young people now.
David Yusem coordinates the Restorative Justice program at Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). This year, the district was able to maintain full time Restorative Justice staff at over 26 school sites to support the implementation of Restorative Justice programming district-wide. The RJ program at OUSD is considered a National model for the implementation of restorative practices in schools. Prior to working at OUSD, David managed the community mediation program at SEEDS Community Resolution Center, and founded their restorative justice program. David has also initiated Restorative Justice pilot programs at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center and Berkeley Unified School District.

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Restorative Justice in Schools: SEL in Action

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https://youtu.be/oc23H6RxWRo I was bullied in high school. The bullying took the form of humiliation, physical assault, and mental torment. At the time, it was simply thought of as "kids being kids." Not a single administrator or teacher did anything to check in, help me, or stop the bullying.

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We brought industry experts together at our second virtual summit to discuss school re-openings and anywhere learning. Now, we're putting those sessions onli...

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Building strong relationships with students and parents | Common Sense Education

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Common Sense Education, a leader in social and emotional learning and digital citizenship, discusses how educators can support their school communities and ensure a smooth start of the new school year via distance learning.

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Getting Started with Google for Education

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Let's face it. When you're not present in your classroom, you miss your whiteboard.

It's convenient. Everyone in the room can see it. You can write text and draw pictures on it, then erase it clean in an instant.

When you're teaching remotely, the physical whiteboard may be gone. But the concept of using it to teach doesn't have to be.

In this post, you'll see 15 options for teaching remotely with whiteboards. With most of these options, you can ...

Start a video call using your preferred video call platform (Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.). Share your screen so students can see your whiteboard.

Use a screen recording tool to capture video you can share with students later. Use a tool like Screencastify, Loom, Snagit, the Game Bar app in Windows, etc.

Have another idea for online whiteboarding for remote learning? Share it in a comment below!

10 Online Whiteboard Options for Remote Learning

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Lesson ideas and downloadable templates

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Do More with Google Classroom

Teach better. Save time. Make a difference.

The short how-to tutorials on Google Classroom are EVERYWHERE. But how do we teach well with it? In this book, you'll find practical ideas to do great teaching with Google Classroom and thrive.

Recording real whiteboards

If the real thing will work, you may not need to go digital. Grab an actual white board or a sheet of paper. Either of these options may work for you!

Use a real whiteboard

Use your phone as a document camera

This is a fun hack that's easier than you'd think! Start a video call. Then use a second device -- a smartphone is best -- and join the video call with it. Set the phone on a tall stack of books with the camera facing down at a paper (or small whiteboard). Instant document camera!

For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links:

Are you looking for quality, meaningful professional learning that both equips and inspires teachers?

Matt provides in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops and breakout sessions that equip, inspire and encourage teachers to create change in their classrooms. Teachers leave with loads of resources. They participate. They laugh. They see tech use and teaching in a new light. Click the link below to contact us and learn how you can bring Matt to your school or district!

Ready to take your teaching skills -- and student learning -- to another level?

Check out our online courses. ALL under $50!

©2022 Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller.

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15 online whiteboard options for remote learning

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Let's face it. When you're not present in your classroom, you miss your whiteboard. It's convenient. Everyone in the room can see it. You can write text and draw pictures on it, then erase it clean in an instant. When you're teaching remotely, the physical whiteboard may be gone.

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🚀Kinder Rockets - Parent Corner/ Rincón de los padres

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‼️Families! Here are some resources to help you with the technical side! / ‼️Familias! ¡Aquí hay algunos recursos para ayudarlo con el aspecto técnico!

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Ed Tech

This post is written by Ben Cogswell, Eric Garcia and Michael Hughes. Ben currently teaches kindergarten in Salinas, California. Eric is a 5th Grade STEAM Science/PE Teacher in McFarland, CA. Michael is currently teaching 4th grade after years of teaching TK and kindergarten in Riverside County. You can connect with them on Twitter @cogswell_ben, @EdTechGarcia and @LakersHughes.

Distance learning provides many challenges for students and teachers. For those of us in the youngest grades the challenges that we and our students face seems even more difficult.

Trying to engage even one 5 year old on a Zoom or Google Meet call can be challenging. Trying to teach an entire class is a whole other level.

But it CAN be done! And it can be done well.

Check out the interview below to hear Ben and Micheal share their thoughts along with tons of resources below. Then scroll down for 10 ways to make distance learning work in K-2!

Here are 10 ways to make distance learning work in K-2.

3. Use a document camera during synchronous learning

Get kids engaged on the other side of the screen by using a document camera. Watching you work along with them will help to get kids drawing and writing.

Tips for success:

You can use your phone as a document camera! This is a fun hack that's easier than you'd think! Start a video call. Then use a second device -- a smartphone is best -- and join the video call with it. Set the phone on a tall stack of books (or purchase an inexpensive phone holder) with the camera facing down at a paper (or small whiteboard). Instant document camera! (Tip and infographic from Matt)

Draw and write as much as possible. Activities like directed drawings are fun.

Take a picture of the class holding up their work toward the end as a form of assessment. You can also have students take a picture of their work and add it to their Seesaw journal.

4. Add colors on keyboards for easier login

For many of our little ones this is the very first time they have logged onto a device. And for those using Chromebooks or laptops the letters on the keyboard look like nonsense if they don't have letter recognition yet. So let's make it as easy as we can for our little to login! Using colors will help students easily identify where to look on the keyboard as they login.

Tips for success:

Send home a paper keyboard and have students color each row a different color.

S end home colored tabs to put on the side of the rows that correspond to the colors on the keyboard.

Have kids color the keyboard to learn different keys

6. Treat your Zoom or Meet like a classroom

Set procedures during your zooms. Students need to be aware of noise in their virtual classroom. Just like in the classroom you want to create a good space for learning. Encourage students to be part of creating a good space for learning.

Tips for success:

Ask " Can you hear noises in the background?"

Quiet hands, students put their hands together to be able to show the listening (see picture below).

Encourage students that are comfortable on camera to have their face in the middle of the screen to make those virtual face to face connections. For students that aren't comfortable with showing their face on camera you can encourage them to use a filter or even use a puppet to be on camera for them.

Meet with students virtually in small groups to teach them important skills and assess their progress. While the rest of your class is working on their learning tasks asycronously, take a small group to work with. You will get so much more accomplished academically and you will be able to make those connections and build relationships with students in small groups.

Say hello and goodbye at the end of every meeting.

Use a bell or noise to signal transitions of my turn your turn .

7. Keep a schedule and be consistent

Be sure to stay consistent with the amount and types of assignments. If kids know what to do we can lessen anxiety for them (and us!). It makes it easier for kids to logon and be at class every single day.

Tips for success:

Use emojis in front of assignments to help kids see which ones they need to access.

Build some flexibility in for parents with due dates and class meetings

Think about times that will work for families.

Resources:

For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links:

Are you looking for quality, meaningful professional learning that both equips and inspires teachers?

Matt provides in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops and breakout sessions that equip, inspire and encourage teachers to create change in their classrooms. Teachers leave with loads of resources. They participate. They laugh. They see tech use and teaching in a new light. Click the link below to contact us and learn how you can bring Matt to your school or district!

Ready to take your teaching skills -- and student learning -- to another level?

Check out our summer bundle. 9 GREAT COURSES ONE LOW PRICE!

Upcoming Speaking

There are no upcoming events.

©2022 Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller.

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Distance learning in K-2: 10 ways to make it work

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Ed Tech This post is written by Ben Cogswell, Eric Garcia and Michael Hughes. Ben currently teaches kindergarten in Salinas, California. Eric is a 5th Grade STEAM Science/PE Teacher in McFarland, CA. Michael is currently teaching 4th grade after years of teaching TK and kindergarten in Riverside County.

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Welcome to Online Tools for Teaching and Learning!

This site was designed to help you identify online tools that you might use for teaching or learning. Each page includes a wealth of information about a specific tool (e.g., price, ease of use, description of the tool, innovative ways to use the tool for teaching and learning, how the tool fits with the SAMR model) to help you evaluate the tool and determine whether to use it in your practice.

This site was created as part of a collaborative class project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students in the class conducted in-depth research about four online tools and designed pages for each tool (see 2016 Tool Reviewers page).

**The site was updated in 2019 with 21 new tool pages, in 2020 with 16 new tool pages, and in 2021 with 10 new tool pages (see New Tool Pages).

If you have any questions about this site, please contact Dr. Torrey Trust.

The tools on this website are organized according to the National Research Council's (2000) four types of learning environments: assessment-centered, community-centered, knowledge-centered, and learner-centered.
Assessment Tools
Assessment tools (e.g., Kahoot, Socrative, Google Forms, ePortfolios) allow educators to conduct pre-course/lesson, formative, and summative assessments.
Community Tools
Community tools, including social media, virtual games, and collaborative design spaces, encourage and foster social learning experiences.
Knowledge Tools
Knowledge tools, such as virtual timeline creators, mind mapping software, and study sites (e.g., flashcards, tutorials), help students acquire, construct, and organize information.
Learner-Centered
Learner-centered tools can be used to personalize, differentiate, and empower learning.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Welcome to Online Tools for Teaching and Learning! This site was designed to help you identify online tools that you might use for teaching or learning.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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Hammond distinguishes the differences between culturally responsive education, multicultural education and social justice education. Each is important, but without a focus on building students' brain power, they will experience learning loss.

When it comes to distance learning, applying culturally responsive teaching requires "remixing" education by borrowing from the best practices in how kids learn (Montessori, project-based learning, etc.) in a way that repositions the student as the leader of his own learning. By giving students more agency, the idea is to disrupt old routines around teaching and learning that make the student dependent on the teacher for receiving knowledge.

"It's going to stretch us a little out of our own comfort zones, but it's worth it in the long run if we can get students to continue to do that thinking," said Hammond.

She advises three strategies to help students gain that independence:

1. Deepen background knowledge

Many educators are understandably wondering whether they should teach new content or review familiar material. Hammond encourages educators to do the latter because cognitively dependent learners often have gaps in their background knowledge . "A lot of our students are compliant learners," she said. "They're having a hard time shifting right now [because] they're used to the worksheet, but that doesn't mean they're always processing information."

She advises teachers to help students connect new things they're learning to their brain's existing schema - also known as background knowledge - that comes from home, their community, their interests. Teachers can then give them authentic tasks that help them make meaning and connections. This helps turn new inert information into usable knowledge. "You cannot give another person background knowledge," she explained. "They have to acquire it, but as teachers we can help guide the process." This can be done by building upon student interest.

"Survey your students if you don't know what they like," said Hammond. Ask them what books they enjoy reading or what topics get them super excited. She said It doesn't matter if their interests are broad or narrow; it's important to learn what interests them so that you can use that information to:

Assign non-fiction books that build on student interests.

Create a "Netflix" playlist of documentaries, nature shows, historical events, etc.

Encourage kids and parents to do a walk-about, if that's possible in their community, following social distancing guidelines. Encourage parents and students to seek out community curiosities (landmarks or interesting sights) relevant to students' interest.

With each of these activities, it's important to give the students direction so they know what to look out for. "You have to tell the brain what to pay attention to," Hammond explains. She suggested questions like, "What was your biggest surprise from this book/show?" or thinking routine sentences like "I Used to Think ___. But, now I think ____."

She said to always make sure that students do something with the knowledge as well. She suggested having them share interesting facts they learned either during video conferences or via an audio/video clip. For those students with limited internet access, encourage them to share what they learned with their parents.

2. Cultivate cognitive routines

Growing students' brain power during distance learning starts with building cognitive routines. These routines are essential to processing and hardwiring information in the brain.

"Be the personal trainer of their cognitive development," Hammond said. To do this, she suggested having a routine set of prompts in each packet that become a regular part of the way students think. That way, students begin to think that way even when you're not in the classroom to reinforce that way of thinking.

One example is to ask students to connect the "unknown to the known" or across concepts by asking questions like, " What's the relationship or connection between these things?" or "How does this part fit into the whole? What are the parts of this whole?" These may seem simple, but these questions are critical when it comes to processing information so that students internalize these prompts until they become almost instinctual.

She said students should also be encouraged to sketchnote or doodle to actively process what they're learning as an alternative to note-taking. Sketchnoting can encourage people to make deeper connections to what they're hearing.

3. Build word wealth

Building a student's vocabulary is a key tool in equity strategies for schools. "Kids have different interests in words so find out where their energy is. You can have a differentiated assignment around word collecting, but the idea is to get them actively involved in word consciousness," said Hammond. She said there are many small but high-leverage ways to do this, such as introducing robust word study. A teacher can help students engage in wordplay, word consciousness and word knowledge. This should not happen through a worksheet assignment, but rather begin with building word consciousness of words in their community, home and home language.

Word games like Scrabble, Heads Up, Taboo or even word searches are small familiar but high-leverage activities because they're fun but also require a high cognitive load. You can create your own versions of these games and have students do this in any language. Students can also do word collecting activities like scavenger hunts, or make poetry using magnetic poetry. Students can also do a contrastive analysis, by comparing words they might find in Urban Dictionary to those they might find in a standard dictionary.

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How to Develop Culturally Responsive Teaching for Distance Learning | KQED

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Culturally responsive teaching is a powerful way to help students become independent learners, and it can be especially valuable during distance learning.

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Local 1904's Dr. Jennifer Goeke says K-12 teachers of students with disabilities already had their hands full implementing every student's Individual Education Plan (IEP), which she describes as "plans that were written with in-person teaching in mind."

The shift to online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic hasn't helped matters, adds Goeke, an associate professor of special education at Montclair State University

"Teachers who dabbled in digital learning reported a desire to use it more often but noted challenges such as lack of time, preparation, professional development and support," Goeke writes in a guest column published Aug. 5 by The Star-Ledger. "Successfully meeting students' needs while simultaneously bringing themselves up to speed with technology is an almost impossible task."

Goeke offers a handful of solutions; read her full column here.

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Special educators feeling extra pressure from online learning

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Local 1904's Dr. Jennifer Goeke says K-12 teachers of students with disabilities already had their hands full implementing every student's Individual Education Plan (IEP), which she describes as "plans that were written with in-person teaching in mind."

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Learn basic and advanced skills across Google tools with free of charge online training courses designed for educators of all levels.

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Registration includes:

8-week email series

Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday

Video-based tutorials on Drive, Docs, Classroom, Forms, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Gmail

Less than 15 minutes to complete

Learn More

Getting Started with Google for Education is an 8-week training program that delivers bite-size training tutorials directly to your inbox.

Each lesson takes less than 15 minutes to complete and provides basic training videos to get you started with G Suite for Education.

This series is only available in English, but subtitles are available in 18+ languages within the lesson videos. Click the three dots in the bottom right of the video player to enable.

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Registration includes: 8-week email series Delivered to your inbox every Tuesday Video-based tutorials on Drive, Docs, Classroom, Forms, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Gmail Less than 15 minutes to complete Learn More Getting Started with Google for Education is an 8-week training program that delivers bite-size training tutorials directly to your inbox.

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75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

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We’ve compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

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Characteristics of the emerging generations

We are in the midst of a generational landmark, as Australia's "Digital Integrators" ( Generation Z) begin to enter the workforce and Generation Alpha move through their schooling years. Below we provide an explanation about each of these generations, and some interesting facts about them.

Generation Z

The students of our world today who are currently at school and university are the children of Generation X, the cohort that follows Generation Y, and who are born between 1995 and 2009. They are Generation Z.

Generation Z are the largest generation ever, comprising around 20% of Australia's population and almost 30% of the world's population. Globally there are almost 2 billion of them.

They are the first fully global generation, shaped in the 21st century, connected through digital devices, and engaged through social media.

Generation Z facts

Also known as 'generation connected' or 'dot com kids'

1 in 2 predicted to obtain a uni degree

By 2025, will make up 27% of the workforce

Predicted to work 18 jobs across 6 careers and live in 15 homes in their lifetime

There are 2,000,000,000 Gen Zs globally

Use slang like 'Fam', 'FOMO' and 'YOLO'

Generation Alpha

Following our Gen Zeds are our pre-schooler and kindergarteners of today - Gen Alpha.

Born since the year 2010, they are the children of the Millennials. They are the first generation who will be entirely born and shaped in the 21st century, and the first generation that we will see in record numbers in the 22nd century as well. They are logged on and linked up - known as 'digital natives'. They are the most materially endowed and technologically literate generation to ever grace the planet!

Generation Alpha facts

2.8 million Gen Alpha's born around the globe each week

Most popular boys names: Noah, Oliver and William

Most popular girls names: Olivia, Ava and Amelia

What will Australia look like in 2034, the year when first cohort of Generation Alphas are in their early 20s?

1. The population of Melbourne will be 5.9 million (that's larger than the whole of Victoria today).

2. Australia will have reached 32 million (up from 25 million currently).

3. The global population will be 8.8 billion (that's twice what it was when the parents of Generation Alpha were born in the early 1980's).

4. India will have surpassed China as the world's most populous nation.

5. There will be more Australians aged over 60 than under 20 for the first time in our history (a sign of our ageing population).

6. Australia's median age (where half the population is younger and half is older) will be 40. It was 29 when the parents of Gen Alpha were born.

7. The most common household type will be the couple, no kids households, for the first time ever eclipsing the nuclear family of today (couple with children).

For more information

If you found this article interesting, download our free Understanding Generation Z Report and Infographic for more information on how to recruit, train and lead the next generation. For more information on Generation Alpha download our free report at www.generationalpha.com.

For speaking inquiries or media commentary contact us on 02 8824 3422 or at info@mccrindle.com.au

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Gen Z and Gen Alpha Infographic Update - McCrindle

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We are in the midst of a generational landmark, as Australia's "Digital Integrators" ( Generation Z) begin to enter the workforce and Generation Alpha move through their schooling years. Below we provide an explanation about each of these generations, and some interesting facts about them.

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Imagine your classroom filled with purposeful, motivated, strategic, goal-directed learners. What would students be able to do? What would your classroom look like? What could your learners accomplish? Envision your students showing initiative by quickly beginning assigned tasks, knowing what to do (or how to get help) and demonstrating effort. See them working collaboratively with peers on challenging tasks. Picture them understanding themselves as self-motivated learners, able to monitor their comprehension and persisting even when a task is challenging.

One way to create this type of learning environment is with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which aims to develop expert learners. In addition to removing barriers and making learning accessible to the widest varied of learners possible, UDL addresses many of the metacognitive and self-efficacy skills associated with becoming an expert learner, including:

Executive functions. These cognitive processes include initiation, goal setting, attention, planning and organization.

Comprehension skills. This skillset encompasses knowledge construction, making connections, developing strategies and monitoring understanding.

Engagement principles. These soft skills include coping, focus, resilience, effort, persistence, self-assessment and reflection.

Image: UDL infographic by Kendra Grant, licensed under Creative Commons

We all know that technology can engage learners. But if you want to extend your classroom in ways that truly enhance learning, you need to choose and use tech in ways that support and optimize every student's learning experience. When used with intent, the same tools and apps you use in your classroom can also support UDL principles, and help you create the classroom imagined above.

Three technologies that can "augment" the physical world of the classroom with digital content are QR codes, augmented reality and beacons, all of which are uniquely suited to recruit learner interest and build engagement. Perhaps more important, you can use these technologies to foster the self-regulatory and self-efficacy skills that are so important for all learners.

QR codes

You've most likely seen, used or even created your own quick response (QR) codes. These 2D codes are now common in print materials, such as magazines and posters. They are also used to enhance real-life learning experiences, such as museum visits, walking tours and conferences, as they allow users to make connections between the physical world and the online world. When you scan a QR code with a mobile device enabled with a code-reading app, it points to a website, text, picture or video that provides additional information. For example, scanning the QR code below with a QR reader app such as i-Nigma will point you to a video from CommonCraft, which explains what QR codes are and how they work.

When you use them strategically, QR codes are an effective way to support engagement and promote self-regulation. Here are three ways you can use these codes in your classroom:

Start the day right. Post a QR code at the classroom entrance that takes students to the class website, where they can find an overview of the day's activities.

Bolster their skill development. Post QR codes at learning centers around the room that link to short videos, images, checklists, rubrics or websites that will help students develop self-regulatory, organization and/or reflective skills. For example, the QR code might link to an image of a checklist of behaviors for collaborative group work, a video explaining how to create an exit ticket to reflect on learning or go to a website with graphic organizers to help plan and organize research.

Give them choices. Post QR codes with calming images or music for students who need to take a break or links to resources that extend learning for those who want to explore a topic in depth. When you introduce the QR codes to the students, use a think-aloud process to model the purpose of the resources they'll find. Remind them that the goal of using the QR codes is to support their growing intrinsic ability to monitor their own learning.

AR apps

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that acts like a digital overlay on the real world. AR has two "layers": the image, object or place that acts as a trigger when scanned by a device with the appropriate app, and digital content superimposed over the existing reality on the device's screen. Once triggered, the digital content becomes visible to create a dynamic and often interactive experience for the viewer.

AR shares a few commonalities with QR codes, but there are some important differences. Unlike QR codes, AR doesn't require you to scan a code. AR apps use pattern recognition to determine if the image you are scanning matches the stored image (the trigger). While the trigger can be an actual object or place, usually it is a printed image. This helps ensure the AR app will identify the trigger correctly. As with QR codes, when there is a match, the AR app brings up a video, 3D object or other digital resource. Unlike QR codes, more than one layer can be associated with the same trigger.

There are two types of AR apps: those for experience and for creation.Experience AR apps, such as Star Walk, are designed to provide the user with an AR experience within a specific content or context.

Creation AR apps, such as BlippAR and Aurasma, allow users to create their own AR experiences. To get a better understanding of AR, we recommend you download the BlippAR app on iTunes or Google Play and then scan the magazine cover below to see it come to life.

To create the examples below, we used BlippAR's online tool, BlippBuilder, which requires a free educator account. BlippBuilder lets you create more sophisticated interactive images with several layers, interactions, animations and/or sequences that can be timed or touched to open separately.

Posters

One way to support engagement and the development of executive functions is with a "hot spot" poster. Working in BlippBuilder with a trigger image like the one to the right, you can add a set of hot spots. You can layer these transparent objects over each icon and program them to open at a certain time or when students scan the image and touch the icons, triggering a video, website or image to open. Use the BlippAR app to scan the images below to see how it works.

You could use this approach to teach:

General classroom skills, such as organization, planning, routines, timetables and collaboration.

Procedural skills, including processes, steps, frameworks, equipment handling, and the use of online tools and apps.

Executive functions, such as organization, attention, initiation, flexibility, emotional regulation, self-awareness, planning and working memory.

To support comprehension and metacognitive skills, images related to classroom topics, or posters related to a process could serve as the trigger image. Again working in Blippar Studio, you can add a variety of resources, tools and supports to give students choices in how they learn. To see an example, use the BlippAR app to scan the writing process poster image below.

Image: The Writing Process by Enokson, licensed under Creative Commons

As you add overlays to the trigger image, consider what skills students would need to successfully complete the task at hand and build their metacognitive skills. You could provide a link to a video for background information, to a mapping tool such as cmaps to explore important connections and key concepts, or to a planning tool such as Trello that they could use to develop a plan for a project that demonstrates understanding. You might want to link to exemplars or online tools that will support, enhance or extend their learning. Or you could link to various Google Docs where you embed exemplars, rubrics, checklists, graphic organizers and exit tickets that students could refer to, save or complete in collaboration with others.

Consider asking older students to create their own AR poster prompts and resources related to skills they will need to succeed in your class. Students could even create video examples mode ling what persistence, grit, self-regulation and other positive characteristics look like. When finished, each student can then teach the skill to the class before posting the AR image.

iBeacons

Beacon technology, such as iBeacon, shares some similarities with QR codes and AR, as it is a way to call up digital content from a specific spot in the physical world. However, unlike QR codes and AR, you do not have to point your device at a code or use a trigger image to call up content with iBeacon. Your device will automatically sync when it is near a beacon, a small device that emits a low-power Bluetooth signal, if you have an iBeacon-enabled app. The beacon then automatically launches digital content, such as a video, audio file or webpage.

Many of the same activities you could design with QR codes and AR can be adapted to work as beacon-enabled activities. The only thing that would change is how the learners trigger the content.

Beacon technology is well suited for center-based activities, as you can set up the app to trigger instructions for each center, exemplars of what the finished work will look like and/or prompts for the reflection when the center's activity has been completed.

Scavenger hunts are another application that is well suited for beacons. You can set up each beacon to provide a different clue, such as a problem to be solved or a prompt to promote reflection, to help learners develop their skills in a fun and engaging way that gets them out of their seats and moving.

Museums have led the trend of using beacons for educational tours. A great example is the Reubens House in Antwerp, which uses iBeacons to give visitors additional information as they approach each exhibit and launch interactive activities that promote a deeper engagement with the content.

Here are a few more applications for beacons in the classroom:

Classroom instructions and other supports. As learners come into the classroom, a beacon can notify them of the activity they are about to engage in, any materials they need and the goal for that day. Learners can work independently while the teacher answers questions and provides support.

Supports for project-based learning. As learners move around the school to complete the steps for their projects, beacons can alert students about their progress , offer discussion or reflection prompts , and provide a rubric or checklist to help them self-assess .

Location-based reminders. For example, as learners leave the classroom, a beacon over the classroom entrance could remind them about homework and offer tips for completing it.

The Locly app allows you to use an iPad or other iOS device that supports the app as a beacon transmitter so you can try out the technology before you invest in devices. The app also includes a feature for building a beacon-based scavenger hunt.

These technologies represent a continuum in the development of augmented reality, from QR codes to AR and finally to iBeacons. However, there is nothing to keep you from using two or all three in combination. To see what we mean, watch the video below of a museum walk that uses all three technologies.

Want to learn more about UDL and how to use classroom technologies to support all learners? Join ISTE's Inclusive Learning Network for free year-round professional development and collaboration.

Luis Pérez received his doctorate in special education and a master's degree in instructional technology from the University of South Florida. He is the author of Mobile Learning for All: Supporting Accessibility with the iPad. He is an Apple Distinguished Educator and a Google Certified Teacher , and serves as the professional learning chair of ISTE's Inclusive Learning Network.
Kendra Grant is vice president of education at Vizwik, a visual coding company. Prior to that she was co-founder and chief education officer of a professional learning company and served as a teacher/district special education and assistive technology coordinator for 24 years. She is completing her master's degree in educational technology with a focus on professional learning, e-learning and the application of UDL at the University of British Columbia, and she is president of ISTE's Inclusive Learning Network.

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Imagine your classroom filled with purposeful, motivated, strategic, goal-directed learners. What would students be able to do? What would your classroom look like? What could your learners accomplish? Envision your students showing initiative by quickly beginning assigned tasks, knowing what to do (or how to get help) and demonstrating effort.

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Augmented Reality, or AR. It's just like it sounds: a bit "techy". It can scare you a little bit as times changes rapidely. As a teacher, you have to learn how to handle new things and tools every year, and it's not going to stop. Who knows what "next big thing" is going to take over education next year?

Let's just say that augmented reality in education is becoming more and more present, whether you like it or not. You better learn about it and realize the change AR may bring to your classroom or lessons.

In this blog post, I'll show you some astonishing augmented reality apps for education. I'll also give you some lesson ideas with augmented reality, so you can get started right away.

What is augmented reality?

Augmented reality or AR is a visual and sometimes interactive experience in a real-world environment where the objects in the real-world are "augmented" by computer-generated perceptual information. These virtual enhancements in the real world can appear as something visual and auditory.

10 Augmented reality apps for the classroom

These 10 augmented reality apps for teachers are easy to use. I've chosen free augmented reality apps for in the classroom, as well as augmented reality apps that you have to pay for. I included these AR apps in the list because they are the perfect fit for your classroom. Don't forget to check out the augmented reality lesson ideas I give you below!

The idea of HP Reveal (previously "Aurasma") is simple: you make any image (a photo, graphics, text document, ...) scannable with a smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android), and associate an action to take when the image is scanned. An action can be: display a movie, show an extra explanation, refer to a website, etc. This way, you enrich simple paper posters, images, QR-codes, and many more for people who use the Reveal app to look at them.

This app is a content creation app for students. With CoSpaces, students can build their own 3D objects and animate them with code. Students can explore any creations with the VR and AR view modes.

The app enables students to project their virtual creations onto any surface in the real world in AR. You can even hold the creations in your hands with the MERGE Cube.

Wonderscope is a storytelling app that uses augmented reality to transform ordinary places into realtime stories. Students also learn to read with the app. They ask questions to the characters in the story and listen to the characters' answers.

With this augmented reality software, you can enhance flyers, postcards, packaging or any other item with interactive content, including video messages, Web and social links, photo slideshows, music clips and much more! Imagine what this app can do with your traditional paper worksheets...

Use this AR app for math, or more specifically, to teach geometry. Create prisms, pyramids, solids of revolution and Platonic solids. Start easy with simple figures and gradually explore the most complex ones.

This AR tool wants to enhance the teacher's capabilities and provide possibilities to show things that cannot be shown with physical tools or whithin the classroom.

Google Expeditions offers a mix between AR and VR and allows a teacher to guide students through 360° scenes and 3D objects, pointing out interesting sites and artifacts along the way. They have lots of augmented reality courses. Download the free app "Expeditions" and let your students explore history, science, arts, and the natural world. This augmented reality app is available for IOS and Android.

With the Metaverse app, students can play mobile games in augmented reality, go geocaching have location-based experiences, make puzzles, choose their own adventure and go on scavenger hunts. With the Metaverse studio, you can create your own interactive stories and breakout games for your students. Get a free account and discover how amazing this app is!

Believe it or not, but almost every snapchat filter is based on AR technology. You can place filters over pictures and make them stand out. Students can also make their own augmented reality filters.

Yes, you're reading it right. Google Translate has some AR features as well. Download the app and use it to translate words on objects. All you need to do is point the device towards an object that displays a word and you'll get a real-time translation.

AR Makr is a creative toolbox for augmented reality. With this app, students can sketch, scan, and snap the environment around them. Let them transform creations from 2D to 3D virtual objects. When you've created a 3D AR object, you can place your creations anywhere in your environment. Students can also record, save, and share scenes with their teacher.

10 Crazy lesson ideas with augmented reality

Using augmented reality in the classroom can be a real game changer. You'll see that students will find this an exciting experience and will be more motivated to learn with augmented reality.

1. Book review

Students can simply record a video of themselves explaining the book. You can make different videos per chapter or just one long video. If you have creative students, first let them make drawings that say something about each chapter. Then record a video to explain the drawings.

So now what? Well, students can open the HP Reveal app. All they have to do is scan the cover of the book or the drawings of each chapter. Now they can attach their self made videos - explaining the book or chapter - to the book cover or the chapter drawings.

That's it! Now students can get their phone or iPad, walk through the classroom, and scan everything with the HP Reveal app. They'll see the videos open and discover what the book is about. Fun and easy!

2. Interactive wall

Do you have a free wall somewhere in a school hallway? Cover it with headshots of all the teachers in your school. Then, let them make videos of themselves where the answer a big educational question or where they introduce themselves. Now, use HP Reveal to cover the real pictures with the virtual video's. On the first day of school and on open days, students and their parents can scan the pictures.

You can do the same, but with images of your school's courses. Ask your teachers and their students to make a video of what they are learning during this course. Then add it as a "layer" on the image of the course. This way, new students and parents know what this school has to offer in a fun way!

3. Discover the world

Use the free virtual reality app "Expeditions" to discover new things. Discover all the expeditions or take part in one that has been set up by a guide. Take your students, for example, to ancient Egypt to teach them about the Nile river, the rulers of Egypt, the Egyptian religion, the pyramids and the tombs. You can't go back in time in real life, but you can in a virtual reality.

4. Spatial awareness

Let students rebuild an object using the Shapes 3D augmented reality app. Take for example a little toy car. What shapes can be used to rebuild it? It will help them develop a better spatial awareness.

5. Reading comprehension

Use AR Makr to add some augmented reality effects to books. As a teacher you can create them yourself. These could be video's or just "floating" questions you can ask your students.

When your students go through the book, they scan the pages and see the questions about the book they have to answer. It's a fun way to use AR for reading comprehension. Here's an example.

6. Breakout games

Use Metaverse to create your own escape room or breakout game. You can add augmented reality characters that ask questions about your lesson material. Students have to find clues and codes to go to the next character or questions. You can really create an interactive story here!

You can also let your students create an augmented reality tour through the school for future students and their parents. That way, they get to know the school in an interactive and creative way, and students get to work on a huge project.

7. Snapchat filters of geniuses

There are a lot of important people that achieved great things. Ask your students to make a snapchat filter about the person. For example, let them create an Einstein filter and add important things that represent him or his work.

8. Listening and reading comprehension

Let your students watch the stories within the Wonderscope app mentioned above. You can assign it in the classroom or as homework. Then, ask questions about a story to see if your students understood it. I think students are going to love doing homework!

9. New Year's letter

How cool would it be if your students could create a New Year's Letter and share their best wishes with their loved ones through an augmented reality video or a photospecial of themselves? You can use the app Layar for this. You can make something really memorable, a letter nobody will forget.

10. Translate a menu

Students have to learn to carry on daily life in a foreign country with a foreign language. That's not always easy. When you're on a classroom trip in a restaurant, let your student use the Google Translate app and translate the menu. They will learn a lot of new words and recognize words they have already learned.

That's it! I hope you now have enough augmented reality projects to work on with your students. With a little bit creativity, you can make amazing things and prepare students for the future. Share this post with other future minded teachers. Thanks!

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10 Fun augmented reality apps for teachers to use in the classroom

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Augmented Reality, or AR. It's just like it sounds: a bit "techy". It can scare you a little bit as times changes rapidely. As a teacher, you have to learn how to handle new things and tools every year, and it's not going to stop.

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing field of technology where real life is modified and enhanced by computer-generated sights and sounds.

The most common use of AR can be seen through mobile apps. Point your device's camera at something that the app recognizes, and it will generate a 3D animation or video superimposed over whatever is on your camera's screen. The effect makes the computer-generated item appear like it's really there.

App developers are building AR apps for fun, educational, and commercial uses.

20 Of The Best Augmented Reality Apps For The Classroom

Description: JigSpace allows you to learn about all sorts of things, from car engines to the Roman wars. Jigspace features up-close 3D diagrams, disassembling and reassembling 3D objects, and 3D models of historical battles, along with other quality features.

Price: Free - $49.99 subscription for added benefits.

2. Complete Anatomy 2021

Description: Complete Anatomy 2021 is a modern way to learn about the human body. With this app, you can take up-close 3D looks anywhere in the body: the heart, nerves, muscles, etc.

Price: $34.99 - $99.99 annual subscription.

Developer Description: Adobe Aero is an immersive AR app that students can use for learning or play. This app allows students to 'spawn' anything right in front of them and get a live look at the object before them.

Price: Free

Description: Animal Safari 3D is a way for students to learn about animals visually. Animal Safari features the ability to see 1:1 scale animals in 3D, hear live animal noises, move and rotate any animal you want, feed, and watch your animal eat. Students can also pull up any animal's information card and learn about its habitat, diet, etc.

Price: Free

Description: solAR is an AR solar system app that allows students to have fun learning about astronomy. Some of the features included are; a 3D visual representation of all of the planets, full-scale planets placed right before you giving you the ability to grasp the proper sizes of the planets, and informational cards to allow students to learn more about individual planets.

Price: Free

Description: AR Pianist is an interactive, modern way for students to learn how to play the piano, with features in the app; such as providing them with a virtual piano if they don't have one, famous virtual pianists that can play songs right in front of them, the ability to slow down songs, learn songs with interactive sheet music, live feedback, and more.

Price: Free

Description: ARvid is an interactive AR app that allows students to interact with animals, buildings and place full-scale objects right before them to create their very own artistic scenes, all while in 4K. ARvid also has all kinds of features, including 4K textures, vehicles, sci-fi, and more.

Price: Free

Description: With 3D Brush students can add live effects to scenes right in front of them. Students can also use your finger to draw and write photorealistic stuff in the scene in front of you. Students can also take pictures of their creation to keep.

Price: Free

Description: Sky Guide makes stargazing for students simple. Just hold your device overhead, and the app will automatically find stars, constellations, planets, satellites, and more for you with ease. Some additional features included with the app allow you to get notifications from the International Space Station and see stars invisible to the human eye with an X-ray filter.

Price: $2.99

Description: Math Ninja AR makes learning math fun for younger children by incorporating physical movements such as; stretching, bending, squatting, crawling, reaching, and peering to find the answer through the many levels inside the app to help stimulate a child's memory and help them retain information.

Price: Free

11. Particular Augmented Reality

Description: This app allows students to create virtual, 3D art; it has all kinds of face filters, virtual UFOs, and more. It's a easy way to help younger students learn about art in a fun-related environment. It's also an easy-to-use app for aspiring graphic, comic, and 3D artists to learn about and create art.

Price: Free

Description: With Big Bang AR, you can watch the universe form right in front of you. This app is a fun way for students to learn about the history of the universe. Another feature allows you to create a supernova, explore the nebula, and other fun stuff.

Price: Free

Description: With Assemblr, students learn traditional academic content through virtual and augmented reality. Teachers can also create multiple online classrooms and record and present virtual 3D presentations.

Price: Free - $50 monthly subscription

Description: CamToPlan can be helpful to engineering or architectural students since it can virtually measure anything in front of them. This app can be beneficial for interior design, landscaping, and more.

Price: Free - $17.99

Description: Hyperspace AR allows students to scan their space and then create the art sculpture or decoration of their choice. Though the art within the app may be limited, it can help students learn to be more creative.

Price: Free

Description: Wonderscope is an interactive way to help younger students find enjoyment in reading. Wonderscope is constantly adding new books for your student or kid to discover and enjoy.

Price: Free

Description: Tracing Projector helps students learn to draw through a virtual tracing mechanism. It has all kinds of photos for students to trace, from the Mona Lisa to their own faces-you can even edit your photos once you're done drawing them.

Price: Free

Description: Halo AR allows you to take a picture of any flat object and overlay any photo, video, or 3D model on top of it. Halo AR also makes it easy to share the halos you create with students.

Price: Free

19. For All Mankind: Time Capsule

Description: This app allows students to use augmented reality to explore digitally artifacts from the early 80s.In that way, it is a mix of science and history-this could also be useful for homeschooled students.

Price: Free

Description: Google Lens is a useful way to help identify all sorts of plant life, learn about landmarks, translate words, or identify animals. All you have to do is hold your device up to what you want to learn about, and it'll tell you.

Price: Free

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12 Augmented Reality Apps For The Classroom

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing field of technology where real life is modified and enhanced by computer-generated sights and sounds. The most common use of AR can be seen through mobile apps. Point your device's camera at something that the app recognizes, and it will generate a 3D animation or video superimposed over whatever is on your camera's screen.

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For teachers who have always wanted to use augmented reality (AR)-tech that overlays content on top of the real world-but haven't had the chance to explore it, Jaime Donally has heard you. In her presentation " Creating Classroom Content in Augmented Reality," she gave attendees some inside help on which apps to use in the classroom. With programs ranging from beginner level to current AR practitioners, she offered 10 apps that can help educators get started with no coding skills needed.

The best AR apps for your classroom

Using the Virtuali-Tee (a t-shirt with code embedded on it) and the company's app, students can take an in-depth look at the human body. They can explore the body's systems and get a deeper understanding of anatomy.

Starting with the Alamo in 1836, ERH uses cards and Reality Boards, in addition to the app, to let users get insights into history. The cards feature individuals from the time period, and when two cards are viewed through the app, students learn how the individuals interacted.
Related: 5 easy, low-cost ways to do AR & VR in your classroom
This app allows kids to walk around their house, school, playground, etc., and "catch letters." Then, the student arranges the letters into a word. Donally said the app is especially helpful for anyone who is struggling with spelling.

This program allows students and educators to create their own AR experiences by overlaying 3D models on reality. It's not specific to any grade level or subject and can be used across many disciplines. It also comes with a few lessons to help teachers get started.

Another app that allows the user to be the creator, Metaverse lets users develop experiences on storyboards that they can share with each other. Teachers have used the app to create quizzes, scavenger hunts, and breakout rooms.

This AR-creation app has basic and pro levels that allow educators to create lessons across subjects and grade levels. There are development modes for beginners and experienced coders, so the AR can be as sophisticated as the teacher wants.

This app lets kids build on top of the real world as if they are set-dressing a stage. They can also share their creations with others through the app.

Not limited to classroom education, Merge VR technology uses headsets and a special MERGE cube to develop and deliver AR experiences for ages 10 and up.

Check out these 10 #AR apps for your classroom-#coding not required

Here, users paint on the world and can share their creations with others.

With this app, students and teachers can type or speak instructions, and the program will create it.

While Donally understands that AR tech is still growing, she believes it's important for teachers to integrate it, where applicable, in their lessons. "That's our students' future," she said.

About the Presenter

Jaime Donally is a passionate technology enthusiast. She began her career as a math teacher and later moved into instructional technology. Her desire to build relationships has brought about opportunities to collaborate with students and educators around the world. She provides staff development and training on immersive technology as an edtech consultant.

Her latest adventures include the launch of Global Maker Day and the #ARVRinEDU community. She works as an author and speaker to provide practical use of augmented and virtual reality with more resources at ARVRinEDU.com.

Join the Community

Computer Science & STEM Learning is a free professional learning community on edWeb.net that provides PreK-12 educators with a place to collaborate on incorporating computer science, coding, robotics, and STEM learning into their classrooms.

This edWeb broadcast was sponsored by 3DBear Inc. The recording of the edWebinar can be viewed by anyone here.
[Editor's note: This piece is original content produced by edWeb.net. View more edWeb.net events here.]

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Check out these 10 AR apps for your classroom-coding not required

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For teachers who have always wanted to use augmented reality (AR)-tech that overlays content on top of the real world-but haven't had the chance to explore it, Jaime Donally has heard you. In her presentation " Creating Classroom Content in Augmented Reality," she gave attendees some inside help on which apps to use in the classroom.

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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.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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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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Introduction Note to Self: ThemesReflective Writing: Connections Module 1

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#NativeVoices
#N8VVoices
#Idlenomore
"Just a reminder: the system in what is currently known as the US isn't 'broken.' It was designed by male white supremacist slaveowners on stolen Indigenous land to protect their interests. It's working as it was designed." ~Dr. Adrienne Keene (Cherokee) How to Do the Challenge
Too often the framing of racial justice gets limited to the Black/white experience. We find that by broadening our lens of how white supremacy marginalizes multiple groups, we both deepen our understanding of white supremacist strategy and impacts and learn about particular histories and current issues of historically targeted groups. Indigenous people, the first to feel the wrath of white supremacy on what we now call US soil, sets the stage for the human and environmental destruction that has unfolded since. As you work through this challenge, bear in mind the degree of invisibility experienced in US Native communities. Not only did European colonial settlers rob Indigenous people of their land, their culture, and their lives, they erased their 20,000+ year old history through omission and myths. The process of reclaiming Indigenous history is a work in progress and therefore not always complete or aligned. Not to worry. Take in what you can in the spirit it is offered - from perspectives and experiences as diverse as the millions of descendants from the 574 nations on whose land we in the US now stand.

READ

Each day, for 21 days, pick at least one of the below resources or activities to do.

Try to mix it up between the read, listen, watch, notice, connect, engage, act choices.

Use the tracking tool or a journal to reflect as you learn.

Finally, let our music inspire you and keep you going.

LISTEN
Why Native Americans took Covid-19 seriously: 'It's our reality' by Nina Lakhani (unknown heritage)
Settler Fragility: Why Settler Privilege Is So Hard to Talk About by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribe)
100 Ways to Support, Not Appropriate From, Native People Simon Moya-Smith (Oglala Lakota)
Today is National Voter Registration Day. The evolution of American voting rights in 242 years shows how far we've come - and how far we still have to go by Grace Panetta (Not Indigenous) and Olivia Reaney (Not Indigenous)
Freedom Act by Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa, San Juan Pueblo, Santee Dakota)
The Skinning Tree America's redface problem onstage by Jennifer Percy (Not Indigenous)
Cultural Appropriations and the Plains Headdress by Marisa Wood (Monacan)
4 Ways To Honor Without Appropriating Culture by Taté Walker (Lakota)
When Native Americans Were Slaughtered in the Name of 'Civilization' by Donald L. Fixico (Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Muscogee Creek, Seminole)
Hitler Said to Have Been Inspired by US Indian Reservation System by Simon Moya-Smith (Oglala Lakota)
Last Lakota Code Talker by Bernie Hunhoff (Not Indigenous)
TransAtlantic Slave Trade by David Keys (Not Indigenous)
5 Ways The Government Keeps NAs In Poverty by Shawn Regan (Not Indigenous)
Occupation of Alcatraz Islan by by Eleri Harris (unknown heritage) and Mariah-Rose Marie M (unknown heritage)
America Has Always Used Schools as a Weapon Against Native Americans by Katrina Boone (Not Indigenous)
It Takes a Movement by Sarah Kastelic (Alutiiq)

WATCH
Teaching While White: Recovering the Voice of Native Americans in the Classroom Jenna Chandler-Ward interviews Native American educator Claudia Fox Tree (Arawak) about the ways we learn about Indigenous Peoples in school- or don't. (30 minutes)

Doctrine of Discovery - Professor Robert Miller (Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma) Tells the legal roots of manifest destiny and the pervasive land theft violations that resulted. It lays the foundation for systemic racism. (30 min) Less time? Here is the 8 minute version

'We the People' - the three most misunderstood words in US history - TED Talk by Mark Charles ( Navajo) man explains the history of the Papal Bulls of the 15th Century which are embedded in our founding documents in the 18th Century, codified as legal precedent in the 19th Century and referenced by the Supreme Court in the 20th and 21st Centuries, the Doctrine of Discovery has been used throughout the history of the United States to keep "We the People" from including all the people. (17 minutes)

Should ALL Native American Mascots be BANNED? - Franchesca Ramsey and Nataanii Means (Lakota, Omaha, Diné) unpack why the answer is yes, yes, yes! (4 minutes)

6 Misconceptions About Native American People - 7 Native American girls debunk the common misconceptions about their culture. (3 minutes)

Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life Documentary - Chronicles the achievements of Sainte-Marie and her personal journey as singer, songwriter, artist, teacher and activist. Featuring interviews with Joni Mitchell, Randy Bachman, Steppenwolf's John Kay, Robbie Robertson, Bill Cosby and folk legend Eric Andersen; Buffy Sainte-Marie: Other noteworthy appearances in the film are those of Pete Seeger and Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman. (48 minutes)

Native America (2018) - Four-episode series exploring the world created by America's First Peoples. Available on iTunes and Amazon, also in local libraries. Native America in the Classroom offers lessons with clips from film. (60 minute episodes)

In Whose Honor: American Indian Mascots in Sports (1997) - A critical look at the long-running practice of "honoring" American Indians as mascots and nicknames in sports. It follows the story of Native American mother Charlene Teters, and her transformation into the leader some are calling the "Rosa Parks of American Indians" as she struggles to protect her cultural symbols and identity. This film looks at the issues of racism, stereotypes, minority representation and the powerful effects of mass-media imagery, and the extent to which one university will go to defend and justify its mascot. (48 minutes) Also available in local libraries. Or More Than a Word documentary. (2017, 70 min).

Frozen II - Frozen II characters travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. Along the way, Elsa learns that the dam that protects Arendelle was built as a ruse to reduce the Northuldra's resources because of King Runeard's dislike of the tribe's connection with magic and his intention to incorporate the region into his kingdom. See Discussion Guide . (1 hour 40 mins)

NOTICE
1491 (2019) - Eight-part series based on Charles C. Mann's best selling book "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus." Covers 20,000 years of Indigenous achievements in the Americas. Features 60+ separate segments on such topics as agriculture, hunting, archaeology, architecture, art, culture, science, technology, governance, trade, languages and repatriation. 1491 Channel subscribers will have 24/7 streaming access to the eight episodes, director's cuts of drama scenes, expert interviews, world view segments and more. You'll receive a monthly newsletter that includes interviews with 1491 cast and crew and updates on NEW discoveries about Indigenous history and achievements. Available to rent on Vimeo and sometimes posted free on their FaceBook page . (1 hour episodes)

On whose land were you born?

On whose land are you now?

On whose land did you (pick one) go to college, get married, hold a job?

Did you know this?

How hard was it to find this information?

A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment

As you move about around your town/region, look for signs of Indigenous people.

How many you use in your own diet that are Indigneous to the Americas.

Did you know they were Indigneous?

If not, where did you learn/ think they were from?

Does your own ancestry use or claim some of them as their own?

Notice what sports you have played or watched.

Get curious

Are the names connected to the original people of the area?

Are the names stereotypical and disconnected?

Can you find out the meaning of the name(s)?

What language is the name from?

Notice
Once you discover (hello google!) what the meanings are, notice if you think or feel differently about this word you've seen and said so many times before.

If there is a major holiday or observance, what is the Indigneous perspective?

How many involve rubber or a stick and ball?

Are they team against team or one-on-one?

Many sports owe their origins to Indigenous people if they used rubber (an Indigeneous plant) or are played in teams (other places in the world created two player games like chess and checkers).

CONNECT Follow Indigenous activists, educators, and organizations on social media. Here are some ideas to get you started. A good way to widen your circle of who you follow is to check out who these organizations follow, quote, repost, and retweet.

Consider events, such as, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Halloween, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and Veteran's Day.

How can you find out what the Indigenous perspective is for each of the above?

How is the Indigneous perspective portrayed in news sources, greeting cards, and/ or television shows?

Is it there or missing?

Do you know any Indigenous observances and is time off work given for them?

ENGAGE Here are some things to keep in mind when engaging with Indigenous peoples and cultures.
Check out and/or follow these hashtags
#MMIW
#NODAPL
#Idlenomore
#NativeVoices
#N8VVoices
#IndigenousOutLoud
#Indigenouspeoplesday
#Indigenousart
#Indigenouslanguages
#n8v
#twospirit
#twospiritpride
Be aware of cultural appropriation.
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

Consider where you see images of Indigneous People.

What is the worst thing that could/ would happen, if an Indegenous "mascot" was changed?

What is the positive outcome of changing a mascot?

What has happened when celebrities have worn a headdress? How has the public reacted?

Do you think religious practices should be done outside of the religious institution? Consider ceremonies in your own practice (If Catholic, maybe the Eurcharist. If Jewish, removing the Torah.) How does this apply to Vision Quests, Naming Ceremonies, Sage Smudging, and Sweat Lodges?

Which books are appropriate?
TEACHING THROUGH BOOKS

Visit Debbie Reese (Nambé Pueblo) to see her analysis of American Indians in Children's Literature.
Practice "reciprocity" with the natural environment.
ENVIRONMENT

ACT Actions to consider:

"What should be our response to the generosity of the more-than-human world?

In a world that gives us maple syrup, spotted salamanders, and sand hill cranes, shouldn't we at least pay attention?

Paying attention is an ongoing act of reciprocity, the gift that keeps on giving, in which attention generates wonder, which generates more attention-and more joy.

Paying attention to the more-than-human world doesn't lead only to amazement; it leads also to acknowledgment of pain.

Open and attentive, we see and feel equally the beauty and the wounds, the old growth and the clear-cut, the mountain and the mine.

Paying attention to suffering sharpens our ability to respond.

To be responsible.

This, too, is a gift, for when we fall in love with the living world, we cannot be bystanders to its destruction.

Attention becomes intention, which coalesces itself to action." ~Robin Wall Kimmerer

REFLECT Use our tracking tool to stay on track and be able to reflect back at the end. (Tip: diversify your habits by doing some of each.)

350

STAY INSPIRED Let the music move you!

Invite friend(s), family, and/or colleagues to do this challenge with you.

Prepare yourself to interrupt racial jokes about Indigneous people. Click HERE for some advice about how.

Interrupt the pattern of white silence by speaking openly with family, friends, and colleagues about what you're doing and learning in this challenge.

Invite friend(s), family, and/or colleagues to join you for one or more of your daily "to-do's" for a low-threshold invitation into the work and introduction to the 21-Day Challenge.

Does your school, workplace, or faith group have an Equity Committee? Share this with them. Can they make it a school wide initiative? Particularly in the fall when two especially oppressive holidays happen?

Join and Support your state's Indigenous Organizations

Google "[city] or [state] Indigenous Trails" and go walk them

Attend a Day of Mourning/ Remembrance on Thanksgiving Day

If you're Indigenous, consider starting a Day of Mourning/ Remembrance on Thanksgiving Day (Massachusetts example HERE)

Write a letter - Tell the MA Senate Ways & Means Committee: Amend the Native American Mascots Bill

Research an indigenous issue in your area, join it, and/or take action:

Removing monuments or placing new monuments/placards nearby

Not Your Mascot campaign (writing letters to public officials)

Current local repatriation requests

Local tribal, state, federal recognition requests

Environmental racism/damage

Controversies around building a casino

Water/hunting/fishing rights (usually related to treaties, access to pathways)

Current Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) cases

Create a PSA (Public Service Announcement) poster or video:

Describe stereotypes in your environment (grocery stores, party/costume shops, books, movies/cartoons/television, etc.)

Explain the stereotype

Correct misinformation

Offer a challenge to dismantle stereotypes (i.e.: stop buying product)

Where Did the Above Images Come From? Click on the below find out.
Find a digital version here (click File-Make a Copy or File-Download to edit).

Songs not by Indigenous People, but related and supportive

Recent "Good News" (including legal victories) .

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21-Day Racial Equity Indigenous Challenge - Fighting White Supremacy Since 1492

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Curated by Eddie Moore, Jr., Debby Irving, Marguerite Penick-Parks, and Claudia A. Fox Tree (Arawak), Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness (MCNAA) board member #NativeVoices #N8VVoices #Idlenomore "Just a reminder: the system in what is currently known as the US ...

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Join 250,000+ teachers bringing mindfulness to the next generation

Join the movement

"If every 8 year old is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation."

- Dalai Lama

Discover what's possible if every school day began with a few moments of mindfulness. Together let's equip students with tools for resilience, self-care, and stress management.

Join the movement

Age-specific resources to help you bring mindfulness into the classroom

A self-care guide to support you during the school day and beyond

A free sampling of meditations, music, Sleep Stories, breathing exercises and more

Get Started

Get Started

Just as we put on our oxygen mask first, we can best support the health and happiness of others by taking care of ourselves first.

Meditate regulary to reduce stress, prevent burnout and improve your relationships with students, parents and colleagues.

Listen to Calm Music and Sleep Stories at the end of a busy day to help you wind down and fall asleep with ease.

Start today

Lauren Daly Clark

@msdalyLST

When given a choice today, this kiddo wanted to hear more from @KingJames himself on "managing emotions". Thank you @calm for opening this door for us. This was truly a special moment today ❤️✨

Miss Epstein

@MissEEpstein

I often use @calm during writing sessions at school. There are lots of relaxing instrumentals that help my children to focus (they also know that if I can't hear my music, they're too loud). They love it. Today I'm using it as relaxing background noise whilst reading. 😌

Feeling stressed or anxious? I encourage you to take time to breathe and meditate. @calm is a wonderful resource that I've used by myself and with students for years. Free for educators. #meditate

Join the movement

Thank you, teachers!

You make a difference in the world.

Get started

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Join 250,000+ teachers bringing mindfulness to the next generation.

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Easily send out anything from announcements to assignments with Handouts.

Handouts are as easy to create and send as an email, and flexible enough to contain almost anything: web links, PDFs, documents, and even links to activities in apps. You can use them for announcements, reminders, or assignments. And your students can view Handouts across all their classes to keep track of everything they need to complete.

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Easily send out anything from announcements to assignments with Handouts. Handouts are as easy to create and send as an email, and flexible enough to contain almost anything: web links, PDFs, documents, and even links to activities in apps. You can use them for announcements, reminders, or assignments.

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GETTING STARTED WITH REMOTE EDUCATION

Check out our remote education Q & A below to get some basic information about how to handle your classes at a distance. Click on a question to expand the section and view the answer!

When confronted by the need to move your instruction online keep in mind these core functions:

1. It is important that you offer guidance on how your instruction will now proceed at a distance. The best approach is to keep it simple - do not overwhelm students (or parents) with emails, but communicate in simple and clear terms. Students will need to know how you will communicate (e.g. email or through an institutional learning management system or a bit of both). Students will need regular communication on how to be successful with remote learning, including keeping them up to date as your course materials are shared electronically.

2. Students will need to access materials electronically that you would normally give them in your classroom. If you have already used a learning management system ("LMS") like Schoology, Google Classrooms, Moodle, etc., then you can store these materials in this system. If you already use an LMS and the students access it at school on computers like Chromebooks that already have links and login information to the LMS installed, you will need to provide these links and login credentials to students who have not previously accessed the LMS from their homes. Because not all students have internet connections of the same quality, or monitors on which they can work easily, you should make instructional materials available in PDF format as often as possible. As new materials become available, communicate this to students, but do so in a manageable way - again, don't overwhelm students with emails.

3. Online learning comes in different formats. A fundamental difference is whether teachers and students interact in real time (synchronously), or on their own time (asynchronously). As an in-class teacher, you are accustomed to meeting your students in real time. In the current situation, this may be impractical as parents deal with unplanned child care and other disruptions to their normal lives. In order to let your students continue to see you in person, you will want to learn how to make short videos that they can watch at any time. If you have not done this before, you can learn how to create and share videos in the technical support section of this website. If you do want to meet with your students in real time, you will need to identify how you will do this. Options include Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts. You can find more information on these tools in the technical support section of this website. If you are able and plan to interact with students "live" via teleconferencing software, consider working with your school district on scheduling classes to mimic the current course schedule at your school. This may allow students to maintain a similar schedule to the one they are used to. However, realize that students may not have access to broadband internet and this may not be practical. All learning management systems allow for asynchronous forms of interaction through threaded discussions forums that may be more practical.

4. You will need to continue to assess student learning but realize that unless your school district is supporting remote proctoring that these assessments will be open book, open notebook, and potentially collaborative. Considering the current challenges, flexibility will be key. You will need to create alternatives to your current approach of monitored assessment practices. This may include online quizzes, brief essays, discussions that are graded or other forms of assessment.

Before you begin to teach remotely, ask each of your students and their parents to answer the following questions. Record their answers in a table in a text document or a spreadsheet.

1. Do they have a broadband internet connection at home? If not, does a parent have access to one where they work?

2. Do they have a computer with a monitor and a keyboard or tablet (iPad or Android) at home? If not, do they have a smartphone (Apple or Android)?

3. Do they have a printer and a supply of 8½ x 11 paper? If not, does a parent have the ability to print out material where they work.

Gathering this information before you begin will let you know how you can communicate with each of your students. Do not assume that all are equally well equipped and connected.

The first step to move your class online is to gather and engage your students online as a learning community. For that you need to create an online classroom space, where you will manage your students' (and their parents') access, communicate your expectations, post materials, and set up learning activities. For example, if your school is using Google Classroom, you will create a Classroom for each class of students you're teaching. See tutorial:

Remember that synchronous remote classes are real-time classes and use live video chat sessions. Students can attend your live class online, participate in interactive discussion, and work on assignments and tasks after the session. The assignments can be submitted through a learning management system (or through email).

Asynchronous remote learning sessions occur during different times. Students will log into a course/learning management system, read or watch a pre-recorded mini-lecture, and participate in activities based on their own schedule.

Oftentimes, a teacher needs to combine the above two options to deliver their instruction, taking the advantages of each. For example, in a learning unit, the teacher can arrange a few synchronous sessions to teach and discuss challenging content and handle other learning activities (reading, assignments) in an asynchronous manner.

1. Find a synchronous discussion tool such as Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype, etc. (See "What tools can be used to support students sharing and discussion?" below for more detailed information.)

2. Settle on a course/learning management system to house files and other material your students will need.

3. Devise a schedule to meet with your students. Schedule one week at a time. Distribute this schedule to your students.

4. Request/collect their email addresses so you can invite them to the synchronous sessions and send announcements. If your district is using Google Classroom or another learning management system, you may send announcements to your students' emails from within the system.

5. Create your lecture materials, assignments, quizzes and tests, and other documents students will need to complete the course.

6. Upload your materials to your course/learning management system.

7. Provide access to your course/learning management system to your students.

8. Meet with your students online through your chosen discussion tool.

9. Have students complete work/activities on your course/learning management system.

10. Assess student discussions and work in a timely manner.

11. Provide feedback on the course/learning management system.

1. Settle on a course/learning management system to house files and other material your students will need.

2. Provide access to your course/learning management system to your students.

3. Create your lecture materials, assignments, quizzes and tests, and other documents students will need to complete the course.

4. Upload materials to your course/learning management system.

5. Create discussions for your class.

6. Create your text of video lecture and upload it to your course/learning management system.

7. If you have a video lecture, upload it to YouTube. You can make your YouTube video private by indicating it is unlisted in the preferences menu.

8. Create a schedule for logging into your course, posting discussions, and completing activities and tests/quizzes.

9. Have students read or watch your lecture in your course/learning management system.

10. Have students participate in the discussion in the discussion tool of your choice.

11. Have students complete work/activities on your course/learning management system.

12. Assess student discussions and work in a timely manner.

13. Provide feedback on the course/learning management system.

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Getting Started in Remote Teaching | Academy for the Advancement of Teaching, Leadership and Schools

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Check out our remote education Q & A below to get some basic information about how to handle your classes at a distance. Click on a question to expand the section and view the answer!

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Remote Education: Common Guide

Now that you're ready to get started, click on a question to expand the section and view the answer!

Broadband Internet connection or mobile hot-spot

Many Internet carriers are offering limited-time free offerings to households without Internet. Check with your school or local carrier if they know of any offerings. Convey this message to your students as best you can.

For more information on current free Internet from Charter/Spectrum Internet providers, call 1-844-488-8395.

Chromebooks, tablets (iOS or Android), laptop/desktop computers (PC, Mac, or Linux), or smartphones

Classroom/learning management System

Your school will typically provide a classroom/learning management system of choice. Many K-12 schools use Google Classroom as their choice. Some might use Schoology, Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, or another classroom/learning management system. Colleges usually use something like Blackboard or Moodle. Refer to your school to see what classroom/learning management system your school is using (or prefers to use).

Google Classroom is excellent to use as a repository and assignment dropbox. You can also create quizzes to host on Google Classroom. For a more robust, comprehensive asynchronous remote course experience with better threaded discussions, Schoology might be a better choice.

Schoology is a more robust course/learning management system that contains all you could need to run a remote course. You can create announcements, threaded discussions, quizzes and tests, lectures, and other items.

Follow this link to explore Schoology's features: https://www.schoology.com/k-12 .

Note that your school or district may already provide you with a Schoology account. If you do not have one, you can sign up for a free account with a limited number of courses you can create. Follow the following link for more information on a Basic, free account: https://www.schoology.com/k-12/packages/basic .

Blackboard: See your school for details and links

See your school for details and links

See your school for details and links

Online lesson/lecture followed by assignments

You can deliver your lessons/lectures online and then ask students to work on assignments and activities, similar to how you would conduct these in your face-to-face classroom. The lessons and lectures can be delivered realtime (live) through video chat tools (such as Hangout or Zoom), or pre-recorded using video/audio/text. Students will be watching/reading the lecture remotely and then follow your instruction on where they will find their assignments, finish by when. Once students have completed their assignment or activity, they will submit it to you either through the course/learning management system (i.e. Google Classroom) or through email. We advise you to use your course/learning management system for submitting work since it will be in one location and students can retrieve feedback through the system you use.

There are many online mini-lessons/lectures/videos out there. You can search for lessons based on grade levels and curriculum areas on the following sites, and only create your own videos when needed (see tools for creating videos of lessons).

Online discussion

Keep your classroom alive and active with online discussions. Online discussions can be either synchronous (real time) or asynchronous (different time).

See the question below on "What Tools Can I Use to Support Student Sharing and Discussion" for online discussion tips and resources.

Small group discussions or group work

You can use Zoom's Breakout Rooms functionality to split the class into several smaller groups of students. In breakout rooms, students can discuss, share resources, chat, and even ask for help from you if there is an issue. This mimics group work in the face to face class where each group can work in a shared space and report back later to the larger group (e.g., class). More information can be found here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476093-Getting-Started-with-Breakout-Rooms

Learning games

There are many engaging educational games designed to support student learning. For example, the following sites have collections of free games, aligned with different grade levels indexed based on subject areas:

Multi-Subject:

Funbrain: Games, Videos, and Books for Kids .

http:///www.arcademics.com
https://www.sheppardsoftware.com
Hundreds of free Games for any device: Math, Health, Science, History, Geography, Chemistry, Painting, SATs, vocabulary, Pre-K-12th grade, movies for all cognitive levels. Available in Spanish

Create games and quizzes in any language. Responses can be images. Features K-12 games Sign up for Free Premium Access: https://kahoot.com/access-kahoot-premium-for-free/

Class announcements in your learning management system:
In your learning management system such as Google Classroom or Blackboard, you can send out announcements to notify students (and parents) of upcoming class activities, due dates and other important information. Once created, an immediate email is sent to everyone notifying them of the announcement.

Class Dojo: www.classdojo.com
Bring every family into your classroom. Join 95% of U.S. schools using ClassDojo to engage kids and connect with families! Free for teachers, forever.

Social networking tools (if your school's policy approves) Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Create tweets to notify students and parents of upcoming due dates, announcements, and other important information. Available on the Internet, PC/Mac, iOS, and Android.

Screencast Resources for Presentations (lectures and student presentations)
Screencasts allow you to record your screen and save them as video which you can upload to your course management system or YouTube. You can do things like record tutorial videos, narrate PowerPoints, and other forms of instructional videos for presentation to students. These tools can be used for recording lectures or asking students to record their presentations, in lieu of face-to-face classroom presentation. Below are some resources for creating screencasts.

Narrated PowerPoint slides: You can prepare a PowerPoint slide deck, and record your voice as narration to accompany the slides. Once the student opens the slide deck and clicks on "Slideshow", the slides will play along with your voice. This link provides an easy to follow tutorial on how to do this: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c

Techsmith Snagit: Click here!
This software allows you to record your computer screen along with your microphone audio and webcam video. Techsmith has made this software free to use for educators until June 30, 2020. Originally, they offered a 14-day free trial. This is the link with information on how to obtain the software.

Techsmith VideoReview: Click here!
This tool is also offered by Techsmith for free until June 30, 2020. Video Review is our video feedback tool for online, collaborative discussions and conversations around the content you upload and share to: Replace in-person meetings with online review of recorded presentations, Keep conversations and collaboration happening asynchronously, Get email notifications when students or colleagues leave questions or comments, Allow viewers to mark up videos with arrows and shapes to help explain comments. Mark comments as resolved as decisions are made.

Screencastify: https://www.screencastify.com/ (Chrome extension)

LOOM: https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006579637-Loom-Pro-Free-for-Students-and-Teachers Loom is a video recording tool that helps you get your message across through instantly shareable videos. With Loom, you can record your camera, microphone, and desktop simultaneously. Your video is then instantly available to share through Loom's patented technology.

Animoto: https://animoto.com/education/classroom Animoto is a free classroom tool for educators, students, and administrators. Easily create and share videos with your class, with parents, and beyond. No software downloads required.

Tools for Synchronous (realtime) Class Meeting and Discussion

Google Hangouts: https://hangouts.google.com/ Ideal for Chromebooks since it can be run through your browser. Hangouts keeps you connected with your co-workers, and people in other organizations. You can text chat with up to 150 people on a variety of devices, or hold a video call with up to 25 participants in your organization (the 10 most active participants are shown at the bottom of the screen).
Google Hangouts Text Tutorial Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi2jAcaxXvs Google Hangouts Video Tutorial Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP0k_ApJyrg

WebEx: https://www.webex.com/webexremoteedu.html WebEx has many resources where you can: plan virtual lesson plans, prepare students for a remote class, facilitate group projects and conversations virtually, and ways you can reach your students at home. With WebEx you can have meetings with up to 100 people that includes HD video, screen sharing, and a personal room.

Asynchronous Discussion Tools

Discussion Forums in the Learning Management System such as Google Classroom or Blackboard https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor/Interact/Discussions

VoiceThread: https://voicethread.com/ (discussion/presentation tool - audio and video)

Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com/

https://blog.flipgrid.com/ This is the help page for how to use Flipgrid.

Flipgrid is a free video discussion platform from Microsoft that helps educators see and hear from their learners anytime, anywhere.
In Flipgrid, educators post prompts for their class and learners respond with short videos, forming an asynchronous video discussion around educator-defined topics.

Twiducate: https://www.livelingua.com/twiducate/
The Twiducate Platform is a free resource for educators. Their goal is to create a medium for teachers and students to continue their learning outside the classroom. They attempt to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners in a social networking environment.

More guidelines and tips for how to organize online discussion

Tracking Student Participation and Progress in your learning management system:

Grade Cam Student Portal: https://go.gradecam.com/COVID-19.html GradeCam's Student Portal is a paperless assessment alternative that allows students to access assignments online with a secure personal login - anytime, anywhere.

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Get Started: The Remote Ed Common Guide | Academy for the Advancement of Teaching, Leadership and Schools

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Now that you're ready to get started, click on a question to expand the section and view the answer! Broadband Internet connection or mobile hot-spot Many Internet carriers are offering limited-time free offerings to households without Internet. Check with your school or local carrier if they know of any offerings.

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Resources for Teaching About Racism, Racial Injustice, and Human Rights | National Council for the Social Studies

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The following articles have been selected from our three main journals for K-12 teachers: Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner. These articles are grouped by topic for easy reference. Also included are recent current event responses that address racism and call for human rights education.

NCSS Current Events Responses (2020)
Teaching about Race and Racism in the Classroom
The African American Struggle for Civil Rights
Slavery and Its Legacy
Racism against Numerous Minority Groups
Human Rights Education
Middle Level Lessons on Racial Injustice and the Promotion of Civil Rights
Elementary Lessons on Racial Injustice and the Promotion of Civil Rights

Joint Statement (from the National Coalition Against Censorship, co-signed by NCSS), June 2020
The Free Press in a Time of Crisis
Joint Statement (from the American Historical Association, co-signed by NCSS), June 2020 Press Release, May 29, 2020 Statement, May 2020
A National Council for the Social Studies Response to Anti-Asian Harassment and Violence during COVID-19
NCSS Condemns the Killing of George Floyd and Countless Black People
AHA Statement on the History of Racist Violence in the United States
Teachers can use specific tools and strategies highlighted in this article to foster open, honest, and productive dialogues on race and identity in an educational setting.
Secondary/High School

Exploring race and other controversial issues in a civil and productive manner develops students' racial literacies and equips them to be proactive citizens in a democratic society. Secondary/High School

As social studies teachers, we play an essential role in preparing the next generation with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become informed and engaged citizens.

The events in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 can serve as a jumping off point into an exploration of students' own communities.
Secondary/High School

This article examines the challenges of teaching about the deaths of African American men at the hands of police in Ferguson and Staten Island in 2014, and shows that when students engage in discussions about civic rights and processes, their sense of discouragement transforms to a sense of empowerment.

This inquiry, which explores the current debate on what should be done with Confederate monuments, engages students in historical, geographic and civic skills.
Secondary/High School

A textbook author reflects on the ethical and ideological choices she made in her quest to create a history book that would be relevant to demographically diverse high school students. Secondary/High School

High school ethnic studies courses that address the perspectives and experiences of people of color are increasingly in demand. The author describes the thematic, inquiry-based approach she developed that reflects her school's diversity.
Secondary/High School

Who is Afro-Latin@? Examining the Social Construction of Race and Négritude in Latin America and the Caribbean
Christopher L. Busey, Bárbara C. Cruz

This article reviews the distinctive social construction of race in Latin America and the Caribbean, discussing its historical background and contemporary manifestations.
Secondary/High School

These recommended sites offer materials, lesson plans, and activities for teaching about our democratic principles.
Secondary/High School

The lesson presented in this article offers an expansive view of Black history, which moves beyond the limited focus on slavery, reconstruction, and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Secondary/High School

A project-based approach to studying the civil rights movement can stimulate student engagement and their sense of connection to this historic period.
Secondary/High School

A close look at Rosa Parks's handwritten notations on the program from a Montgomery bus boycott event can engage students into a deeper study of Parks, the boycott, and the civil rights movement.
Secondary/High School

A class lesson on Walker v. Birmingham, the legal case related to Martin Luther King Jr.'s arrest in Birmingham, can lead to a stimulating exploration of civil disobedience and its role in a democratic society.
Secondary/High School

As students use geospatial technology to discover streets named for Martin Luther King, Jr., they learn about politics and social power as well as geography.
Secondary/High School

In this lesson, students consider important factors that converged to help civil rights activists win a decades-long struggle for voting rights.
Secondary/High School

The two featured documents from the 1940s offer insight into the African American struggle for economic opportunity in the South and can help teach about the greater civil rights movement.
Secondary/High School

The featured letter to President Truman about the murder of an NAACP official can be used as a springboard into the exploration of the civil rights struggle and violence, as well as the issue of presidential powers.
Secondary/High School

The memoir of a white journalist who disguised himself as an African American in the pre-civil rights South provides students with greater insight into the evolution of segregation in American society.
Secondary/High School

An oral history project by students in Southside, Virginia, exposes a neglected aspect of the civil rights movement-a generation of young people who were deprived of an education by segregationists.
Secondary/High School

The highlighted documents from Boston´s desegregation case can serve as a jumping off point into an engaging classroom study of education equality and civil rights.

The role that racial slavery played in the founding and development of our republic should be woven into the bedrock of how we teach American history and civics.
Secondary/High School

Students can use the large Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database to conduct research and discover the scope of the slave trade over four centuries.
Secondary/High School

Digital sources like Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl can involve students in a deep investigation of the long-term history and personal impacts of slavery in the United States.
Secondary/High School

An inquiry framed around the experience of an enslaved woman, highlighted in a recent film, offers an opportunity for meaningful student engagement with the history of American enslavement.
Secondary/High School

When studying the early colonization of the Caribbean, students will gain a deeper, more nuanced, understanding of the institution of slavery by examining Spanish colonial documents and comparing them with documents from the antebellum U.S. South.
Secondary/High School

Examining the life of an enslaved West African man in North Carolina who wrote a memoir in Arabic can broaden students' perspectives on slavery in America.
Secondary/High School

The featured lesson examines the role that race played in the history of the United States and in the decision-making of President Lincoln during the Civil War.
Secondary/High School

A close look at the struggle to pass the 13th Amendment will ignite a stimulating classroom debate on the legacies of slavery that persist today.
Secondary/High School

The featured letter from an emancipated slave to his former master illuminates the historical transition from slavery to freedom and is an excellent resource for classes in both history and literature.
Secondary/High School

Case Study of Chinese Exclusion Act Enforcement
Joanne Dufour Enduring Lessons of Justice from the World War II Japanese American Internment
The Library of Congress's Slave Narratives Collection present students with an opportunity to expand their understanding of slavery in America while grappling with questions about interpretations of the past.
Secondary/High School

Toward Responsibility: Social Studies Education that Respects and Affirms Indigenous Peoples and Nations (NCSS position statement, 2018)

Promising practices offer educators opportunities to confront the perspective of white settler colonialism that has permeated the study of the history of Indigenous peoples.
Secondary/High School

The featured primary source in support of Native American tribes who were victims of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 can be used to spark a classroom lesson on this disturbing period in American history.
Secondary/High School

Primary sources on the treatment of contracted Mexican workers in Arkansas in the mid-twentieth century can launch an engaging lesson on the role of race, economic power, regional differences, and citizenship status in historical events.
Secondary/High School

A creative and intriguing lesson plan examining the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in June 1943, in which naval servicemen clashed with Mexican Americans.
Secondary/High School

The featured lesson exploring early twentieth-century U.S. policies towards Chinese immigrants can serve as a jumping off point into a discussion of contemporary U.S. immigration issues.
Secondary/High School

The featured documents related to the Chinese Exclusion Act can launch an engaging classroom lesson on the complicated history of United States immigration policy.
Secondary/High School

A close look at documents related to the case of Mabel Ping-Hua Lee can be a springboard into an engaging classroom lesson on the Chinese Exclusion Act and its impact on the voting rights of women in the United States.
Secondary/High School

Nancy P. Gallavan and Teresa A. Roberts
Investigating the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II helps students develop an appreciation of constitutional rights and civil liberties.
Secondary/High School

A short 1945 film in the Library of Congress archives starring Frank Sinatra, who stops a group from bullying a young Jewish boy, could jumpstart a range of classroom projects such as an inquiry into post-World War II domestic issues.
Secondary/High School

The authors recommend important steps and strategies to help schools and educators reduce or prevent bullying.
Secondary/High School

At Risk of Prejudice: Teaching Tolerance about Muslim Americans
Karima Alavi
Common misperceptions about the religion of Islam threaten to distort views of Muslim Americans and their convictions. The author answers questions about the Muslim faith, community, and beliefs.
Secondary/High School

At Risk of Prejudice:The Arab American Community
Zeina Azzam Seikaly
How can we protect our Arab American students from encountering prejudice, educate all our students about the Arab American community, and emphasize tolerance over bigotry? Secondary/High School

Examining the featured political cartoons offers students an opportunity to analyze myths about immigration and to consider ways that politicians have historically used nativist sentiments for political gain.
Secondary/High School
Middle Level Learning January/February 2016
This lesson on the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment will give students a deeper understanding of the issues framing the current immigration debate.
Secondary/High School
Middle Level Learning September 2008
Human Rights Education: A Necessity for Effective Social and Civic Learning (NCSS position statement, 2014)
Middle Level Learning May/June 2013
It is important to consider the influence of students' social context when teaching about human rights.
Secondary/High School
Middle Level Learning September 2005
This historical analysis and teaching activity offers teachers an approach for integrating human rights issues into the world history curriculum.
Secondary/High School
Middle Level Learning May/June 2012
The document that began as a declaration of human equality and dignity has become the foundation of the human rights movement and a cornerstone of world political dialogue.
Secondary/High School
Middle Level Learning Jan/Feb 2002
By studying moments in history where bystanders made a difference, teachers can motivate students to think critically in the face of social dilemmas.
Secondary/High School
Middle Level Learning September 2016
Allowing students to take the lead in a specific social action campaign enables them to take classroom learning about the democratic process to a much deeper level.
Secondary/High School

To cultivate engaged citizens, we should ensure that students have real-world opportunities to develop, practice, and apply civic skills.
Middle Level Learning May/June 2018
In the featured lesson, students explore the ways that individuals, groups, communities, and nations define who belongs and who does not.
Secondary/High School

"Benjamin Banneker's Letter to Thomas Jefferson" by John A. Moore provides students with excerpts from one of America's first Abolitionist documents. Both men were well-known public figures, free and patriotic citizens, and scientists who had worked on the planning and measurement of the new nation's capital (Washington, D.C.). Both professed to uphold the unalienable rights of man, but one was an independent farmer, the other a wealthy slaveholder. (pp. 1-11)

"Frederick Douglass, the Constitution, and Slavery: A Classroom Debate" by Vanessa Rodriguez invites students to read excerpts, from different decades, from the writings by the famous American Abolitionist. Was Douglass inconsistent, or did his interpretation of the U.S. Constitution evolve in a meaningful way? (pp. 1-13)
Middle Level Learning September 2016
"Harriet Tubman: 'Emancipate Yourself!'" by Steven S. Lapham and Peter Hanes provides student handouts with images of historical primary sources preserved at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as incidents from Tubman's biography that are not well known today, but that propelled the global struggle to end slavery at that time. (pp. 1-11)

"Philip Reid and the Statue of Freedom" by Eugene Walton reveals that an enslaved American solved a technical puzzle, then assisted in the casting of the bronze figure that now stands atop the U.S. Capitol. Handouts provide historical evidence of these events, and a handout with "An Abolitionist Cartoon, 1830" closes the issue. (pp. 1-16)

"Slavery After the Civil War: 'It Makes a Long-Time Man Feel Bad'"and "The Convict-Lease System, 1866-1928" (three lessons with four readings and two worksheets), both by Christine Adrian, reveal how the institution of slavery was reinvented, after the Civil War, in a new form and then persisted, in many states, for another 60 years. (pp. 1-16)

"The WPA Slave Narratives: Teaching with Oral Histories" by Paul Horton provides a variety of excepts from this famous historical collection at the Library of Congress and guides students in interpreting what they have read. (pp. 3-8)

"Voting Rights and Literacy Tests"by R. Z. Seitz and P. T. Chandler includes a handout from a 1956 "literacy test" that was designed to exclude Black citizens from voting. (pp. 8-13)

A "Book Review: She Stood for Freedom" invites teachers and students to learn about "the untold story of a civil rights hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland," who was attacked along with other young civil rights protesters at a lunch counter, captured in a famous 1963 photo. (pp. 14-16)

"How to Be an American" is an article with handouts that links to two video resources: Judge Lucy Koh: "Be Fully Engaged in Democracy" as well as Karen Korematsu: "You Can Make a Difference." In a candid conversation (transcribed on the handouts), these two prominent civic leaders, Korematsu and Judge Koh, discuss growing up as the children of immigrants and how they became involved in advancing civil and human rights for all people. Discussion questions challenge students to consider the many "ways to be fully engaged in democracy." (pp. 1-7)

Videos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvkwlphRcjM&feature=youtu.be
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxj9iNnLbK0&feature=youtu.be.

"Conflict, Service, and Civic Involvement" by Sarah K. Anderson. The author describes leading Project Citizen activities with her students, which include identifying a local problem, researching it, proposing a policy-based solution, and putting the solution into action. One of the student-generated questions is: Why are immigrants so often treated differently? (pp. 8-12)

"Immigration Today: Teaching with Film" by Jeremy Hilburn and Lisa Brown Buchanan.
A discussion strategy "Take a Stand" has students move about the room as they read, respond, analyze, and deliberate statements individually and as a group. There are many variations, and using the strategy after viewing a documentary can help students begin thoughtful deliberation about a challenging or controversial issue. (pp. 1-7)

Social Studies and the Young Learner January/February 2020

Powerful stories of three Americans-girls of Indigenous, Chinese, and Mexican ancestry-who fought for equal education in America in the last century. Their struggles all pre-dated that of the well-known African-American girl, Ruby Bridges, whose story is included in the first grade unit plan, which includes handouts that can be found in the Pullout.

Teachers, in accordance with NCSS guidelines, can use picture books to spur discussions about justice-oriented citizenship, including protest marches, as a means to understand the past and present.

Indigenous women have long held positions of leadership, including the position of President, Chairperson, or Chief, among other titles, within their Native nations. The authors describe how students in grades 3-5 can learn about and from Indigenous women changemakers and their professions, communities, and Native nations.

Students engage with primary source texts, a painting, and a photograph (images created in different decades) to arrive at a more complex understanding of a historic American icon and the society he lived in. A handout features a stereograph, ca. 1860s, "Slave family picking cotton in the fields near Savannah, Georgia."

A ten-week inquiry project is designed to address issues of inequity and privilege. Challenges in enacting justice-focused pedagogy are discussed. A sidebar spotlights Benjamin R. Tillman, Jr. (1847-1918), who served as governor of South Carolina, U.S. senator, and was an avowed white supremacist. His statue was erected on the grounds of the state capitol in 1940.

Students analyze an 1855 ad for a "great sale of slaves" and interact with an online map created by a George Mason University professor. "Slide your finger along the timeline at the bottom and watch the institution of slavery grow in this color-coded map of the United States. Zoom to any county by clicking on it and view the original U.S. Census data behind the illustration. You can also view data on free African Americans, total population, and other groupings."

What Makes a Family? Sharing Multiple Perspectives through an Inclusive Text Set
Christina M. Tschida and Lisa Brown Buchanan
Pullout: Activities for Learning about Diverse Families using Picture Books

Providing students with multiple perspectives that disrupt "the single story of family" helps students be open to diversity and see the complexity of the social world around them. Educators can be ready with text sets (picture book collections) in their classrooms that will engage students in discussions and activities about a concept of "family" that more closely reflects their own social reality.

The authors provide pedagogical and curricular insight for discussing global nuances of race and systemic racism with elementary students. They offer an integrated approach to teaching AfroLatin@ identity using social studies, reading, math, and art.

Fifth graders study the history of voting rights (which have often been denied to African Americans) and create pamphlets to spur voter turnout in their community.

Reading Closely and Discussing the 'I Have a Dream' Speech
Elizabeth S. Brown

The author highlights the importance of an in-depth examination of the language of lesser-known parts of King's famous speech as a vehicle for connecting historical circumstances and current conditions of discrimination. In a sidebar, Susan Goetz Zwern briefly reviews the picture book I Have a Dream, illustrated the Kadir Nelson.

Pullout: Millicent's Story: School Desegregation in South Carolina, 1963

Millicent E. Brown was one of the first eleven African American students in South Carolina to attend formerly all-white public schools. Millicent's memoir of that time (provided in a pullout) begins the night before her entry into the tenth grade in September of 1963. A short article provides context and discussion questions for teachers. (p. 16 and pullout)

The author focuses on Executive Order 9066 and the resulting incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, an aspect of World War II rarely addressed in elementary schools. She describes how two teachers used children's literature and primary sources to teach students about racism, prejudice, discrimination, and civil rights.

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Resources for Teaching About Racism, Racial Injustice, and Human Rights

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The following articles have been selected from our three main journals for K-12 teachers: Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner. These articles are grouped by topic for easy reference. Also included are recent current event responses that address racism and call for human rights education.

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The Innovator Solutions section includes contributions from corporate sponsors and advertisers representing education organizations, businesses, policy-making bodies and other influencers dedicated to transforming education. This blog post was provided by Microsoft in Education.
Sudden distance learning gave educators a gift: A second first day of school. It offered us the opportunity to rethink how we were teaching and craft a fresh start for ourselves and our students. The biggest challenge became how to continue the learning from a distance while trying to maintain as much normalcy as possible?

When I considered what strategies would allow my students to successfully learn from home, I knew the most important thing was allowing them the freedom to access their lessons at a time that suited their family's needs.

For my Room Nine Kids, I'd always used PowerPoint to create my lesson plans and project them up on the screen as they worked throughout the day. Realizing PowerPoint also gives me the ability to save lessons as a video file (MP4), I knew immediately what to do.

Every recorded lesson would begin with a video of me greeting my students like I normally would at the beginning of the day. Since they had no curriculum at home, I brought in digital core curriculum to my presentations so students could read and write their lessons in notebooks, binders or journals that they had at home.

Digital inking allowed me to teach math lessons, explaining each answer. And narrating each slide would give them that feeling of being in the classroom and hearing a friendly, familiar voice.

We also had live class meet-ups three to four times a week, and lots of individual check-ins, but the recorded lessons were the most successful.

The result? Some accessed and turned their work in at 7 a.m. and some at 2 a.m., but an average of 94% of my students continued their learning every week.

That was their gift to me and to themselves.

In the video below, I'll take you step by step through using special features of PowerPoint that make remote learning lessons come alive!
Tammy Brecht Dunbar, M.Ed., STEM, has been an elementary teacher for 20 years at a Title I school in Manteca (California) Unified. She is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Fellow as well as a Microsoft Certified Educator and Master Trainer. She was a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellow in 2018, the NCCE 2020 closing keynote speaker, an ISTE 2018 Literacy PLN award winner and the 2016 California Woman of the Year for District 12.

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Design authentic distance learning experiences with PowerPoint

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The Innovator Solutions section includes contributions from corporate sponsors and advertisers representing education organizations, businesses, policy-making bodies and other influencers dedicated to transforming education. This blog post was provided by Microsoft in Education. Sudden distance learning gave educators a gift: A second first day of school.

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No Green Screen, No Problem

Record your video anywhere, with any background. Unscreen analyzes your video and automatically removes the background without needing a single click from you. I was pleasantly surprised by Unscreen's accuracy with a variety of videos and backgrounds.

Transparent

A Great Tool for Creating Custom Animated GIFs.

The free version has some serious limitations, but still has value for creating custom animated GIFs in the classroom. While you can upload a video or GIF file of any length, free accounts only process the first five seconds. You'll also need a pro account if you want to download your work as a video file, but you can download it as an animated GIF. Pro accounts are not yet available, but we can hope for an affordable option or generous education discount. In addition to uploading your own video and GIF files, you can select GIFs from Giphy.

Video Background Options

Unscreen processes your video in seconds. You can save it with a transparent background (perfect for videos, presentations, or websites), or select a background to add. Unscreen provides a small collection of images, videos, and solid colors that can become your background with just a couple of clicks. You can also choose the Green Screen option under colors if you want to use your file in a video editing app.

Video Background

Image Background

Color Background

Remove Image Backgrounds Automatically

Unscreen is made by the same folks who brought us Remove.BG, a great choice for image background removal.

How will you use Unscreen in the classroom?

Share your ideas in the comments below or on Twitter.

Don't Miss a Pick - Follow Us

Add your Biographical Info and they will appear here.

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Remove Video Backgrounds Automatically - No Green Screen Required - Nick's Picks For Educational Technology

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Record your video anywhere, with any background. Unscreen analyzes your video and automatically removes the background without needing a single click from you. I was pleasantly surprised by Unscreen's accuracy with a variety of videos and backgrounds. The free version has some serious limitations, but still has value for creating custom animated GIFs in the classroom.

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See below for downloadable activities for kids. All are shared in Google Docs in view mode. You can save a copy into your own Google Docs if you want to edit them, or you can print them directly from Google! Questions or feedback welcome using the Contact Tab up top.

Note: I purposefully chose a sans serif comic book font for the ease of readability for kids. If you want to change the font, please save a copy to your Google Docs and then you will be able to manipulate it.

NEW! FUN FRIDAY BONUS SET! Set Five: Access Here or by clicking on the image below!

NEW! Set Four: Access Here or by clicking on the image below.

NEW! Set Three: Access Here or by clicking on the image below.

Set Two: Access Here or by clicking on the image below.

Set One: Access Here or by clicking on the image below.

Set Five coming soon!

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See below for downloadable activities for kids. All are shared in Google Docs in view mode. You can save a copy into your own Google Docs if you want to edit them, or you can print them directly from Google! Questions or feedback welcome using the Contact Tab up top.

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Exploring the world is something that's always been a bit of a luxury for those who can afford to travel, but technology is changing that. With VR and 360-degree videos, you can now immerse yourself in virtual environments that give you a real sense of what a place is like, without actually being there. Google has been taking advantage of things like VR field trips and virtual reality to transport students to distant lands, but today it's releasing a way to explore scenic wonders closer to home: the U.S. National Parks.

The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks is a new Google Arts & Culture exhibit and interactive documentary, timed to launch in celebration of this month's NPS Centennial.

The exhibit allows you to take 360-degree tours of some of the most remote and beautiful U.S. National Parks. Instead of featuring much-documented vistas like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, for example, the exhibit instead focuses on a selection of parks you may not have traveled to yet (or may never see), including the Kenai Fjords in Alaska, Hawaiian volcanoes, New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns, Utah's Bryce Canyon, and Florida's Dry Tortugas - the latter which was reviewed this month in a New York Times travel piece which called it an "under the radar" national park.

In the video experience, a local ranger will guide you through each park, allowing you to do things like fly over the active volcanoes in Hawaii, snorkel the coral reefs in the Dry Tortugas, or kayak through Alaska's fjords, among other things.

The virtual tours are available both online, in the Google Arts & Culture App on iOS and Android, as well as in the Google Expeditions app for use in the classroom.

Expeditions, available here on Google Play, is Google's virtual reality teaching tool that lets students travel the world with their teacher acting as the guide. The app offers 360 degree and 3D imagery of over 200 places around the world, and allows for a VR experience when used with the Google Cardboard viewer.

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Google now lets you explore U.S. National Parks via 360-degree virtual tours

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Exploring the world is something that's always been a bit of a luxury for those who can afford to travel, but technology is changing that. With VR and 360-degree videos, you can now immerse yourself in virtual environments that give you a real sense of what a place is like, without actually b...

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Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Atlanta's Center for Puppetry Arts is closed, but as it notes on its homepage, it's "digitally open."

That includes livestreaming performances and an expanded lineup of digital learning activities and workshops, which are all available for free online.

" RELATED: For people isolated amid coronavirus, Atlanta bookstores offer delivery

"All you need is an internet connection to join us in our Zoom room. We'll make it easy, we promise," the center says on its website.

While the performances are free to tune into, the center is asking people to consider donating.

"If you enjoy your FREE program, we ask that you consider supporting the Center for Puppetry Arts with a donation to help us through these difficult times," a post on the center's website reads.

A full list of online programming available from the Center for Puppetry Arts this week can be found here.

" RELATED: Mo Willems will host daily live stream doodle for kids home from school

Author and illustrator Mo Willems is also trying to help parents keep kids engaged, entertained and educated amid coronavirus. He is hosting daily livestream doodle session for kids stuck at home.

Author James Dean, who writes the popular "Pete the Cat" series, has also taken to social media to help keep kids entertained. He hosted a reading of his book on Instagram for kids at home.

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Center for Puppetry Arts is hosting livestream performances for free

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Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Atlanta's Center for Puppetry Arts is closed, but as it notes on its homepage, it's "digitally open." That includes livestreaming performances and an expanded lineup of digital learning activities and workshops, which are all available for free online.

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A MiddleWeb Blog
Our thanks to international teacher Tan Huynh for sharing this post from his website Empowering ELLs as educators face new challenges related to school closures.
Due to the increase of schools and districts offering distance learning or virtual school in response to the COVID19 outbreak, I wanted to share how my school in Saigon is structuring online learning for students.

This is not an article directly related to working with language learners, but the suggestions can be applied to working with language learners.

There are numerous ways to structure online learning, and I would like to share how we have structured it within our international, independent school context. Readers of this article will find it helpful if they are also offering a one-to-one program. These structures work for us because all of our students have internet access at home.

Here in Vietnam, we have been offering virtual school since February 3rd, and we did not have time to prepare students or families on how to navigate virtual learning. We are entering our 7th week of virtual learning, and these structures have been the ones that have been the most successful for us.

Use the same foundational blocks

The key is to build a virtual school on the same blocks that form the foundation of your in-person school. The how of virtual school will look different than in-person school, but the why must remain the same. For us, that means:

* prioritizing curriculum planning
* investing in relationships with students, colleagues, and families
* intentionally integrating technology when appropriate

You will see these three foundational blocks in the five structures I share in this article.

Create a Week-at-a-Glance document

I suggest creating a document that houses all the work students are supposed to do for the entire week. We did not do this initially as we thought virtual schooling was going to be just a two-week experience.

As a result, students, teachers, and families were soon drowning in the flood of links and documents.

We then created a Week-at-a-Glance document to house all of the assignments for the week. Where applicable, we embedded links to videos, assignments, and other documents. Both students and families appreciated this document as it provided a big picture of the week. Students and families could design their day and week by anchoring to this document.
Host office hours
In my grade we have blocked off 9 AM to 11 AM as teacher office hours. We scheduled our online conferences with students with Google Meet. The teachers in my grade used this time to:

Model instruction

Teach content

Gauge student wellness

Host book clubs

Provide small group or individual tutoring

Because the teacher office hours are at a consistent time, students became used to this time and families appreciated that it structured the day for students. They could plan for activities with their children after 11 AM.

I encourage you to have small-group meetings of five to eight students for 20 to 30 minutes. Larger groups mean less engagement by students. Just like how they hide from participating during in-person school, a whole-class virtual meeting provides an enticing opportunity to disappear. The short duration keeps the meetings engaging.

Most of the time, these meetings are scheduled and assigned. At other times, we give students a time frame for individual conferncing, and they can self-select available appointment times.

The key to virtual learning is not losing the personal element of an in-person classroom. With frequent and weekly online conferences, students retain some semblance of a learning community that makes school so special.

Collaborate with colleagues

No other time in my teaching career has collaborating with colleagues been so essential to students, families, and our collective well-being. We have made it a point to block 1 PM to 2 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays to collaborate. We use this time to divide the work, share strategies, and support each other. One of the key deliverables from these meetings is a completed Week-at-a-Glance document for the following week.

At these meetings the language specialist can provide strategies that would work for language learners or team with another colleague to make virtual learning more accessible for language learners.

For the past six weeks our faculty has been coming to school and maintaining regular school working hours. As of March 17, we have been directed to facilitate the virtual learning system off-site. We will continue to collaborate but now virtually on Zoom. As we go to virtual teacher collaboration, the Week-at-a-Glance document will structure our online collaboration.

Leverage Technology

We could not offer instruction without technology as it has provided the means to teach content and facilitate student engagement. These are my most used programs to facilitate virtual learning:

Screencastify: Create a slide deck or a document used to teach a lesson. Record yourself narrating the slides or document. Send the video to students.

Edpuzzle: Embed comprehension questions or audio notes in a video recording. As students watch the video, the embedded question or audio note will appear and either play your message or ask them to answer a question. On the dashboard, you can check students' responses if you have embedded a question.

Google Suite: We are using many of the products such as Google Docs, Slides, and Google Drawing to demonstrate their understanding and for us to share content.
Non-Google Suite creation apps:
Book Creator - users can publish their writing electronically

Flipgrid - users can record video responses
Buncee - users can create a presentation and infographics

Adobe Spark - users can create animated videos, graphics, and web pages

Because I work in Vietnam, we cannot use Talking Points, but if I was in the U.S. or Canada and my school moved to distance learning, I would then use Talking Points to communicate with families. Talking Points allows teachers to

* Send free SMS messages to families in English.
* Families receive these messages in their home language.
* Families respond to the teacher by texting in their home language.
* The teacher receives the translated SMS message in English.

The program now allows you to communicate in 100+ languages! THAT'S AMAZING!

Send physical work home

Every two weeks, we send physical packets of work home. Families come to school and pick up the packets for their children. This might be an option for schools where teachers are still allowed to come to school to work. Additionally, this method might help families who do not have internet access at home. The contents of the packet can also align with the assignments on the Week-at-a-Glance document.

We are creating the plane as we're flying, but I hope the lessons we have gleaned from our seven weeks of virtual learning can be of service to you and your district. If you have questions, suggestions or ideas, please share them in the Comments or contact me on Twitter @TanELLClassroom.

May you, your personal family, and your school family stay safe and healthy in these demanding times. You're not alone! I'm right there with you!

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5 Structures to Make Virtual School Most Effective

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A MiddleWeb Blog Our thanks to international teacher Tan Huynh for sharing this post from his website Empowering ELLs as educators face new challenges related to school closures. Due to the increase of schools and districts offering distance learning or virtual school in response to the COVID19 outbreak, I wanted to share how my school in Saigon is structuring online learning for students.

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We have a bit of a tradition here at Left Brain Craft Brain. Every February when the winter seems like it will never end, we warm things up with a bit of STEAM. And STEM, too, with 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids. Be sure to follow along this month as I share 60+ Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math projects that will get your kids and your classrooms excited about learning again. I've partnered with a huge crew of creative bloggers and we'll be sharing the coolest STEM & STEAM activities you'll see all year.

This post contains affiliate links.

Why Do Kids Need STEM & STEAM?

STEM is the abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math. In STEAM we add an A for Art, too. Both are integrated approaches to learning that encourage students to think more broadly about real-world problems. This interdisciplinary approach has helped create innovations like the iPhone, the original laptop computer, and is even revolutionizing cooking in third world countries, and improving air quality as a result.

It helps students ask questions, connect the dots, problem solve, think creatively, and be innovative. And not only can STEAM save the world, it can save our kids too by making their future bright. STEM jobs are expected to grow by 16% in the US between 2014 and 2024 compared to only 11% for other sectors*. And right now, science & engineering careers earn more than double the income of the median job in the United States.*

So let's get more science, technology, engineering, art, and math into our kids' lives. Ready for the fun?!?

You're Gonna Love 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids

This year we're doing the weekly topics a little bit differently... I hear a lot from readers asking for a tech project or an art project for their kids or students. So this year we're going to round-up some amazing projects with a focus on each of the buckets in STEM & STEAM. But don't worry, they're still going to be integrated projects that check off more than one bucket!

Science Activities for Kids

Experimentation is one of the foundations of STEM. Check out these amazing science projects for kids!

Check out descriptions and pictures of all of these posts and more amazing Science Projects for Kids in this round-up!

February 1st - 6th

Need Help While School is Out?

Check out our Boredom Buster Activity Plan! I pulled together a TOTALLY FREE activity plan for you to do at home with the kids. It's filled with entertaining hands-on STEAM projects, printables, snack ideas, and most of all it's filled with FUN. Plus, you'll have all the supplies you need on hand (or in the backyard!).

Technology Activities for Kids

Coding, circuits, and computers, oh my! The world of technology is our children's future. Let's get them ready with some fun activities! You can see descriptions and photos of all these activities in 20+ Technology Projects Your Kids Will Love.

February 7th - 11th

Engineering Activities for Kids

Kids are born builders. Encourage those early skills with some engineering activities they'll love. You can see photos and descriptions of all these activities and more in 50+ Awesome Engineering Projects for Kids.

February 12th - 17th

Get the kids creative juices flowing with some amazing art projects that have some science and engineering built in.

Art Activities for Kids

Check out the entire pictures and descriptions for all the projects in this list of 40 of the Best Art Activities for Kids!

February 18th - 23rd

Math Activities for Kids

Don't fall for the worksheet trap for math! Hands-on activities help kids really internalize what they're working on and are a lot more fun. You can see photos and descriptions of all these activities in Math = Fun Math Activities for Kids.

February 24th - 28th

Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math Fun for Kids

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that you can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Explorers!! The coolest new creative experience for kids is here! Think digital magazine meets online project portal in a safe, kid-friendly environment. (No more worrying about what might be hidden in that YouTube vid!) All engineer, teacher, and mom approved. And most definitely KID APPROVED!⁣

What's included?⁣

Monthly digital magazine with cool themes that's fun to read

Hands-on, exciting projects the kids will love.⁣

Science, tech, engineering, art, and math learning YOU'LL love.⁣

Delicious recipes the kids can make.⁣

Fun printables and games⁣

Entertaining videos⁣

All packed up in an easy to do package, ready for kids ages 5-12 to have fun.

Follow Along with 28 Days of Hands-On STEM

Want to stay up to date on all the cool projects? I'll be sharing them daily on the Left Brain Craft Brain Facebook page and pinning them to my Pinterest STEM board. Or come join the STEAM Kids Challenge on Instagram. We'll be posting new projects and cool ideas every day.

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28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids

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We have a bit of a tradition here at Left Brain Craft Brain. Every February when the winter seems like it will never end, we warm things up with a bit of STEAM. And STEM, too, with 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids.

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history lectures united states world study help teacher social studies

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The most important events in History explained by HipHughes, YouTube EDU Guru & TV Talking Head (History Channel/American Hero Network). Keith Hughes has tau...

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On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus Disease 2019 (abbreviated as COVID-19) as a pandemic. National Council for the Social Studies is providing this landing page as a resource for social studies educators, administrators, and professionals to stay informed on the latest updates from the U.S. Department of Education, the current containment status of the pandemic, prevention tips, school closures, and teaching resources for classroom or virtual usage. Please bookmark and check this resource page daily for updates and share it with your network.

Table of Contents

1. Background

2. Global Situation Dashboard

3. Prevention

4. NCSS Webinars - Teaching Resources

5. NCSS Publications - Teaching Resources

6. Media Outlets - Teaching Resources

7. At Home Learning Resources

8. Education & Administrator Updates

9. U.S. School Closures Updates

Background
Coronavirus Disease 2019 Situation Summary (Centers for Disease Control)
Global Situation Dashboard
World Health Organization Johns Hopkins
Prevention
Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Basic Protective Measures Against the New Coronavirus (World Health Organization)
NCSS Webinars - Teaching Resources
Webinar Recording: When COVID-19 Closes Your School: Ideas and Suggestions for Social Studies Instruction NCSS and WHDEF Teaching Resources ISTE Teaching Resources "Documents Related to the Spanish Flu" (Pandemic of 1918) "The Saffron Scourge: Society, Politics, and Disease" (Yellow Fever) "Exploring the Black Death: The Medieval Review and Response" (Bubonic Plague) "Disease and Social Disruption" "The Anticipation Guide: Motivating Students to Find out About History"
NCSS - Teaching Resources

" Plagues and Disease Throughout World History"
PBS Newshour Extra The New York Times: "Coronavirus Resources: Teaching, Learning and Thinking Critically" Washington Post: "What happens if parades aren't cancelled during pandemics? Philadelphia found out in 1918, with disastrous results."
Media Outlets - Teaching Resources
Slowing The Infodemic: How To Spot COVID-19 Misinformation Scholastic Learn at Home: Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing Zoom CEO Eric Yuan is Giving K-12 Schools His Videoconferencing Tools for Free
At-Home Learning Resources*
Secretary DeVos Delivers Nearly $1.4 Billion in Additional CARES Act Relief Funds to HBCUs, Minority Serving Institutions, and Colleges and Universities Serving Low-Income Students Secretary DeVos Makes Available Over $13 Billion in Emergency Coronavirus Relief to Support Continued Education for K-12 Students Secretary DeVos Delivers $6 Billion in Additional Grant Funding to Support Continued Education at America's Colleges, Universities Secretary DeVos Announces $3 Billion in Emergency Education Block Grants for Governors Secretary DeVos Rapidly Delivers More Than $6 Billion in Emergency Cash Grants for College Students Impacted by Coronavirus Outbreak Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Authorizes New Funding Flexibilities to Support Continued Learning During COVID-19 National Emergency Coronavirus Public Health Emergency Underscores Need for Department of Education's Proposed Distance Learning Rules Readout of Vice President Pence and Secretary DeVos' Conference Call with Education Stakeholders The U.S. Department of Education Releases Webinar, Fact Sheet for Protecting Students' Civil Rights During COVID-19 Response The U.S. Department of Education's COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel
Education & Administrator Updates
Education Week: Map -- Coronavirus and School Closures Disclaimer: National Council for the Social Studies has curated these materials to offer helpful teaching strategies and resources for educators. The links posted on this webpage do not represent an endorsement of any organization or product by the association as a whole, its staff, nor the members of its board.
U.S. School Closures Updates

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NCSS Resources for Navigating Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

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On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus Disease 2019 (abbreviated as COVID-19) as a pandemic. National Council for the Social Studies is providing this landing page as a resource for social studies educators, administrators, and professionals to stay informed on the latest updates from the U.S.

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Tips and resources to support autistic kids as parents, teachers, and professionals. The resources are designed to help you better understand autism, address common autism challenges, and provide support to the autistic or neurodivergent child.

Looking for practical resources to help your neurodivergent or autistic child?

Well, then you're in the right spot!

Below you will find tons of awesome resources to help you understand autistic traits, target problem areas like sleep or fine motor skills, teach social and emotional skills, and so much more.

Browse the Resources by Category or Skill

Didn't find what you were looking for? Try searching for something specific here.

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Resources to Support Autistic & Neurodivergent Kids

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Tips and resources to support autistic kids as parents, teachers, and professionals. The resources are designed to help you better understand autism, address common autism challenges, and provide support to the autistic or neurodivergent child. Looking for practical resources to help your neurodivergent or autistic child? Well, then you're in the right spot!

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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January 19, 2016
Today we spent sometime going through our archive looking for special needs apps we have shared here in the past and ended up with the chart below. These are apps we would recommend for teachers and parents of kids with learning disabilities. We have arranged the apps into four main categories: apps for dyslexic learners, apps for autistic learners, apps for the visually impaired and apps for learners with writing difficulties. For those of you using Android a similar list will soon be posted. Stay tuned.

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A Handy Chart Featuring Over 30 iPad Apps for Students with Special Needs

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January 19, 2016 Today we spent sometime going through our archive looking for special needs apps we have shared here in the past and ended up with the chart below. These are apps we would recommend for teachers and parents of kids with learning disabilities.

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HISTORY at Home offers teachers, parents and students a chance to learn about history independently. This collection of HISTORY's educational shows, being made available for a limited time, offers information and insight into middle school and high school core curriculum topics. We have curated these shows around key themes and paired them with study guides and related content so you can easily watch, read and discuss history's most important moments.

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HISTORY at Home offers teachers, parents and students a chance to learn about history independently. This collection of HISTORY's educational shows, being made available for a limited time, offers information and insight into middle school and high school core curriculum topics.

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We understand that you are forced to make difficult decisions as you protect the health and welfare of the entire community while also planning for effective and equitable learning. Regarding curriculum and instruction, you are not alone as you plan ahead.

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These SHINEtastic Lessons are for the Elementary, Middle and High School Classrooms! Self. Heart. Inspire. Navigate. Exceptional. These are the words that capture the path LaVonna uses in challenging others to find out how they can ignite the S.H.I.N.E. in their staff, students, others and self. She