# data[].attributes.body
Works across the curriculum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We express ourselves in different ways. On Flip, you can use our simple and fun built-in camera to record your thoughts, add effects and share within your Flip group as video, audio only or text in your web browser or mobile app.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
About

About Us

Whiteboard.fi is created by Sebastian Laxell and Jaakko Virtanen, and is run by Digital Teaching Tools Finland Ltd - a Kahoot! company. We have experience in teaching and IT-management - so we know the struggle in finding good digital tools.

Certificates

FERPA Certified

COPPA Safe Harbor

California Student Privacy Certified

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Whiteboard.fi - Free online whiteboard for teachers and classrooms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whiteboard.fi is an instant formative assessment tool for your classroom, providing you with live feedback and immediate overview over your students.

# data[].attributes.body
https://cms.instructure.com/courses/422371

# data[].attributes.body
Access Peardeck through addons in your Google Slide Presentation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pear Deck is on a mission to help teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day - using the tools you already know and love.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Use Google Jamboard for Remote Teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Ideas Designed to Engage Students In Active Learning Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Online discussions are a staple of any online course. They create a space for students to connect online, explore issues related to the course, ask questions, and make meaning in collaboration with their peers. Teachers looking for strategies designed to engage students and drive higher-order thinking should make online discussions a regular part of their classes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Now that we have all been thrust into the world of online learning, we have to figure out ways as educators to engage our students when they are online. Some of the first things schools did when shifting to remote learning was to hold regular video meetings with their students. These can vary based on the ages of the students and the frequency of when a teacher interacts with their students, but most teachers realized quickly that they can't use the same behavioral strategies (like proximity) that they use in a physical classroom. This can lead to a lack of student engagement and involvement in what is trying to be taught regardless of age.

These 25 strategies listed here are not meant to take the place of deeper learning. That kind of learning is generally better when done with a mix of asynchronous learning. That said, in order to get our students to that deeper state of learning with greater depth of knowledge (DOK) levels, we need to make sure they are engaged when we have synchronous conversations and discussions. Some of these strategies take little set-up while others might take more time and energy to make them really successful. The purpose of these tools is to draw students into the lesson/activity and make them engaged and looking forward to your next virtual class meeting.

While there are a lot of video meeting solutions out there, I'm going to focus many of the tools around the Zoom platform as it has some of the best interactive features and seems to be the most widely accepted in K-12 schools across the country. However, as many of these strategies can be used with any video platform or device, I only focused on Zoom-centric ideas on the first 5 strategies, the rest you can use on any platform. Also, kids (especially teenagers) can say and do that darnedest things, especially when being remotely hidden behind a screen. As you would with the physical classroom, I would strongly encourage teachers discuss norms when it comes to interacting over video chat with their students prior to any of these strategies.

Here are 25 strategies to engage students on your next Zoom meeting:

I'm going to start out with one of the basics. While you may be doing many of your chats with just video, don't forget that you have the ability to share part or all of your screen with your students. This can be something as simple as sharing a question of the day to an entire slide show. If you have a slideshow that you've already created for use in your classroom, don't recreate the wheel, just launch it on your share screen and use built in Zoom tools like 'raise hand' or the chat room to have a floating backchannel as you go through your slides. One bit of advice, check what items you have on your desktop and in your "favorites" bar of an internet browser before you share that with your students. There's nothing more embarrassing than you students seeing your latest beach pic or maybe your bookmark for you favorite drink recipe.

Of course, if you don't want to share your screen you can always use the built-in whiteboard feature that comes with Zoom. This feature can take some getting used to, especially if you are using a mouse or trackpad. To use it, simply go to share your screen and choose "whiteboard". A little tip - if you have tablet like an iPad, install the Zoom app and then join the meeting with your iPad as well. This works better for drawing especially if you have a nice stylus or Apple Pencil. (just be careful you have one of the devices muted to avoid echoes) Of course, as you get more comfortable with Zoom and student expectations, let your students also use the whiteboard feature to share their understanding. If you are not using Zoom, a tool like Classroomscreen.com has a bevy of tools including a whiteboard if you share your screen with your students.

3. Enable the Annotation Features

Another feature that you could use when sharing slides, photos, or websites is the annotation tools. You'll want to check your account settings to make sure these features are enabled by default. Having these tools enabled, you'll be able write over any image, highlight certain features of a website, and make the viewing experience for your students much more interactive.

My favorite of all the Zoom features for learning is the ability to create breakout rooms for your students. Unlike whiteboard and annotation features, the ability to create breakout rooms are not enabled by default. You'll want to go into your account settings to enable this ability before using it with your students. Once enabled, you can have Zoom either automatically or manually assign students into rooms. Even if it's automatically assigning, you can swap students out depending on group dynamics (note: it helps to have your students put their name on their Zoom login). You can even rename the rooms depending on group names or topics before assigning certain students to each room. The great thing about these rooms is that it can create a more collaborative setting than the large whole-group zoom experience. As the moderator you can float around and join rooms to check in on the discussion, post an announcement to all rooms, or even place a time limit on them. Once you ask students to rejoin the whole group and end the breakouts, they'll have 60-seconds to wrap-up their discussion and rejoin. A powerful way to enable collaboration remotely! Check out the video below for a quick how-to:

If you've been in any Zoom meeting the past couple of months, you've probably seen all sorts of crazy and fun virtual backgrounds. These can be hilarious but also distracting so some educators have disabled this feature for their group meetings. However, there could be some productive uses of these virtual backgrounds. Some examples of using virtual backgrounds might be re-enacting moments in history with the appropriate backdrop, selecting a geographic landmark they might be studying or "visiting" virtually, or just having students select either a solid green or red background to quickly show if they agree or disagree with a topic (hint: use Grid view for this). No matter the reason, virtual backgrounds can be much more than everyone acting like they are a character from The Office.

If you really want your students to focus on everyone in the classroom, play a game of "I Spy" backgrounds. You can do this either with or without virtual backgrounds, but in essence you are describing things that you notice in the background of someone's zoom call. Students then quickly have to search all the attendees and see which student's background is being described. A fun, 5-minute way to get students hooked into their next Zoom meeting.

Probably one of the most popular games to play with students is a virtual scavenger hunt. The premise is simple, you have a list of items and then ask students to run through their house or apartment attempting to find the items and show them on the screen. A quick word of advice on this is to be sure you are not picking exact objects for them to find like "a toy cell phone". Rather, create a category that could involve all sorts of different objects that qualify like "an object with numbers on it." This will reveal a lot of different interpretations of the clue as well as not limiting what students can find around them. You could also use software like Eventzee or Goosechase to do a virtual scavenger hunt throughout the day or week where students capture items you've identified with their camera.

Last week, I got to host a virtual trivia night via Zoom. We had over 150 people during the event that drew lots of positive feedback for keeping them engaged while also doing something fun during this stressful time. I used a pro-level software called Crowdpurr to run my event, but I could just as easily do something similar using a tool like Kahoot! or Quizziz. These quizzes or trivia can either be done live or student-paced. Having the scores decrease as time dwindles down on each question also prevents students from "googling" the answers as it will affect their score. Check out the latest " Challenge " feature within Kahoot to create more of a self-paced challenge for your students that might have limited access to technology or can't participate synchronously.

In the classroom, we use the classic "raise your hand" to gather feedback from students. In Zoom, it's no different as there is a "Raise hand" button available to students, but some savvy teachers have also figured out that the chat room can act as an impromptu survey as long as it involves brief responses. For better tracking, you could always use a tools like Nearpod, Polleverywhere, or Peardeck to gather feedback via a second screen or browser tab. Playing a game like "would you rather" would work well to test this out before using it more in-depth in later lessons.

Gathering feedback in polls is one way to interact with students, but you could also use a shared collaborative space like a Padlet or Ziteboard to have students discuss and brainstorm ideas on shared spaces. You could also combine this with the breakout rooms (#4 from above) to have each group brainstorm a topic while you navigate from board to board. A tip here is to create the "walls" or spaces for the students to collaborate on so that you have a live link to what they are working on. Once you've split them into groups, share your link to each group to work on.

Yes, you can share your screen and even your slides with your students via a tool like Google Slides, Keynote or Powerpoint. But since you have them live, why not use a tool like Nearpod to actually guide them through the learning with you. Ideally, this would work best with two screens, but since everything these days is web-based you could guide them through the presentation on one screen while they follow along to your voice on the other. Doing this on an iPad? Share the join code with your students and then have them switch to the Nearpod app while leaving the Zoom app open in the background so they can hear your voice while following along. Of course, one of the best parts of using a tool like Nearpod is all the extra features like Virtual field trips, 3D models, Microsoft Sway, collaborative boards and more. One thing I've tried that worked well was embedding a PollEverywhere poll within my Nearpod. That way students didn't have to jump out of the app ever.

Silence can be awkward in the classroom. It's even more awkward when you are looking at more than two dozen teenagers on the screen. That said, it's important to let students pause and reflect throughout the lesson. Using a countdown timer either on a slide, video or on a tool like ClassroomScreen.com helps students know when they should break from their pause or reflection. As I will mention on my next point, students need breaks from lengthy instruction throughout their day whether they be on a screen or not. If you are hosting a 50-minute lesson online, build in a 5 minute break for students to stretch or get a glass of water to keep their brain active.

Taking breaks throughout a lengthy lesson are important whether it be for a reflective pause or just an opportunity to stretch. Using tools like GoNoodle, teachers can lead a virtual dance party in their remote classroom to get the kids up and moving. One word of advice here, if you are playing a video through your system speakers, make sure you don't have headphones on or adjust the audio source in Zoom by clicking on the up-carrot symbol next to "Mute" to change your selection of audio output. (see image on the right)

With everything being digital, it's also nice to take a break from digital as you already have a Zoom meeting occupying the students' screens. There are a wide variety of analog strategies you could use with your students by using paper and pencil. One might be sharing a math problem on your screen while students work out the results. Then, countdown and have them reveal their answers to their cameras at the same time. I've also seen teachers have success doing a "directed drawing" by pointing their webcam or phone camera down to a sheet a paper while they give instruction and then have students share their creations at the end.

A big struggle with online learning via video is keeping students focus and attention, especially to the finer details. The game "Box of Lies" was made popular by Jimmy Fallon (video below) and would be a creative way to see if students are paying attention. The premise would be that the teacher or student has an object out of camera view and then has to describe the object. You could do this with all sorts of other ideas from historical figures to using descriptive words in another language.

Taking that directed drawing from #14 to the next level by doing a Monster drawing. In this activity, a teacher or student read aloud descriptions of their drawing but don't let other students see it. They have listen for information like "my monster has a rectangle body" or "my monster has 5 eyes, one of them is big and in the middle" to figure out the drawing. This helps kids both with descriptive words but also with listening and translating. In the end, have students show their creations on the screen to see who got closest to the description. This activity could be used in other areas as well such as re-creating a story character or describing a graph in math.

Distance learning doesn't just have to be about kids filling out digital worksheets or playing online learning games. Students can still do long-term projects either individually or in groups even though they final results may be different than what was done traditionally in the classroom. Using online project management and productivity tools like Trello, MeisterTask or ClickUp can help students struggling with organization and timelines. Coupling those tools with video meeting check-ins can help kids learn how to collaborate and complete a project online over a length of time.

BreakoutEDU has always been one of my favorite ways to engage students of all ages by creating a series of clues and challenges that the students have to uncover. For the last couple of years they've been offering Digital BreakOutEDU as an online version of their platform. Teachers could leverage the "breakout" room feature of Zoom with a Digital BreakOutEDU and have teams solve the challenges within a certain timeframe. The great thing about their platform is they have already done most of the heavy lifting in creating the BreakOuts for you based on subject and age level. You can also check out this " Build Your Own " resource if you don't have the funds to purchase a subscription.

A fun non-tech game to play is "Who's who?". In this game, students privately message the teacher some facts about themselves and then the teacher reveals the clues. Students then write down their guesses as to who the person is based on the clues. This could also be turned into "Two truths and a lie" fairly easily. Other adaptations could be students sending clues about historical figures, book characters, etc. that the class has to figure out.

Who doesn't love a good game of BINGO? While this isn't the classic game with numbers, balls, and clever calls, it is using the set-up of Bingo as a way to review facts, geographical locations, scientific terms, or even mathematical applications. Using the Flippity.net BINGO tool, you create what goes in the squares and then you read out the clues while students fill out their own digital square or by printing a game card. Flippity actually lets you send out the cards via link or QR code as kids can fill in their cards digitally. Then when it's over, have them share their screen and review their answers to see who wins!

Amongst some of the other Flippity.net tools is the classic Jeopardy-like game show. A great way to review information for a unit or novel study, you can fill in the back-end answers using a Google spreadsheet and then share your screen with the game board. Students can play individually, or you could pre-assign teams and then send them to breakout rooms to discuss what they think the answer might be.

You remember the "telephone game" or maybe the game "one-word stories"? This is a similar concept where you start the story and have random students add the next line. A story could start with "Once upon a time...." and then you could select the student by unmuting their mic. By doing it randomly rather than in a specific order, you cause all students to be thinking of a response rather than just waiting until their turn. Mix it up with story recaps or historical fiction to see what they come up with.

For those of us that are not budding artists or struggle with drawing with a mouse, I've long been a fan of Autodraw.com. This web-based application has you draw out a shape as close as you can while the AI guesses what it might be. When you see an object that is close to what you are drawing, you select it to place into your drawing. One fun thing I've tried with this is having students draw their favorite movie scene and then putting the picture on a Padlet wall for everyone to guess the movie.

Flashcards can be pretty boring, especially if you are just using them yourself to practice terms, definitions or maybe even a foreign language. Now that we are remote, it becomes even more challenging to find a partner or group to practice with. Using tools like Fishbowl and Quizlet Live can be leveraged to create fun and energizing ways to have kids practice their terms either as a group or in breakout rooms.

One of the hidden nuggets I always love showing teachers is the Polygraph feature contained within the free, web-based math app called Desmos. This tool acts creates a "Guess who? " like game where 2 students are randomly paired up via a join code you share with them on the screen. You create the cards and student A choses one of the items to be their "mystery item". As you can upload any image, the mystery item could be a person, place, thing, word, math problem, etc. Then student B has to ask yes or no questions and decide which items they can eliminate. Polygraph creates a private loop between the students and the teacher can see the questions and guesses that each student is making to better check for understanding.

Additional Resources:

Want more of these kinds of resources? Check out my new course The Remote Learning Coach! Most of these are mentioned in my module centered around student engagement. The course also includes modules around assessment, collaboration, and more!

While most of these activities I either have done with students or teachers (both live and online), there are hundreds of other resources and games out there available to use freely with your students as you teach remotely. Here are two that I'll give shout-outs to as I found them while writing this post:

TCEA Tech Notes - Zoom Games - This post came out while I was writing this post and contains many other games like the scavenger hunt and Pictionary that teachers could benefit from using.

Quarantine Games - This google doc compiled by @ihartnia has pages of board games, card games, and other things that you can play online.

I hope you enjoy my list and please feel free to share any other games or ideas you have in the comments below and give my new course a look. Here's an infographic with all 25 of the strategies (ironically) on a Zoom call. 🙂

Stay safe and stay sane!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
25 Strategies to Engage Students on Your Next Zoom Meeting - Hooked On Innovation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Now that we have all been thrust into the world of online learning, we have to figure out ways as educators to engage our students when they are online. Some of the first things schools did when shifting to remote learning was to hold regular video meetings with their students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Giving students the option to turn their cameras off may make them more comfortable and open up new possibilities for teaching.

As remote learning became the norm, some of my students began to not-so-subtly indicate that something was wrong. During a guest lecture on Zoom, several typically engaged students had their cameras turned off. One student stopped attending synchronous class meetings, and another stopped submitting assignments.

In conversation, it became apparent that these students wanted to remain engaged with learning-but didn't want cameras on. I realized that I needed to reassess how I determined students' engagement: by looking at their faces.

Here are some ways I've found to maintain community during virtual learning-while allowing students to make a choice about whether or not to turn on their cameras.

How to Make Video Optional

Running video-optional Socratic seminars: For small group discussions, I allowed students to meet on their own time-but asked that they submit a video recording to check for understanding. One group submitted a video even though students' cameras were off; nothing was lost in my ability to assess their ability to hold a discussion.

Initially, I had abandoned replicating a Socratic seminar virtually. Following the lead of this group, however, I was inspired to embrace an experiment. I conducted a virtual Socratic seminar in which the outer circle turned off their cameras and only the inner-circle students spoke with video and cameras on.

Students in the outer circle, who typically would be evaluating the participation of their peers in the inner circle, used the chat feature to echo powerful comments they heard and ask questions of the inner-circle group. In our brick-and-mortar classroom, they would have done this by writing notes on the whiteboard or passing notes to their partners in the inner circle. Having their video off did not inhibit student participation after all. In fact, embracing this approach actually opened up a discussion technique that I thought would not work in the remote-learning world.

Providing choice: For this coming year, I am proactively planning opportunities for video-off and video-optional moments. To build student agency, I offer students a choice about how they want to demonstrate their learning. For asynchronous reading assignments, for instance, I plan to offer the options of submitting a typed reading journal, writing an oral response on Flipgrid (with the settings changed so that only the teacher views the videos), or posting a photo of a creative response completed with pen and paper.

When using Flipgrid, I will give students the option of blocking the camera or turning the screen away so that just their voice is audible. For synchronous video meetings, my students will be able to choose whether to participate with chat, video, or just audio. As I found helpful last spring, I will continue to find ways to build in breaks with the camera off, asking students to work independently off-camera and then return to small group or whole-class work with active participation.

Fostering deep engagement in multiple formats: I plan to incorporate various tools to build rapport, engage 100 percent of students 100 percent of the time, and assess their progress-even while students' cameras are off. Polling tools, whether separate or within Zoom, can serve as effective formative assessments. They can be used to ask students how they're feeling, use a silly icebreaker question, or give a multiple choice quiz.

Teachers might have students draw or use a personal whiteboard in the classroom to check for understanding: Students can hold up a paper or whiteboard to the screen without needing to show their home or face.

Setting up video-optional small group work: As I examine lessons I've used in in-person teaching, I'm struck that protocols I have used for deep textual analysis and reflection might work even better in the virtual realm. In the past, I've taught activities that had a required reflection time; some students found this awkward and rushed to the next step. With the break from the constant gaze of the camera, I plan to experiment with this same lesson in breakout rooms this fall.

As an education leader has reiterated to me, a student who previously had video on and subsequently disappeared should always be greeted with, "I noticed your video has been off; how can I help you be present in this online community?" Just as we would check in on a student with a chat after class in the hall, these demonstrations of care may even open up student-generated modes of participation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Engaging Students in Virtual Instruction With the Camera Off

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Giving students the option to turn their cameras off may make them more comfortable and open up new possibilities for teaching. As remote learning became the norm, some of my students began to not-so-subtly indicate that something was wrong. During a guest lecture on Zoom, several typically engaged students had their cameras turned off.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In every classroom, there are students who always have their hand raised to participate, and those who are hesitant to engage. Whether they're introverted, tend to think awhile before they contribute, or are just having a bad day, it can be hard to bring kids into discussions who are reluctant to add their voices.

The challenges of getting students to participate have intensified during remote learning, we've heard from many teachers. Digital platforms can create added communication barriers by making it hard to know when to talk, for example, or how to read subtle but important elements of discourse like a person's body language and facial expressions. Additionally, online discussions are often hindered by variability in students' access to technology and by privacy concerns, and consequently many teachers have had to rely on students' submitting work over isolated channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth between peers (and between students and the teacher) by the wayside.

Getting kids to contribute in virtual classrooms takes some work, it turns out. "We keep calling this generation digital natives as if they are simply whizzes at everything computerized. They aren't," wrote Tim O'Brien on Facebook. "They need personal support, scaffolding, and reassurance that technology does not provide. It is simply a tool, not a teacher."

To find out how to improve student discussions and participation in online learning, we culled through hundreds of comments on social media and followed up with more than 20 educators to see how they tackled the challenge last spring. Teachers offered a range of smart strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous, to integrate the values and the voices of all kids-even the quietest or those with disrupted schedules-into their classes this fall.

Synchronous Strategies

For synchronous learning, some teachers said they translated traditional discussion strategies from the classroom to live video chats, while others found that digital tools helped boost classroom participation.

1. Spider web discussion: During remote learning this spring, students in Shai Klima's high school class led their own discussions over Google Meet. Before the live class, students answered questions independently, and then shared their responses at the start of the meeting as a jumping-off point for a broader class discussion.

While students conversed on video, Klima listened and drew lines on a sheet of paper tracking the flow of the conversation, resulting in a spider web. At the end of the discussion, Klima shared the drawing over video, and then asked students to reflect on the experience and what they learned about who talked, who listened, and who built on the ideas of others.

"It has been successful as a means to get kids to credit their peers with helping them come up with new ideas, which helps build rapport," said Klima, who let students struggling with bandwidth call in to the meetings.

2. Using chat to check for understanding: After giving lessons last spring, Paul France had his third-grade students use the Google Chat feature to ask and answer questions or type in emojis, like a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, to show whether they understood a concept. To create structure around the responses, he guided his students in creating norms around using the chat feature-they decided as a group to use only one emoji at a time, for example. France said the practice helped him check for student understanding and pushed students to engage more with the content.

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Calkins, meanwhile, used Zoom chat when holding live lessons with her kindergarten students. She said they enjoyed typing "T" or "F" for true and false questions while answering math problems in the chat box, and some even attempted to write sentences in response to her questions. Typing responses also provided a lot of keyboard practice for her young students.

3. Flip your classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: Forrest Hinton, a high school math teacher, says he found that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction worked well to stimulate student discussion during remote learning.

First, he taught new content asynchronously through recorded videos and online activities. At the start of his live class, students briefly summarized the concepts they had learned together and then divided into breakout rooms to solve related problems in small groups. Flipping his classroom allowed Hinton to spend less class time in direct instruction-and listening to students at the start of class and in small groups helped him identify, and then address, where his students were struggling. "This has allowed me to clarify concepts in a more targeted way and better assist students," said Hinton.

4. Adapting think-pair-share to Zoom: Ryan Tahmaseb, director of library services, says he found that giving more project-based learning activities to his elementary and middle school students-and allowing them more autonomy over assignments-naturally encouraged richer discussions in virtual learning. "If we give students as much freedom as possible to experiment, research, and pursue interests within our content area, then they inevitably have a lot more to say," said Tahmaseb.

When it came to class discussions, Tahmaseb adapted think-pair-share to Zoom. Students were given a prompt, broken into groups, and then placed into breakout rooms to discuss and record their answers on a shared Google doc, which allowed students to share their thinking in writing or read aloud. Since Tahmaseb wasn't in each breakout room to listen to the conversations, the Google doc kept students accountable. Once they returned to the whole class, volunteers from each group shared their answers with everyone.

5. A new twist on show-and-tell: To get students comfortable with online participation, Brittany Collins, the teaching and learning coordinator at Write the World, a global online writing community for middle and high school students, converted the familiar show-and-tell activity into "think, write, share."

In one activity, Collins asked middle and high school students to find a photo, painting, or drawing that represented intergenerational connection and independently respond by writing to the following questions from the Making Thinking Visible Framework before discussing them over video as a class: What are we looking at? What makes you say that? What do you notice (see, feel, know)? What more can we uncover? What do you wonder? "It helps to break the ice in a virtual learning setting where unplanned participation can prove challenging for some students," said Collins.

Asynchronous Strategies

Although some teachers-and students-said that synchronous discussions were more engaging because they resembled a traditional classroom, many educators found that asynchronous discussions were more equitable because they opened up participation to students with low bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.

6. Online forums create back-and-forth dialogue: Angelina Murphy, a high school English teacher, said she used Google Classroom's question feature to get her class to respond to readings and discussion prompts during remote learning this past spring. When each student commented, Murphy replied with clarifying questions to create a back-and-forth dialogue and also asked every student to respond to at least two of their peers' comments to create a broader base of discussion.

Fifth-grade teacher Raquel Linares said she used Nearpod Collaborate (Apple, Android), a virtual collaboration board, to get students to share images or write a response to show what they had learned about an article they read. To inspire connection and reflection among classmates, Linares also used Flipgrid (Apple, Android), so that students could hear their peers' voices even though they were remote.

7. Seeing and critiquing peer work through virtual gallery walks: Virtual "gallery walks" give students an opportunity to view their classmates' projects while learning from each other, according to Joe Marangell, a high school social studies teacher. After his students presented their own projects through five-minute screencasts, they were then required to give feedback to at least two other students on theirs.

Using Google Sheets, students provided feedback to their peers by answering the following prompts: What's something new I learned about this topic?; What's something that surprised me about this topic?; What's something I liked about this presentation? The online format gave every student the opportunity to see their peers' work and their assessment on theirs for deeper reflection, Marangell said.

8. Moving station brainstorming online: When carousel or station brainstorming activities are conducted in traditional classroom environments, small groups of students rotate around the room to different stations to answer prompts-and view and add to each groups' responses.

To translate this online, Marangell divided his students into groups online and created shared Google docs-or a series of Google slides-for the prompts/questions. Each group left their thoughts under the questions by the assigned date and then followed up by commenting on the other groups' responses the next day. "The strategy still allows them to maintain a sense of classroom community [in a virtual setting]," said Marangell.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
During this time of uncertainty, educators are exploring new and effective ways to engage with their students, families and school communities. Together we will share strategies for supporting active engagement and discuss ways you can capture new learnings for personal and professional reflection.

Watch

Reflect

We invite educators to continue to learn and grow with these resources. Discover and collect new ideas and examples relevant to you after viewing the session video and related resources. Take notes and reflect while you view so you can customize the techniques for your own remote learning and classroom needs and adapt the strategies for your students. Let these guiding questions support your reflective practice after viewing the session and/or reviewing of session materials:

1. What strategies have you implemented to support your own work, i.e. schedule, work environment, and/or setting to promote consistency and structure to your lesson planning and teaching needs?

2. How have you adapted your teaching practices to support the transition to remote learning? What has been successful? What have you had to modify and/or adjust?

3. In which ways are you continuing to foster relationships and build empathy in your remote learning situations?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fostering Engagement in Times of Uncertainty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During this time of uncertainty, educators are exploring new and effective ways to engage with their students, families and school communities. Together we will share strategies for supporting active engagement and discuss ways you can capture new learnings for personal and professional reflection. We invite educators to continue to learn and grow with these resources.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this session, we will explore differentiation strategies that will deepen students' interest, comprehension, and engagement with course content in a remote learning environment.

Watch

Reflect

We invite educators to continue to learn and grow with these resources. Discover and collect new ideas and examples relevant to you after viewing the session video and related resources. Take notes and reflect while you view so you can customize the techniques for your own remote learning and classroom needs and adapt the strategies for your students. Let these guiding questions support your reflective practice after viewing the session and/or reviewing of session materials:

1. What challenges have you experienced with students who struggle with executive function skills?

2. How can you support students in remote learning based on what you have learned in this webinar?

3. How has this webinar changed your mindset?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Remote Learning for Secondary Educators: Increasing Student Interest and Engagement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this session, we will explore differentiation strategies that will deepen students' interest, comprehension, and engagement with course content in a remote learning environment. We invite educators to continue to learn and grow with these resources. Discover and collect new ideas and examples relevant to you after viewing the session video and related resources.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Choice Boards templates for Google Slides or PowerPoint - SlidesMania

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Editable Digital Choice Boards for Google Drive or PowerPoint. Choice boards are a great way to allow student choice during classroom activities and you can use them for any subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Katie Martin | Informed by Research, Inspired by Practice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Ways That Teachers Are Using Breakout Rooms to Create More Learner-Centered Experiences in Distance Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I have talked with many educators who are anxious about creating breakout rooms for fear of inappropriate interactions, bullying, and being off task in breakout

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The past couple of months have been challenging for educators, to say the least. However, in the midst of it all, there have been opportunities to take a critical lens to practice in the efforts to effectively pivot to a remote world and successfully implement hybrid learning models in the near term. No matter the current focus, changes implemented today will pave the way for ushering in more personalized approaches that focus on high-agency strategies as schools settle into a new normal.

Let's focus on the short term. For many schools, especially here in the United States, the school year has been pushed back, or students will begin remotely. Even for the schools that have started face-to-face, COVID-19 could force an abrupt change of course. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop and implement pedagogically-sound strategies that work in a remote environment. I recently facilitated two intensive virtual workshop days with educators from the Shaler Area School District in Pennsylvania. The series will conclude with a third day in a few weeks. First off, they were a fantastic group to work with virtually. The dialogue, openness to new ideas, and willingness to take risks was apparent each day. What made it even better was how much I learned from the experience.

One of the main challenges with remote learning has been student engagement, something I addressed in a recent post, where I provided six elements to consider. As I planned out my activities for the two days, I really wanted to create a meaningful experience that included numerous opportunities for discourse and collaboration. Using Zoom breakout rooms and an array of digital tools ( Padlet, Linoit, AnswerGarden, Mentimeter, GoSoapBox, YoTeach!, Google Forms, Thinglink) interactivity was extensive. You can also use Google Meet to create breakout rooms in Google Classroom (learn more HERE).

When designing lessons for students here are some tips based on what I learned:

Establish behavior and conduct norms

Mute everyone during synchronous instruction to start. I have found this to be extremely beneficial in setting the tone and attentive behavior.

Have an interactive ready to go every 10 - 15 minutes

Add the question prompt or task in the chatbox (I just copy and paste it from my slide deck)

Unmute everyone and then place them randomly into breakout rooms.

Provide regular updates to students by broadcasting messages to all rooms

Remind students that there is an "ask for help" button (top left). This is a great way to combat cyberbullying or to respond to group questions.

Jump into rooms to monitor.

Upon closing the breakout rooms mute the entire class again

Provide a digital tool for all kids to share their responses to the question discussed or task completed.

Encourage ongoing dialogue and questions using the chatbox.

Collaboration during synchronous lessons is crucial to keeping kids engaged. It also sets the stage for structured cooperative learning activities that could occur live or asynchronously as part of remote blended learning. Below are some of the most common strategies I use to help educators implement remote learning using the tips above.

It is essential to be intentional about planning for discourse and collaboration in any remote learning lesson or experience, just like we would in a face-to-face setting. Students desperately miss and need interaction with their peers to create some sense of normalcy while increasing attentive behavior and engagement in the learning process.

For more tips and ideas check out the short webinar I did on the topic.

Be sure to check out my entire #remotelearning series.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Strategies to Foster Discourse and Collaboration in Remote Learning Environments

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The past couple of months have been challenging for educators, to say the least. However, in the midst of it all, there have been opportunities to take a critical lens to practice in the efforts to effectively pivot to a remote world and successfully implement hybrid learning models in the near term.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Because hand signals allow students to engage both verbally and nonverbally, conversations that use them can be more inclusive. Teachers can post the hand signals in the classroom or share them online so that students can easily refer to the visual reminder.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using Hand Signals for More Equitable Discussions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether your class discussions are online or off, hand signals enable students to engage in multiple ways.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The other day I was conducting some learning walks with the administrative team at A secondary goal has been facilitating a transition from blended instruction to Over the course of the year, I have seen some much growth and improvement since the work began in August. My visits to this school have been inspiring as I have seen the future of education in the present. This is one of the main reasons that I saw so many activities that warmed my heart where kids were authentically engaged in meaningful learning. However, stepping into Wells Elementary School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD). Throughout the school year, I have been assisting them with digital pedagogy as it relates to blended learning and the use of flex spaces. The primary goal has been to take a critical lens to instructional design with a focus on increasing the level of questioning, imparting relevance through authentic contexts and interdisciplinary connections, creating rigorous performance tasks, innovating assessment, and improving learner feedback. I cannot overstate the importance of getting the instructional design right first before throwing technology into the mix. blended learning. This is not to say that the former is bad or ineffective, but it can be depending on whether or not the technology is just a direct substitute for low-level tasks or use is more passive as opposed to active. With this aside, there is a difference between the two, and it all has to with how the technology is being used and by whom. Blended instruction is what the teacher does with technology. Blended learning is where students use tech to have control over path, place, and pace. Herein lies the key to the practical use of flex spaces in education. The dynamic combination of pedagogically-sound blended learning and choice in either seating or moving around in flex spaces results in an environment where all kids can flourish and want to learn.
my daughter loves being a student here. Unlike our learning walks in the past, the teachers at Wells Elementary did not know I was going to be in the building on this particular day. The idea was to see if the goals for digital pedagogy and blended learning in flex spaces were well on their way to being accomplished.
Zaina Hussein's 4th-grade classroom provided a perfect example of how the entire Wells community has evolved together to deliver fantastic learning opportunities for kids. As we walked in a Tic Tac Toe grid was displayed on the interactive whiteboard. Word on the street is that she "borrowed" this idea from Kendre Millburn, my daughter's 5th-grade science teacher. If you are not familiar with this type of learning activity here is a description from the IRIS Center out of Vanderbilt University:

Tic-tac-toe sometimes referred to as Think-tac-toe, is a method of offering students choices in the type of products they complete to demonstrate their knowledge. As in a traditional tic-tac-toe game, students are presented with a nine-cell table of options. The teacher should make sure that all options address the key concept or skill being learned. There are several variations on this method: 1. Students choose three product options that form a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. 2. Students choose one product choice from each row or from each column (without forming a straight line). 3. The teacher can create two or more versions to address the different readiness levels. To learn how to create an acnhor activity using a Tic Tack Toe board click HERE.

I loved this activity for so many reasons. It incorporated choice, formative assessment, purposeful use of technology, and differentiation. All learners had to complete the middle box with the gold star emoji. The flame icons represented activities that were more difficult.

I was so mesmerized by the structure of the lesson and the engagement of the learners that I almost missed what possibly could have been the best part of the class - an opportunity to reflect. Costa & Kallick (2008) share why reflection is a critical component of the learning process:

Reflection has many facets. For example, reflecting on work enhances its meaning. Reflecting on experiences encourages insight and complex learning. We foster our growth when we control our learning, so some reflection is best done alone. Reflection is also enhanced, however, when we ponder our learning with others.

Reflection involves linking a current experience to previous learnings (a process called scaffolding). Reflection also involves drawing forth cognitive and emotional information from several sources: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. To reflect, we must act upon and process the information, synthesizing and evaluating the data. In the end, reflecting also means applying what we've learned to contexts beyond the original situations in which we learned something.

It is important to understand the convergence of so many elements present in the examples above that align with sound instructional design and real blended learning. Learners had a certain amount of control over path, pace, and place thanks to using flex spaces and the Tic Tac Toe activity that incorporated blended elements. Student agency was also evident. This is a hallmark of a well-structured blended learning activity, which is why I was so pleased to see choice (Tic Tac Toe activity, flex seating) and voice (reflection) incorporated. Follow the learning adventures at Wells Elementary on Twitter at
Over the course of the school year, I have seen so many exemplary blended learning activities implemented by Wells Elementary teachers across all grade levels during my time there as an instructional and leadership coach. I cannot commend their progress and success enough, but I would be remiss if I did not add how helpful the entire administrative team has been. They all have provided unwavering support to their teachers while also learning alongside them. When an entire school believes in different and better, takes collective action, grows together, and has the evidence to show improvement the result is efficacy.
#ExploreWells.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The other day I was conducting some learning walks with the administrative team at A secondary goal has been facilitating a transition from blended instruction to Over the course of the year, I have seen some much growth and improvement since the work began in August.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Editor's Note: This piece is written collectively by the staff of the Quaglia Institute and the Australian Institute for Voice and Aspirations under the guidance of Dr. Russ Quaglia. Quaglia is the co-author of upcoming ASCD book The Power of Voice in Schools, which will be released in May 2020.

For most of us, teaching and learning are suddenly and profoundly different. What has not changed, however, is the very soul of who we are as educators and the importance of student voice.

Like so many of you, we have spent the last few weeks scrambling to stock up on supplies, adjust to shelter-in-place policies, and learn how to utilize various online platforms for virtual meetings. All the while we're supporting our own children with their adjustment to online learning and sudden isolation from their friends (and trying not to lose our own minds).

What became clear through all of this is that student voice is more important than ever. When students have a voice in their learning, they are five times more likely to be engaged. Particularly in the absence of in-person interactions, we must do everything we can to ensure that the voices of students are not lost in online learning. The messages we send to students during this time will tell them a great deal about how we value them as individuals and how we value learning.

While online learning may be a new concept for some, it is not a new approach to education. The difference is that before the pandemic, online learning was a choice. Now it is a necessity. While there are endless pieces of advice out there (yes, online...) regarding how to best approach online learning, we offer a different perspective, viewing it through the lens of fostering student voice.

There are some realities that must be acknowledged: time has been lost, lessons will not be the same, and the current global situation comes with mountains of challenges. While there are many aspects that we cannot control, it is important to carefully choose how we respond. We are choosing to view this current challenge through a lens of possibility, rather than becoming immobilized admiring our problems.

While everything feels different these days, student voice remains as important as ever. We would like to share ten pieces of advice on how to infuse student voice into online learning, give students some control during this chaotic and seemingly uncontrollable time, and keep students meaningfully engaged:

We have long heard the phrase, "think outside the box." The notion is spot-on at this time - think outside the box as much as you'd like! Our current situation requires it. But remember to bring that thinking back into your box and put it into action.

Literally make your box interesting. When you watch newscasters virtually from their homes, are you curious about what you see in the background? Does a creative piece of art, the items on a bookshelf, or the awards displayed on the wall catch your eye? Remember that your students look at your background, too! Rather than portraying your broadcasting "box" as generic or dreary, embrace the creative opportunity. Let your students see a glimpse of your personal side. Challenge students to rethink their own boxes. Encourage them to share their voices by creating a personalized background that provides a glimpse into what is important to them and what they deem worthy of sharing. We are living in very tight boxes right now, and we must be imaginative within those parameters.

2. Don't Hide

Accept that the camera adds ten pounds and stop worrying about being red carpet ready! Neither of those matter. During this time of uncertainty, your students just want to see YOU ... the real you that they recognize as a source of stability and normalcy.

Periodically record messages of encouragement to your students and their families. Include a personal picture in your online lessons and templates. When students download a worksheet, let them be surprised by a picture of your dog, your lunch, or something that makes them laugh and connect with you. Encourage students to submit their assignments with the same personal touch. This lets them know you see and value them as individuals, even from the other side of a computer screen.

3. Grow Bigger Ears

Not literally, of course, but figuratively this could not be more important. This may be the most critical time in our careers to ensure we are good listeners. Be very purposeful-allow students to regularly give you feedback, not just about what they are learning, but regarding the clarity of a lesson, what they may be struggling with, and what they found helpful. Invite them to offer ideas for trying something new. Model that we are all learning and growing as a new community of online learners.

Feedback should not be optional, but rather a required expectation. Amidst the push to cover mountains of content, commit to providing ample time for students to share their ideas, ask questions, and offer you and one another feedback as they learn. And remember that feedback can be fun! Play a song to start a lesson and let students rate your musical selection. Ask the class to rate your outfit (as long as you can rate theirs!). Any type of feedback is an opportunity to connect with your students, hear their voices, and let them know you are learning from them.

4. Embrace the Unknown!

Even in the most well-organized classroom, learning is rarely neat, easy, or even linear. Rather than fearing the uncertainty that comes with shifting instruction online, seize the opportunity to be vulnerable with your students.

If you are struggling to master various online applications, ask a student for assistance. Take it a step further and invite your students to be the teacher. Let them teach you and their classmates something new that can enhance online learning. And keep in mind that the computer is not the only vehicle for learning. Challenge students to be creative: build something with random items in the house (empty toilet paper rolls!), bake using a new recipe or create a novel one, paint a picture, or grow and nurture a plant. The possibilities are endless, as long as you are willing to adventure into the unknown with your students.

5. Become a Yoda

In a live setting, teachers can re-teach, re-direct or re-evaluate a lesson based on students' reactions. Online platforms are inherently more challenging for teachers to immediately gauge feedback. You can't easily see if students are checking their cell phones instead of listening. You can't readily know if a student is looking intently at the screen engaged in the lesson, or actually playing a video game! You are going to have to channel your inner Yoda at a whole new level and "see" what students are doing.

To do this, you may need to heed one of Yoda's famous lines, "You must unlearn what you have learned." As creatures of habit, we tend to love our routines and our go-to methods. But sometimes we have to shake up-even unlearn-our familiar processes in order to succeed. Embrace online learning, work to break your dependency on past processes, and try to predict the unpredictable. And may the Force be with you!

6. Keep it Real

While we may dream of students who wake up bright and early, excited to jump on the computer for a day of online learning, we are not delusional. We are aware that many students would much rather be watching Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or even reruns of sporting events.

Keep it real and meet students where they are. Challenge students to connect what they are watching with what they are currently learning. Have students write a character profile of a person from their favorite show, compare and contrast different movies, or create math story problems related to something they recently watched. The key is to connect with students about what they are watching, encourage them to make healthy choices, and link learning to what currently captures their interest.

7. It's Okay to Smile

COVID-19 is obviously a serious reality for everyone. However, that does not mean we can't smile, laugh, and find joy during these challenging times.

Many students are experiencing mental and physical health challenges, economic hardship, and an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. In the midst of this, it is important to create online opportunities for your students to smile and laugh without feeling guilty. Life and learning must remain joyful. As a matter of fact, there may be no greater time to make learning fun. Don't be afraid to share a silly moment or a little humor with your students.

Consider having students create memes related to current events, share a joke of the day, or hold a virtual spirit week. There is no time like the present to establish a pajama day, create a dress like a hero lesson, or declare crazy hair day. All are achievable online!

8. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Mr. Rogers once shared the following: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

During this pandemic, which is quite scary to children and adults alike, teach your students to look for the helpers. During a time when it can be tempting to hoard supplies and have tunnel vision about our own well-being, we must look outward with a sense of kindness and generosity.

Challenge your students to be helpers during this difficult time-both to their classmates and others. Online learning provides a ready-made format for students to collaborate and support each other. Whether providing feedback to one other or posting a how-to video, students have opportunities to use their voices and take responsibility for supporting the learning of their peers.

Encourage students of all ages to help out around the house, join the family in preparing meals, play with younger siblings, write notes of thanks to health care workers, tend to an elderly neighbor's lawn, and share supplies with those in need. Ask students their ideas for how to help others during this global crisis.

9. Unmask the Hidden Heroes

There are countless notable heroes out there, including medical professionals, grocery clerks, cooks, and of course educators. There is also another group of heroes that we need to unmask: parents! Whether they were ready for it or not, parents are now intimately involved in the teaching process. They are classroom managers, tutors, cafeteria workers, nurses, and counselors all at once. Parents and caregivers are caring for, feeding, and supporting their children like never before.

Even as career educators, our learning curve is steep as we sit at the kitchen table with our own children, attempting to keep up with our jobs and support the online learning activities of multiple kids at different grade levels. Parents are juggling multiple facets of life in a brand new landscape, and most are not suddenly able to dedicate full time attention to homeschooling their children. And we must remember that there are different variables in every home situation.

With all of this considered, we can and should engage parents, and we should do our best to make it manageable. Provide an easy lesson for parents to support their children. Have your students take the initiative to use their voices and embed sharing with parents into class assignments.

10. Don't Forget About You!

It is not only important to establish support for your students, but to recognize the needs of adults in your schools, including you! Educators must stay socially connected while being physically distanced from one another.

Reach out to your colleagues, create opportunities to continue collaborating, and let all the adults in your school community know you care about their health and well-being. Take all possible precautions to stay healthy, make time to get some fresh air, and stay well connected to those you care about. Your health and safety are important-not only to your students, but to those who love you. The healthier you are, the more equipped you will be to navigate through this pandemic, both personally and professionally.

The world around us has changed dramatically in a short amount of time, but the commitment of educators is steadfast. In this changing landscape, you may need to rethink how to be creative, reconsider how to engage students, and be even more cognizant of the social and personal well-being of your students. But adapting to support students is not a new concept for educators; it has always been at the core of our souls. As we find ourselves navigating this brand new terrain, we commend our colleagues around the world for becoming stronger rather than giving up. We admire you for being driven not by fear, but by purpose. Please know that your students, and their parents, know you are making a difference every day. Stay proud, stay strong, and stay connected.

The Quaglia Institute, in association with the Australian Institute for Voice and Aspirations, have created a 30-minute webinar about the content above. It is available free of charge at bit.ly/SVAOnline.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 steps to incorporating student voice into remote learning - ASCD Inservice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Editor's Note: This piece is written collectively by the staff of the Quaglia Institute and the Australian Institute for Voice and Aspirations under the guidance of Dr. Russ Quaglia. Quaglia is the co-author of upcoming ASCD book The Power of Voice in Schools, which will be released in May 2020.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The ability to reach all our students during this time is crucial. Together we will reflect on tips and strategies to not only make your remote learning accessible and equitable but ensure you are meeting your learners where they are with the tools, resources and support they need.

Watch

Reflect

We invite educators to continue to learn and grow with these resources. Discover and collect new ideas and examples relevant to you after viewing the session video and related resources. Take notes and reflect while you view so you can customize the techniques for your own remote learning and classroom needs and adapt the strategies for your students. Let these guiding questions support your reflective practice after viewing the session and/or reviewing of session materials:

1. In which ways are you continuing to support your students' individual learning needs?

2. When planning your remote learning curriculum, which elements, ideas, or concepts shared can you incorporate to promote authentic engagement, accessibility, and differentiated assessment?

3. What are some strategies you have implemented, or want to implement, to support quality communication, feedback, and interaction with your students? What do you hope these strategies will foster?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Differentiation for All Learners: Tips and Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The ability to reach all our students during this time is crucial. Together we will reflect on tips and strategies to not only make your remote learning accessible and equitable but ensure you are meeting your learners where they are with the tools, resources and support they need.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Friday Institute recently partnered with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to provide professional learning opportunities for educators in support of their transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 crisis.
Through the Remote Learning for NC Educators project, over the course of six weeks, sixty-one sessions across eight focus areas engaged over 13,500 educators.
Though the Remote Learning Support webinar series is no longer synchronous, the content is still relevant and can be helpful to educators in schools and districts as they prepare for future remote learning plans. Reflective questions have been developed for each session to support professional learning network/community conversations and school and district professional development capacity building. These guiding questions can be located on each session page along with recordings and additional season materials.
The materials utilized during sessions are deeply grounded in the Instructional Principles for Remote Teaching & Learning, which are intended to acknowledge that teachers and students have a varying range of access to devices and the internet.
Recordings and resources from session can be found by clicking on the session title.

Select a Focus Area:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Friday Institute recently partnered with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to provide professional learning opportunities for educators in support of their transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 crisis. Through the Remote Learning for NC Educators project, over the course of six weeks, sixty-one sessions across eight focus areas engaged over 13,500 educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tips for bringing the unique learning opportunities of small-group discussions to online class sessions.

Small-group discussions can be difficult to manage, but this collaboration is essential for learning. And because students are likely to spend at least part of next year learning at home, it's especially important for teachers to plan opportunities for them to engage with their peers online, Rhonda Bondie of Harvard's Graduate School of Education writes in ASCD.

"Small peer-group discussions enable students to practice academic language, gain feedback on their ideas, and further understanding," Bondie notes. "Students need to engage with their peers to know that they belong and are valued members of many communities, especially their school community."

Bondie suggests that teachers use three tools in facilitating and monitoring small-group conversations to ensure that they're productive and to measure learning when students are in breakout rooms.

Note-Catcher Document

A Google Doc can be used as a central location for students to take notes during discussions in breakout rooms, and teachers can monitor and help guide discussions in real-time. "Teachers can provide feedback efficiently by inserting comments and questions into the note catcher," writes Bondie. "When the teacher sees a group having difficulty getting started, then the teacher can enter that breakout room to help."

Use the same discussion structure techniques you rely on in the classroom. Leave directions for students in the note catcher, using graphics or pictures to provide simple, clear directions. Include links to helpful resources and model discussion notes so expectations are clear. Set the standard for student responses, Bondie advises, by including "high-quality criteria in the note catcher as a means for students to monitor their responses and to add challenge to the discussion."

Pre-assignments

Teachers can help students prepare for online peer work via pre-assignments designed to help them formulate questions and collect ideas and comments in one place. Bondie suggests teaching students to use a variety of free tools such as Google Slides to create slide shows, Flipgrid to record short responses to a query, and VoiceThread to collaborate on slides with video, voice, or text comments.

Review these before class and group students "in ways that support productive discussions," Bondie writes. Then, "direct students to discuss a specific slide or look for patterns across the class and report their findings to the whole group."

Feedback Survey

Gauging student perceptions of their collaborative work can be difficult when working online. Bondie suggests reserving five to 10 minutes at the end of each session-while the work is still fresh in students' minds-for gathering feedback via a brief Google Form questionnaire. "Students have a tendency not to complete surveys after class, so incorporate the survey into lessons," she suggests, adding that teachers can switch this part up by alternating between using a questionnaire and requesting group feedback in the note catcher. "Students generate incredibly useful ideas that often solve technical problems and promote better learning for everyone," she writes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Ways to Deepen Student Engagement in Online Discussions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tips for bringing the unique learning opportunities of small-group discussions to online class sessions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our collection of educator resources includes a wide range of flexible materials. You will find resources that support teaching a complex moment in history or addressing today's breaking news.

Facing History students are 94% more likely than other students to report that their class motivated them to learn.

93% of Facing History students agreed that it is important to work for positive social change.

Current Events in the Classroom

Our current events resources help teachers lead effective and engaging discussions on today's news.
Learn More

"I can trust the materials to be easy to access, implement, and provide a way to engage students on sensitive topics."

Teaching Strategies

Our student-centered teaching strategies improve literacy skills, nurture critical thinking, and create a respectful classroom climate. You can implement these strategies with any academic content.
Learn More

Collections, Units, & Toolkits

Our collections, units, and toolkits provide you with a range of options to introduce students to themes that are relevant to their lives.
Learn More
Lessons & Mini-Lessons

Our lessons and mini-lessons include primary sources and news sources to support their head, heart, and conscience.
Learn More

- Facing History Educator Reflecting on Our Reconstruction Unit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our collection of educator resources includes a wide range of flexible materials. You will find resources that support teaching a complex moment in history or addressing today's breaking news. Facing History students are 94% more likely than other students to report that their class motivated them to learn.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Develop a classroom contract to create a community of mutual respect and inclusion.

Advisory

English & Language Arts

History

Social Studies

Most teachers are willing to tackle the difficult topics, but we need the tools.

- Gabriela Calderon-Espinal, Bay Shore, NY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Develop a classroom contract to create a community of mutual respect and inclusion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social Contracts Foster Community in the Classroom