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Example of Student Data Binder: Third Grade Hoffecker

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Example of Student Data Binder: Third Grade Hoffecker

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This is an example of my data/goal setting/achievements binder

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Dec. 7-13th: Hour of Coding

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Hour of Code - December 7-13, 2020 - Computer Science Education Week - AVID Open Access

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Owning Digital Lives

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Tell us what you think!

We hope you're finding the AVID Open Access ™ resources helpful. Let us know what topics and feature updates would be beneficial to you. Your input informs the articles we write and resources we create. We appreciate you and everything you do!

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Help Students Take Ownership of Their Digital Lives - AVID Open Access

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We hope you're finding the AVID Open Access ™ resources helpful. Let us know what topics and feature updates would be beneficial to you. Your input informs the articles we write and resources we create. We appreciate you and everything you do!

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Relational Capacity

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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Technology is becoming a prominent part of our personal, academic, and professional lives. This can be good, bad, or ugly depending on how we use it. As teachers, we want to appropriately prepare students for their careers and future. A big part of our students' lives-and probably our own, too-is their relationship with technology and the digital footprint they are leaving behind and how that footprint will impact their life currently and in the future. One way to think of a digital footprint is the data that accumulates about you online or that you share online.

Often in education, we only talk about the bad and ugly technology practices that students are using, and we are constantly using the word "no" or "don't" with them. If we continue to promote a culture of "no" and "don't," we will not help students develop the good online practices that they will need to thrive in our society. They will not understand or have the opportunity to experience the good that can come from having a positive online presence.

The Good

We know that the choices our students make today will shape their future and could possibly have long-lasting effects-positively or negatively-on their lives. That is why it is so important for us, as educators, to provide many opportunities for students to create positive digital footprints and empower them to continue to make good choices when they are on their own. Just like in this article, we do want to acknowledge and ensure that students are aware of the bad and ugly things that can happen as a result of negative digital footprints. However, our main focus should be on the good and how to amplify their amazing, positive selves. Below are a few strategies that you can use to help students engage in understanding and creating positive digital footprints:

Share examples with students of individuals who have created a positive online image and positive digital footprints.

Provide students with opportunities to create and post things that they are proud of to help promote themselves positively online. Consider the options below as possible activities for students.

Encourage students to create and post digital portfolios of their work.

Guide students through creating and sharing their digital eBinder.
The AVID eBinders site offers an eBinder template for you and your students to download as a starting point.

Create and post educational and positive YouTube videos, Instructables, podcasts, etc.

Share and allow students opportunities to practice the following five questions they should ask themselves before posting anything online:

1. Is what I am posting true?

2. Is what I am posting helpful?

3. Is what I am posting inspiring?

4. Is what I am posting necessary? Will it make the world better?

5. Is what I am posting kind?

For younger (and even older) students, you can develop understanding and have positive conversations around digital footprints using picture books. Below are some great picture books to help students develop their understanding around digital citizenship and what a digital footprint is:

The Technology Tail: A Digital Footprint Story written by Julia Cook and illustrated by Anita DuFalla

Building a Digital Footprint written by Adrienne Matteson and illustrated by Rachael McLean

Chicken Clicking written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Tony Ross

Nerdy Birdy Tweets written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Matt Davies

Communicate and collaborate with parents/guardians. It is important to create opportunities to involve them in the discussion of digital citizenship and specifically their child's digital footprint. Work collaboratively to develop strategies around technology use that can be used at home and at school and create a common language. Make sure to focus on the positive aspects of their child's digital life as well as the possible negative ones. Consider raising the topic with parents/guardians during a community forum or even during conferences. Many districts have shown the movies Screenagers or Screenagers Next Chapter, with guided discussions following the showing. These movies tend to focus on the "bad" and the "ugly" parts of digital footprints, so make sure to provide a balanced perspective with additional positive examples. Make sure that both parents/guardians and students understand how colleges and workplaces investigate the digital footprint of their potential students and/or employees in order to make decisions around admission and hiring. In many cases, having no online presence at all has the same outcome as having a negative online presence. It is very important that you, parents/guardians, and your students are all working together to help students create a positive online presence.

The Bad

It is inevitable that students are going to make mistakes, and this is also true when students are using technology. When students do make a mistake, saying something like, "That is so terrible," does not help students learn and grow. We need to empower them to be able to clean up their mistakes if, and more likely when, they are made. When we talk about a student's digital footprint as something scary and horrible, that doesn't help them learn how to use technology to empower themselves or how to deal with it when they make a mistake. We need to prepare students for as many situations as possible, so when they are on their own, they cannot only handle it, but thrive.

One way to help our students learn how to "clean up" their digital footprint is to teach them how to self-evaluate their own technology use, especially outside of school. Before having students look at their own, as a class you might choose a famous person and look through that person's Twitter tweets, Instagram posts, etc. As a group, discuss the impression of the person based on what they have posted. What kind of image is the person portraying online? What does their digital footprint say about them? If their digital footprint is saying something negative, how might they change it? After trying it as a group, students can work as teams and look at another famous person and answer the same questions. Finally, have students independently look at their own digital footprint. Even if they are not posting updates themselves, it is very likely that there are still things posted about them.

It is important to emphasize with students how to create a positive digital footprint. If you put value and importance on a student's digital footprint, then they will put value on it. It will become something that matters. As you begin to help students create and practice a positive digital footprint, start small. Have students focus on one or two specific skills at a time. Give students time to look at each other's digital footprint and discuss the impression that it gives. Continually ask students if they are representing themselves in a positive way. Continually ask them, "How might the way you are being represented impact your future?"

The Ugly

While we need to focus on helping students create and practice a positive digital footprint, there are instances where a student's online posts, or posts online about them, can lead to negative consequences. In conversations about digital citizenship, it is critical to make students aware of the ugly things that can happen and how to prevent them, as well. We must teach students, in collaboration with their parents/guardians, the following:

Why it is important to not post private information online

How to use privacy settings and how these settings impact the information they are sharing

How to check privacy policies to be aware of how their personal information may be shared

What to do if someone steals their identity

What to do if they are being cyberbullied

What the laws are around digital citizenship

You aren't going to be able to teach all of these concepts at once. Some of these concepts are more appropriate for certain ages than they are for others. That said, it is important to teach digital citizenship at all grade levels and to provide opportunities for students to make mistakes under the watchful guidance of their teacher, rather than waiting until they are on their own, where the consequences may be much worse and more permanent.

There are many resources available to support you and the parents/guardians of your students. Common Sense Education has curriculum and lessons available for free. In addition, they have resources developed specifically for parents/guardians, as well. The following are several of the family tip sheets from Common Sense Education that focus on Digital Footprint and Identity, as well as Privacy and Security:

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Address Digital Footprints: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - AVID Open Access

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Technology is becoming a prominent part of our personal, academic, and professional lives. This can be good, bad, or ugly depending on how we use it. As teachers, we want to appropriately prepare students for their careers and future.

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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Many students are digital natives, which means they were born into a world that embraces digital technology, and they engage in the use of many digital technologies on a daily basis. Our current PreK-12 students have only known a world where everyone communicates using mobile phones and connects with friends and family via social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. The vast majority of the population has access to the internet at all times from a device in their pocket. What does this mean for our students, the world they engage in, and their future relationship with technology?

Our students are digital natives, but that does not make them naturally good digital citizens. Digital citizenship is something that needs to be learned. That said, the majority of today's educators are digital immigrants. This means that many teachers were not born into a world that embraced and engaged in digital technology on a daily basis, but they have immigrated into this world over time. The depth to which they have immigrated varies widely. Whether a student or teacher is a digital native or immigrant, everyone has room to learn more and become better digital citizens.

To compound the situation, technology is changing and will continue to at a very rapid pace. We need to prepare ourselves and our students for these changes by helping them develop skills to thrive in college, careers, and life. We also know that digital citizenship is not a vaccine; it is not something you do once and then never have to worry about or practice again. Digital citizenship needs to be modeled, taught, integrated into content, and practiced over and over again.

To become good at something, it takes time and practice, and it also involves making mistakes along the way. We need to embrace a growth mindset around digital citizenship for ourselves and our students and provide a safe environment to engage in and practice being good digital citizens.

Where to Begin?

We should begin with identifying what digital citizenship is. Sounds easy, right? However, there's not a single definition or understanding that is being used or adopted universally. Each district and school may have their own working version of digital citizenship. Most definitions are very similar, but it's very important that you know and understand the definition that is provided by your school and district.

According to the ISTE Standards for Students, students who are digital citizens should "recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical." Common Sense Education defines digital citizenship as a way of thinking, being, and acting online: Thinking critically, being safe, and acting responsibly.

Many districts have policies in place that address digital citizenship. One common practice is to have a responsible use policy (RUP). In fact, a number of districts have shifted away from the term acceptable usage policy (AUP) and moved to RUP. This transition highlights the idea that a student should be treated as a person who is responsible for their own ethical and appropriate behavior, rather than just provided a list of things they shouldn't do online. These policies have helped to move away from a culture of compliance and move toward one that empowers students and better prepares them to make responsible choices as they continue on their college and career path. RUPs help set the stage for supporting teachers and students to engage in positive and empowering digital experiences. If your district has such a policy, you should make sure to read it, understand it, and share it with your students and families.

Once you know how digital citizenship is defined in your district, it is important to make sure that your students and families also understand what digital citizenship is and what it means to be a good digital citizen. In the coming weeks, we will share additional information, strategies, and tips to build digital citizenship awareness and practices for you, your students, and your broader online communities.

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Develop Digital Citizenship Skills During Remote Learning - AVID Open Access

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Many students are digital natives, which means they were born into a world that embraces digital technology, and they engage in the use of many digital technologies on a daily basis. Our current PreK-12 students have only known a world where everyone communicates using mobile phones and connects with friends and family via social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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According to the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), academic integrity is "a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage." On their site, ICAI (2020) provides statistics from their own research and the research of Dr. Donald McCabe, who found "that 64 percent of [high school] students admitted to cheating on a test, 58 percent admitted to plagiarism and 95 percent said they participated in some form of cheating, whether it was on a test, plagiarism or copying homework."

Students cheat for a variety of reasons, including when they feel peer pressure; when they feel the sense that "everyone is doing it"; when they feel anxious about failing; when they feel they can't manage social, personal, and academic demands; and when they don't know or don't understand academic integrity expectations.

During remote learning, students may experience more of these pressures, and our ability to uphold academic integrity involves more challenges (e.g., students taking exams unsupervised at home). While we could require students to have their cameras on via videoconference during the exam or use filtering programs, like GoGuardian, to restrict students to their LMS during the exam, students will find ways around these restrictions, like searching on their phones. It will be more effective to use tests/quizzes for low-stakes formative feedback and focus more on higher-order thinking activities and projects that require students to create original work as evidence of learning where it is harder to cheat.

To help students practice academic integrity, we also need to create a safe and supportive learning environment, whether face-to-face and/or remotely, that upholds high academic expectations and fosters students' growth mindset. We can mitigate some of the pressures that result in cheating by helping students to focus more on the learning than on the grading and by providing resources and instruction on how our students can establish a study space and routines and manage their time.

We also need to be intentional about teaching our students how to practice academic integrity, starting as early as kindergarten. This flyer summarizes ICAI's six foundational values for academic integrity and can be posted or shared with your students. Included below are some suggestions for how to teach these values so that students can successfully practice academic integrity.

Define academic integrity. As a class, develop a working definition of academic integrity and each of the related values to display on a digital wall, using a tool like Padlet (Tips), and/or on the physical wall in your classroom.

Create Anchor Charts, T-Charts, or Y-Charts with your students to help clarify what academic integrity and related values look, sound, and feel like. Display the charts in your digital and/or physical classroom space.

Utilize age-appropriate examples, quotes, and picture books to discuss the values related to academic integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.

Generate and post a list of examples and non-examples of academic integrity using online tools, such as Flipgrid (Tips), Padlet (Tips), or the learning management system (LMS) discussions boards for your class.

Discuss common reasons for cheating and have students reflect on how they can face these challenges in order to maintain their integrity:

Peer pressure and a sense that "everyone is doing it"

Anxiety about failing

Managing social, personal, and academic demands

Not knowing or understanding academic integrity expectations

Provide students with opportunities to practice and reflect upon their academic integrity. For example, have students use plagiarism checkers to self-check their work and make sure that they are properly paraphrasing and citing sources. This enables them to identify and learn to refine their practices that maintain academic integrity.

Assign collaborative work where each student is individually accountable to the group. Assign roles to ensure that all students have a voice and everyone contributes to group work (see this Role Card Template). Provide students with individual and group rubrics for them to reflect upon their personal contributions and the group's overall effectiveness.

Model academic integrity and call out how you are personally practicing academic integrity (e.g., citing sources as captions under pictures used in presentations).

Reinforce academic integrity expectations. Consistently respond as needed to reinforce academic integrity expectations. While doing so, maintain the student's dignity, use teachable moments, and provide appropriate consequences consistently and equitably.

Teaching and reinforcing academic integrity is not about setting students up for "gotcha" moments. Rather, it is an opportunity to help students develop positive values and practice academic integrity that will benefit and empower them as learners and citizens.

Extend Your Learning

References

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Maintain Academic Integrity - AVID Open Access

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According to the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), academic integrity is "a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage."

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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Differentiate the Learning Environment: When it comes to differentiation in the physical classroom, teachers often reference David Thornburg's three archetypal learning spaces: the cave, the campfire, and the watering hole. This analogy can help you incorporate differentiation into your virtual-learning space, too. Over time, the analogy has been extended to support additional learning needs.

Cave: Here, students can spend time alone with their thoughts.

Face-to-face: This is often the beanbag chair in the corner of the classroom.

Remote: In virtual learning, structure the cave as independent, asynchronous assignment time.

Campfire: Here, students share ideas in a small-group format, led by an expert.

Face-to-face: Often, teachers incorporate a Jigsaw to bring the campfire to life. The Jigsaw strategy helps students learn to collaborate as group members and share responsibility for each other's learning by using critical thinking and social skills to complete an assignment.

Remote: This can still be a Jigsaw, but incorporate breakout rooms and provide students with the guidelines to support their collaboration.

Watering Hole: This is the place for social learning, which is central to education. Without time spent talking and discussing learning with others, students aren't challenged to reach the next level in their understanding.

Face-to-face: In the classroom, this may look like a Table Talk, where side conversations can inspire a new idea or way of thinking.

Remote: Use public and private chats in Google Meet or your learning management system (LMS) for formal exchange. Consider providing a virtual parking lot as an informal space for students to post ideas.

Mountain Top: This is the place where one person or a small group communicates to the rest of the world, showing what they can do with what has been learned.

Face-to-face: This often looks like a presentation done at the front of the classroom.

Remote: In the virtual world, the mountain top is so much bigger. Consider ePortfolios, blogs, videos, websites-the list goes on. The virtual classroom allows you to extend your students' celebration of their learning beyond the physical walls and into a global community.

Sand Box: This is a place to play, experiment, and explore without worrying about failure.

Face-to-face: This often looks like makerspaces-areas where students are invited to tinker, make, and invent.

Remote: Encourage students to bring their hobbies and passions to their learning. Apps like Scratch (Tips) and ScratchJr allow students to use code to explore ideas and problem solve in judgment-free spaces.

Differentiate Content: When possible, differentiate through choice and interest. Choice boards help streamline your teacher workload and provide choices for students to personalize their learning process.

Digital Vending Machine: Make a copy of this template and personalize it for your classroom by developing learning experiences that resonate with your students. Students click the image to access a learning activity.

Differentiate Process: Process is how students make sense of the content. They need time to reflect on their learning before transitioning to the next activity or lesson.

Reflection: Include one or two processing experiences for every 30 minutes of instruction to help prevent the feeling of content saturation. Reflection strategies can take the form of a Think-Pair-Share, Table Talk, or Quick Write.

Differentiate Product: Product differentiation is the evidence of student learning. Technology provides students with endless options to share their learning artifact.

Provide Guidelines for Product Options: When product options are clearly aligned to learning targets, student voice and choice flourish, while ensuring that core content is addressed.

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#10 - Create Differentiation for Students in Remote Learning - AVID Open Access

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Differentiate the Learning Environment: When it comes to differentiation in the physical classroom, teachers often reference David Thornburg's three archetypal learning spaces: the cave, the campfire, and the watering hole. This analogy can help you incorporate differentiation into your virtual-learning space, too. Over time, the analogy has been extended to support additional learning needs.

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Equity Awareness

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Growth Mindset

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10 Strategies to Embrace Differences and Establish Community

1. Foster a growth mindset in yourself and your students.

Use a growth mindset to help you and your students develop and grow new understanding around equity, differences, and how to work together.

2. Build relational capacity and classroom culture through shared dialogue and collaborative experiences.

Students will be better able to collaborate and have deeper and more meaningful discussions if they have engaged in a shared experience and developed positive relationships with one another.

3. Listen to your students.

Hold class meetings and have students practice speaking and listening to each other. Teach students how to engage in different collaboration and communication protocols. Provide students with sentence stems. Students who know how to ask and respond to meaningful and deeper-level-thinking questions will learn more and be more engaged.

4. Gather student input and voice to create routines and traditions that support a culture of learning.

If you use your students' interests to create and deliver lessons, students will be more engaged and feel like their interests and opinions matter.

Use Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, or SurveyMonkey to create a survey and gather written input and feedback from students. Some example questions are:

What is something you are proud of?

What are you interested in?

What kinds of music do you like?

What was one of your favorite lessons in school? Why?

If you could add a rule to our classroom, what would it be?

How do you like to take notes? (This could be a multiple-choice question.)

How do you like to learn? (This could ask students to check all that apply and offer answer choices like: watching video, searching on the internet, reading, listening to a lecture, working with others, working alone, and other: _____.)

Use Flipgrid (Tips) to gather video input and feedback from students.

Have students create a digital All About Me T-shirt to share with you and others. Here is an All About Me T-Shirt Template that you can use with your students.

5. Use what you know about your students in your teaching.

Create opportunities to get to know your students, their likes, and their interests, and then use that information to support learning. Using what you know about your students will help them feel valued and create a stronger classroom community.

Use the information you gathered from your student input survey, Flipgrid video, and/or their digital T-shirt and incorporate their likes and interests into your teaching. For example, use the information you gathered in a word problem, scenario, or even questions. Play the music that they like when having them rotate stations or while waiting for everyone to gather in an online space during remote learning. In your self-paced remote-learning platform, include content-relevant and appropriate video clips that you know your students will enjoy.

Be honest with students about how you are trying to incorporate their likes and interests in what you are teaching, and then elicit feedback and suggestions from students to see if you have met your goal and/or how you can improve.

6. Design and build lessons, activities, and assignments based on students' strengths and identities.

Students will be more engaged and learn more when they are able to feel successful and empowered through their strengths.

For strategies to support you in this design process, visit our collections below:

7. Help students develop a positive self-identity and mindset.

This is especially important for students who are working remotely and may not have a lot of contact with others. When students feel good about themselves and the work they are doing, they will learn more and be happier. Check out the following collections for strategies to cultivate relational capacity and a positive classroom community in your virtual-teaching environment:

8. Provide supports and encouragement for students to take ownership of their own learning.

Students care more, are more engaged, and learn more when they feel ownership over what they are learning. Explore our collections below for strategies to support you.

9. Try to use bias-free language in your classroom.

Using bias-free language will help establish and develop a more inclusive and safe classroom environment.

10. Create more opportunities for all students to be successful.

If every student has a pathway to success, students will learn more and have a more positive attitude toward your class and school.

Provide many low-stakes opportunities for students in their learning.

Use student voice to drive what is happening.

Make sure to have visuals, charts, and lots of models for what being successful looks like.

Consider applying the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) process when planning. You can learn more about UDL and accessibility in our collection, Design With Accessibility in Mind.

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Embrace Differences and Establish Community - AVID Open Access

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Use a growth mindset to help you and your students develop and grow new understanding around equity, differences, and how to work together. Students will be better able to collaborate and have deeper and more meaningful discussions if they have engaged in a shared experience and developed positive relationships with one another.

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SEL to Support Community

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Develop strategies to establish relationships and build a positive classroom community for your students.

Relationships are the foundation for nearly everything that happens in education. Without them, we will likely see very little learning and growth. As we know, relationships lead to trust. Trust leads to risk-taking and growth mindset, and this willingness to stretch leads to learning and growth. For these reasons and more, it's essential that we begin establishing relationships and building a positive, trusting classroom community as early in the school year as possible. Whenever you can, include yourself in the activities, so you become a trusted member of the community, as well.

Most teachers are comfortable establishing relationships and community in a face-to-face environment. After all, this is where they often have the most experience. However, when school takes place in an online or hybrid environment, you may need to rethink some of your strategies. If possible, develop strategies and activities that can be modified and adapted to work in a variety of learning environments, not just face-to-face. Think about how you might make a traditional in-class activity work in a virtual or hybrid classroom, as well. In some cases, this might not be possible, and you may need to rethink your approach altogether. That's okay, but whatever approach you take, design with change in mind and be flexible.

"Design with change in mind."

To help you get started, we have compiled some strategies, activities, and templates for you to try in your classroom. Think about how these might work in your back-to-school setting.

Before the School Year Begins

You don't have to wait until the first day of school to begin connecting with your students. In fact, reaching out to them before the first day can set everyone up for success and create a positive tone when you get together for the first time. This early communication can help answer burning questions, reduce anxiety, and create a familiarity with what is ahead for the new school year. Whatever you do to reach out to students before the school year begins, be sure to be positive, encouraging, and inviting. This will make students excited to be a part of your classroom community, and it will go a long way toward meeting their social and emotional learning needs.

Ideas and Strategies:

Send a welcome letter to parents/guardians and students.

Send out a greeting using your school's digital messaging system.

Send a personal email to each family.

Record a video introducing yourself and describing your classroom.

Record a virtual tour of your classroom to send to students.

Record yourself reading a story and send it to families of younger students.

If it's set up and available, invite students and families to your virtual classroom space.

Send out a link to a Flipgrid or Padlet and encourage students to introduce themselves.

During the First Weeks of School

The first days and weeks of school might be the most important days of the entire school year. It is during this time that students need social and emotional learning support as they experience the anxiety of something new. This is your opportunity to set a positive tone for everything that is to come. You can help students feel safe and welcomed, so they can be excited to learn. Creating a positive, supportive classroom will open the door for risk-taking and a growth mindset throughout the year. These are both essential to helping students reach their personal potential as well as feel socially and emotionally secure.

When planning your first two weeks of school, consider including a community-building activity as part of each day. These might be longer and more involved during the first few days of school and then reinforced with more compacted activities as you get further into the school year. These first activities will often be specifically designed to build community, and it's helpful to call this out when you are doing them. Explain to students that community is important to you, you care about them, and you want them to feel comfortable and included in your classroom.

After the more focused community-building activities, it can also be helpful to weave smaller mixers into your academic learning activities. For instance, if students are asked to work in groups, build in a mixer or introduction activity to start the group process of fostering a team atmosphere. This process can also work when students are paired up with a work partner. Another efficient approach is to weave personal topics into the academic content. If students present a speech, have them share a personal experience. If they are practicing their writing, have them write about something that helps you get to know them better. If they are counting, have them count something that matters to them. This approach allows you to get to know students while they are practicing their academic skills.

As you plan your community-building activities, consider how you can facilitate them in a variety of classroom formats: face-to-face, virtual, or hybrid. You'll probably even need to consider the different ways that face-to-face instruction might look, as well. Are your students allowed to move around the room, or do they need to remain socially distanced? If social distancing is required, can you use collaborative documents and tools to connect students? Even with social distancing, are there ways to have your students share verbally? These connections and opportunities to have a voice are key to creating a classroom community, but they may require some creativity on your part to make them fit your specific environment.

Ideas and Strategies:

Encourage Student Ownership and Voice

Give students a voice in creating classroom norms.

Ask students what is important to them.

Allow students to decorate the classroom.

Rotate classroom duties and tasks, so everyone is involved.

Ask for student feedback about a class activity or assignment.

Personal Introductions

Share verbal introductions to the whole class, in small groups, or with partners.

Interview and introduce a partner.

Record and review introductions virtually.

Schedule individual Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams meetings with each student.

Learning Teams

Create smaller learning communities within your classroom.

Teams can create names, logos, and cheers to establish a team identity.

Create a team T-shirt (Template).

Start every team activity with a quick personal share-out.

Make sure that each team member has a group role.

Solve a puzzle or complete a task (such as a Flippity Scavenger Hunt) as a group.

Use live breakout rooms in a synchronous remote-learning setting.

Full-Class Mixers

Games: Survey students and create a Quizlet Live or Kahoot! activity for them to identify and get to know each other in a game format.

BINGO: Play "Community Building BINGO" by getting classmates to sign off on a square of your BINGO board. If you are doing this virtually, you might need to post the board and have students "sign" (type) their names on a common board, allowing multiple names on each square. Encourage students to try for a blackout!

Would You Rather...?: Have students share out quick responses to "Would you rather...?" statements.

"My Favorite..." Speeches: These are simple, quick share-outs that allow students to learn about each other.

The Name Game: This lets students learn each other's names by going around the circle repeating each student's name and something they shared to a quick prompt.

Musical Shares: Randomize partner groups by mixing students until the music stops, and then they share their response. In a virtual environment, you could use a virtual partner generator, like the Flippity Name Picker.

Two Truths and a Stretch: Have each student submit two truths and a stretch to you with their name. You can periodically pull up one student's list and ask the class to try and identify which item is the stretch. You might consider using a polling tool, like Socrative or Poll Everywhere, so everyone gets to be part of the activity.

Use Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams to facilitate synchronous meetings during remote learning.

Throughout the School Year

While the beginning of the school year is essential for establishing a positive classroom community, it must be nurtured and reinforced throughout the year. This will help to protect the foundations of those relationships, even when students face academic and personal struggles. Consider how you can connect to holidays or events that are happening in your school. This can be as simple as having students share out their favorite holiday tradition or creating a decoration to be displayed in the classroom. This is also a great opportunity to continue creating a culturally relevant classroom by recognizing the different perspectives and cultures of your students.

In addition to sharing, allowing students to personalize your classroom learning space can be powerful. It not only helps students feel comfortable in the space, but it is a great equity strategy that allows each student's voice and identity to be recognized and heard. This also reinforces a culturally responsive and relevant classroom.

Ideas and Strategies:

Post student work.

Facilitate brief student share-outs.

Recognize a different student each week.

Create a class publication to showcase work from each student.

Create an identity wall and allow each student to add to it.

Collaboratively decorate the classroom.

Make classroom decisions together, giving students voice in the process.

Have students plan a class celebration.

At the End of the School Year

When the end of the school year is nearing, community is still important. You will want to validate the positive feelings and experiences that students have shared in your classroom. This positive ending to the school year can be a catalyst and catapult for future learning.

Ideas and Strategies:

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Classroom Community During Remote Teaching - AVID Open Access

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Develop strategies to establish relationships and build a positive classroom community for your students. Relationships are the foundation for nearly everything that happens in education. Without them, we will likely see very little learning and growth. As we know, relationships lead to trust.

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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Of all the blended-learning models, whole-group rotation might be the easiest place to start. In fact, many teachers have probably used some version of whole-group rotation without even knowing it.

What Is Whole-Group Rotation?

In whole-group rotation, the entire class rotates at the same time between learning activities that are face-to-face and online. For instance, students might listen to a mini-lesson lecture and then work on a task in small groups. This is the face-to-face component. Then, upon the teacher's direction, the entire class simultaneously takes out their digital devices and logs in to an eLearning website to complete a self-paced learning module online.

During the face-to-face portion, the teacher is often directly facilitating the learning activities. When the class moves to online learning, the teacher will typically provide students with directions about what to accomplish online, and then circulate around the classroom offering individual help while students work through their online tasks.

Whole-group rotation can happen within a single class period or be divided over several days. Some teachers may dedicate a specific day of the week to online learning. This approach is often dictated by limited access to computers. For instance, if the computer lab is only available to you on Fridays, you may have no choice but to make Friday your online-learning day. However, even when the lab day does not fit ideally into your lesson or unit, the online work must still be intentionally connected to the offline learning. If the two learning experiences are not connected, it is not blended learning.

Other times, teachers will integrate the online-learning components when they naturally reinforce and extend the learning that is being done in the face-to-face portion of the lesson. In this model, the content and learning needs, rather than lab availability, dictate when students transition between learning modes. This is a much more powerful approach to blended learning since the blending is driven by the learning and not by a calendar. When classrooms have access to one-to-one technology (with every student having a device), this is the preferred, and most common, approach. Not only does it allow great flexibility, it also allows a single class period to be easily divided into learning activities that are face-to-face and online.

A Flexible Strategy for Your Face-to-Face, Remote, or Hybrid Classroom

Whole-group rotation is versatile enough to be effective regardless of how your school year begins. As long as your students have access to computers, you can use this strategy. It works in face-to-face schools, during remote learning, and also in a hybrid model.

Face-to-Face Classroom

Computer Lab Model

This model applies to classrooms who are attending school full-time, face-to-face in the physical building. In some schools, this would mean that the teacher would sign out a computer lab for a class period (or part of a class). Students would all physically move to the lab together to work on an online assignment or learning module. In fact, whole-group rotation is often called "lab rotation." An example might be a science class learning about chemical reactions in their normal classroom and then moving to the computer lab to conduct virtual experiments on a simulation website. While a teacher can have students travel to a computer lab partway through a class period, this is generally not as efficient, since much time is lost in the transition.

This image illustrates a whole-class rotation schedule, with a computer lab being available one day per week.

One-to-One Classroom Model

If students are each provided with their own computing device (1:1), they would probably not leave the classroom when transitioning to online work. They would simply take out their devices and log in at the appropriate time. This model is more ideal since the teachers don't need to rely on computer lab availability. Having a device available at any time allows for a more seamless transition between learning modes and improves the chances that learning stays connected and targeted. For instance, an English class might be learning about a new author. The teacher could introduce some basic details to the class in person and then have students take out their computers to do some quick online research of their own. This could be followed up by another face-to-face activity like whole group or small group sharing.

This image illustrates different ways that a week of 60-minute classes could be divided up between online and offline learning in a one-to-one classroom.

Remote-Learning Classroom

If your school is implementing full-time remote learning, whole-group rotation will look different than it does in a face-to-face schedule. In a remote scenario, online learning will likely be the primary mode of learning rather than the secondary one. Students will log in to a class website or learning management system (LMS) regularly to get their lesson and work for the day.

Online and Offline Model

To make this experience blended, the teacher would also need to assign learning activities that do not require using a computer. Perhaps, the student is tasked with conducting a physics experiment with objects around the house, or maybe a history teacher assigns the class to interview a parent or guardian about a historical event they lived through. Like with the previous examples, the online and offline learning targets must be integrated, or it is not truly blended learning. One popular strategy is to follow up on an offline learning activity with an online assignment that requires the creation of something digital that presents or teaches the newly learned content. While this is not exactly like the face-to-face whole-group rotation, it still maintains most of the key elements.

All Online Model

Another variation of whole-group rotation in a remote-learning setting would be to transition between a live video classroom and an independent online-learning experience. While the live video class is still technically online, it functions more like a face-to-face experience, where the teacher can guide students more directly through the learning activities. Then, when it is time to transition to more independent online work, the students would all transition to the new activity at the same time.

Hybrid Schedule Classroom

In a hybrid class schedule, students attend school face-to-face some days and remotely on other days. In this scenario, whole-group rotation works perfectly. Teachers take advantage of the face-to-face time to facilitate mostly offline learning. This might include small-group discussions, teacher conferences, class debates, experiments, and other activities that either require collaboration and group work or face-to-face facilitation. While instruction may be tech-rich, learning is interactive and significantly offline.

On the remote learning days, the teacher would digitally distribute learning activities for students to complete at home. This might be an eLearning website to which the school subscribes. It could be a content rich website with videos and other multimedia that students must explore, or it could be a research prompt requiring students to find information online. A popular option is for teachers to post content they have created such as a screencast or virtual manipulative. Many learning management systems (LMS) allow teachers to embed multimedia such as videos or Quizlet activities directly onto a page on the LMS.

You Decide What Is Online or Offline

Some activities will work better online and some better offline. As the teacher, you decide which is the best choice for your situation. In some cases, there are similar activities available in each format. These similarities will allow you many options in how you sequence them in your lesson. The chart below shows some similar types of activities for both online and offline learning.

Voice and Choice Is Critical

However you divide the learning activities, it's always important to give students some voice and choice in the process. Online activities are especially rich with opportunities for students to research, discover, and create. Leverage these opportunities to make learning a rich, student-centered experience.

Choice is especially critical during remote learning, where it is easier for students to disengage and disappear. Listening to a lecture and filling out a worksheet is not very exciting for most students. In fact, learning needs to be even more interesting and engaging when it is done remotely rather than face-to-face. Because you are not there to give your daily pep talks and motivational speeches, the learning experiences themselves need to be motivating. One key to this is building in student voice and choice. The more ownership that students have in their learning, the more likely they will stay engaged and keep coming back to learn more. Be sure to consider this as you design your whole-group rotations.

Planning Guide

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Learn More About Whole-Group Rotation in Blended Learning for Your Remote Classroom - AVID Open Access

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Of all the blended-learning models, whole-group rotation might be the easiest place to start. In fact, many teachers have probably used some version of whole-group rotation without even knowing it. In whole-group rotation, the entire class rotates at the same time between learning activities that are face-to-face and online.

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Google Forms - create and analyze surveys, for free.

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Digital Organization

For students to be successful in their digital-learning environment, they need to be able to collect their work, reflect on their learning process, and then recollect their learning for later application. AVID eBinders are a great digital tool for getting your students started on their journey to process their learning.

AVID eBinder Templates

Strategies that students can use to manage their many digital materials are included below. These strategies are platform and device agnostic. They are written with the older student as the intended audience. To teach younger students these skills, you can reference these strategies and resources to design age-appropriate lessons and materials. In fact, these digital organization strategies and tools are useful to educators as we manage and share our many digital resources and materials.

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For students to be successful in their digital-learning environment, they need to be able to collect their work, reflect on their learning process, and then recollect their learning for later application. AVID eBinders are a great digital tool for getting your students started on their journey to process their learning.

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Digital Study Skills

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Tell us what you think!

We hope you're finding the AVID Open Access ™ resources helpful. Let us know what topics and feature updates would be beneficial to you. Your input informs the articles we write and resources we create. We appreciate you and everything you do!

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Empower Students with Digital Study Skills - AVID Open Access

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We hope you're finding the AVID Open Access ™ resources helpful. Let us know what topics and feature updates would be beneficial to you. Your input informs the articles we write and resources we create. We appreciate you and everything you do!

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Fostering Substantive Online Discussion

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During hybrid and remote learning, we can leverage the online discussion format to achieve these same outcomes and benefits. Using online discussions gives our students another opportunity to connect with their peers, practice communication skills in the form of academic writing, and further develop their critical thinking skills and content knowledge. This online format also provides students with an authentic opportunity to apply netiquette and their digital citizenship skills.

A good rule for discussion is to use hard facts and a soft voice.

- Dorothy Sarnoff

Many learning management systems include an online discussion feature that you can use with your students. If you don't have access to a learning management system, you can still take advantage of other popular tools, such as Parlay for a comprehensive discussion platform; Kialo for debate discussions; NowComment for discussing text; YoTeach for chat room discussions; and Vialogues for discussing videos.

Many of us have experienced the challenge of students not engaging substantively in discussions, whether they are face-to-face or online. To provide the scaffolding needed for our students to be successful, we can use Gilly Salmon's Five-Stage Model. In this scaffolded approach, we must first teach our students the technology and our expectations for participating in the online discussions, while also ensuring that our students feel welcomed and encouraged to participate. From there, they will start building community by posting and responding to each other. As they gain confidence, they will go beyond exchanging information to building upon ideas, demonstrating more agency in the dialogue, and eventually applying their learning to their own context.

To help build a strong foundation for this scaffolded process, we need to teach students our expectations and how to participate substantively during online discussion. Five tips are included below for participating in an online discussion that you can share with your students to set them up for success. The tips are written with the older student as the intended audience, so you may share them directly with your students. If you have younger students, you can reference these tips as you design age-appropriate lessons and materials.

To help teach and reinforce these concepts, you may share these discussion tip posters with your students: Power Up Your Posts and Ramp Up Your Responses. You are welcome to make a copy and customize the posters as needed to best support your learners.

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Teach students how to engage in substantive and respectful online discussions. - AVID Open Access

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During hybrid and remote learning, we can leverage the online discussion format to achieve these same outcomes and benefits. Using online discussions gives our students another opportunity to connect with their peers, practice communication skills in the form of academic writing, and further develop their critical thinking skills and content knowledge.

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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Establish a Feedback System for Online Learning - AVID Open Access

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Keep your key stakeholders informed throughout the remote-learning process with these guiding principles, practical strategies, and technology tools.

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(Shared Nov. 12)

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Reimagine Summative Assessments in an Online Classroom - AVID Open Access

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Design summative assessments for your virtual classroom that will motivate and engage students to demonstrate their learning.

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Save the Dates

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Welcome to an AVID Showcase at Santiago High School!

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Add your name and join the conversation.

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Welcome to an AVID Showcase at Santiago High School! No need to login! Simply participate as a guest. Add your name and join the conversation. Use emoji in your messages. Right click and select Emoji or use the keyboard shortcuts: Win + Period (PC) or Control + Command + Space (Mac) Having trouble with the stream?

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In December, the whole AVID Community came together for AVIDCon 2020. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate a very challenging year and to look forward to a brighter future. Watch the full experience here, or scroll down to watch the individual segments.

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AVID DigitalXP / AVIDCon Replay - Together We Can

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In December, the whole AVID Community came together for AVIDCon 2020. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate a very challenging year and to look forward to a brighter future. Watch the full experience here, or scroll down to watch the individual segments.

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Site and District Leaders - Arrange flexible modules of engaging professional learning for your entire school or district! You may be accustomed to convening your site leaders and educators for two days of professional learning. AVID ElevateXP offers four flexible half-day modules (or two full days if you prefer). Modules may be scheduled consecutively, days apart, or weeks apart.

Fall sessions are already scheduled. Add your team if space is available or choose new dates-Groups of 35 or more may schedule PL dates that suit their needs.

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Online Teaching Resources and Training - AVID ElevateXP™

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Site and District Leaders - Arrange flexible modules of engaging professional learning for your entire school or district! You may be accustomed to convening your site leaders and educators for two days of professional learning. AVID ElevateXP offers four flexible half-day modules (or two full days if you prefer).

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Previous Agendas for Coordinators and Elective Teachers

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Previous Agendas for Coordinators and Elective Teachers