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For the curious as we teach ELLs... there are some really good resources here!

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What will readers learn?

This website contains articles about language instructional practices that support multilingual learners. Each article has an infographic that synthesizes the essential information from the article. The intention of sharing these resources is to provide strategies to educators who work with multilinguals.

At times, my resources can be used across the various content area, while at other times, are more relevant for just language specialists. I know that many of you are busy and do not have time to sift through the literature, books, articles, and videos and cannot attend conferences. It is my job to curate these resources for you.

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Welcome | ML Instruction | Empowering ELLs

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Sharing ELL strategies that work. Helping ELL teachers implement classroom-tested, research-backed ELL strategies that develop social and academic language

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Helpful resource (looking to the future) for parent communication.

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TalkingPoints - Improving student outcomes through meaningful school-family partnerships.

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TalkingPoints - Improving student outcomes through meaningful school-family partnerships.

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How To Manage Your Stress When the Sky Is Falling

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How To Manage Your Stress When the Sky Is Falling

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Executive Summary

In these uncertain times, as an invisible virus spreads across the globe, we need to manage our stress more than ever. Like the elite athletes the author works with, who can control their physiological and mental arousal, we need to employ psychological skills to move into our activation sweet spot to perform well and live well. Those who understand how to use their mind to manage stress look for the optimal state where they are "switched on" but not too tight. We may not have control over our circumstances, but we do have control over our minds. So we should all be employing mental skills and practices to get us through this trying time. Things you can do include a morning mediation routine, establishing a repeatable sleep and wakeup routine, connecting with others, and establishing a higher sense of purpose.

Renold Zergat/Getty Images

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It's natural to feel stressed right now. As we try to navigate our new normal, we're worried about getting sick or losing our jobs, we're inundated with news about death tolls and an economic recession, and we're isolated from coworkers, friends, and family.

Stress helps prepare us to meet the demands and challenges of our environment - up to a point. The chain of rapidly occurring neuro-chemical and neuro-electrical reactions can sharpen attention and our ability to assess our surroundings, motivate us, and even briefly boost our immune system. But it's designed to be a short-term response to last for minutes or hours, not days and weeks.

When our stress system stays activated for a prolonged period of time, it can suppress our adaptive immune systems and make us more vulnerable to viral infections.

That's why we need to manage our stress more than ever. Like the elite athletes I work with, who can control their physiological and mental arousal, we need to employ psychological skills to move into our activation sweet spot to perform well and live well. Those who understand how to use their mind to manage stress look for the optimal state where they are "switched on" but not too tight.

We may not have control over our circumstances, but we do have control over our minds. Even if you think you're relatively calm, know that stress is a stealth and powerful adversary. It can hit you out of nowhere. So we should all be employing mental skills and practices to get us through this trying time.

Breathe

A mindfulness practice allows us to have space from our cognition and emotion so we can see things as they really are. Rather than being anxious, we can see that we're experiencing anxiousness. There's a big difference.

Start from the moment you wake up. In a recent video, my colleague at Compete to Create and former Olympian Courtney Thompson offered advice on how to set our minds right each and every morning. Instead of reaching for your phone, checking the news, or scrolling through social media, try this:

1. Take one really long deep breath - more than ten seconds - and try to exhale longer than you inhale. Express one thought of gratitude. Don't just check a box. Are there people in your life that are stepping up? Is your family healthy? Try to really feel it. It's not an exercise in thinking, it's an integration between thinking and feeling.

2. Set your intention for the day. I don't mean your goals or to-dos. I mean, what type of person are you going to be today? An intention represents a commitment to carrying out an action in the future. Are you going to show up for others? Be calm and controlled for family, friends, strangers, and colleagues? This is an exercise in imagery, seeing yourself at your best.

3. Pull off the sheets and put your feet on the ground. Take a moment to feel your feet on the floor. Be where your feet are. This is a primer to mentally and physically start your day in the present moment.

No matter what's happening, remember that you're in control of your thoughts (well, at least the one's you're aware of). You can decide what you'd like your first thoughts each day to be. Choose well.

If you're feeling unfocused or anxious during the day, take eight minutes and just breathe, observing your passing thoughts without judgment and bringing your attention back to your breath when those thoughts grab your attention. If you become distracted, re-focus back to your next breath. Try it. There's no right or wrong way to practice.

Eat and Sleep Well

Self-care, during times of high-stress, is essential. It sounds simple and obvious, but, when we're in survival mode, many of us don't take good enough care of ourselves

Great sleep is crucial. Recently, on my podcast Finding Mastery, I spoke with Matthew Walker, a sleep expert and Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. For optimal sleep, he suggests going to bed at the same time each night. Your brain thrives on regularity - not Netflix.

But, if you're stressed out, you may have trouble falling or staying asleep. If you run into trouble, Walker suggests "walking it off." I suggest one of these three tactics. Brush your teeth - to re-ignite a Pavlovian, it's-time-to-go-to-sleep response - read a book (the more boring the better), or jot down your thoughts on a pad of paper (not your phone!) until you feel sleepy.

Try to wake up at the same time each morning, too - even if you had a bad night's sleep. Regularity will keep your circadian rhythms in check.

Eat and hydrate well, too. In times of high-stress, our bodies crave sugar, starches, and salt. But research has found that people who have a healthy diet are less prone to infections. Eat colorfully. Dark and leafy vegetables (sorry, candies and chocolate don't count) are an efficient way to feed the energy needs of your immune system.

And drink plenty of water. It flushes toxins from your body.

Create Connection

In times of uncertainty, we typically gravitate toward our tribe for comfort and support. In this instance, we are being asked to separate from the community, to shelter in place, to keep our social distance. But, if left unchecked, social isolation can lead to loneliness, which can have drastic effects on our mental and physical health.

Separation doesn't have to mean isolation. Take this time to really connect with others. Tell them how valuable they are to you. Send messages of praise to your coworkers. Tell your family how much you love them. Make a list of people you want to call, to thank them for making a difference in your life. And don't only broadcast your own concerns. Be curious about how others are doing - and truly listen. Do it today.

This is a time to practice compassion. Almost everyone will be affected by the social, physical, and economic dislocation of the pandemic. Recognize we are all in this together. There is no "other."

Shake things up. Partake in Instagram dance parties. Sing. Or make music together. Italy offers a beautiful example of creating joy and connection while in lockdown. People have started singing from their balconies, out their windows and across rooftops at appointed times, coordinating their efforts via social media. Viva l'Italia!

This isn't the time to be overly worried about what others think of you. We're all in this-together-and if there were ever a time to let loose, this is it. Connecting with others, and being open and vulnerable, is what's going to get us through.

Find Purpose

As the news gets worse, and we go about our everyday routines, you may find yourself thinking that your life and work lacks fire. So try anchoring this remarkable period in purpose larger than yourself. You get to decide the story you tell yourself. When we have an orientation beyond ourselves, it makes us more resilient in the face of challenges.

Victor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, survived four concentration camps, an experience that profoundly deepened his understanding of man. Frankl learned that our main drive or motivation in life is neither pleasure nor power but meaning. Frankl wrote, "Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, only by lack of meaning and purpose." In his experience at the camps, he wrote, "Those who (were) oriented toward a meaning to be fulfilled by them in the future were most likely to survive."

For inspiration, take note of the people who are serving the greater good in response to the crisis. Some are helping the less fortunate in their communities. Others are using this as a teaching moment for their children. That's living - and leading - from a place of purpose. You can do the same.

As you forge ahead, and things get tough, remember that your most significant ally lies inside you: your mind. So take care if it - for your own health and the health of others, too.

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How to Manage Your Stress When the Sky Is Falling

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Executive Summary In these uncertain times, as an invisible virus spreads across the globe, we need to manage our stress more than ever. Like the elite athletes the author works with, who can control their physiological and mental arousal, we need to employ psychological skills to move into our activation sweet spot to perform well and live well.

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Free Resources during Covid

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Find new ideas and classic advice on strategy, innovation and leadership, for global leaders from the world's best business and management experts.

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Both the House and Senate are continuing their fitful efforts to complete action on their versions of the 12 fiscal year 2024 Appropriations bills. The Labor,

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Eighty-three percent of parents of K-12 students report their child has participated in an online distance learning program since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered schools, according to a Gallup poll. However, a separate survey of students by Common Sense finds far fewer students -- 58% -- say they have participated in distance learning since the closures and shows a disparity between distance-learning opportunities among private-school and public-school students.

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Planning ahead to catch up students when school reopens after coronavirus

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Planning ahead to catch up students when school reopens after coronavirus

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In Mississippi and across the nation, schools closed because of coronavirus are struggling to find ways to educate children remotely. But even as Mississippi's education leaders adapt to new platforms, experts say, they must begin to plan ahead. Once campuses fully reopen, schools will need clear strategies to catch up students who have been unable to keep up their studies at home, the experts advise.

Thousands of students already harmed by the state's achievement gaps and underfunding will be hit hard.

"This virus is exacerbating the inequalities we knew were there before. The kids who have the least are getting the least now," said Pedro Noguera, an education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. "They will, in fact, be behind the kids who are learning still. If the state is serious about equity, it will try to some things to address that."
Summer School
Noguera joins an early chorus of researchers and academics suggesting summer school should be offered, if possible, to help students catch up. Douglas Harris of the Brookings Institution has suggested making stimulus money available to offer summer school for students who fall behind during closures, either virtually, if schools must remained closed, or on-site to make up for missed instruction. The former might still edge out students already impacted by the nation's digital divide or who are without adult supervision.
Related: Desperate parents need help as coronavirus upends our lives Find time in the day
There's an additional reason for urgency around the well-known strategy this year. Research has shown losing academic ground during the summer months or " summer learning loss " tends to impact low-income students more. Without intervention, the gaps could widen even further this summer given how much class time children have already missed.

Beyond summer school, principals and superintendents will also confront the question of the best way to help students catch up when school resumes - probably with the beginning of the 2020-21 year in August. Alanna Bjorklund-Young, director of research at the John Hopkins Institute for Education Policy said one strategy schools might consider is keeping students with their previous teacher for part of the next school year. Children's current teachers, Bjorklund-Young theorized, may be better positioned to review material and content kids missed or struggled with during this time.

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"This virus is exacerbating the inequalities we knew were there before. The kids who have the least are getting the least now."
Pedro Noguera, an education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles

Another research-based approach is the use of one-on-one or small group tutoring. While this approach can grow costly, the solution doesn't require upending the entire school day. Depending on the program, Bjorklund explained intensive tutoring could occur before, during or after school.
Ramp up rigor
Ideally, Noguera said, kids would also have access to after school programming providing enrichment activities like art or robotics to balance out ramped-up instruction.

Although it might be tempting to avoid rigorous assignments for students who need extra help, cautioned David Steiner, Bjorklund-Young's colleague and the executive director of the institute, that's the wrong approach. Educators who back away from tougher lessons because they don't want to overwhelm students could do more harm than good. Steiner said the evidence is beginning to mount that struggling students do better when they have the same level of access to challenging, grade-level materials as their peers.

"It doesn't mean you ignore the child," Bjorklund-Young added. In English language arts, for example, a child who has trouble sounding out or "decoding" words, she explained, will still need intervention.

But struggling students should still be challenged to think critically about the same books their peers are reading, and to share what they learned from a story. An elementary school teacher can rephrase discussion questions to make them more digestible or pair a struggling student with a classmate who has a firmer grip on reading skills.

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Steiner said the challenge educators will face in the fall is to pull up students who are in rough academic shape, rather than "teaching down."
Related: Double whammy? State allegedly misspends funds for Mississippi's poorest, now COVID-19 closes schools The bottom line
"The tool to do that is not just professional development; it's curriculum," he said.

Too many teachers, Steiner argued, have to spend time hunting down materials for their own curriculum. That can lead to shaky quality and frustration. And those hours spent searching online can rob teachers of the time they need to think through presenting challenging material in a way that reaches struggling students.

All these interventions, of course, are dependent on funding. Amid fears that rising unemployment could trigger a recession, school leaders in Mississippi could face tough budget choices ahead, especially in communities that lack the tax base to fill in state funding shortfalls.
Editor's note: This story led off this week's Mississippi Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers' inboxes every other Friday with trends and top stories about education in Mississippi. This story about summer school was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger's newsletter. Subscribe today!
If Mississippi is going to build on the academic progress it's made in recent years, the state will have to make a commitment that any layoffs do not disproportionately impact the highest needs schools that already struggle to hire support staff like interventionists, social workers and literacy coaches whose roles will become only more critical in the months to come, said Ary Amerikaner, a vice president at the nonprofit Education Trust.

"Students in those schools will already be facing the instructional and social and emotional impacts of the coronavirus and it is important that supports remain as consistent as possible," Amerikaner said in a statement.

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Experts say summer school should be offered to help students catch up

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In Mississippi and across the nation, schools closed because of coronavirus are struggling to find ways to educate children remotely. But even as Mississippi's education leaders adapt to new platforms, experts say, they must begin to plan ahead.

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How Schools Will Overcome the 'Coronavirus Slide:' Ideas From 5 Superintendents

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How Schools Will Overcome the 'Coronavirus Slide:' Ideas From 5 Superintendents

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(from Mike)

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More governors are canceling in-school instruction for the rest of the academic year, leaving superintendents and their academic teams to figure out how they will make up for what could be profound learning losses for millions of students.

Will they run summer school? Would they even have the money to do that? Should they start the 2020-21 year earlier? Can they require longer school days in the upcoming year?

Those options-some more feasible than others-are what superintendents are weighing right now as it becomes increasingly likely that few, if any, schools will resume in-person instruction this academic year. Already, at least 15 states have either ordered or are recommending that schools not re-open this spring.

"I do think there will be gaps when kids come back," said Jason Kamras, the superintendent of the Richmond Public Schools in Virginia. "I think there is going to be the 'coronavirus slide.'

While many districts are providing remote learning, the quality and quantity of those efforts are highly variable. Analysts at the Center on Reinventing Public Education in Washington state have been collecting and reviewing dozens of districts' remote education plans.

Mostly, CRPE has found "good assignments," but not robust instructional plans, said Sean Gill, a research analyst.

"For the most part, we are not seeing a lot of instruction, however you may want to define it: whether it's a teacher on Zoom or a teacher doing check-ins. That's not something we have seen as much," Gill said.

"What we've seen is more districts are providing general resources or they are providing directed curriculum, where the curriculum has kids at a certain place or time. ...Those interactive programs do help kids learn and do give them feedback. But whether teachers are looking at that data as they normally would and then supplementing that with targeted instruction doesn't seem to be happening yet."

How districts decide to make up for that slide depends on a host of factors-many beyond their control.

The biggest wildcard is when the coronavirus will be under control and when public health officials will deem it safe enough for social distancing to end.

Another is what state governments do. Already, in most states, governors have mandated how long schools must stay shuttered. Some governors or state education officials could also order the steps that schools must follow to make up for the lost learning time.

Then there's the looming recession, caused by the near total shutdown of the economy. Most districts, which are heavily reliant on state funds, may have no choice but to go along with state recommendations, said Noelle Ellerson Ng, who leads policy and advocacy for the AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

But there are also local factors that may constrain what districts can do to make up for lost time. Do they have enough in their contingency funds to pay for summer school for all or nearly all students? Is there enough staff available to teach during the summer and will labor contracts need to be negotiated to make that possible? What about bus drivers to transport students?

Education Week interviewed five superintendents, who talked about the ideas and solutions they are considering for making up for lost time.

The district created a daily instructional schedule for every subject at every grade level. Those lessons are pre-packaged and available on a weekly basis on the district's website. Teachers recorded video lessons addressing each standard and the district built in independent practice for students. It's also set up on-demand tutoring.

But the district is not requiring teachers to teach every day. They are encouraged, but not mandated, to check-in with students.

"We are working around the clock, seriously, to provide as much as we can now," Kamras said. "But we know that even with the best resources- and the best of intentions- that does not replace the time a child has with a teacher. We are thinking about, do we start school earlier, do we extend the day, do we make the next year longer? We are thinking about all kinds of things to help provide supports to fill in those gaps."

Summer school for all kids may be off the table for Richmond. Virginia has a stay-at-home order through June 10. Even if that order is lifted by then, school buildings will have to be cleaned and prepared for students. Additionally, the district planned to have three new schools ready for occupancy by mid-to-late August. If those buildings are not ready, the district's enrollment zones will be affected, Kamras said.

"We already know there are massive opportunity gaps in our schools here in Richmond, Virginia, and around the entire country, and that, as we all know, has negative consequences largely for kids of color and low-income kids," Kamras said. "And this closure-while necessary, and I support it-is only going to exacerbate those opportunity gaps. I think as we look towards next year, and frankly as we look toward the next several years, it's going to mean that we need to invest even more in closing those opportunity gaps than we already were. Because I fear this closure is only going to make them worse."

Oklahoma has closed its school buildings for the rest of the academic year, so keeping students engaged in remote schooling for such a prolonged period is a major concern for Gist. That's why teachers there are focused on students' social-emotional needs, as well as academics, she said. Students' home life and emotional state will dramatically impact their ongoing connection and engagement with distance learning.

"We are definitely planning to do what we can to support our students to overcome that," Gist said.

Planning for summer school is under way, Gist said, but whether the district can provide a full program to every student is unclear. Finances are also a big source of uncertainty and may limit what the district can do to make up for lost time. With Oklahoma's heavy reliance on oil, and oil prices plunging, Gist is bracing for additional budget cuts on top of what the district experienced from the Great Recession.

"We know that we are going to have to pay attention to [learning loss], because we know that we are going to see challenges with our students being out of school," Gist said. "Even though we are confident that our teachers are going to do everything they can and our whole team is focused on this, we know that it's not going to be the same for every family...We anticipate that it will be some combination of additional supports for children-whether that's summer or something during the school year. But we are also watching the finances very closely."

When Poe shut down his district's schools in March, he thought it would be for just a few weeks. He started using non-traditional instruction days that were built into the calendar, like snow days. Now with the closure expected to last the rest of the school year, Poe is keeping instruction going online.

About 92 percent of the district's 20,000 students are keeping up using the remote learning option, while the rest have printed course packets delivered to their homes.

When students return, teachers will first assess them to see where they are and then decide how to proceed. Still, Poe thinks a combination of extended learning days, possibly in the summer, will be part of the district's plan.

If the pandemic hasn't eased and social distancing guidelines are not relaxed by July or August, then whatever the district does to help students-whether it's extended school days, targeted enrichment for students after school, or an extended school year-will be incorporated into the new school year, he said.

"We are not going to be able to catch up in one to two weeks," Poe said. "This is going to be a situation where you are going to have to apply extended school services over the entire school year next year."

While some students may need help reviewing a few concepts, others may need targeted support.

"We are going to have to look at personalizing this over the next year for all the different students that we have," he said.

Teachers are regularly checking in with students-and the district distributed nearly 2,000 Chromebooks to students who needed them. But replicating the in-school experience with distance learning will be a huge challenge, said Meloche.

Teachers spent their first week reviewing content with students and strengthening their skills, with very little new material, except in Advanced Placement classes.

The district has not yet decided whether it will do end-of-year assessments online. Meloche is still hoping to have students back in the buildings before the school year ends in mid-June.

But he and his team are also beginning to think about what the beginning of 2020-21 ought to look like.

"What should we do differently? What types of questions do we need to ask that are different? And what can we provide for kids during the months of July and August beyond the traditional summer reads and recommendations for families and children to rehearse and prepare for those school-type skills?" Meloche said.

When the district reopens depends on many factors, such as whether students progressed as far as the district expected them to while learning online and feedback from local stakeholders, including students.

"I think listening to those student voices about what their current experience is, is going to be incredibly vital," he said. "It's vital right now."

While a focus on student learning is paramount, Meloche is also concerned about students' emotional well-being.

"Their social and emotional wellness is our first priority," Meloche said. "Safety and security are at the top of any list and then their social and emotional wellness. ...Those things have to be met and connected with before we can venture into the pool of academics and starting discussions about content and development of skills and that kind of stuff, which we do a pretty decent job with."

Reedy said district leaders, despite the unprecedented disruption to the last weeks and months of this school year, should take a longer view of students' educational careers. Most students will miss what may amount to one-quarter of in-school instruction this academic year. That's out of the more than 13 years of schooling they get from kindergarten through the end of high school, she said.

Albuquerque is running a virtual learning program and purchased 18,000 Chromebooks to deliver to students who did have not devices at home. About 8,000 have been distributed so far. The district has a partnership with the local PBS station to provide four hours of programming for students daily, including a bilingual hour in Spanish and English. And it's working with the city to expand the number of hot spots available to students who don't have access to the internet.

She anticipates that teachers will need to start planning for the new school year earlier to develop programs to help students catch up. They'll likely have to adjust where they normally pick up in the curriculum.

"We need to say, 'OK, you've always been able to start X unit in your language arts class or in your chemistry class...You may need to spend some time reviewing with the students the different concepts and the foundational information they need to have before you can start unit X," Reedy said. "Reviewing is never a bad thing. But again, bringing kids up to snuff as far as what's required, what skills they need, what knowledge they need to have before you can enter a unit-which is good teaching practices anyway-we'll want to reinforce that."

The district has already extended online instruction through June, with additional extensions possible, for seniors to get the credits they need to graduate.

Still, Reedy and other superintendents think that with teachers and students forced to adapt to online learning almost overnight, the in-class experience will be very different when they return.

While schools have always talked about flipped classrooms and other ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, actual practice has largely remained the province of a few dedicated teachers. Now, with the coronavirus closures, everyone had to make the leap.

"I think the comfort level that teachers are going to have as a result of being pushed into this is going to reap some real benefits as far as instruction and the use of different modalities," Reedy said. "It will [look different] because students and teachers have put themselves in a different [level] so to speak, and stretched themselves in ways that they have never truly been asked to do."

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How Schools Will Overcome the 'Coronavirus Slide:' Ideas From 5 Superintendents

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More governors are canceling in-school instruction for the rest of the academic year, leaving superintendents and their academic teams to figure out how they will make up for what could be profound learning losses for millions of students. Will they run summer school? Would they even have the money to do that?

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Found one of my favorite TED talks recently... enjoy and keep up the great work you all are doing!

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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Interesting article from Caitlin Morlock, our wonderful therapist from Synergy!

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Executive Summary

During the global pandemic, a palpable sense of collective grief has emerged. Grief expert David Kessler says that grief is actually multiple feelings that we must manage. In an interview with HBR, he explains how the classic five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, acceptance) apply today, and the practical steps we can take to manage the anxiety. Those include balancing bad thoughts with good; focusing on the present; letting go of things you can't control; and stocking up on compassion. Kessler also talks about a sixth stage of grief: meaning. After acceptance, he says, we will find meaning in the hard-to-fathom events and we will be stronger for it.

HBR Staff/d3sign/Getty Images

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Some of the HBR edit staff met virtually the other day - a screen full of faces in a scene becoming more common everywhere. We talked about the content we're commissioning in this harrowing time of a pandemic and how we can help people. But we also talked about how we were feeling. One colleague mentioned that what she felt was grief. Heads nodded in all the panes.

If we can name it, perhaps we can manage it. We turned to David Kessler for ideas on how to do that. Kessler is the world's foremost expert on grief. He co-wrote with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages of Loss. His new book adds another stage to the process, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. Kessler also has worked for a decade in a three-hospital system in Los Angeles. He served on their biohazards team. His volunteer work includes being an LAPD Specialist Reserve for traumatic events as well as having served on the Red Cross's disaster services team. He is the founder of www.grief.com, which has over 5 million visits yearly from 167 countries.

Kessler shared his thoughts on why it's important to acknowledge the grief you may be feeling, how to manage it, and how he believes we will find meaning in it. The conversation is lightly edited for clarity.
HBR: People are feeling any number of things right now. Is it right to call some of what they're feeling grief?
Kessler: Yes, and we're feeling a number of different griefs. We feel the world has changed, and it has. We know this is temporary, but it doesn't feel that way, and we realize things will be different. Just as going to the airport is forever different from how it was before 9/11, things will change and this is the point at which they changed. The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we're grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.
You said we're feeling more than one kind of grief?
Yes, we're also feeling anticipatory grief. Anticipatory grief is that feeling we get about what the future holds when we're uncertain. Usually it centers on death. We feel it when someone gets a dire diagnosis or when we have the normal thought that we'll lose a parent someday. Anticipatory grief is also more broadly imagined futures. There is a storm coming. There's something bad out there. With a virus, this kind of grief is so confusing for people. Our primitive mind knows something bad is happening, but you can't see it. This breaks our sense of safety. We're feeling that loss of safety. I don't think we've collectively lost our sense of general safety like this. Individually or as smaller groups, people have felt this. But all together, this is new. We are grieving on a micro and a macro level.
What can individuals do to manage all this grief?
Understanding the stages of grief is a start. But whenever I talk about the stages of grief, I have to remind people that the stages aren't linear and may not happen in this order. It's not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. There's denial, which we say a lot of early on: This virus won't affect us. There's anger: You're making me stay home and taking away my activities. There's bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right? There's sadness: I don't know when this will end. And finally there's acceptance. This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed.

Acceptance, as you might imagine, is where the power lies. We find control in acceptance. I can wash my hands. I can keep a safe distance. I can learn how to work virtually.
When we're feeling grief there's that physical pain. And the racing mind. Are there techniques to deal with that to make it less intense?
Let's go back to anticipatory grief. Unhealthy anticipatory grief is really anxiety, and that's the feeling you're talking about. Our mind begins to show us images. My parents getting sick. We see the worst scenarios. That's our minds being protective. Our goal is not to ignore those images or to try to make them go away - your mind won't let you do that and it can be painful to try and force it. The goal is to find balance in the things you're thinking. If you feel the worst image taking shape, make yourself think of the best image. We all get a little sick and the world continues. Not everyone I love dies. Maybe no one does because we're all taking the right steps. Neither scenario should be ignored but neither should dominate either.

Anticipatory grief is the mind going to the future and imagining the worst. To calm yourself, you want to come into the present. This will be familiar advice to anyone who has meditated or practiced mindfulness but people are always surprised at how prosaic this can be. You can name five things in the room. There's a computer, a chair, a picture of the dog, an old rug, and a coffee mug. It's that simple. Breathe. Realize that in the present moment, nothing you've anticipated has happened. In this moment, you're okay. You have food. You are not sick. Use your senses and think about what they feel. The desk is hard. The blanket is soft. I can feel the breath coming into my nose. This really will work to dampen some of that pain.

You can also think about how to let go of what you can't control. What your neighbor is doing is out of your control. What is in your control is staying six feet away from them and washing your hands. Focus on that.

Finally, it's a good time to stock up on compassion. Everyone will have different levels of fear and grief and it manifests in different ways. A coworker got very snippy with me the other day and I thought, That's not like this person; that's how they're dealing with this. I'm seeing their fear and anxiety. So be patient. Think about who someone usually is and not who they seem to be in this moment.
One particularly troubling aspect of this pandemic is the open-endedness of it.
This is a temporary state. It helps to say it. I worked for 10 years in the hospital system. I've been trained for situations like this. I've also studied the 1918 flu pandemic. The precautions we're taking are the right ones. History tells us that. This is survivable. We will survive. This is a time to overprotect but not overreact.

And, I believe we will find meaning in it. I've been honored that Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's family has given me permission to add a sixth stage to grief: Meaning. I had talked to Elisabeth quite a bit about what came after acceptance. I did not want to stop at acceptance when I experienced some personal grief. I wanted meaning in those darkest hours. And I do believe we find light in those times. Even now people are realizing they can connect through technology. They are not as remote as they thought. They are realizing they can use their phones for long conversations. They're appreciating walks. I believe we will continue to find meaning now and when this is over.
What do you say to someone who's read all this and is still feeling overwhelmed with grief?
Keep trying. There is something powerful about naming this as grief. It helps us feel what's inside of us. So many have told me in the past week, "I'm telling my coworkers I'm having a hard time," or "I cried last night." When you name it, you feel it and it moves through you. Emotions need motion. It's important we acknowledge what we go through. One unfortunate byproduct of the self-help movement is we're the first generation to have feelings about our feelings. We tell ourselves things like, I feel sad, but I shouldn't feel that; other people have it worse. We can - we should - stop at the first feeling. I feel sad. Let me go for five minutes to feel sad. Your work is to feel your sadness and fear and anger whether or not someone else is feeling something. Fighting it doesn't help because your body is producing the feeling. If we allow the feelings to happen, they'll happen in an orderly way, and it empowers us. Then we're not victims.
In an orderly way?
Yes. Sometimes we try not to feel what we're feeling because we have this image of a "gang of feelings." If I feel sad and let that in, it'll never go away. The gang of bad feelings will overrun me. The truth is a feeling that moves through us. We feel it and it goes and then we go to the next feeling. There's no gang out to get us. It's absurd to think we shouldn't feel grief right now. Let yourself feel the grief and keep going.

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Executive Summary During the global pandemic, a palpable sense of collective grief has emerged. Grief expert David Kessler says that grief is actually multiple feelings that we must manage. In an interview with HBR, he explains how the classic five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, acceptance) apply today, and the practical steps we can take to manage the anxiety.

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A quick rundown of what hyperdocs are and how to get started

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Virtual Learning Best Practices in Google Classroom

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Characterization Map from Liz

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Shared Sticky Notes and Whiteboards - Generate more ideas, and then prioritize, organize, and refine those ideas to make your meetings, brainstorms, and projects more productive and effective.

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Student Compare / Contrast

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Shared Sticky Notes and Whiteboards - Generate more ideas, and then prioritize, organize, and refine those ideas to make your meetings, brainstorms, and projects more productive and effective.

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Last week, as schools across the nation closed their doors to slow the spread of the coronavirus, TT reached out to our community to learn what support you needed at this time. Among the most common responses was a call for trauma-informed practices to support students over the coming weeks and months.

For guidance, we reached out to our friends at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network with a series of questions. A group of researchers, psychologists and educators were quick to respond. We're grateful to Laura Danna, Dr. Jane Halladay Goldman, Dr. Jen Maze, Dr. George Ake and Dr. Isaiah Pickens for their answers, and we hope their recommendations offer some much-needed support during this difficult time.

We know that in some districts, schools have just closed, while in others, there's an expectation that classes will shift to distance learning. This change can be a challenge for educators as well as students. From a trauma-informed standpoint, what do educators need to be conscious of as they navigate this transition?

Establishing a routine and maintaining clear communication are crucial.

Maintaining and communicating predictable routines is very important. Doing so helps students to maintain a sense of psychological safety-a sense that they can manage stress or connect with someone who can help them manage stress.

It is important not to assume that students understand your routine is changing due to current events. Even if routines shift as you determine the best ways of connecting, taking the time to explain the changes and provide a predictable agenda is helpful. It will reduce student stress and increase their confidence that important adults in their lives are capable of taking care of them.

It's also important that educators ensure that the information they provide to students is digestible. Moving to remote learning and having fewer direct interactions can make assignments feel more overwhelming and daunting-particularly when several directions are given at once. Break directions down into smaller bites when necessary and encourage students to ask clarifying questions even if it appears they understand.

Finally, we can't assume students' experiences with remote learning or their understanding of a global pandemic are universal. Encourage students to lead the way in sharing what they understand and do not understand about their current situation. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, such as, "How are you feeling about not being in school?" which can provide insight without letting assumptions guide the conversation. Approach students' experiences with curiosity. Aim to clarify misinformation and connect students with other important adults (such as family) who help them feel safe.

Relationships and well-being can take priority over assignment and behavioral compliance.

In shifts to distance learning, educators will need to actively focus on maintaining attitudes of inclusivity. Now more than ever, students should feel valued and welcome regardless of their background or identity.

Remember that students may be dealing with many different home life situations while trying to maintain their academics, and there are myriad reasons they may be embarrassed to share about why they can't complete assignments. Educators should communicate that, regardless of challenges, students' efforts are appreciated.

In work with students right now, educators should let relationships be the focus. It is important to ensure students have structure and to hold high expectations. But students will fare best if they know their teachers care about their well-being just as much as their behavior and assignment compliance.

Educators can display their investment by creating relational rituals before checking on distance learning assignments with students. For example, students and educators can share one tough moment and one hopeful moment of the day, or educators and students can share one new lesson they learned about themselves during the day. Participating in these shares can help educators build and maintain connection despite the distance.

What are a few key points educators need to understand about stress, trauma and their effects? Are there specific approaches to student support they should be prioritizing during this crisis?

When people are facing stress and difficult life circumstances, it can particularly affect three areas: a sense of safety, feelings of connectedness and feelings of hope. In each of these areas, educators can make an impact.

Sense of Safety

A sense of safety is the belief that your needs-and the needs of those you care about-will be met. It is a belief that you will be protected from harm and that those around you will be safe. Educators can expect that many students' sense of safety will be compromised right now. None of us have ever seen a time like this, when institutions that provide safety and structure are closed, and the news talks about death rates and hospital bed shortages. For the many families that are experiencing or will experience significant income loss, this crisis may also mean food insecurity or an inability to pay rent and bills-all of which can severely damage a child's sense of safety.

But there are steps educators can take to support a sense of safety in children. They can:

Reach out, provide space and encourage students to connect with them or another trusted adult or counselor to talk about their safety concerns. Offer students a way to connect if there is something that they need help with or are worried about.

Encourage students to talk to friends or family members on the phone.

Help students plan some virtual playdates to distract them from their worries.

Recommend or include in lesson plans and packets some fun, free activities that kids can do at home.

Encourage families and caregivers to avoid watching the news in front of their children (as that can be upsetting), keep as much of a regular family routine as possible, and plan activities such as going for walks or hikes or playing board or video games together.

Connectedness

Connectedness refers to having relationships with others who can understand and support you. As we are practicing social distancing and have closed most public places, educators will need to get creative to help students feel connected.

To foster a sense of connectedness, educators can:

Make time to ask students about something fun they are doing right now.

Greet students by name and create a touch-free or virtual routine (similar to a handshake, a hug or a high five) to invite connection, either online or at meal pick-up.

Consider putting students together in small groups to work on projects or activities and encouraging students to work together online or by phone. These activities may include virtual puzzles or scavenger hunts. The key is to help the student feel connected to others in the class by sharing an important part of themselves that helps the class get to know them better. Foster a sense of community by highlighting each student's contribution to the group activity.

Plan activities through the use of web-conferencing sites that allow students to see, hear and interact with each other and their teacher.

Talk directly about the importance of connecting with others.

Incorporate space for play and fun activities into online lesson plans or take-home packets.

Hope

Hope is the expectation that everything will work out and the feeling that things will be all right. Right now, many people may be feeling discouraged, hopeless or angry. Adults and students may be feeling a great sense of loss for activities that will not be taking place as usual. Students particularly may be disappointed in missing out on sports, competition, performances and other important rituals of the spring semester.

To encourage a sense of hope, educators can:

Have students connect with someone in their family or community to ask a person they respect how they stayed hopeful in troubled times.

Teach about other historical times of crisis, including how these ended and communities rebounded.

Encourage students to get fresh air and to move when possible.

Share some of the many stories of hope and helping that have come out of this current crisis.

Share a positive affirmation or a strength of a student-it can go a long way right now.

Let students know that people find help in different ways, including through spiritual beliefs and practices, and encourage students to discuss things that bring them hope.

Facilitate and encourage students meeting virtually or by phone with a trusted adult who can show them a different perspective, help to identify their talents and strengths, list their options and resources, and encourage and support them.

In addition to the suggestions above, are there any activities for students (either for online classes or that students can do independently) that you recommend educators try?

Now is a time to provide opportunities for students to complete activities that affirm their competence, sense of self-worth and feelings of safety. There are many social emotional learning practices and wellness activities that teachers can encourage students to complete independently or online.

These activities can promote self-regulation when students are feeling stressed and provide a healthy sense of control over controllable aspects of an overwhelming situation. Some possible social emotional and wellness practices can include the following:

Promote self-awareness by having students review a feelings chart and share how they are feeling. To help them communicate their feelings, encourage the use of a scale, such as, "On a scale of 1-10, how bored are you feeling?" or "Are you feeling a little lonely, somewhat lonely, or very lonely?"

Recommend quick mindfulness or self-soothing exercises such as smelling a flower or completing four-corner breathing prior to completing the lesson. Four-corner breathing simply involves inhaling deeply and exhaling deeply four times. Students can complete this breathing exercise by standing up and taking one inhale and exhale breath while facing each of the four corners in a room.

Model and normalize a range of emotions by giving students opportunities to express themselves in nonverbal ways. This may include drawing a picture about how their lesson or day is going or showing the most important thing that happened to them that day. Teachers can complete this exercise first and share with students to model how to share with others in a way that feels safe and helps us feel connected.

Have students complete a virtual or long-distance appreciation or gratitude circle. Encourage students to write one thing they appreciate about classmates. Add your own, and then give each student the appreciations written about them.

Give students the chance to share what they've learned or a chance to teach their classmates. This can include having students find and teach brief self-soothing or mindfulness exercises that promote self-regulation.

Are there students in particular situations that educators should be keeping closer contact with during this period? Do you have recommendations for ways educators can reach out?

While not all families have a history of exposure to trauma, children with identified histories of trauma may be especially vulnerable to the impact of significant changes in schedule, routine and expectations that come with social distancing, canceled classes, remote learning and reliance on caregivers for academics.

Other students may also be at additional risk during this time:

students who have had anxiety;

students who have depression or suicidal ideation;

students who have learning and attention disorders;

students whose families may have lost jobs or income;

students who have loved ones particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus;

students who have a caregiver who is a healthcare worker or in another occupation where they are exposed to the virus or are being asked to respond in an intense way;

students who may be less supervised because of caregivers' work.

Even remotely, however, there are ways that educators can provide extra support to these students:

Educators can reach out to caregivers to check in and offer or explain the supports that they typically use in the classroom with their children.

Educators can set up individual conferences via computer or phone to check in with students and ask about their safety and worries.

Educators can and should connect with school mental health professionals to know how they can connect students and families with them when necessary.

What kinds of stressors or potential trauma will families and caregivers be facing during this time that educators should be aware of? How can educators help?

In general, it is important to consider that the stress adults might be facing during this time of uncertainty will probably be mirrored in children. Families could be dealing with high levels of stress, and they probably will be for an extensive amount of time. Educators can consider sharing messages about how families need to give themselves some space when emotions run high, and they can model how to regulate emotions to help children cope.

Educators should have an appreciation for how kids might respond to stress and consider how stress might play out by age group. Whenever possible, they should share this information with caregivers.

Educators can also play a role in promoting the message that caretakers should try their best to establish a routine, involve children in the development of their own schedules, and maintain reasonable expectations of children, knowing that some changes are just difficult to predict.

Finally, we understand that in other countries, rates of domestic violence and child abuse have increased during the COVID-19 crisis. Stress and increased isolation are risk factors for abuse. Families experiencing difficult financial issues or job loss during this time might be especially at risk. But all families will be under increased stress and isolation with varying levels of support and resources.

For more information about child trauma and child traumatic stress, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has many resources to help educators and caretakers better understand the impact, consequences and resilience of children and families exposed to trauma. This page is a good place to start.

What steps do you recommend for educators who want to be there for their students but who might also be dealing with their own stress right now?

Practice self-kindness, and remember that it is best to take care of yourself before you try to take care of anyone else.

Take time to check in with yourself to gain insight into where you may be struggling. Once you identify the issues, work to create a plan to address the issues you can control and to work on letting go of the ones you cannot.

Utilize social supports as needed. Consider planning a virtual coffee break or lunch hour with colleagues or other educators via Zoom, where you might share strategies that are or are not working, talk about what you're cooking or watching on Netflix, and experience a much-needed sense of community

Create a routine that includes getting up at a regular time, getting ready and dressed for the day, a work schedule, some way to move your body and some breaks to connect to others.

Remember that, as adults, we are the best predictors of how our students and children are doing; they are watching and listening to us. When we take care of ourselves, we're showing them how they can take care of themselves, too.

Are there any specific resources, articles or other information you recommend?

Some of the answers above were adapted from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) publications, including:

These resources from the NCTSN expand on some of the recommendations above:

These resources from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress can be helpful:

Educators can may find these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) useful:

These resources from Substance Abuse Mental Health Services (SAMSHA) may also provide support:

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A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Some M.S. teachers are creating interactive videos here...allowing Ts to embed Qs are various points throughout

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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15 min max for a screencast
Shared & Used by Dr. Lumetta

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Plans | Screen Recorder & Video Editor | Screencast-O-Matic

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Our Deluxe plan empowers you with top professional quality editing tools and screen recording. Go Premier and host your with more space, completely Ad-Free!

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Free for educator until June 30th, Liz and Sydney have both use this to support students in producing unique graphic organizers.

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There are currently twelve Education templates to choose from, but you can also create your own customized template using one of our blank templates if you have a specific process that you use in your classroom.

5 Paragraph Essay Outline
The 5 Paragraph Essay Outline is a template helps you teach your students how to create a layout for their project or paper. The template is pre-set up with five sections - Introduction, Thesis, Body Paragraph 1, Body Paragraph 2, Body Paragraph 3, and Conclusion.

Character Map
A template created specifically for educators, the Character Map helps teachers and students create complex and authentic characters by creating character profiles for them in their writing, or, will help them analyze characters that already exist in books they are reading.

Compare and Contrast
The Compare and Contrast Template is perfect for educators and their students who are outlining ideas for different kinds of comparison essays. The different sections help you to evaluate the similarities and differences between two distinct subjects.

Conflict Map
The Conflict Map helps teachers and students identify and examine the critical plot element, or conflict, in the story that they are reading.

Empathy Map
A template for students to gain an understanding of the way characters think and feel, and how that often correlates with their actions.

KWL
The KWL Template is a teaching tool that helps to organize thoughts and ideas before, after, and during a lesson. This template is useful for both group and independent learning and is ideal for visual, young, and ESL students. KWL represents Know, What, and Learn

KWHLAQ
The KWHLAQ Template is an extended version of the KWL Template and is a teaching tool that helps to organize thoughts and ideas before, after, and during a lesson. This template is useful for both group and independent learning and is ideal for visual, young, and ESL students. KWHLAQ stands for: Know, What, How, Learn, Apply, and Questions.

RAFT Writing Template
The RAFT Writing Template is a writing strategy that helps students to understand what the role of a writer is, the audience that they will address, the format that they will be writing in, and the topic that they will be covering. The template is divided into five sections - Role, Audience, Format, Topic, and Writing.

Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction
The Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction Template walks students through the process of understanding what it is that they have read and how to draw conclusions from it.

Persona Template
The template is divided into three sections: Picture and Name, Details, and Goal. It can be used for both marketing and education purposes.

SEED Discussion
The Seed Discussion Template is used to teach students how to engage in discussions about assigned readings.

Word Wall
A Word Wall is an ongoing, organized collection of words that are displayed to provide a visual reference for students throughout a unit of study or term.

Signing up is easy!

Click here for our Educator Pricing page, select the plan, and then enter your email address, school name, and whether you are a teacher or a student in the next screen.

When your plan is set up and ready to go, you will need to add students to your Storms so they can collaborate with you on their own devices. To do this, go into any Storm, and on the bottom menu bar click on 'Share'.You can share via URL, by sending the ID and Key of the Storm, or by entering the email addresses of the students you wish to share it with.

If you have signed up for one of our other plans already, there is no need to cancel your account, you just need to switch your account to the Education Plan. Note that Education Plans do not require a credit card!

To switch over your account, follow the steps on this help document titled " How do I switch to an education plan?"

If you need assistance switching your account over, contact us and we will be able to help you make the transfer. Any additional information on Stormboard's Education plans can be found in our help docs!

Want to save this article to review later? Pin the image below!

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Your Guide to Using Stormboard in the Classroom | Stormboard

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There are currently twelve Education templates to choose from, but you can also create your own customized template using one of our blank templates if you have a specific process that you use in your classroom. 5 Paragraph Essay Outline The 5 Paragraph Essay Outline is a template helps you teach your students how to create a layout for their project or paper.

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Here is a running record or recommendations for best practices in zoom.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Check-out hyper-docs as a useful way to use google docs link students to resources they need.  Andrew is already making it work in his classes.

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Listen to my interview with Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, authors of The HyperDoc Handbook ( transcript):

In many classrooms, a learning cycle looks something like this: First, we write plans for a series of lessons and a final assessment. We gather materials-handouts, websites, rubrics, video clips. Then we teach the lessons one at a time, to the whole class, at the same pace, distributing materials as needed. Finally, we end with a project, test, or other assessment.

It's a very teacher-directed model, which can limit learning in a number of ways:

Students don't feel much ownership for their own learning. Instead, they depend on the teacher to tell them when and how to learn the material.

Because so much of the teacher's time is spent in direct instruction, there's little opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

Because it's up to the teacher to adjust instruction for students with varied needs and levels of readiness, differentiation becomes one more thing to do.

ENTER THE HYPERDOC

A HyperDoc is a digital document-such as a Google Doc-where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are provided with hyperlinks to all of the resources they need to complete that learning cycle. Here's an example.

In the above HyperDoc, all of the bolded words are linked to outside resources. The right-hand column is set aside for students to take notes and do other kinds of thinking and planning as they work through the lesson.

One of the earliest iterations of the this type of "hub" was the WebQuest, which guided students through a lesson using all online resources. Now that Google tools like Docs and Slides have become so prevalent, teachers are using these tools to create similar lessons, choosing and mixing resources that go well beyond simple web pages. Last year, we looked at something called a playlist, which teacher Tracy Enos used to organize her language arts lessons and differentiate instruction for her students.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links; if you purchase from Amazon after going through these links, Cult of Pedagogy receives a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Meanwhile, teachers Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis were doing similar work in their own classrooms. They coined the term "HyperDoc" to describe their version of this, and in 2016, they published The HyperDoc Handbook to teach others their method for creating these lessons.

The book explains how HyperDocs work, why they have such an impact on instruction, and their model for how teachers can design HyperDocs for high-quality instruction. In the podcast episode above, I interviewed all three about their work. Here I will blend their expertise with some of my own thoughts about this exciting format.

BENEFITS OF HYPERDOCS

Fewer lectures. Teachers have been told for decades that we need to do less lecturing, to step away from being the sage on the stage and become more of a guide on the side. "I feel so bad for teachers when they hear that," Highfill says, "because they're like, 'Well, what am I supposed to do? I need to get information into their heads.'" A HyperDoc offers a solution by taking care of the direct instruction part of a lesson and offering a lot more as well.

More face-to-face interaction. A good HyperDoc runs itself, allowing students to work through it without needing you to guide them through each step. "Although it seems odd that you're putting a student in front of a device," Landis notes, "really what it's doing is freeing you up to move around and have increased face time with the students."

Flexibility. If one part of your lesson isn't working, you can just change it in the HyperDoc and the change takes effect immediately; no need to re-copy all your materials. Similarly, if each student gets their own copy of a HyperDoc, the elements can be changed on each to meet individual students' needs.

Multimodal opportunities. Because it is digital, a HyperDoc allows us to include all kinds of multimedia. "Living in this digital age, we're able to expose kids to different types of media that allows each child to access the learning or the content or the information in a way that's visually or auditorily appealing to them," Landis says. "I might be visual, and I might first study an image, then watch a video, and then I'm finally ready to tackle that article my teacher really wants me to read."

They don't know that maybe their text ... is at a different reading level," says Hilton. "Or they're able to use Privacy. If students' HyperDocs have been customized for them, no one else needs to know. "Read&Write for Google and just put headphones in, and that's just a little agreement between you and that student."

MODELS FOR BUILDING HYPERDOCS

Because HyperDocs are such adaptable tools, teachers structure them in many different ways, and you should experiment until you find a structure that works for you. Here are some options to consider:

Playlist: This model, explained in this article, follows a step-by-step sequence of activities that consist of learning activities as well as check-ins with the teacher and housekeeping tasks like setting up accounts on websites.

Self-Paced Learning: Explored in this post by math teacher Natalie McCutchen, this system lays out a path of lessons for a whole unit, along with links to review materials, pre-tests, and practice questions. Students decide how much practice they need and determine when to take the assessment for each learning goal. If they grasp the material quickly, they can test and move on.

5E Model: This first stage of this model is to Engage student interest. Next, students Explore the topic, Explain what they have learned, and Extend their learning by applying it in new situations. The last stage Evaluates student learning.

HyperDoc Model: The HyperDoc Handbook authors have developed a model that has some components of the 5Es above, but with some additions and adjustments. This template explains all 7 stages. One important component of this model is the first step, Explore. Highfill explains the value of this stage: "Kids are exploring and coming up with ideas and answers about a concept on their own, and it's engaging them from the beginning, instead of passively listening to a teacher explain something." During this time, while students explore, the teacher is actively gathering information: "I listen to my students," Highfill says, "I'm studying them and hearing to what level are they understanding a concept. I have the ability to pull a small group. I can work with my language learners during that time. The whole time I'm doing formative assessment in the classroom, which will then really be my basis for the next part of the lesson."

Agenda: This model, borrowed from the kind of planning done at a typical Montessori school, provides each student with a planner listing out their assignments for the week. Students decide how they want to use their class time each day, but are expected to complete all goals by the end of the week. Although these are traditionally done on paper, they could easily be converted to a HyperDoc format.

OTHER USES FOR HYPERDOCS

Building an extended lesson or unit is one of the most instructionally robust ways to use HyperDocs, but they can also be used for:

substitute teacher plans

video or podcast playlists

learning centers or stations

student-made HyperDocs

parent resources

departmental-, team-or grade-level HyperDocs to gather and share resources among teachers

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Start with a template.
Rather than build your first HyperDoc from scratch, you might find more success by starting with a pre-made template, like the ones available for free on HyperDocs.co. You could also start with a completely finished HyperDoc that someone else created for their own classroom and modify it for your own use.

Build in participation, collaboration, and multimedia.
One risk inherent in HyperDocs is that they could simply become online worksheets, replicating the kind of work students could just as easily do on paper. Take advantage of this medium by including ways for students to participate actively, collaborate with others, and learn from a variety of media: video, interactive posters like ThingLinks, podcasts, online flashcards, and so on.

Offer choice...
HyperDocs are designed to allow students to work at different speeds and navigate learning in a way that works best for them. So when you can, offer choices: Give students options for the kind and quantity of materials they need to learn the material, how they will practice and apply it, and how they will demonstrate their learning.

...but don't "kitchen sink" it.
If you stuff your HyperDoc with every possible resource on a topic ("everything but the kitchen sink"), you'll overwhelm students. Choose resources thoughtfully.

Give students HyperDocs training.
Even if your students have used HyperDocs in other classes, your design probably has its own unique qualities, so take the time to demonstrate how it should be used. And within the HyperDoc itself, provide clear directions for its use.

So if you create a HyperDoc," says Hilton, "in the header or footer, say Collaborate with other teachers.
You do not need to do this alone! Thousands of teachers are sharing and collaborating on the HyperDocs.co site and using the #hyperdocs hashtag on Twitter. And be sure to give credit to the person who created the original: " Created by, and maybe link to your Twitter handle or your email, for yourself, and then if you make a copy of someone's, we encourage you to give that person credit by saying Inspired by or Remixed HyperDoc originally created by, just because we want an inclusive, appreciative sharing community."

Don't feel like you have to create a HyperDoc for every lesson.
"That's not something that any teacher should feel pressured to do," says Landis, "and it's not really realistic. We don't want teachers doing any one thing all the time, because then it becomes redundant for our kids."

HyperDocs Resources: How to Learn More

Book: The HyperDocs Handbook

Website: HyperDocs.co: The online hub for Landis, Hilton, and Highfill's work on HyperDocs. It contains helpful blog posts and the Teachers Give Teachers system where participants share their own HyperDocs with one another. To browse and borrow other teachers' HyperDocs, all you need to do is register.
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How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching

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HyperDocs make room for more interactive, personalized, and student-directed learning. Let's look at how they work.

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Liz is using this to support student read alouds.  This program is free and allows students to share a brief video w/o upload that you can comment on.

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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As colleges across the country pivot online on very short notice, there are a host of complications - from laptops and Internet access to mental health and financial needs.

Digital learning experts have some surprising advice: do less.

"Please Do A Bad Job Of Putting Your Courses Online" is the title of one popular blog post by Rebecca Barrett-Fox, an assistant professor of sociology at Arkansas State University. Her point: "your class is not the highest priority of their or your life right now." She suggests not requiring students to show up online at a particular time and making all exams open-book and open-Internet.

Luke Waltzer, the director of the Center on Teaching and Learning at the Graduate Center, CUNY, laid out his guidelines for transitioning to a "minimum viable course" in a single Tweet:

Minimum Viable (transitioned) Course, if your department lets you:

*send students clear, bulleted email with things to do & resources

*include times when they can call you or otherwise connect

*suggest benchmarks, but don't require

*collect work via email, save into folders
- Luke Waltzer (@lwaltzer) March 13, 2020

Some colleges like Duke, Smith, MIT, Georgetown and Grinnell are starting to offer students the option of taking their Spring courses pass/fail given the circumstances.

In a time of virtual reality classrooms and AI-enabled automated tutoring programs, why are the experts in digital teaching calling for professors to simplify?

"Everyone's freaked out," says Sean Michael Morris. He's in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado, Denver and the director of Digital Pedagogy Lab, an organization focused on digital learning, technology and social justice.

Sean Michael Morris says that in this unprecedented time, "Recognizing that we're also human, we also have to figure this out together is incredibly important. The idea of being able to just port what you're doing in a classroom into an online environment has its own problems. But trying to do that in the midst of a pandemic is another problem altogether."

Morris and other colleagues have a tongue-in-cheek name for what they're doing right now: "Panic-gogy" (for panic + pedagogy).

On one level, Panicgogy means understanding students' practicalities. Some only have smartphones. Some have family responsibilities. Some have been sent home and need to find a new place to live, new job, and new health insurance. Professors may feel that the simplest option would be transitioning to class over video chat, but for all these practical reasons "It's not really realistic to think that students can just show up and start taking class at the same time every day in an online environment," says Morris.

Morris also suggests that professors not rely solely on the university's official software, known as a learning management system, but that they make themselves reachable by as many means as possible while preserving privacy: Facebook, Twitter, email, WhatsApp group. And make sure that students have the opportunity to be connected to each other as well.

He also suggests that professors make themselves as familiar as possible with all the types of help universities and communities are offering: from counseling, to emergency loans and other financial assistance.

Robin DeRosa is director of the Open Learning and Teaching Collaborative at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She says, "I think the first thing is we are not building online courses or converting your face to face courses to online learning. Really, what we're doing is we are trying to extend a sense of care to our students and trying to build a community that's going to be able to work together to get through the learning challenges that we have."

DeRosa points out that creating an excellent online course can take a year of development and collaboration among people with different skills.

"So if people think that in three to five days they're going to rejigger their course and build some super amazing online platform, that's probably unlikely to happen," she says.

DeRosa suggests that we ask students for their own suggestions on the best ways to keep in touch.

"The idea here is really to help our students feel included in the process of rethinking education for a challenging time."

DeRosa also suggests that professors bring COVID-19 onto the curriculum.

"Whatever field you teach, I think it's worth asking how is that field affected by the public health crisis and what contributions could the field be making right now to help people in their communities."

Even though the focus can sometimes be on technology, tools, and logistics, Morris, from the University of Colorado, Denver, says that what is really required from professors at this time is compassion.

"The real skill that Panicgogy requires is sort of a critical compassion, if you will, the ability to look at the situation as it really is. Figure out what's going on, how you can operate within that, and how you can be compassionate in that as well."

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'Panic-gogy': Teaching Online Classes During The Coronavirus Pandemic

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As colleges across the country pivot online on very short notice, there are a host of complications - from laptops and Internet access to mental health and financial needs. Digital learning experts have some surprising advice: do less.

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Real learning in a virtual classroom is difficult

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Let’s go on a tour of a future that we all should be trying to avoid.