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Distance Learning Support from authors of Amplify: Digital Teaching and Learning in K-6 Classroom

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We hope you are safe and healthy and that your loved ones are safe and healthy as well. While we wish the circumstances were different, we are happy to learn with you and alongside you as we expand our understanding of distance learning during the COVID-19 school closings. First and foremost--you are a TERRIFIC TEACHER. Take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate that! While there may be moments when you feel overwhelmed, don't forget that you know what to do with students and that this is just a different way of doing something that you are already good at. We are here to support your instruction and cheer for you as an educator so please let us know what we can do to help! It is important to note that this will not be a site that shares ALL the free resources that are available to students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, this will be a curated set of resources that we use with students to promote curiosity, student agency and deep thinking across the curriculum.

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Read the World Distance Learning Support

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We hope you are safe and healthy and that your loved ones are safe and healthy as well. While we wish the circumstances were different, we are happy to learn with you and alongside you as we expand our understanding of distance learning during the COVID-19 school closings.

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A mix of old favorite and current books read aloud.

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kids stories reading parents "read aloud" "read along" "read aloud books animated" "bedtime stories" storytime "picture books" "books for elementary school" education "learn to read" books language "teaching tools" "reading channel" "children's books" "stories for kids" preschool kindergarten

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Brightly Storyime brings you full-length picturebooks read out loud by our storyteller, Ms. Linda. Drop by for a new video every week! Brightly is a resource...

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Your students, if they're anything like mine, love to communicate through images-photos on Instagram, GIFs shared in a text, photo stories on Snapchat. And yet, so much of our conversation in school revolves around words. Understanding text is critical to students' success now and in the future. But do we also help students identify, read and understand images in order to become literate in the visual language that is all around us? The photo essay can be a great middle or high school assignment that will have strong appeal and grow your students' writing skills.

What Is a Photo Essay?

For those who aren't familiar with the term "photo essay," have no fear. A photo essay, in its simplest form, is a series of pictures that evokes an emotion, presents an idea or helps tell a story. You've been exposed to photo essays for your entire life-possibly without even knowing it. For example, you may have seen Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother:

An iconic image of the Great Depression, this picture, along with Lange's other gripping photos, helped Americans better understand the effects of poverty in California as well as across the nation. Migrant Mother is one of countless photographs that helped persuade, influence or engage viewers in ways that text alone could not.

Photo essays can feature text through articles and descriptions, or they can stand alone with simple captions to give context. The versatility of photo essays has helped the medium become a part of our culture for centuries, from the American Civil War to modern environmental disasters like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. This versatility is also what makes the photo essay a great educational asset in classrooms today; teachers can use them in any content area. Math students can use them to show a geometric concept in real life. Science students can document a chemistry process at home. Auto students can photograph the technique-and joys and frustrations-of learning a new procedure.

So, where does a teacher begin? Read further for tips and ideas for making photo essays a part of your teaching toolbox.

Start With Photos

Introducing photo essays as a means of changing lives and changing society can hook student interest in the medium. Begin by simply showing pictures and letting students discuss their reactions. Consider this famous photo of the field at Antietam during the Civil War. Share some of the photos from this collection from CNN of 25 of the Most Iconic Photographs or this list of 50 Influential Photographs That Changed Our World.

Each of these photographs stirs emotion and sends our minds searching for answers. As a warm-up assignment or series of assignments, have students choose (or assign randomly) a photograph to write about. What's the story? Why did this happen? Who was involved?

DIY Photographs

Before giving a formal photo essay assignment, give students an opportunity to practice and receive feedback. Consider presenting students with several open-ended, ungraded challenges like "For class tomorrow, take a photo that depicts 'Struggle.'" Other possible photo topics: chaos, frustration, friendship, school. Have students email you their photo homework and share it as a slideshow. Talk about the images. Do they convey the theme?

You can give examples or suggestions; however, giving too many examples and requirements can narrow students' creativity. The purpose of this trial run is to generate conversation and introduce students to thinking like photographers, so don't worry if the photos aren't what you had in mind; it's about getting feedback on what the student had in mind.

Technique 101

Even though the goal of a photo essay is to influence and create discussion, there is still benefit in giving students a crash course on simple photography concepts. Don't feel like you have to teach a master-level course on dark-room development. Even a simple overview on the "Rule of Thirds" and the importance of perspective can be enough to help students create intentional, visually stirring photographs.

You can teach these ideas directly or have students do the work by researching on their own. They have most likely seen hundreds of movies, advertisements and photos, so these lessons are simply labeling what they've already experienced. Having some knowledge of composition will not only help students improve their visual literacy, it will also help empower them to take photos of their own.

Choose Your Purpose

Are students telling their own stories of their neighborhoods or their families? Are they addressing a social issue or making an argument through their images and text? A photo essay could be a great assignment in science to document a process or focus on nature.

If you are just getting started, start out small: Have students create a short photo essay (two to five images) to present a topic, process or idea you have been focusing on in class. Here's a Photo Essay Planning Guide to share with your students.

With pictures becoming a dominant medium in our image-filled world, it's not a question of if we should give students practice and feedback with visual literacy, it's a question of how. Photo essays are a simple, engaging way to start. So, what's your plan?

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Teaching the Photo Essay Free Lesson Guide - WeAreTeachers

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Your students, if they're anything like mine, love to communicate through images-photos on Instagram, GIFs shared in a text, photo stories on Snapchat. And yet, so much of our conversation in school revolves around words. Understanding text is critical to students' success now and in the future.

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Get our best resources as a monthly subscriber! Learn More

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Celebrities read aloud TONS of picture books.

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Have you ever tasted an Arab taco?

When was the Arab taco invented?

What is shawarma?

Find it out

How are currency exchange rates determined?

What was the gold standard?

Which type of currency exchange rate system does the U.S. use?

Find it out
Which of the following is usually NOT a factor in determining currency exchange rates?

Test your knowledge

Based on information from the Wonder, what was Lou Castro known for when he was alive?

Test your knowledge

What is an okapi?

Where do okapis live?

What do okapis eat?

Find it out

How can I use Wonderopolis?

What are the parts of a Wonder?

How do writers make a Wonder?

Find it out

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Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease | Wonderopolis

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Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease

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Local bookstore, High Five in Florence, MA, has a template for shelf talkers on their site for kids to complete and send to them for display on a real bookstore's shelves.

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Podcast from author, Grace Lin. Students can ALSO submit book reviews!

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Grace Lin and Laurie Keller answer this wonderful kid question: "If you were to become a character in your book, which would it be and why?"

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How to Write Newspaper Article for Grades 3-5

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How to Write Newspaper Article for Grades 3-5

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Many of these resources aren't free, but I'm happy to help you develop alternatives!

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How to Write a Newspaper Article for Grades 3-5

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Inspire budding journalists in grades 3-5 with these news-article-writing resources from Scholastic, including newspaper jargon and graphic organizers.

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Video Minilessons from Nonfiction Author, Melissa Stewart

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Video Minilessons from Nonfiction Author, Melissa Stewart

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Since many schools have been temporarily shut down in an effort to slow the coronavirus's spread, I wanted to mention some of the educational resources available on my website. They include a half-dozen
video mini-lessons that look at various aspects of informational writing, including research, text features, text structures, rich language, voice, and revisions.

I also have a variety of other materials, including curriculum guides, readers theaters, read aloud guides, and activity pages. Many of these reading and writing resources can be used even if you don't have copies of my books.

I wish you all well during this difficult time!

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Video Mini-Lessons for Students at Shutdown Schools

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Since many schools have been temporarily shut down in an effort to slow the coronavirus's spread, I wanted to mention some of the educational resources available on my website. They include a half-dozen video mini-lessons that look at various aspects of informational writing, including research, text features, text structures, rich language, voice, and revisions.

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Video PD - Mike Flynn's "Online Teaching Support Group"

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Video PD - Mike Flynn's "Online Teaching Support Group"

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Even though Mike Flynn was our math consultant for a year, these resources aren't restricted to math.

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The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak may result in school closures requiring you to teach your classes online. Mike Flynn and Sarah Bent from Mount Holyoke College have created a virtual professional learning community to support educators (PreK-16) in this transition to online education. Join this group to access all of the free resources, attend our live trainings and/or receive recordings of them, and get the support you need.

Please fill out this form to join us for one of our free sessions to support your role as an online facilitator.

*If you already filled out the form to join one of our sessions, you're already part of this group.

Session 1 - March 11, 2020
Access Our Google Drive Folder

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The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak may result in school closures requiring you to teach your classes online. Mike Flynn and Sarah Bent from Mount Holyoke College have created a virtual professional learning community to support educators (PreK-16) in this transition to online education.

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Blog Post - "A Short List of Distance Learning Ideas" from Two Writing Teachers 

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Blog Post - "A Short List of Distance Learning Ideas" from Two Writing Teachers 

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GREAT ideas for supporting and teaching writers online.

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At the time this post is published, we teachers and the rest of the globe find ourselves amidst a global pandemic, COVID-19. Schools, businesses, cities, even entire countries, have been, and continue to be, shuttered in an effort to mitigate the effects of an unprecedented world health crisis. As we know, one of the consequences of our national effort to contain the spread of this virus is to entertain ideas for distance (remote) learning. And while this idea hold great promise, it certainly does not provide any guarantees. If schools remain closed for long periods of time, and it looks like many will, what will the effects be on our children's academic growth? Will distance learning provide a mitigating tool that lessens the effect of losing significant amounts of in-person teaching? If schools are closed, what type of at-home learning experiences are best for kids? These, as well as dozens of other questions, may remain unanswerable for the time being.

As Stacey recently, Two Writing Teachers plans to continue working to support our community of teachers, coaches, administrators, and readers with topical posts on writing workshop and/or best practices in writing instruction. But please know: we will be navigating the uncertainty alongside you! We are not experts and do not claim to hold the answer for our readers. Nor do we stand necessarily uniform in our professional opinions regarding remote learning. We are well aware of the costs that excessive screen usage can enact upon families. I am reminded of Mary Anne Wolf's latest book, Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital Age . Pointing out some of the negative effects of the current global consumption of screen time, Wolfe writes (2018),

"There are unseen costs for every age. By a calculus we largely neglect, the more constant the digital stimulation, the more prevalent the boredom and ennui expressed by even very young children when we take the devices away. Further, the more the devices are used, the more dependent the family becomes on longer periods of access to digital sources of entertainment, information, and distraction by all its members. Hyperattention, continuous partial attention, and what the psychiatrist Edward Hallowell calls environmentally induced attentional 'deficits' pertain to us all" (p. 71).

These questions I pose above have me thinking about my one little word for 2020: Balance. How can we strike a balance, a balance between device-based distance learning support and tried-and-true physical experiences in a way that supports our writers in some positive ways? While I am aware many wonderful and generous educators and authors have already compiled and curated extensive lists (thank you to them!), allow me to share just a few that you may (or may not) find helpful in your efforts to guide and support students and parents at home. This list in no way indicates personal usage or even recommendations. However, I can assure you they come from trusted sources and therefore deserve our consideration:
Digital Resources and Ideas:

- Former teacher and author of more than 35 books for kids, Kate Messner has curated a wonderful compilation of authors and artists reading aloud their original works. In Kate's own words: Kate Messner" This is a library of resources for kids, families, teachers, and librarians to make sure that reading & learning can happen anywhere this spring."

Since in any writing workshop, it is important we offer a small collection of high quality mentor texts for our writers, this site may provide support in that regard. Click here to see what Kate has put together: Read, Wonder, and Learn! Favorite Authors & Illustrators Share Resources for Learning Anywhere - Spring 2020

Writing Camp with Hoppy and Ranger- Teacher and writer Tammy Mulligan has generously pledged to support writers at home with an ongoing virtual writing camp. Tammy's lessons are engaging and intended for writers grades 1-4. She has linked a Padlet on which she posts her own writing and allows students to do the same (should they wish to do so - it is completely student-safe). Students that post writing can even receive feedback from her! Check it out at:
https://teachersbooksreaders.com/category/writingcamp/

Angela Stockman Writing Lessons for Middle School - On her webpage, author and teacher Angela Stockman writes, " This 8 lesson course is designed for middle school writers. It includes opportunities to engage in research, gather facts, and compose a personal narrative." Find her lessons here:

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's Notebooking Resource - Keeping a writer's notebook and making it part of our daily writing lives remains an essential structure to growing as writers. Each day around 1 p.m. EST (for the foreseeable future), Amy plans to post a short talk that presents an idea around notebooking. Find her site here: Sharing Our Notebooks

Melanie Meehan's Writing Workshop Resources - Author, teacher, and Two Writing Teachers co-author Melanie Meehan has generously collected, curated, and posted an impressive array of Writing Units of Study resources for upper grade writers. Melanie's collection includes both videos and charts. Find this treasure trove of resources here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9cQI9YOa0FoNjVZdlRERzB4VnM

Author Jarrett Krosoczka's Free Webcast: For those writers who aspire to create their own graphic novels or comics, they can find a wonderful lesson posted each weekday at 2:00 on Jarrett Krosoczka's Youtube channel. Drawing tutorials will be posted for at least a couple of weeks. Check out this resource here: Jarrett J. Krosoczka-author & illustrator .
Non-digital resources:

Printable graphic novel/comic templates: From author Jarrett Lerner, writers can create conversations for characters, comic book drawings, silly illustrations, etc. on a variety of click and print images or templates. Find those resources here:

Journals: Prep some journals and write alongside kids! This idea is fairly simple and may be appropriate to suggest to caregivers who are capable of supporting writers in this way. This time is historic, and as Clare Landrigan reminded us in her slice of life , historians are now encouraging journaling, as these accounts will someday become primary sources for this time period.

Greenbelt Writing: Encourage writers to do that "greenbelt" writing students never have time to do! Not familiar with greenbelt writing? As Stacey wrote in her of Ralph Fletcher's back in April of 2017,

"Greenbelt writing is raw, unmanicured, and uncurated. In other words, it's the kind of informal, low-stakes writing kids are comfortable composing, but rarely get the chance to do in many writing workshops. Ralph wants kids to get back to powerful writing that is personal, passionate, joyful, whimsical, playful, infused with choice, humor, and voice, and reflective of the quirkiness of childhood. The whole idea behind greenbelt writing is to infuse energy into students; to spark, engage, and help kids gain their stride as writers."

Support Creativity: Provide paper and markers and give writers a chance to create. Keep it simple!

Thank you cards: Encourage and support writers in composing a daily thank you card to be written and mailed to someone who is helping during this crisis.

Screenplays: Suggest writers experiment with composing their own screenplays, beginning with storyboarding. One article perhaps worth checking out is here.

If you have not had an opportunity to read Meghan Hargrave's recent post entitled, "Rethinking Materials, Routines, and Collaboration: What Does Independence and Interdependence Look Like From Home?", I would encourage you to read it here. As Meghan so starkly writes, "The students who rely on you each day, the ones who are constantly asking questions, looking for positive affirmations, and seeking the scaffolds you provide, are now left to their own devices."

I hope today's post provides perhaps some support to you, as you attempt to navigate this unprecedented time in history. Please leave other writing resources you recommend in the comments section below. After all, we are in this together.

For more than 29 years, Lanny has taught, coached, presented, staff developed, and consulted within the exciting and enigmatic world of literacy. With unyielding passion and belief in the possibility of workshop teaching, Lanny has worked to support students, teachers, and school administrators around the country in outgrowing themselves as both writers and readers. Working first as a classroom teacher, then as a coach and TCRWP Staff Developer, Lanny is now a literacy specialist, working and living in the great state of Connecticut. Outside of literacy, he enjoys raising his three ambitious young daughters with his wife, and playing the piano. Find him on this blog, as well as on Twitter @LannyBall. Lanny is also a former co-author of a blog dedicated to supporting writing teachers and coaches that maintain classroom writing workshops, twowritingteachers.org. View all posts by Lanny Ball

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A Very Short List of Distance Learning Ideas

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How can we strike a balance between device-based distance learning support and tried-and-true physical experiences in a way that supports our writers in some positive ways? While I am aware many wonderful and generous educators and authors have already compiled and curated extensive lists, allow me to share just a few that you may (or...

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This video tutorial comes from a teacher who's in his sixth week of online learning.

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I work with 5th graders, and they all have laptops and access to the internet from home. This process would work in middle and high school as well. Here are ...

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Jess Lifshitz is a brilliant fifth grade teacher in Illinois and Heinemann Fellow. This project is just one of her many amazing ideas.

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I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone, but one of my favorite assignments is one I give throughout the year as homework for my 5th graders. It is called the Learn Something New project. Essentially, they have to learn something new (creative title, right?)

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I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone, but one of my favorite assignments is one I give throughout the year as homework for my 5th graders. It is called the Learn Something New project. Essentially, they have to learn something new (creative title, right?)

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I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone, but one of my favorite assignments is one I give throughout the year as homework for my 5th graders. It is called the Learn Something New project. Essentially, they have to learn something new (creative title, right?)
— Jess Lifshitz (@Jess5th) March 16, 2020

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I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone, but one of my favorite assignments is one I give throughout the year as homework for my 5th graders. It is called the Learn Something New project. Essentially, they have to learn something new (creative title, right?)

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I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone, but one of my favorite assignments is one I give throughout the year as homework for my 5th graders. It is called the Learn Something New project. Essentially, they have to learn something new (creative title, right?)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone, but one of my favorite assignments is one I give throughout the year as homework for my 5th graders. It is called the Learn Something New project. Essentially, they have to learn something new (creative title, right?)

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Crash Course Offers Roadmap for Quick Transition to Online Learning

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Crash Course Offers Roadmap for Quick Transition to Online Learning

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Professional Development

Crash Course Offers Roadmap for Quick Transition to Online Learning

The Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI) has launched a free online course to help instructors and institutions that need to make a quick move to remote learning. The one-hour program, " Rapid Transition to Online Learning" (RTOL), bills itself as a quick-start guide to maintaining continuity of teaching and learning in a crisis.

"Though many schools and universities have plans to cover short-term closures, we realized that we are in uncharted territory with coronavirus," noted Errol St. Clair Smith, FLGI's director of global development. "We knew from experience that making a transition from traditional to distance learning is challenging under normal circumstances. Clearly, shifting to remote learning overnight would be more difficult (and there would be much to consider.) So we started with the question: If a school had just one hour to prepare to teach remotely, what are the most essential things the school leader, IT managers, and teachers would need to know and do?"

The RTOL program is based on the flipped learning framework as well as educator best developed under the guidance of the Academy of Active Learning Arts and Sciences (AALAS). Topics covered in the course include:

Pedagogy for remote teaching;

Communications;

Planning;

Individual assignments;

Online group sessions;

Adapting assessment;

K-12-specific challenges;

Online learning spaces;

IT infrastructure;

Student feedback;

Evidence-based strategies; and

Just-in-time professional development.

Participants receive step-by-step transition plans, checklists for administrators and IT managers, a video tutorial for teachers, as well as access to a "Rapid Response Support Team" of experienced distance learning educators.

For more information and to register for the course, visit the AALAS site.

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academy of active learning arts and sciences

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Crash Course Offers Roadmap for Quick Transition to Online Learning -- Campus Technology

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Professional Development The Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI) has launched a free online course to help instructors and institutions that need to make a quick move to remote learning. The one-hour program, " Rapid Transition to Online Learning" (RTOL), bills itself as a quick-start guide to maintaining continuity of teaching and learning in a crisis.

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Drawing Activities from author/illustrator Jarrett Lerner

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Drawing Activities from author/illustrator Jarrett Lerner

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I would attach a read aloud about imagination or creativity to these activities.

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The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless explicit permission is granted.
Below will find: Blank Comic Book Pages, Special Activities, "Finish This Story!" Story Starters, "How to Draw..." Instructions, "Finish This Comic!" Comics, and Drawing/Writing Prompts.
More activities are being added to this page regularly, so make sure to check back for more. And if you like the activities below, don't miss my activity books, GIVE THIS BOOK A TITLE and GIVE THIS BOOK A COVER, available wherever books are sold!
Click on the numbers below to find a variety of different blank comic book pages. Each number corresponds to a different arrangement of panels on the page. Print out a few of each, or a bunch of one kind, and make your own comic!

Special Activities

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the Introduction to Hand-Lettering sheets!

Click HERE to download the above Thank You activities!

Click HERE to download the above Haiku Diary activity!

Click HERE to download the above Thank You activities!

Click HERE to download the above Earth Day activities!

Click HERE to download the above Earth Day activities!

Click HERE to download the above Halloween activities!

Click HERE to download the above Halloween activities!

Click HERE to download the above Halloween activities!

Click HERE to download the above Halloween activities!

"Finish This Story!" Story Starters

Click HERE to download the above "Finish This Story!" activities!

Click HERE to download the above "Finish This Story!" activities!

"How to Draw..." Instructions

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

Click HERE to download the above "How to Draw..." activities!

"Finish This Comic!" Comics

Below you will find a collection of comics that are incomplete. Look closely at the pictures, then figure out what you need to add to complete the comic!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Click HERE to download the above incomplete comics!

Drawing/Writing Prompts

Below you will find some drawing prompt activity sheets. Completed drawings can also be used as creative writing prompts.

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheets!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above activity sheet!

Click HERE to download the above Spanish version activity sheets!

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The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless explicit permission is granted. Below will find: Blank Comic Book Pages, Special Activities, "Finish This Story!"

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Article - Ten Ways to Overcome Barriers to Student Engagement Online

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Article - Ten Ways to Overcome Barriers to Student Engagement Online

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These tips are a little too late, but there are some helpful things to keep in mind as we start teaching online.

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By Ali Briggs.

Student engagement is a concept often discussed in education and an abundance of research exists on the topic. Student engagement is something instructors want to see and feel in their classrooms. Generally, student engagement tends to be viewed as the level of interest students show towards the topic being taught; their interaction with the content, instructor, and peers; and their motivation to learn and progress through the course.

Online learning presents new challenges when compared to a traditional classroom because students are separated from their instructor by a computer screen. How can we engage our students in the content, learning activities, and assessments? How can we prevent feelings of frustration or isolation and keep them motivated? These questions are frequently asked by online instructors looking to maintain the same levels of engagement they see and feel in their face-to-face classrooms.

I have a deep interest in this area and decided to explore it further by completing an online workshop from the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) called Fundamentals: Increasing Interaction & Engagement.The learning objectives of the workshop were twofold: Identify strategies that help overcome obstacles to student engagement and develop a plan to improve student engagement in your online course. Obstacles to student engagement were broken down into three areas: social, administrative, and motivational. Looking at student engagement barriers in this way made them seem easier to overcome. I found the experience helpful and have summarized ten ways to overcome barriers to student engagement online based on what was discussed during the workshop.
OLC is a professional organization devoted to advancing quality online learning. They offer a variety of workshops on topics related to online learning. William & Mary faculty and staff can contact April Lawrence for OLC workshop registration information.
Overcome Social Barriers

It's important to build community in an online course. Students may become disengaged if they feel isolated or if they don't get to interact with their instructor and peers. Foster community in your online course and overcome social barriers to student engagement with the following strategies:

1. Make first contact before the course begins. Send an email message to introduce yourself and provide instructions on how to get started. Add a personal touch by including a short video message relaying the same information so students can get a sense of your personality.

2. Create an introductory activity. Connect your students with each other and make them feel like they're part of a community of scholars. Create a simple Blackboard discussion forum for introductions. You can also ask students to upload a picture to their Blackboard profile.

3. Provide opportunities for learner interaction. Blackboard discussion forums, Padlet walls, or VoiceThread activities are great ways to promote student interaction. You can also create online study groups where students meet through Google Hangouts or another video conferencing service. The first study group could be guided by instructor-created questions and then you could challenge students to come up with future questions. WM Apps are an easy way for students to develop content together and WM Wikis also provides opportunities for collaboration.

4. Encourage sharing. Social media can be used to engage students in your content. Students can share resources related to the course informally through a Facebook group or Twitter hashtag. You can even embed a Twitter feed into your Blackboard course!

Overcome Administrative Barriers

Students may get frustrated if they don't know how and when to contact you. They may also get discouraged if they don't know their progress in the course or if expectations aren't clearly communicated. Set your students up for success using these strategies to overcome administrative barriers to student engagement:

1. Establish contact methods and hours. Communicate your email address and phone number as well as the best days and times to reach you. Let students know in advance when you'll be away longer than 24 hours to avoid feelings of frustration. Besides email and phone, you can hold online office hours using Adobe Connect or Google Hangouts. These services allow you to share your screen with students and have drawing capabilities.

2. Provide directions often and in various ways. Be clear and concise with your directions and expectations. Also provide your directions in multiple ways, such as through email and within the online course. If you create a video with instructions on how to complete a task be sure to provide the same directions in text.

3. Provide effective and timely feedback. This is important in any course, especially online. Make your presence known in a discussion forum by getting involved early and asking questions that keep the discussion going. Students should also be aware of their progress throughout the duration of the course. Blackboard's Assignment tools and Grade Center can help you communicate student progress. Self-check activities also help guide student learning and prepare students for course assessments.

Overcome Motivation Barriers

Procrastination can happen to the best of us! Students may face additional distractions when completing online course work from the comfort of their own home or in a busy coffee shop. Overcome motivation barriers to student engagement and keep your students on track using these strategies:

1. Chunk your content. Simply put, chunking means breaking down information into smaller pieces that are easier for the brain to digest. Content should be organized in a logical way that guides the learning process. Conceptually-related information should be grouped together making it more meaningful and easier to understand. Video lectures should also be broken into shorter segments, usually 5-7 minutes. Read more about chunking from eLearning Coach Connie Malamed.

2. Send reminders to keep students on track. Populate the course calendar with deadlines and send reminders to your students so they stay on track. If a student falls behind, make time to speak with that student on what he or she can do to get back on track. It's also helpful to provide some sort of checklist for students so they know what they have to complete and when.

3. Use a variety of multimedia and modalities. You will have different types of learners in your course and using a variety of content-delivery methods and learning activities will help keep them engaged. If your course is text-based, consider including images or graphs to clarify concepts. You can also replace some of the text with videos or audio depending on the topic. Small changes can drastically improve the learning experience for your students.

As you can tell, there are many different ways to engage your students in an online environment! What strategies have you used to increase student engagement in your online or blended course? Share your ideas by commenting below.

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Ten Ways to Overcome Barriers to Student Engagement Online (Academic Technology: At the College of William and Mary) - OLC

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Learn more about student engagement in one of our workshops: Fundamentals: Engaging Learners In Online Discussions or Fundamentals: Increasing Interaction & Engagement By Ali Briggs. Student engagement is a concept often discussed in education and an abundance of research exists on the topic. Read More >

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I love multimodal reading opportunities! You could even run podcast clubs like book clubs: assign a podcast to groups of students, have them listen and jot thinking, post questions and have discussions online, etc.

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Podcasts are a terrific way to learn something new, whether you're at home, in the car, or in the classroom. They cover a wide variety of topics, so there's something to interest pretty much everyone. These podcasts for kids and teens are sure to engage young listeners and start interesting conversations. Plus, we've suggested enrichment activities to go along with each one!

Disclaimer: We've divided the list by grade level because some might be more intense or cover more mature topics than is appropriate for younger students. You are the best judge for your own kids or students, though, so we recommend vetting all material before sharing.

Best Podcasts for Kids in Elementary School

Teachers can get free access to this podcast to share with their class. The episodes focus on subjects in STEAM and language arts, all geared toward kids in grades K-5.

Activity to try: Use these educational podcasts as a launching pad for STEM challenges. Visit the Tinkercast website for lots of "podject" ideas!

On each episode, kids collaborate with famous, diverse authors to grow their story ideas. Then the author takes those seeds and writes an original story that you get to hear on the show!

Activity to try: Have students brainstorm a list of their own potential story ideas together. Then, ask each student to use one or more of those ideas to write a short story on their own.

Like Story Seeds, Story Pirates encourages kids to submit their own ideas. But instead of turning them into stories, the show transforms those ideas into songs and sketch comedy. So fun!

Activity to try: Take your students' story ideas and challenge them to write their own funny sketches and songs. This will really encourage their creativity.

In this debate podcast, participants take two different items and argue it out to determine which is best. Topics include "Hot Sauce vs. Butter" and "Palm Trees vs. Pine Trees."

Activity to try: This is such a fun way to introduce debating skills to kids. Hold your own "this or that" debates with students, or try this list of funny debate topics for all ages.

This podcast adapts folktales from around the world into music-rich radio plays for kids. Each episode explores universal themes like friendship, persistence, creativity, and generosity, and ends with an activity that inspires a deeper conversation between children and grown-ups. This is one of those podcasts for kids that appeals to adults too!

Activity to try: Print the free coloring page that goes along with each episode and let kids use their crayons or markers while they listen.

Life on Earth can be awfully strange, don't you think? The folks at Radiolab, creators of popular podcasts for adults and teens, produce this special series just for kids. Each episode has accompanying "shovels," which are activities to help kids dig deeper. This one is perfect for the classroom.

Activity to try: The drawing prompts for each episode are really unique. Have kids complete them, then display them on a bulletin board or slideshow for others to see.

These original audio stories are filled with whimsy and wonder for young listeners and their families. This is one of the best podcasts for kindergartners.

Activity to try: Let kids write, illustrate, and make a recording of their own original story.

Kids have all kinds of curious questions-it's one of the things we love most about them! This educational podcast for kids from Vermont Public Radio tackles such topics as Why Do People Have Nightmares?, Do Animals Get Married?, and Why Do Lions Roar?

Activity to try: Have kids start a log, using a special notepad, of all the crazy questions they can think of. They should take the notebook with them everywhere they go.

In an era of fake news, kids need to be able to determine what's true and what's false. And what better way to do that than a game show that puts kids in the driver's seat, adults on the hot seat, and a sound-effects robot strapped to the roof? Each week, a kid interviews two experts on a particular topic, one of whom is a genuine, credentialed expert, the other a liar. Hilarious and fast-paced, the show teaches kids to ask insightful questions, weigh the evidence before them, and trust their gut.

Activity to try: Play an in-class or at-home version of Two Truths and a Lie to polish truth-telling skills.

There's a whole lot going on in the world these days, and not all of the news is kid-friendly. KidNuz informs in a way that explains but doesn't overwhelm kids. Their mission statement says it all: "To engage the next generation with news that will inform without fear and educate without opinion."

Activity to try: Pick an issue and do a "deep dive." Specifically, look for the upside of a situation-people helping people, people bonding together, etc.

A fun-filled podcast for kids all about ethical questions that get kids and adults thinking. "Do you have to love your sibling?" "Are some lies actually OK?" "Is it ever OK to fight back against a bully?"

Activity to try: Have your students write down questions to which they don't know the answers and discuss them (after vetting them, of course).

If you're looking for science podcasts for kids, this one tells stories about science discoveries with help from actual scientists. They explore things like why cats always seem to land on their feet and what a journey to the center of the Earth would look like.

Activity to try: Discuss the topic of any given episode as a class, opening it up to questions and encouraging further research.

Follow the ongoing battle between Dr. Floyd and the evil mastermind Dr. Steve (along with his sock-shaped assistant, Fidgert). During all their fighting, Dr. Floyd learns about history. With more than 400 episodes, there are plenty to choose from.

Activity to try: Have students write their own episodes, including a historical event that they love or that you have covered in class.

The host of Brains On! and her kid co-host talk with food scientists and snake handlers, put on plays, write songs, and so much more. It's a science lesson for your ears!

Activity to try: Listen to the episode " Books: How they're made and how your brain reads them." Afterward, have a discussion with your class about the many ways that reading is great for them.

This is an online treasure trove of free audio stories. You can listen to a mixture of original stories, fairy tales, and specially adapted myths and histories. Storynory has published an episode every week since 2005, so there is plenty to love and something for everyone.

Activity to try: Have students write an original short story and then present it to the class.

In search of podcasts for curious kids? Every two weeks, the creative host of this podcast takes questions from kids and spins them into an entertaining tale. Check out What If Clouds Were Made of Cotton Candy? or What If Magic Didn't Exist?

Activity to try: Make a top-10 list of your own what-ifs. Write a story, create a comic strip, or make a drawing to go with your favorites.

In a distant future that's either really bad or really good (depending on whose side you're on), two strange and unlikely champions embark on a series of adventures to stop a wicked A.I., and in the process must struggle to understand "old-fashioned" ideas like "kindness" and "just hanging out not doing much."

Activity to try: Start a discussion on how devices such as smartphones impact students' interactions with the people around them. Discuss the pros and cons of technology and the things we can do to be more connected with one another.

James Hawkins helps his mom run a motel in modern-day Montauk, Long Island. When a mysterious man washes up on the beach with a treasure map tattooed on his chest, James discovers that Billy Bones is, in fact, a time-traveling pirate from the 18th century. James and his new friends, Morgan and Max, follow the map right into a magical portal that leads them back nearly 300 years and into a swashbuckling adventure.

Activity to try: Have students write the story of what they would do if they discovered someone was a time-traveler. Would they want to enter the portal and go back in time?

In the spirit of Mayan folklore, an 11-year-old Belizean girl accidentally invokes an evil spirit that threatens to consume the rainforest. She goes on a thrilling journey to save her home and her people.

Activity to try: Ask students to write their own story of what they would do to protect their home. Do they see any similarities to the environmental problems we face today?

Finn Caspian is an 8-year-old boy aboard the Famous Marlowe 280 Interplanetary Exploratory Space Station. He and his friends Abigail, Elias, and Vale are Explorers Troop 301, taking off from the Marlowe to explore uncharted planets, help the occasional alien, and solve a mystery that threatens to destroy their space station.

Activity to try: Have students create their own illustrations of Finn's adventures. Would they want to be among his explorer friends?

Best Podcasts for Kids in Middle School

In each episode, three real middle school students team up to talk about their favorite book. Episodes also include an interview with the author, celebrity readings, and more.

Activity to try: Put your students into groups of three, and have them record their own podcast discussion about a book they all love.

This clever teen has been uncovering the mysteries of the universe in this podcast since he was 11. Several years in, he's tackling topics like how to fix recycling, why math is so hard to love, and other subjects tweens can relate to in his educational podcasts.

Activity to try: Before listening to a podcast, pose the title question to students and ask them to think, write, or discuss their initial responses. After listening, see how their opinions stack up to Tai's findings.

Though this podcast focuses mainly on Australian girls and women, their stories are meaningful around the world. Learn about athletes, scientists, adventurers, and more.

Activities to try: Challenge students to try to find girls or women in their own lives who have had similar experiences to the ones featured in this podcast.

Listen as world-famous radio reporter Eleanor foils devious plots, outwits crafty villains, and goes after the Big Story. Eleanor's pursuit of truth takes her into orbit, out to sea, and even to the halls of Congress! Her adventures are entertaining and informative.

Activity to try: Have a discussion about Eleanor and her values, especially the importance of access to information, being inclusive to different points of view, and telling the truth. Then have your students write about what their values are.

If you're looking for podcasts for kids who are into hip-hop, this one for tweens might be just their speed. Episodes follow the main character, Antoine, a boy who is bullied and finds a magical book that transports him to another world.

Activity to try: Have students create an illustrated version of the story as they follow along with the podcast.

Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about all things space: stars, planets, humans in space, and so much more. He also interviews a lot of amazing people, from astronaut Buzz Aldrin to actress Olivia Munn to former president Jimmy Carter.

Activity to try: Have students research the science topic covered in a given episode, learning more about the topic and sharing their findings.

Explore all of the oddities of the English language! Filled with good humor and levity, this podcast will help students explore the roots of words and phrases that we use every day.

Activity to try: Have students write their own grammatical or linguistic jokes, using these as starter examples.

Looking for educational podcasts about history for kids? This title speaks for itself. Learn about people and events that are often overlooked in a typical history class.

Activity to try: Choose a popular unit of historical study, like the Civil War or Great Depression, then have students research the little-told stories related to it. They could even write a readers theater based on their findings.

This is an award-winning listening-skills platform, searchable by topic area or school subject. It advances classroom learning by providing additional content and building listening skills. There is also a focus on current events that helps keep the learning tied to the real world.

Activity to try: Each episode comes equipped with teaching resources, so pick the topic that is best for your class and get listening.

Humans are a curious lot as this educational podcast attests to in its mission statement: "True stories of inspiration, humor, and the incredible achievements of all types of people, many of which are sadly under-shared."

Activity to try: Have your students reach out to relatives, friends, or neighbors and ask them to share stories from their past.

This thought-provoking podcast tells the origin story of middle schoolers Marcus Aronson and Mondo Ramirez, also known as Cupid and the Grim Reaper. Can these two mismatched heroes overcome their differences and learn to harness the powers of life, death, and love?

Activity to try: Start a conversation about what it would be like to be a teen with superpowers. Discuss the perspectives of the main characters. How would students feel if they were 13 years old and found out they are Cupid or the Grim Reaper?

Best Podcasts for Kids in High School

This inspiring podcast celebrates all the teens and tweens who are innovating, inventing, and making the world a better place. Listening to these episodes will remind students that they can accomplish great things at any age.

Activity to try: Do some research to find more inspiring teens and tweens, locally or around the world. Ask students to create their own podcast episode about their amazing finds.

Music-loving teens will be fascinated by this podcast in which musicians talk about the songs they've written, telling the stories of their creation. With guests that range from Billie Eilish to Yo-Yo Ma, everyone will find music they love here.

Activity to try: Have students choose a song they love, and see if they can find out more about the story of its creation and recording. They can record their own podcast or write an article about their discoveries.

We all have moments in our lives that we'd rather forget, but there's something reassuring about knowing other people feel the same way. This podcast invites adults (including celebrities) to share embarrassing things they wrote as kids. Teens will feel a real connection and also get an important reminder that we really do live down even the most embarrassing things.

Activity to try: Invite students to write a journal entry or letter to themselves about an embarrassing time in their lives. Encourage them to return to it in a few years to see if they still feel the same way.

Ever wanted to know more about your subconscious, the part of your brain that influences and manipulates you without your even knowing it? This podcast dives deep into exactly that topic.

Activity to try: Encourage students to take some time to reflect on their own subconscious, perhaps in a journal entry. Can they identify times when it had a real influence on their actions?

This long-running NPR favorite is one of the best educational podcasts for kids in high school. They'll get a chance to challenge their own knowledge of news and current events while laughing at the show's guests as they try to do the same.

Activity to try: Host your own segment of the show each week, with one student responsible for coming up with a series of current events questions to test their classmates.

Help students connect with this centuries-old play using this new bilingual podcast version. It's ideal for schools where Spanish is just as prevalent as (or even more common than) English.

Activity to try: Ask students to select a passage from the original play and translate it into another language. Rather than insisting on word-for-word translation, encourage them to rewrite the passage in a way that captures the rhythm and emotion of the original.

Teens will especially enjoy Adult ISH, a culture, advice, and storytelling podcast produced entirely by youths who are almost adults. They tackle a wide variety of topics from a late-teens point of view.

Activity to try: Have your students select a topic in the news today and write their own podcast that shares their take on the news.

A podcast created by the co-author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics, Stephen Dubner, invites listeners to explore the hidden sides of everything. And given his almost 300 episodes on topics ranging from "Millionaires vs. Billionaires" to "How To Win a Nobel Prize," he is well on his way to talking about everything.

Activity to try: Have students pick an episode and find how it affects their everyday lives. These can be written or presented to the class, allowing for discussion and questions.

Tune in to the community radio of this desert town for the news on local weather, the mysterious lights overhead, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, a dog park that prohibits dogs, and dark-hooded figures with unknowable powers.

Activity to try: Challenge students with this prompt: You have been hired by Night Vale Community Radio to write a segment. It could be a continuation of a segment that already exists, like "The Children's Fun Fact Science Corner" or "Community Calendar," or a report of a strange happening in the town, told in Cecil-fashion. These could be performed in front of the class, written, or put in podcast form.

This podcast brings you the "ins and outs of everyday things," from the "Pledge of Allegiance" to Mexican jumping beans to "Your Limb Is Torn Off" (obviously for teens and older!).

Activity to try: Ask each student to give a short presentation on something they think all their classmates should know about-whatever they find fascinating!

Sarah Koenig tells one story week by week. The first season covers the true story of Adnan Syed, convicted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. The problem: Adnan cannot remember what he was doing the day of the murder. And as if that weren't bad enough, there's someone claiming that he helped Adnan hide the body.

Activity to try: Have students find a famous crime in history and write a dialogue between themselves and the accused, having the accused tell their side of the story. These projects can be handed in, performed in front of the class, or put into podcast format.

The incredibly popular Radiolab is a show about curiosity, where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.

Activity to try: Listen to the episode Sight Unseen about a soldier's last moments and the photographer who captured them. Divide the class in half, and have them prepare and then conduct a debate on whether or not the photographer has the right to publish the photos.

Stories of people who've done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Phoebe Judge explores topics from owls killing people to how to fake your death to the life of a police dog.

Activity to try: Have students pick an episode that interests them and do more in-depth research on the topic, presenting their findings to the class.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and The Tipping Point, looks back through the overlooked and misunderstood in history, reexamining the past and asking whether we got it right the first time.

Activity to try: Listen to the three-part series on college (season one, episodes 4-6), and have a class discussion. Trust me, there will be plenty to talk about.

Each episode of This American Life centers around a theme. Most are journalistic at the core, but some are comedic. This podcast is hard to generalize, especially after hundreds of episodes. But the number of episodes and the podcast's massive popularity should speak for themselves.

Activity to try: Have students take a theme from an episode and write their own report or story surrounding that theme.

Hosted by Roman Mars, 99% Invisible is a narrative podcast about all the thought that goes into the things we don't think about-the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.

Activity to try: Ask students to pay closer attention to the buildings and infrastructure in their town or city. Have them make a list of things they had never noticed before.

Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday shares news about science, technology, and other cool stuff. Host Ira Flatow mixes it up by featuring people in the know and those who want to be. The podcast frequently features listeners that call in with their most riveting science questions. If you're looking for the best science podcasts for kids in high school, this is a winner.

Activity to try: Choose from a wide range of topics such as Racism and Mental Health, Privacy and Big Data, and Structure of Conspiracy Theories, and spark a discussion.

Will and Mango have lots of questions. Will we ever live without sleep? How do rats keep outsmarting humans? Where are the sunniest tax havens to hide your money? Join these Part-Time Geniuses as they dive into ridiculous topics and discover some pretty smart stuff along the way.

Activity to try: Ask students to come up with an interesting question. Then, once their topic is approved, have them share the answer with their classmates.

This highly acclaimed podcast is one of the best podcasts for kids because it delivers honest and unfiltered conversations with celebrities, activists, athletes, and influencers focusing on real-life issues-from mental health and political activism to pop culture and more.

Activity to try: At 18, Sammy Jaye became the youngest person to host her own podcast on iHeartRadio. Have students write a short paper on whether they'd want to have their own podcast while reflecting on the challenges they might face.

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50 Best Podcasts for Kids in Elementary, Middle, and High School

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The best podcasts for kids and teens are perfect to listen to at home, or use them in the classroom with our accompanying activity ideas!

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Podcast - How to Create a Project Based Learning Project

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Podcast - How to Create a Project Based Learning Project

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This episode is really helpful: "Why should students care about this?" is a GREAT guiding question. Although it takes place in the classroom, I think I could easily be adapted to online learning.

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Sponsored by Pear Deck and Participate

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

If you would have asked me a decade ago if I thought Project Based Learning would ever expand beyond a small pocket of innovative schools I would have said "I doubt it"; I could never have imagined that it would be such a widely-used buzzword in 2020. To my pleasant surprise it has expanded to mainstream vernacular and is continuing to sweep across schools in our country.

And yet, despite all the buzz surrounding it, there still is a pretty wide range of understanding as to what high quality PBL is, and more importantly, how to plan for and facilitate it. To many, PBL is met with uncertainty and apprehension; while terms used to describe PBL, like organized chaos, productive noise, and student-driven sound appealing to some, for the majority it creates a lot of unnecessary ambiguity.

To most teachers' surprise, I like to think about PBL as a structure, almost a formula, that can both uphold academic rigor and also engage students. To show you what that structure looks like in action, I'll walk you through how I plan a PBL lesson step by step.

Project-Based Learning: A Working Definition

Before we jump into how to approach planning a project, it's important that we are operating from the same definition of PBL, because there are many! After years of working in the leading organizations of the PBL movement I came to arrive on the following as my non-negotiables for a project to reflect high quality PBL:

1. It is grounded in standards.

2. It incorporates best practices of assessment for learning.

3. It's authentic to the given community.

4. It explicitly scaffolds and assesses 21st century skills.

So what does it look like to put these non-negotiables into practice and plan a project? I will walk you through the process I have come to embrace and share with teachers who cross my path, either through our time together in the trenches during project coaching, or when they pick up my book, Keep it Real with PBL (for elementary and secondary). The specific project I highlight here, Silent Voices, is a collaborative effort between myself and the 5th grade team at Lake Elementary in Vista, CA.

The "Silent Voices" Project

The 5th grade team at Lake Elementary is comprised of four teachers. The team wanted to tackle a content area they knew they needed to go "deeper" with to better engage their students: The American Revolution. We knew this topic was difficult to make interesting for students, but we believed that through PBL we could successfully provide them with a rigorous, authentic and meaningful learning experience.

Step 1: Brainstorm Authentic Project Ideas

I often hear from teachers that getting started with a project idea is the hardest part, but for me it's the most exciting part! I encourage teachers to identify a Driving Standard (these typically come from science or social studies because they both provide a nice context, which math or ELA can easily support). From there, think about a current issue that brings the standards to life.

Knowing they wanted to teach about the American Revolution, the teachers pulled the California social studies standards they were responsible for covering; specifically, 5.5: "Students explain the causes of the American Revolution" and 5.6: "Students understand the course and consequences of the American Revolution."

We sat around a whiteboard and threw up a bunch of ideas that could possibly make students interested in an event from over 200 years ago. We landed on the concept of connecting hidden voices (an issue that would feel relevant to them as 10 year olds) and empathy-building (a character trait from school also familiar to them) to the historic event. We also landed on supporting standards of Common Core ELA for narrative writing, compare and contrast, and research; but more on that later!

Step 2: Plan with the End in Mind

My approach to project planning is very much rooted in Understanding by Design (UBD), so once I have identified the standards and an authentic issue, I then jump to the final product. There are so many ways students can show what they have learned-from public service announcements, to podcasts or documentaries, to art installations and simulations or performances. Whatever is decided upon, all the project planning from this point on is in service of preparing students to ultimately produce that final product.

As we continued planning this project, the teachers at Lake realized that there was SO much they could do with this concept of elevating silenced voices and building empathy awareness, that we actually had to scale back our final product ideas! Together we landed on having students create two final products:

1) 2-voice poetry, which is a style of narrative poetry that showcases the similarities and differences between two unique perspectives, or voices. Students would write and create an audio recording of the reading of their written poetry to share via listening stations at Open House Exhibition. This final product would showcase important ELA skills such as speaking and listening standards, the use of technology and writing production, and narrative writing techniques.

2) Student art: Students would represent their understanding of a "hidden voice" or silenced perspective in a contemporary issue using symbolism and a specific art style (photography, digital art, painting, or pop art). Students would also write a detailed artist statement for submission of their work to the San Diego County Fair. In this artist statement students would explain the historical and contemporary inspiration for their work, style choices, and influences; thus bringing together the social studies standards and ELA research standards (and possibly even art standards if the art teacher chose to collaborate!), using topics of student interest as the context of the product.

Step 3: Benchmark Your Project

This is arguably the most important step because it ensures that best practices of scaffolding and formative assessment are embedded in the project. Benchmarking is simply taking your end products and breaking them down into manageable phases, or milestones. Within each of these benchmarks the teacher identifies the content and skills necessary to complete the given phase of the project. Tied to each benchmark is a concrete deliverable that students turn in to be formatively assessed. While daily checks for understanding are still happening and smaller assignments may be collected for credit, project benchmark deliverables are formatively assessed using a project rubric (more on that next!) and recorded in the grade book.

For the Silent Voices project, we identified the following benchmarks and deliverables:

In Benchmark #1 students learned about the "big picture" historical context of the American Revolution-the causes of the revolution and the early events and individuals-through textbook readings, PowerPoint lectures, videos and other short readings. The focus of these individuals and events was from a Eurocentric perspective-typical of what we would find in most textbooks. Students also began novels that represented voices of those we don't typically hear in our textbooks: enslaved people, children, women, etc. To show that students had mastered the necessary content from this benchmark they completed a traditional history quiz. Sometimes it's okay to include traditional assessment methods as benchmark deliverables-you don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater in PBL, and in these circumstances a rubric isn't necessary for grading since the feedback and the depth of learning are limited.

Benchmark #2 focused on the experiences of the "silent voices" in the American Revolution. Teachers provided model texts through short stories of Native Americans, white women, enslaved people, lower class, Chinese, religious groups, and children. Students continued reading their literature circle novels during ELA and also learned about narrative writing techniques through writers workshop methods. The benchmark deliverable for this second section of the project was a piece of writing titled "A Day in the Life of..." which represented what daily life was like for a person from one of the groups of the "silent voices." This deliverable showcased their narrative writing skills, textual analysis skills, and content mastery for social studies. Because the textbooks don't provide the perspective of "the silent voices" students truly had to synthesize, analyze and apply what they were learning in ELA and social studies to be able to complete this benchmark-the higher order thinking that this project requires is one of the many reasons I love it!

Benchmark #3 required students to continue analyzing what they were learning on this topic by collaborating with a peer to find the differences and commonalities across two unique "silent voices." Students were guided through the process by discussion protocols, visible thinking routines, completing a venn diagram, and a workshop on 2 voice poetry. Ultimately they wrote and recorded the audio for this benchmark's deliverable, a 2 voice poem to show two different perspectives from the American Revolution. This benchmark used narrative writing techniques from the second benchmark as well.

Benchmark #4 moved students from the historical time period of the American Revolution to the current day. Throughout this benchmark students were challenged to look for the perspective of the "silent voices"-whose story are we not hearing? Students were exposed to some contemporary issues though various forms of media, conducted a survey of other students to gauge problems within their student population, engaged in more discussion protocols and ultimately landed on a topic for their own research based on their interest (Special Interest Groups-SIG). After conducting this research students created a detailed graphic organizer to show what they had collected and organized; some students chose to complete an infographic as a challenge option.

Benchmark #5: In the final benchmark students applied everything they had learned about searching for the story of "silent voices" through historical and contemporary events, and used art as the vehicle for showcasing their knowledge and skills. Each of the four teachers identified a style of art they were passionate about-photography, digital art, painting and pop art. Each teacher created a series of workshops about their art style, including well-known artists, artistic composition, and basics of color and design. Students worked with the teacher that matched their interest, analyzed models from their given style, and ultimately learned how to create a piece of work that showed the silent voices in a given current issue from their research. Students went through the critique process of drafting and also completed an artist statement with their final product-all of which was curated and exhibited for the community.

Step 4: Build Your Project Rubrics

In keeping with the spirit of UBD, I also create assessment tools with the end in mind, which produces a pretty large project rubric (but never fear, we never use ALL of it at once-more on that in step 6!).

To build this rubric I encourage teachers to take the following steps:

1. Finalize the content standards you plan to assess; Note: each content standard gets its own row on the rubric. Then drop each content standard into the "proficient" column of your rubric. In the case of the Silent Voices project we identified social studies standards on the American Revolution and Common Core ELA standards for narrative writing, compare and contrast, and research.

2. Pull up Blooms Taxonomy verbs and bold the verbs in the language of the standards in a given domain. From there, reference Blooms verbs to help you write the language of one level up (advanced) and one level down (developing/emerging). For example:

Identify which 21st century skills you want to scaffold and assess in the project. I like to use these New Tech Network rubrics and simply copy and paste the rows in their entirety into my project rubric. For this project we identified Collaboration: Commitment to Shared Success, and Agency-Growth Mindset.

To see what the entire project rubric looked like for the Silent Voices project, click HERE.

Step 5: Plan for Formative Assessment

Once the project rubric is completed then you can begin to think about which rows will be used with which benchmarks. Each benchmark will get its own separate, smaller rubric that will only have a few standards on it. I encourage teachers to try to map it out so that each row of the larger project rubric is used twice throughout the project. The purpose of this is so that students can reflect, receive feedback and have the opportunity to grow in each area at multiple points throughout the project; this is truly assessment for learning, rather than assessment of learning. What this also means is that each benchmark will likely only be assessed using 2-3 rows from your (very large!) rubric.

You can see which rows of the rubric were used for which benchmarks in the "Silent voices" project by looking at the far left column on the project rubric (link in previous section). These benchmark numbers dictate what the smaller rubrics will look like for grading each deliverable (since, remember from my note in step 4, we will never use this entire rubric at once!). So for example, benchmark #3's rubric would include the following rows only: collaboration, viewpoints and narrative writing.

Step 6: Create Student-facing Rubrics

Most teachers from most grades will tell you that the language of standards are not student-friendly, and I agree! That's why I encourage teachers to take their teacher rubric and convert it into a student rubric. To do this, simply take each row of your teacher rubric, look at the proficient box, and write the standard as success criteria for students, or "I can" statements. This breaks down teacher-facing language into vocabulary that students can understand, which helps them to know what is expected of them while also helping them reflect on their learning. Using the teacher rubric row from the above example, you can see what a row for students would look like below:

You can see a blank and completed student template in my book Keep it Real with PBL. (Teaser: it even includes emojis that elementary students love!)

Step 7: Plan Daily Lessons Using a Project Calendar

Now is when 'the rubber hits the road' and it's time to think about what daily learning will look like within your project. I like to simply use a Google Doc and create a table that mirrors that of a 30-day calendar, that way you can hyperlink all the daily lesson plans and resources so that it's in one place. Most of what is linked in these Google Docs are simply workshop resources and lesson plans that teachers traditionally use to cover the content that appears in the project; or helpful new websites and activities to cover contemporary topics.

Again-backwards planning-I zoom out and look at the big picture before zooming in to look at the specific days. I first map out approximately how long each benchmark will take me (typically 1-2 weeks) and then I go into each day and think about specific lessons within each benchmark. I then will drill down to think about differentiation within each day. Check out the companion site to Keep it Real with PBL for sample calendars, resources on differentiation and project management.

After spending a great deal of time working in PBL organizations, and writing my dissertation on PBL as a pedagogy in practice, I landed on this flow for project planning because I think it simplified a process that can often become larger than life for teachers. It's my hope that by embedding standards, best practices of UBD and formative assessment that teachers will begin to see how PBL can be a helpful framework for them to teach what they need to cover, without it feeling like one more thing to do!

You can learn more from Jenny at her website, CraftED Curriculum. This entire lesson is detailed in her book, Keep it Real with PBL: Elementary.

And if you're a secondary teacher, check out her book, Keep it Real with PBL: Secondary.

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How to Create a Project Based Learning Lesson

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There's still a wide range of understanding of what high quality PBL is and how to plan for it. Here's a step-by-step guide.

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Links to read alouds, ebooks, video lessons, and activities organized by grade levels.

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