Guest Blogger - Mrs. Shannon Townsend: Interactive resource using Depth and Complexity

Note: Mrs. Shannon Townsend is a top notch ELA educator in the Eagle Mountain- Saginaw ISD.  Please leave your contact information at the bottom of this blog post if you'd like to request her resources and/or make contact with her. 

Break the Pandemic Barriers: interactive resource using Depth and Complexity 

Walking into my classroom during a global pandemic doesn’t look very different from any other year. The differences are so minimal, had you not been in my class prior to the pandemic, you wouldn’t notice many changes beyond the masks that cover the mouths and noses of the young minds I have the pleasure of helping shape each day. 

As teachers, we find new and exciting ways to engage our students no matter the circumstances, and this year is no different. Yes, there are students who aren’t in my class each day for one reason or another, but I’ve learned a few techniques that maintain as much normalcy in the classroom as possible. Hopefully, some of them will help you as well.

At the front of the room you might not notice the little computer set up.  It holds a dozen or so icons on the screen, each housing a student in the comfort of their own device at home, each learning in much the same was as those in my room who are attending in person. You wouldn’t notice these students yet, because your eyes would automatically be drawn to the students scattered around the room, distanced, but facing one another, engrossed in discussion about the literature they got to choose themselves. 

While planning the most recent lesson for independent book studies, I reached out to Charles at ESC Region 11 in hopes of obtaining another copy of the Depth and Complexity Model he had shown me the previous year during a voluntary classroom coach opportunity. Of course, he obliged, and I had the document within a few hours of the request. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the Depth and Complexity model, it is an amazing tool with topics and questions that are high level and very engaging when used properly. I took the document with these questions and one-word topics and created an activity my students thoroughly enjoyed, and I had no students unwilling to participate. It was so engaging, in fact, we did the activity on Tuesday, had a reading day on Wednesday, and when they entered the classroom on Thursday and saw the spinner on the Promethean board, each one became excited. Our kiddos are so engrossed in and used to staring at a screen all day, they now enjoy giving their eyes a break and getting to collaborate with their peers. 

Here are the steps I took to create an engaging lesson my students love.

1.     I began with the Depth and Complexity model Word doc. Charles gave me (which can be found here >>>>). 

2.     I copied and pasted each little icon into a Word doc. in order to save space and paper. I’ve done the work; you just need to print the icon doc. found here>>>. I did include a “Wild Card” for the 12^th slot to give the students a chance to choose their own topic if the spinner landed on their Wild Card slot.

3.     I then found this little spinner board online. It can be found here>>> **Print at 220%**

You’ll need 2 spinners, 2 Depth and Complexity Model Word docs, and 1 Depth and Complexity icon doc. since I was able to fit 2 sets of icons on each page.

Cut out each spinner and all the little icons. In random order for each set, I pasted one set of icons per spinner. No two spinners are alike. This is important to me because it provides variety. 

With COVID protocols and caution in mind, I had each completed spinner and each Depth and Complexity Word doc. (it contains the questions) laminated. Please note, I require ALL students to use hand sanitizer before and after touching any shared documents. All masks are worn properly throughout the duration of my class with no exceptions to either of these rules.

My desks are spaced as much as possible, but during group work, students rotate their desks towards peers nearby, keeping them in the same spots, and they are able to get into groups while maintaining social distancing protocols to the best of our ability.

Each group of three to four students gets a Depth and Complexity Word doc. and a spinner. 

The Depth and Complexity model doc. is embedded into my canvas, so my virtual students see this in their assignment for the day. here>>>> is what my Canvas looks like.

There is a spinner on my Promethean Board directly in front of my computer screen where my virtual students wait patiently for their altered instruction.

I spin the digital, 12-section spinner found here>>>> on the Promethean Board.

Tap the board, the spinner spins, lands on a number, and the students match the number to their spinner, find the corresponding icon on the Depth and Complexity doc., and that is their topic for this round. In Independent Reading Circles, they discuss the book they’re reading. Their group members are asking questions generated from the Depth and Complexity model doc. The far-right hand column has one-word topics to help generate these questions. 

Each group decides whether or not they will discuss one at a time or have back and forth discussions throughout the allotted time.

I set a 1-minute timer. At the end of the timer, if students are speaking one at a time, they will switch speakers. This ensures everyone is participating. When we have reset the timer enough times for everyone to speak, we spin again to get a new topic and repeat the process.

Because virtual students don’t have the spinner, they count down the document embedded in Canvas to get their number to see which topic the spinner chose for them.

Virtual students are required to participate, or they will be accountable for the paragraphs assigned. I mute my side, so the class discussion doesn’t disturb them. They can choose to speak verbally or use the chat. When speaking verbally, they will write their name in the chat as they speak during their turn. This is an accountability system to ensure everyone is participating. 

Finally, I always give a few examples of questions that could be generated from the provided topics to ensure high level questions are being discussed. I’m always making my way around the room and online to check on the groups and helping facilitate questions as needed in case they gets stuck or don't quite understand a topic. 

 

 

 

 

No, I won't back down - Creation, maintenance, and the educator

If you can't pick the outcome, then you gotta chose how you process the situation that is standing in front of you.  

(Skip the next paragraph if you're not a fan of edu-stories)

I'll try to be brief... I was born in Costa Rica (this'll be a short story, promise).  I was made fun of and beat up because of the way I spoke or simply because I wasn't "from here".  During my 6th grade year I was surrounded by 8th grade boys on bikes who were, previous to this moment, my friends.  They were led by a guy who was never my friend.  They all got off their bikes and had a long Algonquin discussion concerning who would get to beat me up for "being from ...uh....uh... uh Puerto Rico" (close enough, I thought when I heard them say this instead of Costa Rica).  The biggest guy walked up to me and, all I could think of as a pretty normal and likeable 11/12 year old, was "I'm not going to be able to get away... and I don't like any of the other obvious options... what do I do? How badly will this hurt?".***

Welp... we're all in that moment right now.  Covid aint going away.  We are barreling through a new world together.

We can't get away.  So our choice is the same as the one I had to make back in my South Central Irving, Texas days.  How will I act in this moment where none of the options are ones I'd care to go through.

In our convenient 7-11/Target/Amazon.com world where we get what we want, when we want... we have to finally face something as a world that deeply affects us all.  There is no quick solution to this.  We can't put it on our credit cards and pay this decision off over the next few years.  

In our previous life, a few long months ago, we lived in a system that was largely about maintenance.

We drove the same routes to work, talked to largely the same people, ate largely the same things, and compared ourselves to a similar past.  It was a life of maintenance.  We maintained the good stuff and worked hard to move forward for even better stuff.  Even when we took chances, it was from a fairly stable foundation.

We were and are Sisyphus rolling our massive bolder up hill, knowing it would roll back down eventually.  The next school year, we'd begin our eternal task again...but at least we were familiar with the bolder and the hill.  

Covid, our new boulder or hill or maybe both, slowly (and not so slowly) destroyed our routine.  We are left to cobble together a new normal.  We are now in creation mode and, for educators, we know that creation is at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy.  In other words, it's hard and there isn't a fill in the blank template.

When I work with teachers in their classrooms, I take lots of notes.  Like, a lot... a lot.  

I do this so I can be as detailed as possible when sharing my lens with the teacher.  We can better triangulate the reality of the classroom and move forward and celebrate together when we compare contrast what I saw, what the teacher intended, and what the students (via interviews and surveys) experienced.  A 3-D view of the classroom develops out of this so our celebrations can be real and meaningful ones (for all of us).  

We NEED to celebrate as much as we can in our current climate.

However, I also keep track of challenges.  Not to demean or focus on problems, but to connect to challenges that may be experienced campus-wide.  

When a teacher, in their isolation, is trying to address a campus-wide issue while thinking it's a classroom issue... well those teacher tend to get super stressed, burnt out, and wonder why they can't "fix" the issue.  It's that proverbial iceberg that is monstrous, but mostly hidden.  For example, if administrators are not monitoring the hallways during passing periods and students come into the classroom late (and this is happening campus wide) then teacher efforts, in isolation, will only go so far and help so much.  It will be an emotional and energy drain on that teacher to try to "fix" the campus issue. 

Likewise, with COVID, we have, not a campus wide issues, but a global and historical issue that has found it's way into our classrooms.  The old rules barely apply.  We have to create new ones.  Your students who used to get distracted by SnapChat pics are now distracted by mom and dad not having a job.  Your students who are at home learning... they're doing it in isolation with little support network and little motivation.  

Teachers are putting in a Sisyphean effort as they try to run a "normal" classroom while they... oh, I don't
know... keep at bay the distraction of a Global Pandemic.  Within their four walls, they are forced, we are all forced, to confront this pandemic as we experience it... we almost have to treat it as a classroom issue.  

But, you can't and you shouldn't.  It's not your fault and you will not fix it using the old ways and the old system.  Heck, you may not be able to "fix" it at all... but you can model for your students how to process it. 

You are creating a new system which will be wrought with trial and errors...and errors...and errors.

All of the education books you read in the past and the educations classes you took, didn't take into account a pandemic and therefore all will, to a degree, fall short of the moment. 

Advise?

Start with Maslow's before you move on to Bloom's.

What I mean by this is that if Maslow's needs aren't being met then students won't even care about the lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy.

There is a nice alignment between Self Actualization (top of Maslow's) and all of Bloom's.  After all, don't we self actualize via education? 

And, to continue, if student's Esteem or Love/Belonging levels on Maslow's aren't met... will they ever get to the Knowledge or Comprehension levels? 

So, in this Covid maelstrom or craziness... In this creation or (re)creation of the system of education... In this death of the old maintenance system of education... Start your day and start your classes off with Maslow before you get to Bloom's... and don't back down. 

*** To circle back to the story from the top, for those of you who need answers and finality... John did punch me pretty hard in the face.  Without thinking, I reached up and punched him back.  His reaction? "You have five seconds to walk away."  I knew I had won at that point... which is another reason why I love those lines "Hey, baby, there aint no easy way out.  Hey, I will stand my ground. And I won't back down." 

Hey, boo! Don't ghost your students!

If there's something weird

and it don't look good

Who you gonna call?

GhostBusters!

 

Speaking of which (or is it witch?)...

Did y'all hear about the one where a dude picks up a drenched girl off the side of a road? She sits in the back seat and directs him to drive her to her house.  He gets there to drop her off, turns around to tell her they are "home" and she's gone with only a puddle of water where she was sitting.  Curious and confused, he goes to the front door to see if the girl somehow walked into the house without him seeing her.  One of the parents opens the door... he relates his story... and the parent(s) reveal...

THAT WAS MY DAUGHTER, BUT SHE DROWNED 10 YEARS AGO THIS VERY NIGHT!!!!!

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and then we're all like... 

The girl was there and then she wasn't.  It happened without any communication or reason.  The ghost ghosted the guy.  UGH... so traumatic!!!

Ghosting is such a crazy and traumatic event that when someone has been dumped out of the blue with little communication or explanation as to "why"... we call it ghosting.  We expect something that doesn't materialize and, so, we get very very lost and disoriented.

When we expect one event, but are left with a dead end with no communication as to what to expect or do next... you've been ghosted. 

Friedrich Nietzsche once said that human beings need "horizons".  That is, we need boundaries to help limit our expectations and guide our actions. Without "horizons", we don't generally know where to go and what to do.  So we fill in the silence with negativity.  We're lost.  We're "ghosted".  We're annoyed at the lack of guidance in our thoughts and actions. 

In this new online COVID education world there is a need to redouble our efforts to not "ghost" people in our lives, including our students. Here are some suggestions we have to help your students feel more guided and less "ghosted":

• Set up your online course with bread crumbs
• Where do students start?
• Where do they move to the next item or activity?
• Do students have a map in case they get lost? Do they know where they are?
• Do students know how to get back to home-base?
• Where do students end?
• Use more than words to communicate
• Create buttons to navigate your pages
• Use super short videos, GIFs, and images to guide
• Colors and shapes can help guide (think of red octagons and what they mean)
• Bullet points like these help organize a list on a page
• Send out regular communications
• Email or reach out every Monday to let students know what to expect
• Tired of typing emails? Use a video instead.
• Communication can happen via Insta or TikTok... be creative 
• Wrap up your weeks with a summary communicaiton
• LOOP YOUR PARENTS IN AS WELL!!!!
• For every negative email you send... send a positive one (to save your sanity a keep a positive view on what you do every day)
• Answer your students as quickly as possible, but within agreed upon times
• Tell students when you tend to read emails so they know when to expect a reply
• Try to reply within 24-48 hours
• Even if you can't answer them... reach out to say "I got your email.  Give me a moment"
• Fill in that "ghosting" with some sort of information so they don't fill in that silent gap with false assumptions 
• personalize... start the communication with the student's nam
• "Hey MacLamore!  Great to hear from you..."
• DO NOT allow yourself to be accessible 24/7... you'll get burnt out
• By that same token... be accessible when you say you will be accessible
• Reach out to socialize
• Don't be afraid to send images or short comments that help build your culture
• Ex. Hey guys, I went shopping this weekend and this picture I took at the mall reminds me of what Lauri said last week in our discussion!!!
• Need more tips? Check out a previous post concerning the new Educational Land of Confusion world that we live in... and some tips to work around that confusion! 

If there is something weird in your online 'hood 

and it's confusing or don't look good... 

Who are your students gonna call?  

Hopefully, you. 

Solutions: If this, then that.

 If you guys are looking for several practical ways to convert proven face to face activities into an online format, please check out our "If this, then that" page.

In the far left column you'll find face to face actives that many teachers use.  In the center and right columns you'll see online approximations of those activities and how to make them (in the far right column).  

Have fun pursuing through this resource.  If you happen to have an online activity you'd like to share, just reach out to us and we'll add it to the growing list!

2 Things To Do Right Now (Part 2): Start Small

By now I'm sure that everyone is on system overload from all of the digital resources that have been thrown around since this whole COVID-19 stuff began.  It seems that everywhere I looked there was how-to videos, blog posts, Twitter chats and more about all the different digital tools out there.  Honestly, I've been feeling system overload too!  I've talked to so many teachers over the summer as they have come through blended and online learning training sessions, and I think the biggest thing I have heard is how overwhelmed they all feel.  Believe me. I get it!  Many of the teachers I've worked with are trying to learn a new LMS, plan for both online and in person learning as well as figure out how to incorporate digital tools to make learning fun and engaging.  So, you might be wondering - What was my advice to these teachers?  Start small.  

It seems so easy, but it is so true.  Start small.  Don't feel like you have to learn everything in one day or even in one week.  Learn one thing at a time until you get good at it and feel comfortable with it.  Then you can move on to the next thing.  Believe it or not, your students will appreciate this tactic as well.  It's hard for students to constantly be learning to use new technologies, new logins and new procedures every day.  So, take a deep breath and give yourself permission to have the gift of time to learn while you start small.

I know what you are thinking.  Thanks for the advice, but I still feel overwhelmed because I have no idea where to start.  Let's take a look at a few tools that can get you started.  

First, if you are not totally comfortable with the LMS you are using, you should definitely start there.  In

fact, you might even be wondering what does LMS mean.  An LMS is a learning management system. This would be a tool like Canvas.  If you don't even know how to post things in your district LMS, then there is no sense in learning other tools such as Flipgrid, Padlet or some other cool new tool. If you need help getting started with Canvas, Google Classroom or Seesaw, check out our LMS Specific Resources Page for how-to videos and help documents to get you started.

Once you have mastered your chosen LMS, then you can move on to some other tools that can add some additional engagement to your online course work.  A few of my favorites that are easy to master, but can have many uses are Padlet, Vocaroo and Screencasting.  

Padlet is a great tool that is like using sticky notes with an online bulletin board.  There are so many

different ways to configure the board that it makes it so versatile.  The more I use this tool, the more I think of new ways to use it.  A few ways that I have seen it used is as a graphic organizer, a brainstorming board, a way to give feedback, KWHLAQ, a place to post and vote on book trailers, a repository for resources and so much more.  If you are ready to take the plunge and try out Padlet, check out our Padlet how-to video.

Vocaroo may seem like a simple tool, but once again if you think outside the box, there are tons of ways to use it.  Vocaroo is a tool that lets you record audio online.  The thing that makes this tool stand out is that you don't need to create an account and it's so easy to use.  You simply record and save and Vocaroo

generates a link to your audio recording just like that.  This tool is especially useful for early elementary teachers and students who may not be able to read yet.  Teachers can easily create audio directions to go along with any assignment in just a few clicks.  This program is so easy that you could even teach your students as young as kindergarten to use the recording feature in order to make it easier for you to hear students reading or even to collect audio responses for assignments.  Now don't rule this out if you teach older kids because this is always a great tool to use for students that need oral administration of tests or even to add to assignments so you can give some extra context through audio.  If you are interested in learning more about Vocaroo, check out our Vocaroo how-to video.

Finally, let's take a look at one of my favorite things - screencasting.  Screencasting is when you use some type of software to record your screen and your voice at the same time.  Most screencasting tools also allow you to use your webcam and have your own video appear as well. In fact, the how-to videos that are

linked in this blog post were all created with screencasting software.  There are many different types of screencasting software out there - some that are really expensive and others that are free.  Let's take a look at a free tool that I really like.  Screencast-o-matic is a free screencasting tool that you can use to create your own short teaching videos to post online for your students.  All you need to get started is something you want to share on your screen such as a Google Slides, a page in your LMS, an assignment you want to explain or anything else that you might want to use in a lesson and you'll be ready to go.  To learn more about using Screencast-o-matic, check out our Screencast-o-matic how-to video.

Remember to start small.  Choose one tool at a time to focus on and continue to grow your online tool belt each week.

2 Things to Do Right Now (Part 1)

Who would have ever thought at this time last year that we would be living in a completely different world that we could have ever imagined.  We've been working on moving towards blended and online scenarios in our classrooms, but suddenly last March we were thrust into a completely virtual teaching and learning environment.  Teachers are flexible, resilient and hard workers so we banded together and we all survived the spring of 2020.  I know as May drew near, we all had high hopes of being able to return to a more normal version of school this fall, but it does not appear that will happen.  Here in Texas most teachers are being tasked with teaching both in person while at the same time providing asynchronous learning for their at-home learners.  On top of that, many schools have decided to start out completely virtual while others could end up remote at any moment if COVID-19 rears its ugly head on their campus.  Right now fear and anxiety are running rampant making it hard to figure out just where to get started. 

Over the next couple days, let's take a look at 2 things you can be doing right now to set yourself up for success when schools starts no matter how that may look.  We'll start with the first one today.

A top priority no matter how school looks should always be creating strong relationships with both your students and their families.  In this day of COVID, having that strong relationships and support from families will be such a benefit.  The problem is, how do you make this happen when you might not have an opportunity to meet your students and parents in person.  One easy solution for this is to create an introductory video of yourself.  In the video, tell them any pertinent information about yourself that you want to share, information about your class and how to contact you.  Your video can be as simple as using your phone to record yourself or you can make it more complex by showing some accompanying slides on your screen and recording a screencast video with your picture in it.  

Check out our tutorial on Screencast-O-Matic to learn more about screencasting. 

If you want to take this up one more notch, consider using a tool such as Flipgrid.  By using Flipgrid, you can add your introductory video to the grid and also have your students add their own introductory videos to the grid.  This will help everyone put a face and a voice with a name and help to start building that online community.  You can even continue to use Flipgrid on a regular basis by asking a question of the week so that students are getting a steady dose of interactions with others where they get to see a face and hear a voice.  To learn more about getting started with Flipgrid, check out their Getting Started page.

You can also add in some synchronous activities such as a virtual Meet the Teacher time where you could invite parents and students to log in to Zoom or Google Meet to speak with you live.  This would be a great time to share expectations, give students and parents a tour of your LMS and answer any questions.  If you have families who are not able to join live, you can also record your session so that they can watch it later.  This is even helpful for families who were there live in case they wanted to rewatch a portion later to help answer a question.

Once school gets started and students start their online learning, a great way to help foster that relationship is by always trying to insert yourself into the online course as much as possible.  For example, when providing instructions for an assignment, consider adding in a video of yourself where you explain the directions to the students.  This will help students who are struggling to read, but it also helps students to see your face, hear your voice and get a deeper understanding of what they are supposed to do.  Another idea is to offer live office hours via Zoom or Google Meet a couple of times per week.  This is a great opportunity for students to ask questions or even just spend some time talking with you.

Even though it is more difficult to build relationships in the online environment, it is definitely possible.  Continue to think of ways that you can make connections with your students as you navigate the online world together.

What are some ways that you are going to be creating relationships in the online classroom?  Leave us a comment below.

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

 
     It's been a little while since my last post.  Since then it seems the world has been turned upside down.  We all have a new normal that we're trying to get used to.  I, myself, have been working from home since the middle of March.  Suddenly I went from a job where I was always on the go, driving to different campuses all over our region to work with teachers and visit classrooms to sitting at a desk staring at a computer for 8 hours every day.  I was doing several webinars per day over Zoom for the teachers of my region as well as others who joined us from all over the country.  This new way of teaching and learning was new for all of us.
     Even though I know this has been a super hard transition on everyone from teachers to students to parents, I think that we should take a moment to reflect on the good that has come out of this situation.  We should look at this as a learning experience and reflect on it so that we can continue to utilize effective teaching practices that have surfaced through all of this.
     First, this has forced so many to step out of their comfort zone to try new things.  It might be just trying to get on a Zoom meeting or trying to get started in a new LMS.  Although it seemed scary at first and maybe overwhelming, what I see is a whole new culture of learning and helping each other.  If you look on Twitter or Facebook, some teachers are creating help videos and posting them in order to help other teachers.  Other teachers are creating lessons, hyperdocs and fun templates in Google
Docs and freely sharing them with other teachers around the country through social media.  Through this pandemic, it has allowed the walls of our classrooms to come down and instead of millions of individual classrooms with their doors closed, we now have giant open spaces where we are all free to share ideas and resources while learning from each other.  This is the way it should be.  We are not competing against each other.  We all have the same goal - yes, every teacher at every school in America has the same goal - to educate our students.
     Although this situation has been hard on many students and families, other students have really been able to thrive in this environment.  Am I suggesting that we continue sheltering in place forever?  Of course not, but what we can take a look at is what was it about this situation that has allowed some students to thrive.  I have heard teachers say that their quiet/shy students are participating much more in their online discussion boards.  I've heard others say that students that were given choice boards were really excited and did their work without even being told to do it.  Still others have said that the flexible schedules have allowed their students to be more productive.  Let's think about these things.  The quiet/shy students are quiet in normal classrooms.  Why is that?  Maybe they are scared to speak in front of others or maybe they need more time to process before giving an answer.  Given the online learning space, these students can have the time they need to process their answers and post asynchronously whenever they want.  They also don't
have to speak up in front of 30 other kids.  That can be intimidating to anyone.  Can we continue to offer online discussion forums, Flipgrid and other ways to interact online when we return to face-to-face school?  Absolutely!  We've also seen a lot of choice boards or playlists being assigned to students.  Students are really enjoying the freedom to choose what they do instead of being told and having everyone do the exact same assignment.  I mean, who doesn't like choices?  This is another easy thing that we can take back to our traditional classrooms.  Finally, many students are now able to choose their schedules each day.  Am I a morning person?  I can get up early and start working.  Night owl?  I'll do my work after everyone else goes to sleep.  Maybe I can only sit still for 30 minutes at a time.  Now I can take as many breaks as I want.  I know what you are thinking.  No, I'm not crazy and I know that kids can't just go to school whenever they want when we return to the classroom, but we should take some of these things into consideration.  Think about offering more choices on when, where and how students get to learn while offering flexible times and spaces in which to do it.  Why do we all have to sit in desks in rows?  What if I work better laying on the floor?  What if I need more frequent breaks while my neighbor wants to just plow through and get everything done without stopping.  Why can't we have it both ways?
     During this time, I have heard from teachers and read several articles that talked about how blended learning classrooms are faring during this time of remote learning.  Although blended learning by definition must include at least some instruction in a face-to-face setting, (so they are no longer in a blended learning environment) blended learning teachers and students seem to be faring better through this situation that others.  Why is that?  I think one lesson we can take from them is that they already have the systems and procedures in place for digital learning.  Blended learning teachers already use an LMS such as Google Classroom or Canvas with their students.  They already use many digital tools such as Flipgrid, Quizizz, Kahoot and possibly even online learning software such as Imagine Learning, IXL or Lexia.  All of this translates into a much easier transition from the face-to-face world to the digital world.  Blended learning teachers are still using playlists and have small group meetings with their students only now they are doing it through Zoom.  Students are still moving forward in their learning because they know how to own their own data and how to track their learning goals.  So, do I think that remote learning will last forever? No.  But, I do think that it would be in a teacher's best interest to learn more about blended learning so that they can take advantage of these systems and processes, but also because it is an effective way to personalize learning for all students.  Just think about how many gaps your students will have in their learning when school starts again in the fall and unfortunately all of their gaps will be different.  The ONLY way to meet all of these needs in the fall is going to be through personalized learning.
     Once again, teachers are the heroes that they always have been.  We've become good at making lemons out of lemonade.  Just because things return to normal doesn't mean we have to throw out the lemonade!

If you are interested in learning more about Planning for the Win with Blended Learning, check out our website for live Zoom sessions, recorded sessions and resources.  Feel free to reach out to us and schedule a live training session or brainstorming session.

4 tips to avoid the Land of Confusion in the Covid-19 era.

My favorite lines from this song have always been:

Now, this is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth fighting for

With the "new normal" of the COVID-19 world, there will likely be times when our daily tasks and routines are disrupted to one degree or another.  Tonight, President Trump suspended flights to and from Europe, the NBA has suspended the season, and there are questionable hoarding practices (toilet paper, really?) by far too many people.

Once the wave of disruption reaches your locality, it will NOT likely be like a bad weather day.  The disruption probably won't be corrected later in the school year using one or two predetermined "make up" days.  This coming front will be decidedly different than our last cold front.

IF... that's a strong IF... you have to start considering your own personal classroom contingency plan, consider the following:

1.  Take care of yourself & your loved ones: If you're not ok, then you won't be of any educational help to your students. This includes maintaining communication and connection with fellow teachers and staff.  Your campus is NOT simply the physical brick and mortar.  The cultural fabric of your school is made of relationships which can continue and gain strength in moments like this.

2. Reach out: Use tech resources like Remind, Zoom, Flipgrid, or even emails to check in on your students.  They need normalcy and you can provide that for them by simply checking in.  Make sure to reach out to parents as well to let them know what you are offering and when.  Make parents a part of the process if at all possible.

3.  Stay positive: It's a scary enough world already for most of our students and the "coolness" of sitting at home will wear off quickly enough.  Student's parents may be experiencing lay offs, a variety of material shortages, and/or a surplus of anxiety.  Act like a hero even if you have to fake it.  Model for your students that teaching isn't just a "job", it's a calling.

4. Be a rock: Move your teaching to an online format.  Teaching online means offering a predictable schedule/routine that your students can rely on and look forward to.  If you can keep your school schedule in place, then do so.  If you need to move somethings around, then do so.  But try to be available the same time each day and the same days each week.  It's times like these where you are literally the foundation of civilization by doing that thing you do.

4. Keep teaching: Whether you're an online expert, a blended guru, or something else, your lessons can serve as an appreciated addition to the "new normal".  Try using well thought out, high Bloom's discussion boards.  Learn or experiment with Canvas, Google Classroom, or some other tech LMS vehicle.  Create a "home base" for your lessons. As long as you keep the relationship in focus, keep pushing kids to think.  Keep engaging students with rigorous content/questions.  Keep putting yourself out there for your students. Model for them that the world hasn't shut down, it just look a little differently for a little while.

Don't ask:

Oh, Superman, where are you now?
When every thing's gone wrong somehow?

Rather, be that light that shines in the dark that cannot be extinguished by the dark. 

The Easiest Tool You'll Ever Use!

When thinking about today's tool, I was thinking I wish I had an Easy Button to push.  Then I remembered that YouTube exists so here's your very own digital Easy Button.  Feel free to push it after trying out today's spotlight tool.

Today I want to share a really powerful but incredibly easy tool called Vocaroo.  Vocaroo only does one thing - record audio.  When you first look at the Vocaroo website, it seems so simple that it couldn't possibly be very useful.  At first glance it does seem that way.  I can click the record button and record.  So what?  I can do that on my phone too.  What's the big deal?

I'll tell you what the big deal is.  The power comes from the combination of the simplicity of using the tool combined with the ease of sharing out the recorded audio.  This tool is so easy that I recommend it to kindergarten and first grade teachers all the time, but it can still be a useful tool in the upper grades.  Let's take a look at what happens after you finish recording to see the power of this tool in action.  

Once you finish recording your audio and click save, this awesome option bar appears.  Notice that you don't have to download the audio or manipulate it or anything else.  Now with just one click I can share this audio straight to my audience by posting the link, using the embed code or opening up the QR code.  If you really want to, you can also download your audio file.

Now that we see how easy this tool is to use, let's talk about all the great ways that we can use it in classrooms.  How awful is it to wake up early in the morning and realize that you are too sick to go to school that day?  I know for me it was always harder to make sub plans than to just go to school.  Now, you could just click open Vocaroo, record instructions for your students for each activity you want them to do, pop the links into an email and now your sub can simply play your audio file so that you can explain to your students what they should be doing.  How awesome is that!  Another way that I've seen teachers using this tool is to record students.  Think about elementary teachers who have to do fluency checks or running records.  Sometimes its hard to fit all of those in during the day.  Now you can set up a center and teach students how to record themselves.  Then they can simply copy the link and paste it to a Padlet or Seesaw or other tool.  How many of you are doing things such as book clubs or PBL with your students where they work in groups?  Don't you wish you could hear all of their great conversations (and sometimes maybe not so great)?  Now you can.  Have each group record their group discussion with Vocaroo and turn in the link via Google Classroom or Seesaw when they finish.  There are so many other options such as creating audio for listening centers, having students record an audio of their writing to share with parents and even creating audio announcements to email home to parents.

Vocaroo is such an easy tool to use.  I feel confident that you'll be up and going in just a matter of minutes.  Watch the short video below to learn more about using Vocaroo and get started enhancing your classroom with audio today!

Let us know how you are using Vocaroo in your classroom by sharing a comment below.

Is Blended Learning Really for Everyone?

I’ve been part of this blended learning world for quite a while now, and I’ve trained a lot of educators on blended learning.  Sometimes teachers have great success with blended learning and it all goes great.  Other times teachers come back and tell me things like, blended learning just isn’t for my kids.  That made me start to wonder.  Is that really true?  Are there certain kids who blended learning is good for and others who it is not good for?  Well, let’s dissect this a little bit and think about it.  The purpose of blended learning is to provide a personalized learning experience for all students by using data to guide learning and leveraging technology to help facilitate this personalized learning experience.  If I use that definition, is there any student you can think of that blended learning wouldn’t benefit?  I can’t think of any.  So, if blended learning really is good for all learners, then why are some having success while others are not?

Procedures and routines. We all know these are important and we work really hard on them at the beginning of the school year.  Once our kids get into the swing of things, it’s pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of the year.  One thing that we often don’t realize is that every time we do something new with our students, this becomes a new procedure for them to learn.  Let me give you an example from my first day of teaching.  I had been a student in public school for 12 years, so I knew what school was like.  I had student taught, so I knew how to be a teacher.  You could say that I learned all the routines and procedures of being a teacher.  On my first day of teaching I got started with my adorable little 3^rd graders doing what I had been taught to do on the first day – go over routines and procedures.  About 15 minutes into class, one cute young lady raised her hand.  When I called on her she said, “Aren’t you going to take us to breakfast, Mrs. Shaw?”  I just stood there looking at her not even knowing what to say.  I mean, was I supposed to take them to breakfast?  Should I take all of them?  I finally said, “Am I supposed to?”  All the students nodded their heads – probably because they were all starving.  So, I lined my students up and trotted them over to the cafeteria.  The other teachers were all in the cafeteria already when we arrived.  They came over to me asking why it took me so long to get down there and I was holding everything up by not showing up.  I just stared at them blankly because I had no idea what was even going on.  So, I bombed my first 30 minutes as a teacher.  I caused a little bit of crazy town on the first day of school, but did that mean that I was a terrible teacher?  No.  I simply had not been taught the routines and procedures of taking my students to breakfast each morning.  Once I understood the routine, then my mornings were great and I never caused chaos in the cafeteria again. 

This is the same thing we do to our students.  We are going along teaching them in a traditional manner such as lecturing, giving them notes, having them complete worksheets, etc.  Then all of a sudden we tell them to do a station rotation where the kids rotate through 8 stations over the course of a week.  On top of that, each station has different tasks for the kids to do – some that they have never done before and some that use completely new technology tools.  Then we sit back and watch.  What is it that we see?  Kids who are confused.  Kids who don’t get finished.  Kids who are off task.  So, we decide that blended learning doesn’t work with “our kids.”

If you have the right procedures and routines in place, blended learning can be done successfully anywhere.  I’ve seen it done very successfully in the poorest schools where kids have to walk through metal detectors just to enter their own school building.  What do these schools have that other schools do not?  High expectations, routines, procedures, and strong relationships. 

Let’s take a look at four ways that we can make blended learning a success in all classrooms. 

1. Explicit Teaching and Practice, Practice, Practice!

We must intentionally teach students the new structure that you are going to be using and then have them practice doing a “walkthrough” of the structure.  For example, if you want to have your students do a station rotation then practice splitting them into groups and having them move to their first station.  For the sake of practicing give each group a fun, review task to complete while at the practice station.  Meanwhile you can walk around to each station to make sure that students know what they are supposed to do… 1. Read the task card at your station.  2. Work as directed on the card (groups, pairs, individual, etc) to complete the task. 3. Stay on task while at the station.

2. I’m Stuck!  Now What?

Students need to know what to do if they don’t understand something or have a question.  I’ve seen different ways to handle this such as having an expert in each group that can help while the teacher is working with other students.  Another strategy I’ve seen is using colored cups – green goes on top if you are doing well and red goes on top if you need help.  A lot of teachers use the strategy 3 before me where students must ask 3 other students for help before asking the teacher.  Any strategy that you want to use here is fine, you just need to make sure to have a procedure in place so students are not constantly interrupting you while you are working with small groups of students.

3. Student Roles

Create systems that put students in the driver’s seat to manage their own learning by creating job roles for the students.  If you are doing stations, then have a student who is the “time keeper.”  Their job is to set the class timer so the whole class can see how much time they have left in that rotation.  Have “cruise directors” who can help manage the transition from one station to another.  This frees you up to reset the teacher station and prepare for the next group.  Assign one student in each group to be the “materials manager.”  Then this student can make sure to get all needed materials when the group starts at a new station and minimizes extra movement within the classroom.

4. Data, Data Everywhere!

One important last step that will cement all of this together is to make sure you are collecting some sort of data every day.  It could simply be a quick exit ticket or a Quizizz, but you need something to hold the students accountable for learning and also a way to guide the learning for the next day.  Basically, you need to know who got the concept today and who didn’t.  By collecting data each day, you always have that information at your fingertips and can use that to create groups, guide re-teaching and inform enrichment.