It's been awhile let's catch up.

It has been awhile since my last blog post/podcast. To say it has been a busy year is an understatement .

via GIPHY

I am sure you can relate to have to navigate COVID protocols, integrating students back into what it means to be a student as well as be around others. Then you have constantly shifting protocols, mandates, etc. Yet on top of all of that we had to teach as well not to mention the curve balls that were or still are being thrown at us. Well it is spring break in my district and I am taking time to not only rest but to catch up. I have missed doing my semi-regular blog/podcast posting so for this one I will catch you up on what is going on in my/with my classes.

When last we talked I shared a little at home project I did with my kids regarding their shoe decoration business & how I was looking forward to applying what I learned from my own kids to my classroom.

So it has been a semester and a half and I can say I have been having fun with doing more project based learning in my class. What I chose to do was have my classes work on some old school game design. By old school game design I mean board or card games. One thing we were encouraged to do was manage our kids screen time now that were were back in person. Well in an engineering/technology class that is hard to do since most of what we do is use computers to design. So I asked my resident experts (my own middle school aged kids) what they thought of my idea to have my classes create a board or card game using our classroom tech. They thought it could work with a few tweaks. So that is the path I took/am taking my classes down this year (and quite possibly into the future). 

The goal is to run my class sort of like a small business where I have "employees" whom I need to train to do the work that is needed to create our old school game. My rational for choosing old school game design was that I wanted to give kids the experience of playing games in a social way that helped them reconnect with friends and family. One thing I quickly learned when students came back in person was they had little to no practice being social amongst their peers and elders. They needed to know how to handle being around other kids who were not in their immediate family. I wanted to give an opportunity to engage with their peers in a way that was fun and organized; hence the design a game they could play. My design an old school game idea gave me the opportunity to not only get them off the screens but also empower them to interact with their friends/peers in a positive way. Since they designed the game they would have to explain it as well as problem solve around issues that came up during play. It also allows for conversation in a structured way on various topics such as how did you create this, where did you get the idea, how do you play, etc. I will say the journey has been interesting and I am still tweaking things as I go along.

To start I teach kids the basics of file management and the engineering/design process. Then I go into project manager mode and tell them as employees they need some training to do their jobs & that it is my job to make sure they are trained. We jump into learning how to make templates for posters using MS publisher. Then we go into 2d design both mono-color and multicolor designs for stickers and cartoon graphics using sketch.io. Finally we end off with a brief foray into 3d design  using tinkercad. Once they have a basic skills we go into doing some research by playing various board, card, and dice games. While playing they need to find collect information on:

1. The theme/genre of the game

2. What is the objective

3. Is it a turn or rounds based game

4. How many players are needed (minimum & maximum)

5. Rating of how hard the game is

6. Rating of how fun/engaging the game is

7. What type of game it is

8. What elements of gaming does it include

Once our research is done we do some simple data analysis to decided what type of game we can design that will appeal to a middle school (10 to 13 year old) audience. After selecting our game type & theme we split into production teams and we start working on making the various things needed for our game such as:

• cards
• board
• rules
• box
• pieces
• dice
• tokens
• etc.

After everything is created we go into play testing mode to work out the kinks and once that is done we go into production.

So far we have come close with 2 out of my 4 engineering classes making a complete game. Unfortunately the semester came to an end before they could get me all the production parts. However it was a good life lesson about the importance of deadlines and what happens if you miss them. Hopefully this semester with the few tweaks in training and play testing as well as group management we will make our production goals.

I welcome your questions, thoughts, & suggestions. 

As always "Go Forth & Do Great Things!"

Power of PBL part 2

 Almost a month since I posted about PBL (Project Based Learning) and my mini experiment at home with my kids. It has been a fun and interesting time and I have learned lots that I can't wait to apply in the classroom. I in the time since I last posted (which I will talk more about in the accompany podcast) I have had discussions with others regarding PBL and life outside of school that have fueled my excitement for PBL this year. So lets jump in  :).

So here are pictures of the final product from my at home PBL experiment. 

Some background for those that may be just joining us; back in July I gave my 2 daughters a project to work on. I wanted them to design a pair of showes for me like they did earlier in the year. For one I told her I would pay her as she did for people early on and the other I just asked her to do it as a fun project. I did this for several reasons after reading the book "What school could be" by Ted Dintersmith with talks about reforming schools and education. My goal was to see if doing a project with a clear outcome but little upfront instruction (other than what they received in school) would be successful & fun. Also I wanted to see what would happen when they ran into problems or things they didn't know. Boy was I surprised at the outcomes and what I found.

What surprised me the most was the reaction to my principal when he asked my youngest about the project (the top pair of shoes the Vans). When asked if she felt it was fun her response was "It was ok." This was a dramatically different response than what I observed throughout the project. What I saw throughout the project was engagement and enthusiasm that I haven't seen from her when asked to do other things at home. For example as soon as I gave her the task she was mixing paint and giving me advice on what shade of yellow to buy so it would work the best. Also she was very attentive to talking about design ideas and offering her opinion as well as asking clarifying questions. Once she was clear on the expectation she started to work checking in along the way to make sure I was happy with her work as well as accepting feedback for improvement. All this from a shy girl who doesn't like to be told what to do or asked to do work around the house. From start to finish she completed her project within 2 weeks of assignment. The interesting part was I didn't offer to pay her until she asked if she was getting paid once they were completed (I think this was because she found out her older sister was getting paid). 

My other surprise was how the "reward" affected the time and motivation of my older daughter. She is the lower set of shoes (the Converse) and it took her a lot longer, about 3+ weeks, to complete her pair of shoes but to be fair she did have a few more things going on in life. The only real difference other than design was that I offered to pay her upfront which I thought would be more motivating. Turns out it wasn't; what was motivating was the experiences throughout the project. The engagement level was close to the same with high engagement in helping me pick out shoes and asking about help with materials to get straight lines. She did do the same of asking clarifying questions and negotiating the final design. I think the biggest thing for me to witness was the confidence level in ability going up as evidence by both the lack of questions once started and correcting my errors on design without consultation.

My several take a ways from this are:

1. Intrinsic motivation does exist in kids; it is just finding out how to tap into it.

2. Formative feedback is not only important but also motivating

3. Summative assessment is important to some but not all

4. Projects were much more informative as to skills learned & needed than tests & quizzes

    a. I didn't know my kids knew how to mix paint to get different shades, check spelling of Nordic runes, ask clarifying questions with substance

5. Kids will rise to the level of expectation set for them

6. Kids don't need a "due" date to get things done

I can't wait to get this going in my classroom this year as well as blog/podcast about it as a from of reflection/assessment. How I will apply the above take a ways:

1. Focus less on points and grades and more on the journey and feedback along the way

2. Work with students on setting goals or identifying skills they want to achieve

3. Focus more on the formative assessment opportunities from projects than on the summative nature

4. Holding the same level of high expectations but making sure to scaffold more

5. Focus more on support and guidance rather than due dates

I welcome your comments, feedback, and suggestions on this and other topics.

As always "Go Forth, & Do Great Things!"

Podcast link

Power of PBL outside of school

 As I sit here on a Saturday morning I am starting to think about the upcoming school year and I am getting excited. Yes excited. I  know there will be some new wrinkles to deal with such as mask vs no mask, social distancing, etc. but I can see a little bit of normal coming back. That is not what is getting me excited. What is exciting me is a chance to re-engage kids with creating something from scratch, doing something using the skills they have as well as empowering them to learn new ones as well as honing my PBL skills.

I tested this out this summer after reading the book "What School Could Be" by Ted Dintersmith. I gave my two daughters a project to complete for me. After seeing them earlier in the year work on taking canvas shoes and painting designs on them I asked that they create something for me. One daughter I asked how much she would charge me to do a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor All Starts and the other I just asked to do it. The results were as I expected but really helped me see the power of doing PBL in the classroom. 

How I approached this project is similar to how I could in my classroom and/or how I would approach an artist to do a work for me. I asked if they were interested and what they needed to get started. I worked out a draft design of what I wanted and gave it to both "artists". I then gave them the parameters (specs for you in an engineering class) of my project. They asked a few questions and then got going on the project. I did not give a timeline for the project and stressed I wanted it be something that was fun and enjoyable. I also told them that if they needed something (tool, skill, etc) to let me know so I could help.

The one who I told I would pay her for is dragging her feet and I can only think she is seeing it as a chore more than a project. However she is also starting her sophomore year in high school and other stresses of being 15 years old coming out of a pandemic. This is a good opportunity to try out some intrinsic motivation strategies as well as see how I can work with her on this project. Some may count this as a failure or an example of why PBL is not a good idea in the classroom. I see it vastly differently; I see it as an example of how grades can demotivate students.  

The other one I didn't say I would pay her just that I wanted her to do a design on a pair of Van's Checkered Skate shoes. The main difference with her was I didn't tell her I would pay her for her services. What was interesting was as soon as I got the shoes in her hands she wanted to jump on creating them. She went through several mock-ups of designs as well as testing out paint colors for me. Once we agreed on the design and color she got to work. Watching her use painter's tape to block out the individual squares she was painting and marking end points etc. was fascinating to watch. All in all it took her less than a week to complete the project and the smile on her face when I first walked out the door with them on was all evidence I needed to know this was a success. And yes I did pay her for her services. For those interested here are photos of the completed shoes:

Yes these are University of Washington themed shoes. Go Dawgs!

What I have learned through this simple application of PBL at home are:

1. It is a great way to reinforce intrinsic motivation
2. You don't need to have every part of the project mapped out ahead
3. It is ok if you are not an expert on what kids are doing
4. Failure is not always a bad thing
5. Kids love to create things
6. Due dates to mean on time delivery

I can't wait to try this out in a larger scale in my classroom this year and apply the lessons learned. My goal is to give each of the 3 classes I teach a theme. One will be designing a physical game with a theme and has both a physical and graphic component. The kids will decide most of the components that make it up as well as the rules etc. Another will be based off of the FIRST FTC them of Freight Frenzy. Student's will need to identify a problem with distributing goods and/or access services and then come up with, test, and present a solution to their problem. My last class will be a little more scripted that true PBL as I need to teach them both how to build and program a robot using Java. They will have the ability to design their own robot and write their own code to complete the tasks for the class but there will be more teaching of concepts since most kids taking the class have only minor background knowledge.

I will check back on this blog and podcast as to how it is going in the classroom. I also welcome you thoughts and suggestions.

As always "Go Forth & Do Great Things!"

Link to podcast version

Leveraging Creativity

In my last post I talked about the importance of project based learning as a better way to:

1. Prepare kids for working outside of education
2. Assess kids understanding of standards and skills
3. Retaining knowledge and skills over time

Now I want to talk about how I am planning on putting this into practice in my classroom next school year. After listening to the latest Son's of Technology podcast I found my inspiration for next school year. In this podcast they presenters talked about kids needing to create and the easy of which the create in relation to gaming they also talked about how video games are a double edged sword when it comes to education and kids well being. I am going to focus more on the part of kids needing to create.

In this day an age it is easy for kids to jump on a game and share what they are doing with friends and strangers. You have platforms like discord, youtube, and various console sharing apps that allow kids to share their gaming experience. I will say I was/am a bit skeptical of this as a way of interacting with others as well as putting kids online too much. However as a parent I can manage the screen time but as for the social interaction portion my son is helping to open my eyes to the possibilities of this platforms.  As we all know social emotional learning is vital to a kids development. I think sometimes we think that video games serve as a negative influence but I am reading about and seeing where they have a positive influence, to a point. But I digress the topic I want to talk about is how I am going to leverage kids need to create and gaming in my classroom as it relates to project based learning.

For those of you who don't know I teach 2 to 3 different classes at a local middle school. I teach: Robotics and Programming (Based off of the FIRST Tech Challenge & using the REV robotics platform), Introduction to Engineering (Curriculum changes from year to year), and sometimes the PLTW course Flight & Space. Robotics and Flight & Space are your standard curriculum in a box type courses with me doing a few little tweaks here and there. My Intro to Engineering class is the one I have a lot of flexibility with. The primary focus is on teaching kids the Engineering/Design process so they are prepared for robotics or Flight & Space. I have had a set curriculum based such as code.org's CS Discoveries, to a choose your own project type course (similar to my old shop classes in middle school). to various others. However this year I am think I am going to try a variation on project type course that will allow me to focus more a a common goal and will let me both teach the engineering process as well as how to work cooperatively. The later is probably more important as we move from a manufacturing economy to a innovative economy. 

My plan is to have kids work on designing, creating, & marketing a game. However it will not necessarily be a video game. My goal is to have them make a board game that can have video components. In my classroom kids have access to a variety of tools ranging from 3d printers to vinyl cutters, programming language, 2d design apps, etc. In the past I have had kids work on these tools individually on projects of their choice which was good but there was little cooperative work other than just showing classmates how to do things they may not have known how to do I want to take it to the next level. Working together with others in class as well as with others outside of their class (in other periods.). I have tried this before and it didn't go so well but with new inspiration and kids better prepared with background knowledge of social tools I think this could go well. My ultimate goal is to have a game that kids could take home and play with friends and family. We will see how this goes as the year progresses.

I welcome your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc.

Go Forth & Do Great Things!

Podcast version

Teaching the creativity out of our students

 It has been over a year since my last blog post/podcast. My plan was to post more as way of helping other teachers through pandemic teaching as well as helping myself destress from the same. Unfortunately the demands of teaching online to start and then move to hybrid in person teaching as well as trying to maintain a balance between online and in-person took up a good portion of my time. That being said I am happy to report it is now summer where I am and I am looking forward to hopefully getting back on a somewhat regular schedule. 

I started reading a book entitled "What School Could Be" by Ted Dintersmith. It was a parting gift by our principal to staff along with a Rocky Road Candy bar. It was his way of saying thanks for all the hard work we have done over the Rocky Road of Pandemic Teaching and giving us something to look forward to for next year. I know that I jokingly said as he gave us the gift "Is it another book?" referring to the book we all got from our school district earlier. For some getting a book to read over the summer my seem like a backhanded compliment for a job well done in teaching. Isn't that what teachers do through out the year is read? We read emails, we read essays, we read tests, we read novels, and on and on. I know I look to summer as wanting to get away from reading or to focus on a good Steven King novel. (By the way I just finished Mr. Mercedes and I recommend it if you are looking for a thriller detective novel. Ok back to my post). Now don't get me wrong like most teachers I do use my summer to do trainings and continue to sharpen/hone my teaching skills but one must have balance. After finishing the aforementioned novel I decided to pick up the Dintersmith book. I had some conversation with one other staff member familiar with his work and he spoke highly of the Author. I will admit I was a bit skeptical but once I started I had a hard time putting it down until a passage that prompted me to write/record this post. 

The passage the got me to put the book down and get me back on my blog/podcast is where Dintersmith is in the second chapter where he is talking about a high school in Minot North Dakota. In the passage the teacher talks about applying the concept of Genius hour in his class. The teacher talks about what happened when he told his students about getting a class period to focus on their (student's) interests. "...[A]fter informing them they [would have] one hour a week to work on whatever they're interested in, half the students did a Google search for 'What should I be interested in?'..." This hit me hard as a teacher and I hope it hits you hard as well. For me it hits home because it describes what I see in my Engineering, robotics, and after school club almost daily, kids are loosing their ability to be and think creatively. Often times when I do a presentation I am asked "Is this going to be on the test?" or with a project/assignment kids will ask "What do I need to do to get an A?" Kids love my first response "I don't give tests". Often times as soon as they hear that they stop taking notes but then soon learn that they need to go back and get the info as I don't repeat my presentations (except in video form that they can watch on their own). My response to the second one is more complicated. In my projects/assignments I try to structure them like a contract for an engineering project. I give kids the big picture of why we are doing the project, I then given them the procedure that they can follow, I then given them the specs or must haves for the project, then I lay out the points each spec is worth. With all my projects I focus on specific skills or concepts (standards if you will) students need to have an understanding of in order to give them feedback. Often times I get the question "What do you want us to do?" or "Is this good enough?" or "Does this look good?". They hate it when I refer them back to the project description or just give them feedback on the skills I see them working on. Most of the kids work past their frustration but some don't. Some just want me to tell them what to do to get the grade. Some do give up and say "I didn't teach them anything." The later are the ones that I try to support but ultimately break my teaching heart and hopefully it breaks yours.

I am buoyed by this book so far in that the focus, so far, is on moving education reform in a way to sparks creativity. As kids we are naturally creative but in school we teach it out of them. How do we do this? By teaching to the test. All too often I hear teachers talk about how they have to prep kids for the state test. They can't do anything fun because of the state tests. They have no time for projects till after the state tests are done. When I tell them that the fun projects they do (like or math departments "Life Project" or our social studies "Culture & Washington State History Fairs" will help prep them for the test better than anything; I am told that kids have to learn the skills first or that the test doesn't assess application. These things go against tons of education research that says when kids are given the opportunity to apply knowledge and skill in real world applications they understand and retain those concepts better. Add on having them teach knowledge &/or skills to others you have hit the learning motherload. 

To wrap up this post I give those who read/listen a charge. I ask that you do one or more of the following over the summer to help engage your students next year:

1. Read the book "What School Could Be" by Ted Dintersmith

2. Redesign an assessment you give to be a real life project that assesses the same skills/knowledge

3. Have a conversation with colleagues about how you can create interdisciplinary projects that encourage/empower kids to be creative

4. Look at attending professional learning on project based learning 

5. Comment on this blog or podcast about what you are already doing to encourage your kids to be creative.

I can't wait to hear about how your work on the above task go. As always "Go Forth & Do Great Things!"

Podcast link: 

Ideas for prepping for fall

Last time I talked about my thoughts on what needs to happen for a successful start post COVID-19. Today I want to get more into the nitty gritty of the classroom. What things can teachers be doing over the summer to get their classrooms, curriculum, management systems, etc. ready for whatever the fall may bring us. As with most of you out there I am waiting with baited breath to see what guidance our state is going to give districts on opening up schools next fall. However being the planner that I am, it is hard for me to sit and wait so I have already started planning what things will look like in my classroom post COVID. A lot of the ideas I talk about below are based on years of teaching in a tech classroom as well as from what I have learned worked and didn't work this year. I hope you find some these ideas/thoughts useful and would love to hear your ideas on how you are preparing to a post COVID classroom.

To start off with I am going to rework my classroom procedures so that kids know how to do things digitally in my classroom. I am going to spend a lot of time showing students how to use email, Google classroom, and hangouts as a communications tool. This was a big hurdle in my online teaching this spring is that kids were not familiar with:

• How to communicate with me digitally and I with them
• My goals/plan
• Teach them how to use email
• Teach them to how use Google classroom comments
• Show them how and when to use hangouts
• I also plan on opening up a class Instagram
• Shorten instructional videos to 5 to 6 minute clips
• How to submit work digitally in classroom
• My goals/plan
• Teach how to read an assignment description
• Show how to attach various type of work to google classroom
• Use private comments as a feedback tool
• Put together a cheat sheet/webpage for families
• My goals/plan
• Put together instructions for families on communication
• Show them the connection between our google classroom and Skyward (IMS)
• Question to ask their child to check for work/understanding of assignment
• Key things to look for when students say they are finished with work
• Create a flowchart
• How assignments or done in my class from when I assign to turn in
• How communication works in my class with students

The hope/goal is for kids and families to be ready if/when we have switch to digital/distance learning next year. 

Along those lines I am going to have more digital options of assignments in my back pocket ready to go. This spring I went with one curriculum for my each of my classes. However I heard loud and clear that students were either really excited about the work or not very interested in the work I chose. I know that some of you may not be able or want to run multiple curriculums/projects in your class. So my suggestion to you is to have digital versions of your curriculum ready to go. This may be a bit of extra work but it is good to have them in your back pocket ready to go. Also you may find that digitizing your work may make it more engaging for students. Especially your presentations. I have found that recording my presentations (what some may call lectures) opens me up for working more with kids 1:1 or in small groups. Also by recording your presentations if we do go to more digital/distance learning you can throw a lifeline to parents and families. One thing I have heard consistently is that parents are frustrated with not knowing how to do some or all of the work kids were assigned. I know I can speak personally about that. However when I chatted with some folks in my neighborhood almost all agreed that it would a little easier to help their child watch a video and take notes. This makes sense as most people have experience watching video, tv, etc. and recalling the key or important concepts.  

As for classroom management a lot of that is going to be centered on the classroom procedures I mentioned earlier. Teaching and reinforcing the process getting and submitting work. However I also want to teach my students what it means to be present in a digital world. I know that I went into digital/distance learning thinking this is going to be simple for kids. They have their chromebooks and other digital devices and they already knew a lot about apps, websites, etc. No I wasn't naive in thinking there wouldn't be challenges like lack of connection, distractions at home (games, siblings, toys, etc.), lack of familiar support, social emotional challenges, and others. What I wasn't prepared for was how kids didn't know how to be present in an online world. Watching my kids doing digital learning gave me great insight. To them being present online means 2 different things on is social and one is academic. The two are very different from what I expected. Academically they would get online look at the work and try to figure it out then wait for someone to check on them it was one of passive engagement. They were expecting either the teacher or me to prompt them or check in with them before moving on. There was no active engagement unless we pushed them to engage with their teacher. However watching them engage online in a social context was more what I was expecting. They was active listening with questions about things they didn't understand, synthesizing information shared to accomplish a task and giving feedback and support to encourage others, and even calling out others when behavior is not appropriate. My goal is to help my students transfer their social online skills to a more academic setting.  To do this they need to know what office hours are and how to use them. They also need to know how to get into an online classroom whether that be a zoom or google hangouts, or other platform.

These are just some of the thoughts and ideas I have and hope you find them helpful. If you need help applying them your classroom and/or situation please reach out out to me in the comments or via email listed below. I would love to hear from you and help out if I can.

As always Go Forth and Do Great Things!

Email link

Podcast link

Fall will be here sooner than we think, Then what.

I hope you all are enjoying or making the best of whatever situation you may be in during these unprecedented times. I know I am enjoying some warm sunny weather as I give feedback on student work, plan out my next lessons, and meet with colleagues. I hope you all are getting out and enjoying the ever increasing summer like weather where you are at. I and my wife try to get out as much as we can to enjoy a walk or leisurely drive either with our kids or by ourselves. Often times when we are out we run into neighbors, friends, strangers, etc. During these encounters it comes up that I am a teacher which usually shifts the conversation towards my thoughts on distance/online learning and then to what I think school may look like in the fall. It might be a bit early to think about going back to school in the fall and what that might look like, but then again maybe not. I know that a lot of my colleagues are curious about what school might look like and I am seeing news story after news story contemplating what it will look like once we reopen in the fall. The CDC has issued guidelines/recommendations for schools. I also know that my state is starting to look at what the fall may look like with a 100 member task force looking at roughly 7 different models and hope to be able to give guidance. I have no clue as to what it might look like going forward I have my thoughts and preferences which I do share with the people we encounter. However that is not what I want to do here with this post. My goal with this post is to give some guidance on how we can prep kids and ourselves over the summer to better reach out and support kids for the next school year.

I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know what next fall will look like other than we will need to be teaching kids in somewhat shape or from. The suggestions I talk about today are my own based on my work reviewing online learning programs as well as experiences starting up schools and classrooms over the past 20+ years. The suggestions I mention here can be adapted no mater what opening up situation we encounter in the fall. With all that said I do welcome your comments and ideas as well as to call me out on why I suggest something that doesn't make sense. So lets get started. 

So as we move into the fall we need to look at things from 3 different aspects:

1. Teaching content
2. Platform
3. Communication
4. Fun

Starting with the first one content. One thing that goes without question and that is we are all masters of the content we teach. We can all agree that face to face learning is best but in absence of that there are some things we can do to make content delivery better. One suggestion is to work with the curriculum you have as in most cases it can be adapted to an online format. After all that is what we as teachers do we adapt and overcome as we encounter obstacles. Don't think that just because it is online that you need some crazy new fanged curriculum or delivery system. As an example I am using the same curriculum as I do in the classroom with some slight modifications. A second suggestion is to look at moving to a flipped model. Hopefully most of us are familiar with some sort of a flipped model classroom. With the flipped model you are having kids watch your instruction at home which is easier for not only students but also families. Most students can watch a video and take notes with some instruction to relate it to how you do with in class. Along with that most families can help their kids with watching a video and taking notes. The biggest complaint I have heard about is that families are struggling with helping their kids with things like math or science or other subjects. Which brings me to my third suggestion for content which is to assume nothing. This is something we as teachers have good experience with already but it is something to keep in mind. It is hard to deliver content without a platform.

To get the content out to students we need a platform. This is probably the one that may be out of our control but I hope to give some suggestions you can pass along to your districts and/or encourage you to look at the platform you have in a different way.  What ever platform is used it should be easy to access and navigate for both students and families. If the platform is not easy to access students will resist doing and turning in work. Also families will struggle to support you in your efforts of helping students get work in. As I mentioned in the last paragraph don't assume your platform is easy to use. One thing I have learned during this time is that a platform I use, Google classroom, is not as easy to use as I thought. Yes it is simple but there is a learning curve for all that use it. For example I had to learn what the parent side of google classroom looks like. It is simply an email (either a daily or weekly) summary of what is "going on" in the google classroom. I also learned that in that email are working links to sites you include in posts and/or assignments which is helpful. One thing to keep in mind is that summary can get overwhelming as it is one long email for each class that a student may have (if the families have linked to your class). Whatever platform you use it should be as close to one stop shopping as possible.  Students and Families should be able to get all the info they need from as few places (clicks/links) as possible. They should be able to get grades, assignment info, materials, and hand in all in the same place. The more links/places they have to go to complete an assignment the better the chance they will loose engagement in your class. To help with this we need to talk about the 3rd area which is communication.

This is probably the most important of the 3 areas that of communication. There are as many ways to communicate via distance as there are lessons we need to teach (if not more). There is no one tool that is better than others if anything we should be tailoring what tool we use to the audience we are trying to communicate with. For most students email probably is not the best. Students these days are used to a more instant form of communication such as Snap chat or Instagram. What I have found is communicating with them via comments on assignments or email (although they will do that reluctantly). If you are brave enough you can try google hangouts or say Instagram (make sure to have a personal and professional account). Teacher that have done this have had more success in communicating with students. However I know that may not be allowed in your district. Make sure to check with your district regarding communication policy with students. As for families email or phone may be a better way to communicate. Lastly as we all know whatever method you choose or are allowed to use make sure it is consistent. The more consistent you can make it the better results you will get. Along with being consistent within in your class if you can make it consistent school wide that is even better. Although then again as teachers we know that. Lastly with communication it is important that expectations are communicated once established. One thing that I learned over the last 3 months is that I need to do a better job of teaching my kids my expectations regarding:

• Communication
• email
• Google Classroom
• Hangouts
• Work habits
• Note taking
• Watching videos
• Assignments
• Structure
• Turning in
• Asking for help

The more we can teach students what the expectations are and how to meet them (just good teaching) the more successful any program (online and face to face) will be. 

Lastly whatever we do we have to remember the fun aspect of school. We may not think it but kids expect to have fun at school. They expect fun work to do and also expect to get some of their social needs met. When I say focus on fun I am not saying that all the work/assignments we give kids has to be fun (although that would be a bonus). What I do suggest is that you do things like my music teacher does and host class contests. He is currently hosting an idol like contest with his choir class. Kids are loving this and totally engaged. Also our ASB is hosting weekly activities like trivia night. Things that I have done is to host a typing contest using nitrotype. Also when I host a zoom meeting I make sure to let kids know they are welcome to ask questions, request a demo, or just check in. I find more often that not they want to simply check in which is ok. Along with the fun part is to check in with them and ask them how they are doing and what they are doing. Just as in our face to face classroom students want to get to know us and see us as a whole person and not just a teacher. 

There is a lot here to think about and I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions about best practices of starting up next year. 

As always: "Go Forth and Do Great Things!"

Podcast link

Video link mentioned in podcast: Quick video on how to make better instructional videos by Edutopia

Link to article on need for uniform LMS (Learning Management System).