If we do go back to Zoom teaching, a few little things that helped me with my 6th form classes. A thread…

If you can, have a little chat before the ‘proper learning’ takes place. Goes some way to keeping the good vibes that make teaching so enjoyable.
I tend to use PowerPoint and share slides. Usually, one slide of explanation followed by one slide of practice. Keep it short and simple. Short tasks keep the pace of the lesson and keep kids on their toes.
The big challenge with remote learning is checks for understanding. How do I know they’re focussed? How do I know what they know?
Obviously, you’ve got the chat box, which is particularly good for one-sentence answers or letter answers to multiple choice or true/false statements on your slides.
You’ve also got the ‘cold-call’ using the mic. Just make sure you give students time to think about the answer: it’s quite intimidating when you know you’re being broadcast into people’s kitchens!
In school, I say ‘I should see 100% hands up’ when I ask a question. On Zoom, I’ve changed to ‘I should see a screen of little blue hands!’ Find that in the ‘manage participants’ bit.
Something that can also work quite well (with smallish groups) is a shared Google doc with a table. Put student names in one column. They write their answer in the other.
That way, you can pose questions and see the whole group writing answers in real time. It also puts them under a bit of pressure because they can see others writing.
It also gives you a break. In the first lockdown, I underestimated the intensity of Zoom teaching and started off with too much teacher talk. Make sure you stop for a sip of coffee.
Everyone loves a star chart (even my 6th formers). Very important that you’re praising kids for their effort while maintaining high standards. We all like to know our hard work is being noticed.
Important to say – and I can’t stress this enough – this is MUCH easier with small groups. When I teach groups of 30 on Zoom, I keep things very simple.
Hope that helps. Whatever you do, you’re an absolute hero: Zoom teaching is a lot more difficult than people think it is!

More from Education

OK I am going to be tackling this as surveillance/open source intel gathering exercise, because that is my background. I blew away 3 years of my life doing site acquisition/reconnaissance for a certain industry that shall remain unnamed and believe there is significant carryover.


This is NOT going to be zillow "here is how to google school districts and find walmart" we are not concerned with this malarkey, we are homeschooling and planting victory gardens and having gigantic happy families.

With that said, for my frog and frog-adjacent bros and sisters:

CHOICE SITES:

Zillow is obvious one, but there are many good sites like Billy Land, Classic Country Land, Landwatch, etc. and many of these specialize in owner financing (more on that later.) Do NOT treat these as authoritative sources - trust plat maps and parcel viewers.

TARGET IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION:

Okay, everyone knows how to google "raw land in x state" but there are other resources out there, including state Departments of Natural Resources, foreclosure auctions, etc. Finding the land you like is the easy part. Let's do a case study.

I'm going to target using an "off-grid but not" algorithm. This is a good piece in my book - middle of nowhere but still trekkable to civilization.

Note: visible power, power/fiber pedestal, utility corridor, nearby commercial enterprise(s), and utility pole shadows visible.
** Schools have been getting ready for this: a thread **

In many ways, I don't blame folks who tweet things like this. The media coverage of the schools situation in Covid-19 rarely talks about the quiet, day-in-day-out work that schools have been doing these past 9 months. 1/


Instead, the coverage focused on the dramatic, last minute policy announcements by the government, or of dramatic stories of school closures, often accompanied by photos of socially distanced classrooms that those of us in schools this past term know are from a fantasy land. 2/


If that's all you see & hear, it's no wonder that you may not know what has actually been happening in schools to meet the challenges. So, if you'd like a glimpse behind the curtain, then read on. For this is something of what teachers & schools leaders have been up to. 3/

It started last March with trying to meet the challenges of lockdown, being thrown into the deep end, with only a few days' notice, to try to learn to teach remotely during the first lockdown. 4/

https://t.co/S39EWuap3b


I wrote a policy document for our staff the weekend before our training as we anticipated what was to come, a document I shared freely & widely as the education community across the land started to reach out to one another for ideas and support. 5/
https://t.co/m1QsxlPaV4

You May Also Like