• Four Ways to Make Virtual Learning Engaging

    Are you teaching remotely? Are you having trouble keeping students in your virtual classroom engaged? Virtual learning doesn't have to be boring! Check out these tips to make your virtual classroom more engaged! #remotelearning #distancelearning #virtualclassroom #remoteteaching

    Are you teaching remotely? Are you having trouble keeping students in your virtual classroom engaged? Virtual learning doesn't have to be boring! Check out these tips to make your virtual classroom more engaged!  #remotelearning #distancelearning #virtualclassroom #remoteteaching

    Keeping students engaged in a virtual classroom is a challenge, but it is possible. Our engagement level is making students excited to join our live lessons or thinking about skipping.

    While I don’t have 100% attendance for each class (I’m self-contained), I do see all of my students at some point during the day. Check out some of my engagement tactics and start using them in your virtual classroom this week!

    Ditch the Routine

    Routines are king in a physical classroom, but they can get old real quick online. If students know what to expect, they are less engaged and less likely to show up, especially if no one is making them. I usually keep the same routine for a week and then change it up. 

    Here’s what I mean by mixing it up. 

    Week 1

    1. Sight Word Practice
    2. Phonics practice
    3. Short vowel practice
    4. Part of speech practice
    5. Writing practice

    Week 2

    1. Introduce Reading Skill of the Week
    2. Read Aloud, Applying Skill of the Week
    3. Sight Word Practice

    I’ve noticed, if each week the kids don’t know what to expect, then my virtual attendance is better. And they have more fun because we aren’t doing the same thing every week. To reinforce what we did during Week 1, I have students complete Seesaw assignments on those skills, aka virtual centers.

    Allow Noise

    Let them unmute themselves all at once a couple of times a day. Are they going to hear you? No, but this shouldn’t be a time when they need to hear you. Ask for a group response and tell them all to unmute themselves to respond.

    I know this sounds chaotic, but it works. And if you let students know that they need to mute themselves once they respond, they will! Set your ground rules first. If my first graders can do it, so can yours!

    I let my students unmute themselves when we are reviewing sight words, counting, and other times when I don’t need to hear them clearly. Is it noisy, yep. But this allows them to be loud and silly. AKA, they are engaged.

    In upper grades, you could have them echo read. That way, they hear it once clearly, and then they can read it together.

    Vary What is On Their Screen

    This is an absolute MUST! Your students do not want to look at that perfect slide show every day for every lesson! That is so boring, ya’ll. And I know some teachers are doing this because ya’ll are super proud of them, showing them all over social media. Lol. And look, we do need slide shows, but that should not make up your entire lesson.

    So, give them some variety. Show your face, show your hands working with manipulatives or writing, show a short video, show their work, make them the spotlight when answering a question. Changing up what they see is an easy way to keep them engaged.

    Add Music

    Music can make anything more engaging, especially virtual learning! Here are some ways you can infuse music into your virtual class.

    • Play music before class starts. I ask students to log-on 3-4 minutes before class; during this time, I play music while waiting for class to start.
    • Use music as a timer. If I give the students time to work on something independently, I’ll tell them they have until the end of the song to get it done. They love this! At first, they dance more than work, but once they realize I won’t give them extra time, they get the work done. 
    • Use music as a brain break. Although our live lessons aren’t extremely long, I can read my virtual classroom and see that I need to re-engage them. This works like a charm.

    We are not able to teach as much content online as we are in-person. So, ensuring that students are engaged in learning is important. Your students aren’t going to want to join your virtual class if you put them to sleep. Use these tips to keep students virtually engaged!

    What are some ways you’re keeping students engaged online?

     

  • Tips For Veteran Teachers Teaching Remotely

    Are you a veteran teacher? Are you looking for tips to help you teach remotely? Check out this blog post to help all veteran teachers teach virtually. #remoteteaching #virtualteaching

    Are you a veteran teacher? Are you looking for tips to help you teach remotely? Check out this blog post to help all veteran teachers teach virtually. #remoteteaching #virtualteaching

    If I can vent to you real quick, COVID has destroyed my blogging plans. Last year, I made tons of back to school content that I planned to reuse this school year. When I created the videos, blog posts, and tutorials, I thought it would be seasonal content that will never not (double negative to emphasize my confidence 🤣) be relevant.

    Welp. We know how that turned out. 

    I’m telling you this because we are used to things being done a certain way at the beginning of the school year. But everything has changed. Everything is new. 

    Here are three things that ALL veteran teachers need to know, including me.

    We are all new; let go of what you’ve always done.

    We are all new; be open to learning.

    We are all new; be okay with being new again.

    I know in a traditional class setting, we know how to get things done. We know how to kick off the school year. We are experts at back to school night. 

    But, guys, this school year, we are not the experts. We are not veterans; we are all new. 

    We have to humble ourselves and be open to learning new things. 

    We have to complain less.

    We have to be flexible.

    We have to share what we learn.

    We have to support each other.

    We have to be okay with making mistakes.

    We have to create better relationships with parents.

    We have to be considerate.

    We have to be understanding.

    We have to be less critical.

    We have to be safe.

    A year ago, if you told me we would be starting the school year online due to a pandemic, I would have called you a big fat liar and called you crazy. Heck, if you told me this in February, I would have laughed in your face.

    The wonderful thing about being a veteran during this time is that we have years of experience of being flexible and taking whatever comes at us and making it great. 

    We will all make this the best school year we can. 

    Take care y’all.

    Melissa

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  • Virtual Read Aloud Tips for Teachers

    Teaching remotely has changed a lot of what we would normally do in our classrooms. Read alouds are still a practice that should be continued while we are teaching remotely. Check out these tips to make your virtual read alouds engaging and fun for your students. #remoteteaching #readalouds #virtualteaching

    Teaching remotely has changed a lot of what we would normally do in our classrooms. Read alouds are still a practice that should be continued while we are teaching remotely. Check out these tips to make your virtual read alouds engaging and fun for your students. #remoteteaching #readalouds #virtualteaching

    I love reading to my students. When the schools were closed, this was the one thing I missed. Really missed.

    My first day of school is in a few weeks, and while I don’t know a lot about what will happen this school year, I know that I will read books to my students daily. 

    Check out these tips to get your virtual read alouds on and popping!

    Know Publishers’ Read Aloud Policies

    Teachers don’t make a lot of money. The last thing any of us want are copyright issues. To prevent any problems, make sure you understand what you can and cannot do when reading books online. 

    Recently, I read an article that stated that teachers have permission to virtually read aloud books because of fair use. This article explains why we can read online to our students; I still think it’s smart to understand each publisher’s policy.

    The article and publishers make it very clear that reading online to students should benefit them and not you (to increase your social media following, monetary gain, etc.).

    In March, I wrote a blog post with publishers permissions, as of 8/2/2020, some publishers have extended their deadlines. Others probably will soon. 

    Pick a Way to Read

    How you virtually read to your students will play a significant role in their engagement. 

    For my first remote read aloud, I filmed myself (with my cellphone) reading the book as if I would read to my students in class. So, I was sitting in a chair and holding the book toward the camera.  

    For the next book, I recorded the pages as I was reading. My thinking was that they would be able to read along and had a better view of the illustrations.

    After doing it both ways, I asked my students which way they preferred. They unanimously agreed that they like seeing the pages because they could read with me. 

    This school year, I plan on mixing it up and doing it both ways. Since my students don’t know me, I want them to see my face as much as possible, but I also want to give them opportunities to read along. 

    Do you do daily read alouds in your reading block? Have you tried interactive read alouds? Interactive read alouds are a great way to engage your students while you’re reading. You can use interactive read alouds to teach or reteach reading skills from your lesson. More importantly, interactive read alouds are great way to trick your students into learning reading skills! #interactivereadalouds #readaloud #readalouds #readaloudtips

    Read As If You Are In the Classroom aka Show Your Personality

    During our read alouds in class, we make jokes, I make connections, and or model skills while reading. 

    At first, this was missing from my virtual read alouds. It was bizarre being alone reading a book for my students.

    As I got more comfortable, I started inserting my ad-libs to make the reading more personable and fun. 

    This school year, showing my personality will be even more important so that I can virtually build relationships. 

    Ask Questions

    Just because the read aloud is virtual, doesn’t mean you can’t ask students about the book. 

    Once we went online, I would assign a Google Form with questions about the book that students would answer after reading. If the questions referred to a specific part of the book, I would include a picture of the book page, so the students had the text to help them answer the questions.

    Just like in class, I would not ask more than five questions.

    Don’t Ask Questions

    While it is essential to assess students’ comprehension, model thinking, etc, reading to students for pleasure is also important. 

    At least once a week in class and online, I read a book just for fun.

    I plan on increasing days like this in the fall. 

    Some of my students will have a hard time getting their hands on books this school year, so ensuring that students can hear a book a day is important. 

    Use these tips to get your virtual read alouds started! If you’re looking for diverse picture books to read to your students, you’ll love The Ultimate List of Diverse Picture Books. There are over 250 books to make your virtual read alouds a blast!

    Are you looking for diverse picture books to add to your classroom or home library? Do you want to add diverse picture books to your collection, but you don’t have time to search for them? Are you a teacher that wants to use more diverse texts but are unsure how they will fit in with your units or curriculum? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need this list! #diversepicturebooks #diverseclassroomlibraries #diversebooksforkids