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Social-Emotional Learning

Six Simple Mindfulness Activities for Your Classroom

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Incorporating mindfulness activities in the classroom is powerful, and it can also be easy to do. If you are wondering where to start with mindfulness in the classroom, be sure to check out some of the activities below. No matter how you choose to implement mindfulness, the goal is to help your students learn they can use mindfulness anytime they need to refocus their attention or reset their thoughts.

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is often defined as living in the moment without judgment. But many of us don’t always function that way. I know I don’t.

When a thought pops into our heads, it’s usually colored by what has happened in the past or what we think might happen in the future. Even if the thought isn’t accurate, we may react to it as if it were.

The practice of mindfulness can help us stay focused on the present. In addition to calming us down, mindfulness can teach us to view our thoughts in a more neutral manner.

How Can Students Practice Mindfulness?

There are many activities and resources that can help your students practice mindfulness. Check some of them out below.

1. Belly Breathing

Belly Breathing is a great activity for students to practice remaining calm during stressful situations. Centervention has a complete lesson plan you can use on belly breathing. You will find everything from pre and post discussion questions to step-by-step directions. It is a wonderful calming activity to use when students need to cool down or need an emotion regulation strategy.

2. Brain Breaks

Brain breaks are activities, or short breaks, that promote learning and focus for students. These types of breaks involve students participating in activities like mindful breathing, mindful movements, and mindful yoga. Check out these resources you can use to get your students (and yourself!) up and moving.

3. Breathe, Think, Do

This free Sesame Street app isn’t specifically for meditation, but it’s great for introducing very young children to the concept of calming down through breathing. The app teaches kids the “Breathe, Think, Do” method. Kids help an animated monster facing a frustrating situation calm down by taking long, deep breaths. The app is free and available for Android and iOS.

4. Calming Corner

As mentioned in this blog, calming corners can help reduce students’ stress and provide calming visual, auditory, and tactile experiences for students to de-stress. A calming corner is a place that can help your students prepare to learn and focus throughout the day. The calming corner can be a physical corner in your classroom or a virtual space.

5. Mindful Journaling

When a student feels overwhelmed or anxious, encourage them to practice mindful journaling. Mindful journaling gives students an opportunity to cope with and manage their emotions in a healthy way. The Three Good Things: A Happiness Journal app can help students with mindful journaling by having students write down three good things that happen to them each day. As a result, their happiness and positivity increase. There is a gamification element to the app to encourage engagement, and it is free and available for iOS.

6. Smiling Mind App

Smiling Mind offers hundreds of mindfulness activities for all ages. In addition to breathing meditations, the app has sensory exercises, like listening to music. There are programs for kids in different age groups, as well as for schools, workplaces, and sports. The app also keeps track of when kids meditate. Also, it’s free and available for Android and iOS.

Additional Resources

The more strategies students have for handling emotions, the more equipped they will be to tackle challenges. For other ways to incorporate the critical components of social-emotional learning in your classroom, check out these resources:

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Classroom Management

Classroom Contracts: An Excellent Strategy for Student Behavior Management

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Do you ever have recurring dreams or have a similar dream several times a year? I do. Actually, I have several. One is that I’m back in college and can’t find my math class. I’m worried that I’m going to be late. The other is that I’m teaching elementary school again, and I’ve returned to campus only to find that my students are no longer well-behaved. They are running wild! I’m worried that the principal will come into my classroom at any minute wondering why they are misbehaving. Fortunately, these dreams weren’t realities for me, and I hope they are not for you either.

However, if you need help with classroom discipline or know a colleague who could use some support, then here is one proven strategy that can help change your class for the better. It’s true that when student discipline is not an issue, students feel the classroom is a safe place to learn, better learning takes place, and students can have better relationships with each other and the teacher.

Restorative Discipline

Restorative Classroom Discipline

First, check out Diana Benner’s post on Restorative Discipline. Regardless of what behaviors need to be corrected in the classroom, restorative discipline should be the mindset and goal. As Diana shares, the end results of restorative discipline should be accountability, community safety, and competency development. Punishment, shame, and bullying only promote worse behaviors in students and teachers. Now that we have that as our basis, let’s look at using classroom contracts.

Two-Part Classroom Contracts

Classroom contracts have been around for a while, but few teachers make use of them. In the grown-up world, these might be called “team norms.” Establishing a classroom contract (or team norms, if you prefer, for older students) can go a long way in minimizing misbehavior in class. Ideally, a classroom contract is created at the beginning of the year or semester. But you can pause to have your students create one at any point in the year. Classroom contracts have two parts: the expectations and the responsibilities. And if you have multiple classes, each class should create its own. Because the personalities of each class are different, each class’s product will likely look slightly different. What might need to be said for one class may not be an issue for another.

Classroom Expectations

For the expectations portion, you lead students through a discussion on what they want the expectations to be for classroom behavior. Allow them to pitch different ideas. Some may be quite extreme, so you may need to reign them in at times. Have them think through these norms as what will be expected of all students in your class. Once everyone has agreed on the tenets of behavior for your class, then it is written down (or printed out), and everyone signs it. This becomes the guiding force for your classroom. Everyone is responsible for following the agreement and for maintaining order. The great thing about a classroom contract is that it removes the teacher as the sole authoritarian to manage behavior. It is now the responsibility of all students to manage behavior so that the best learning environment is fostered.

Student Responsibilities

The responsibilities aren’t like the traditional rules, rewards, and consequences that you may have had (or have) on your classroom wall. The responsibilities delineate what everyone actively does to support the expectations. For example, this part of the contract can outline how to help remind someone when they are breaking the agreement. This, too, is a discussion with the students to develop behaviors that everyone can use to help make corrections and maintain a positive and robust learning environment. This list should also be written out (or printed) to be a visual reminder for students and can be referred to as needed. Before having students sign this document, have them discuss what these responsibilities will look like in the classroom. For example, they can explain how they might support a friend who isn’t following the agreement. Additionally, discuss the benefits of working together to maintain unity in learning.

Creating a Classroom Contract

Practicing Classroom Contracts Through Role-Play

Once both documents are on the wall, have students role-play and discuss how expectations and responsibilities might look in class. Ask them to partner up and create a story to tell the class. The story should be a relevant example of expectations being met or unmet and how a student responded correctly to the situation based on the agreement. Here are two examples:

  • [corrective story] “While student are working in small groups discussing cell division, one student gets upset with another student because he isn’t doing ‘his fair share’ of the work. The angry student says something derogatory to the other group member and calls him stupid. This is a clear breach of contract based on what we agreed upon. Fortunately, the third member in the group reminds the angry student that his behavior is out of line and no one is to be put down in class. The third student reminds the angry student to consider taking a minute or two away from the group to calm down and consider his actions…which the angry student does. Upon returning to the group, the (previously) angry student apologizes for his behavior and shows effort to make appropriate amends. The group is back on track and begins work again. “
  • [nurturing story] “Dr. Ellis assigned some problems for the class to solve. They recently learned about binomials and were now solving binomial equations for x. After writing a problem on the board, the students volunteered to solve it out loud for the class. Robert volunteered to solve the problem, which he did well. Upon finishing, Carol, another student, complimented him out loud and said that she like the way he included all the steps and spoke clearly and loudly so she could hear him.”

Encouraging Positive Behavior in All Grade Levels

Another great thing about classroom contracts is that they can work in kindergarten classrooms up through college classrooms. You may have to make the contract very visual for younger students, refer to it often, and have students share stories regularly. As the teacher, be sure to “catch the students being good,” as the late behaviorist Madeline Hunter would encourage. Just because students demonstrate the right behaviors doesn’t mean they are aware of it. And encouraging students by noticing and acknowledging positive behaviors goes a long way to reinforce the contract. It also encourages other students to do the same.

Have you used team norms or classroom contracts before? Jump in the comments and share how it made a difference. Or, if you have a tip for implementing classroom contracts, please share with us below.

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Uncategorized

Empower Student Voice With Two Digital Discussion Tools

by Hunter McConnell
written by Hunter McConnell

Student discussion can be a powerful tool, but many students struggle with academic language. This can be helped by providing them with tools such as sentence starters, sentence stems, examples of simple sentences with the correct academic language, and many other strategies. As a previous teacher, I had many students who didn’t like to talk out loud, but if I got them by themselves or provided them with a digital alternative, they were more likely to open up a discussion with other students and me. There are two technology tools that can help your students have academic discussions, and these digital tools in coordination with academic language resources can help students use their voice in your classroom.

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a simple, free video discussion platform that makes learning fun, fulfilling, and empowering. It only takes a few minutes to start sparking meaningful discussions that will inspire your learners to share their voice and use their creativity. Check out an example here using the code Tceafg2021. Students can import a video, record their voice, or even write on a virtual whiteboard. As a teacher, you can connect Flipgrid to your Google Classroom, create student groups, and create specific topics or prompts for discussion. You can share your topics via email, Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, or using a QR code.

Take a look at the following Flipgrid Resources:

Additionally, here is a downloadable guide, and you can watch this short video to get an overview of the capabilities of Flipgrid and how quick and easy it is to use:

Padlet

Padlet is a digital tool that can help teachers and students in class and beyond by, at its most basic, offering a single place for a notice board. This digital notice board can feature images, links, videos, and documents, all collated on a “wall” that can be made public or private. Not only can teachers post on the wall, but students can, too. So, they can respond to prompts, questions, and their classmates. Here’s an example of how Padlet can be used in an interactive way to promote discussion. With Padlet, students can upload files, insert a photo from their camera or from an image search, insert links, record videos/voice, and screen record. 

Padlet

Take a look at the following Padlet Resources

Here is a quick introduction to Padlet:

I hope you enjoy both of these tools and the resources provided for you. Remember to start small when trying new tools or strategies, and if it doesn’t succeed the first time, try again!

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hybrid classroom
Good Teaching

Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

We thought that it was hard enough teaching virtually to our students when COVID-19 first appeared last spring. But now, the stakes have been raised as many educators are asked to teach both virtually and with students in the classroom at the same time. This new hybrid model of learning has to be the most difficult way to teach there is.

The Concept

Designed to add options for concerned parents, many school districts have allowed them to choose whether their children will attend school virtually or in person. This results in a mixed environment with the teacher managing both groups of learners at the same time.

Typically, both sets of students have a device to use for their work. That means that they are all given the same opportunities to participate in class discussions and take part in whole-class learning games and activities, all done at the same time together.

The Reality for Teachers

For the teacher, providing learning experiences in a hybrid classroom often means planning two sets of lessons for each class period. There is also more of a need to be able to check in with students, especially those learning virtually, throughout the day to help with questions and make sure their work is on target. In addition, building community in the mixed class takes more time and work as you endeavor to make sure all students are connected and engaged.

Best Practices for the Hybrid Classroom

Having students at home simply “zoom in” for the face-to-face teaching doesn’t work well. Instead, we have to modify our teaching strategies. Here are some best practices for doing so. (Please note that you shouldn’t simply pick one of these models and use it all of the time. Different learning needs will dictate which one to use when. And, of course, it may work best for both you and your students to use a blending of all of these models or to use different models on different days or for different types of learning.)

John Spencer offers five models for the hybrid classroom (below). He also has short video explanations of each of the five and some tips and tricks for implementing them.

hybrid classroom

Common Sense Education provides six important considerations in its article How to Plan for Hybrid Teaching and Learning. The six things to remember are:

  • Focus on well-being and relationships
  • Different modes, different strategies (with some good advice about which activities work best for which learning environment)
  • Aim for consistent communication
  • Don’t overwhelm with tech tools
  • Emphasize digital citizenship

Dr. Catlin Tucker offers three different models for a “concurrent classroom:” station rotation, flipped learning, and playlist or individual rotation model (shown below). For all of them, she emphasizes the need to provide that human connection with each student. She also includes some short video snippets about the different models, their benefits, and tips for each.

hybrid classroom

Alverno College has this PDF of best practices for teaching in a hybrid environment. While it is designed for older learners, I do think there is some information of value for all ages there. I especially liked this advice from it:

If students are responsible for readings, videos, resources, etc., create an activity to verify your students have done the readings and watched the videos, whether it is a low ­stakes quiz, a discussion group, etc. Or create an activity for students to apply what they learned. Otherwise, even the best students will eventually ignore the readings, videos, resources, etc.

A three-station rotation model (shown below) is recommended by Eric Sheninger. Designed to fit into a 50-minute class period, the three stations are preceded by a 10-minute mini-lesson and followed by a 10-minute formative assessment/closing. Sheninger provides some ideas and resources for implementing this model in your hybrid classroom.

hybrid classroom

Common Sense Education provides six important considerations in its article How to Plan for Hybrid Teaching and Learning. The six things to remember are:

  • Focus on well-being and relationships
  • Different modes, different strategies (with some good advice about which activities work best for which learning environment)
  • Aim for consistent communication
  • Don’t overwhelm with tech tools
  • Emphasize digital citizenship

And For Administrators

If you are a campus or district leader who is charged with helping teachers to implement this hybrid model, please be patient and understanding. After all, none of us were trained for this situation: not the teachers, the students, or the parents and guardians. Embrace the chaos that may occur and support the dedication and hours of work that your educators are putting in to make learning happen for all students.

How are you managing hybrid teaching? I’d love to hear from you about what works and what hasn’t worked in your classroom. Please share in the comments below.

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SEL Practices
Educational TrendsGood Teaching

Bring SEL Practices to Your Remote Classroom

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

In times of uncertainty like we are experiencing now, it is important to bring social and emotional (SEL) practices to your remote classroom. Some students might be feeling anxious; therefore, we want to create a safe space for learning. When students feel safe, they find it easier to learn. You can help build that safe space for learning by incorporating SEL in your teaching.

Below are a few ways to implement SEL in your remote classroom.

Have Discussions

  • Have conversations with students. Ask them “What are you excited about today? or “Are you concerned about anything?” Encourage your students to share.
  • Give students different scenarios. Then, in pairs or as a whole class, allow students to discuss how a person might feel or act given that scenario.

Teach SEL Vocabulary

  • Include vocabulary words associated with SEL in your classroom activities.
  • Students could also come up with synonyms for words associated with their feelings.

Incorporate Writing Activities

  • Ask students to write about how they are feeling. They can write about how they are feeling about the pandemic or having to physically distance themselves from others.
  • Students can write poems or stories. They can be collaborative writing activities and done together as a class or with groups of classmates.
  • Writing prompts can also be given to students.

Play Games

  • Games can be used to reinforce or practice SEL skills as well as build community in your classroom. Games such as Kindness Bingo or Emotions Scavenger Hunt can be played.
  • Quandry is a free learning game on ethical decision making. The game is designed for flexible use and includes educator resources such as lesson plans and curriculum guides.

Integrate Drawing

  • As mentioned in this blog post, there are many benefits to incorporating drawing in your classroom. You students might want to visually express themselves.
  • Ask students to draw a picture of something that makes them happy or ask them to draw a self-portrait.
  • There are many online drawing tools and apps that students can use to create their drawings.

Regardless of how you have set up your remote classroom, it is important to include weekly or even daily activities that give students an opportunity to talk about how they are feeling.  Best practices for remote learning suggest that SEL should be at the forefront of remote learning. If you would like more ideas and grade-level resources, I encourage you to sign up for our self-paced Social and Emotional Learning online course.

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creativity
Good Teaching

Promoting Creativity in the Virtual Classroom

by Luke Smith, Guest Author
written by Luke Smith, Guest Author

For teachers and students alike, the advancements in technological tools and devices have helped pave the way for innovative creativity in the classroom. From Minecraft: Education Edition, which helps students learn how to code, to the Windows Ink program that can help compile student’s handwritten notes into a more organized collection.

Now, as the United States continues to battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have made the switch to virtual learning to reduce the spread of the disease. 

Learning as We Go

In the beginning, many schools and teachers were underprepared to move every lesson and school resource to an online platform, especially overnight. Students were also unprepared as many found themselves at home without a reliable internet connection or essential devices such as a laptop. 

After months of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, the next school year is now quickly approaching, and some are feeling a bit more prepared and familiar with their virtual classrooms. However, this new virtual learning environment does present the question: How can educators still encourage and promote creativity while working from a screen?

Try Switching Things Up

For educators unfamiliar with online teaching platforms, trying to juggle remote teaching duties along with everything else can be a real challenge. This kind of juggling tends to leave little room for spontaneity and can interrupt the creative flow of the entire class.

Consider for a moment what is lost when teaching virtually. For one, it’s much harder to pick up on students’ non-verbal communication and students can struggle with being active listeners while online. It can also be much more difficult to provide personalized help with tasks. This is where you’re likely seeing students become frustrated and defeated as a result of these disadvantages of virtual learning. Without in-person guidance and monitoring, some students might find themselves getting stuck or lost with the lessons and thus, coming to one dead end after another, failing to meet learning goals. 

Do It Often

To foster a better online experience, the University of Southern California (USC) suggests switching between tasks to promote creative thinking. Task-switching provides more freedom for students and can downplay particular weaknesses while building up their strengths. USC recommends setting hard-stops and working in short bursts. They also explain that switching between projects multiple times, instead of focusing on one thing, allows a fresh perspective and inspires more creativity.  

While task-switching certainly isn’t a new concept to most teachers, teaching online to such a degree is. At the start of the pandemic, teachers may have found that sticking to one task at a time was much simpler and easier to manage. Now that some time has passed and there have been more opportunities to learn about the ins and outs of your virtual classroom, it’s time to switch things up to get the creativity flowing once again. 

Encourage Better Habits Before and After Class

Towards the end of the last school year, you likely noticed students struggling to complete tasks, participate, and have creative input during discussions and projects. The newness of online learning had worn off, and it felt as though there was a fresh wave of bad news every day. This has certainly taken a toll on everyone, but especially on kids.

A lot of what happens in the classroom connects to what students are doing outside of class. In 2020, students have few outlets to help them recharge. There aren’t hallways filled with friends to chat with, bustling lunch rooms, gym classes to encourage physical activity, plays to star in, dances to get all dressed up for, and the list goes on. 

Remember to Reconnect with the Outdoors

All of the restrictions and stress kids are experiencing during the pandemic are going to reflect in their work and creativity. One way you can help combat this is by encouraging students to take regular breaks outside of their houses, away from screens. There are numerous scientifically-proven benefits of spending time outdoors, some of which include:

  • Improved Mental Health: Taking a walk, going for a hike, or riding a bike are all great ways to lower negative thinking, as well as reduce feelings of anxiety and improve your mood.
  • Higher-Quality Sleep: Educators and parents already know a lot of kids don’t get enough quality sleep. Now that many are trapped inside nearly all day long, sleep can be even more evasive. Getting outdoors and enjoying more physical activities can improve sleep quality, helping kids be more alert.
  • Enhanced Creativity: The great outdoors can be massively inspiring, increase cognitive functions, and rejuvenate the creative mind. 

Encourage students to venture out or create an assignment that involves spending time outside for a bit. Of course, always remind students of COVID-19 safety measures and to practice social distancing and to wear their face coverings. It seems simple, but with everything that’s happening within the world, it might be the only chance students have to take a break and reconnect with their environment. 

Conclusion

It might go without saying, but so far, this year has been extremely stressful. Whether you’re a teacher, student, or parent, these past several months have been mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. This is worth keeping in mind as you plan the next creative move in your classroom. 

As advancements in virtual learning continue to expand, educators might find themselves having to learn new tricks. There are unique challenges to face, both as students and as teachers. Promoting creativity in a virtual classroom is undoubtedly one of them. And with the right technology, tools, and motivation, teachers can help inspire students to overcome these unprecedented times and find their creative spark once more.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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remote classroom
Good Teaching

Preparing Students for Their New Remote Classroom

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Are you wondering how to prepare your students for their new remote classroom? If so, you are probably not alone. There are a lot of things to consider so that your students can start the year successfully. Begin by preparing the remote learning environment before students “arrive” at school. Then get students oriented to the new environment so that they feel at ease. Below are some suggestions to prepare them.

Getting Started

  • Provide students with instructions (written or video) on how to meet with you on the first day of remote learning. Include the time and/or a link. If you have a Bitmoji, include that and make the instructions fun and light hearted.

Class Structure

remote classroom
  • Provide students with a schedule. Include times they will be meeting with you for synchronous instruction.

Navigation

  • Make a video overview on how to navigate the remote classroom. Show them how to login, where to find assignments, how to submit assignments, etc.
  • You could also create a scavenger hunt activity that students can complete in order to familiarize themselves with their new classroom.

Expectations

  • Create a poster or some type of visual that lists the classroom expectations or norms.
  • Get student input on what the expectations should be by having a discussion with them or allowing them to vote on the most important norms. Get more information about setting norms here.

Communication

  • Students will need to know how they can contact you. Let them know your preferred method for communicating. In addition, share when they will receive an answer (24 hours, 48 hours, etc.). Post this in your remote classroom.
  • If you are holding virtual office hours, let students know when you will be available to meet with them and if they need to sign up or can just show up.
  • Students will need to know how to properly communicate with you and peers in the remote classroom. Be sure communication is addressed in the classroom expectations. 

Checklist

You can find these as well as more things to consider at Preparing Students for Remote Instruction Checklist. What else would you add to the checklist? Let us know in the comments below.

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online discussions
Educational TrendsGood Teaching

Making Online Discussions Meaningful

by Elaine Plybon, Guest Author
written by Elaine Plybon, Guest Author

As the education world continues to plan for digital learning options, online discussions may be one of the most important elements for maintaining a meaningful classroom environment through dialogue. Yet it is most often overlooked.

This is because, as generations of teachers who have taken online classes where the standard for discussions includes a “post your response and then reply to two of your peers” protocol, ineffective discussion practices continue to be perpetuated. The result is a group of students who believe that discussions are intended as “make-work” and a group of teachers who think discussions are not a valuable part of their online classroom.

Thinking Differently

This does not have to be the case. Studies have shown that online discussions can be extremely valuable as an instructional tool, but more importantly, as a way to even the playing field for English language learners, students with verbal processing disorders, and students who traditionally do not participate in a traditional classroom discussion due to anxiety or reluctance to speak in front of a group.

It can be difficult for an educator to make the transition from traditional classroom discussions to online class discussions. Fortunately, several online discussion protocols have been developed that can encourage quality online discussions. 

The Crux of the Matter

To keep discussion protocols from becoming mundane or irrelevant, it is important for an instructor to use a protocol that fits the objective for the discussion. For example, if an English teacher has asked her students to do a first read of a text, the teacher might use the Crux of the Matter protocol.

This protocol uses four threads where students post significant sentences, phrases, words, and insights from the reading including why they think it is significant. Student posts must be unique, so it encourages early reading and posting. During a second read of the same text, a teacher might use the Final Word Protocol, having students post a single phrase they believe is the most significant in the text without saying why.

All students discuss why the original poster may have believed that phrase was significant, whether they agree or disagree, and why. After a designated amount of time has passed to give all students an opportunity to respond, the original poster posts a reply to their own thread revealing why they originally thought the phrase was significant and how their thinking has changed or remained the same as a result of reading the posts from their peers. In this post, the student would be required to use evidence from their peers’ feedback.

When using more than one protocol in this way, students can see the logical transition of learning. They can view their original discussion as the beginning of their learning journey, then watch their own understanding progress to mastery.

Teachers may develop summative reflections which are driven by the student learning in the discussions of the course to determine whether students have achieved mastery of the desired objectives. In this manner, discussions become an integral part of the learning process, as well as having the possibility of being used for assessment.

The What If Protocol

In the interests of both valuable discussion and differentiation, another valuable protocol is the What If protocol. This harkens back to a time when our students were assigned to be the line leader in kindergarten.

For each discussion in an online class, one student is assigned to be the What If. This student is exempt from all the other requirements of that discussion. Their job is to read every post and add a “what if” or “yes, but” question or statement to each one. The original poster is required to respond to this prompt. Even though the What If student has been exempted from the requirements of the discussion prompt, they will get the benefit of learning as they read and think about each prompt. This can be especially empowering to students for whom the original discussion prompt may have been overwhelming, or who need fewer instructions to be successful.

Discussion protocols can be adapted from tried and true, familiar classroom protocols. When this happens, the benefits of longstanding best practices can be realized in the online classroom. As educators adjust to the increasing demand for digital learning, the first step toward being effective is to understand how many practices can be translated from the traditional classroom into the digital classroom. Discussion protocols are easy to plan, but reap great benefits when used effectively.

Getting Adjusted

It may take students some time to adjust to the new protocols. Being consistent and holding students to the standards required in the protocol is important. For example, if the Timely Discussion protocol is used and a student claims to be finished with it in one day, they obviously have not complied with the expectations of the protocol, which requires students to wait a period of time between posts so that their thinking can deepen their understanding of the content before they post their responses.

Next time you see “post your response, then thoughtfully respond to two of your peers,” think about a protocol that will work best for your objective and change the prompt. As you work with discussion protocols, you will find your own mastery of meaningful online discussions increasing as you think of new protocols on your own!

Do you use a valuable discussion protocol in your online class? Share it with us!

Resources

Discussion Protocols mentioned in this article:

Crux of the Matter

This protocol is a great way to introduce a new concept and activate prior knowledge. Because students are asked to choose unique concepts, larger classes may need to be divided into smaller groups and given their own group discussion board. If this is done, the Insights discussion thread should be a whole-group thread.

  1. Instructor sets up four new threads: Sentences, Phrases, Words, and Insights.
  2. Each student posts a sentence from the reading that they feel is significant. Each post has to be unique, so students are encouraged to post early.
  3. Each student posts a phrase that they feel is significant. Again, these should be unique.
  4. Each student posts the word they feel is significant. As with the other posts, these should be unique.
  5. The students all go to the Insights thread and post what they understand about the reading based on what everyone else in their group posted.

Final Word

With this protocol, students are able to explore their own thinking. It also helps students to feel more connected to the conversation. It shifts ownership of the discussion to the students involved, rather than the instructor. It encourages critical thinking skills as students develop the ability to consider feedback and develop strong, evidence-based arguments.

  1. Each student identifies what they think is a significant idea from a reading without saying why they think it is significant.
  2. Each student starts a new thread by posting the quote or excerpt from the text that represents the point.
  3. Other students in the class reply to the thread with their thoughts on the quote and why they might find it significant or not.
  4. The original student then posts a comment to reveal their initial thoughts on why the quote was significant and how their thoughts have been validated or changed because of the comments of their peers. The original student is not allowed to add their thoughts until after the commenting period has ended.

What If

This protocol should weave through the body of discussions throughout a course. In this protocol, a teacher assigns a specific student to be the “what-if” for a particular discussion. That student is exempt from the rest of the assigned protocol for that discussion and is solely tasked with commenting frequently with thought-provoking “what if” statements or “yes, but” statements.

Timely Discussion

Use of this protocol is best when approaching a topic that students may have initial thoughts about then develop different or deeper ideas after time/learning. It is similar to the Final Word Protocol, with a stronger emphasis on evidence and reasoning. This protocol strengthens student understanding of how to state a position and use evidence to support and defend it, as well as introducing the idea of changing one’s mind because of evidence provided by others. In some cases, this could result in new assignments or discussions about the quality and reliability of evidence.

  1. The instructor prepares a prompt for students to think about. 
  2. Students create a thread with their initial thoughts, including their reasoning and evidence to support their reasoning. In a science class, this may be an opportunity for students to make predictions.
  3. Students do not respond to any peers for a period of time (usually two-three days). It is important that the instructor have a deadline for everyone to post their initial post.
  4. After the initial posts are due, students return to the discussion and read ALL the posts of their peers.
  5. Students post a response to the peers they disagree with, including evidence and reasoning. (If the class size is large, determine a number of students they will need to post to. This may get tricky because what if there are not that many who they disagree with?) Again, the teacher needs to establish a deadline to get this step done.
  6. After the responses are due, students return to the discussion and read the posts that disagree with their position.
  7. Students post a new comment on their own, original post, that restates their position or introduces their new position, citing evidence from the comments they read on theirs (and other’s posts). Use of informal citation, such as “As George stated on Lucy’s post, “quote quote quote,” is encouraged.

For a curated list which includes these and others, download the Discussion Protocols document.

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

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Google Classroom
Google Tips and Tricks

Five Amazing Add-Ons for Google Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Google Classroom is your command-and-control center for your digital classroom. As incredible as it is, you can make it an even better companion. How? Just try out the add-ons in this blog post.

These Chrome extensions and add-ons expand your ability to do work. Instead of adding them all at once, add them one at a time. This will give you the time you need to learn how to best use each one.

Add-On #1: Share to Classroom

Need to get everyone on the same page? Use this add-on to push web pages to any of your Google Classrooms. This makes it easy for you to share content (e.g. announcements, assignments, web pages) with them. Students can also use this add-on to share websites back to their teachers.

Get Share To Classroom

Add-On #2: Classwork Zoom

Wish you had an easy way to see what’s going on in your Google Classroom? Classwork Zoom (unrelated tothe  Zoom.us web conferencing tool) translates Classroom activities into a timeline of information.

google classroom

Classwork Zoom relies on information found in your Classroom, such as:

  • Assigned student work in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings
  • Assignment deadlines from the class calendar

Watch this short video overview:

Note: Classwork Zoom currently offers free access to G Suite schools that are closed due to the coronavirus.

Get Classwork Zoom

Add-On #3: Kami Extension – PDF and Document Annotation

Last week, a colleague remarked she had never heard of Kami for PDF and Document Annotation. After trying it out, she couldn’t help but be impressed. Kami makes it a simple matter to annotate documents by writing, drawing, and typing on them.

Some of Kami’s features include:

  • Providing students with documents that they can complete
  • Simplifying the return of completed documents for grading
  • Using Kami as a digital whiteboard overlay for an on-screen document
  • Sharing documents for collaborative annotation or discussion with others
  • Engaging in paperless pedagogy (Sorry, Alice Keeler, I couldn’t resist)

Boasting many more features, here’s a quick video overview:

Get Kami

Add-On #4: Xodo – PDF Viewer and Editor

One of my favorite PDF viewers and editors, Xodo is the everyman’s PDF tool. You can use it in your browser, making it ideal for Chromebooks. It works on Android devices as well. It makes it easy to read, merge, annotate, sign, and share PDFs. Xodo has served me well, allowing me to sign forms on the go. In the Google Classroom, it saves you time as you can edit PDFs on your computer and then save to Google Drive (or Dropbox). Use the Chrome extension or visit their website.

google classroom

Get Xodo

Add-On #5: Dualless

“I really miss my dual monitor setup in my classroom,” said a colleague. Wish you had an easy way to split your screen? Put Google Classroom on one side, other work on the other. Give the Dualless Chrome extension a try. This add-on divides your browser window into two. You decide the ratio of how much space each window will take.

google classroom

Get Dualless

But, Wait, There’s More to Add to Google Classroom!

Are you a super admin who needs to manage all the Google Classroom courses in your domain? Or a classroom teacher who wants to manage your own classes? Give this G Suite Marketplace add-on, Classroom Manager, a try (watch video). You can add it to Google Sheets and it will make it easy to do the following:

  • An admin user can use the assignments menu to get an overview of the work being set by all teachers in the domain.
  • Drill down to view:
    • Number of assignments with details such as when an assignment was set, when it is due, who set it, title, and description
    • Announcements made for each class
    • How many students, and what teachers, are associated with a course
  • Edit various details of domain courses via the spreadsheet with the add-on enabled, such as:
    • The course status and name
    • Section and description
    • Room
    • Course owner
  • Add and delete teachers and students
  • Schedule jobs to sync data about teachers and students of classes with data from your School information system

Unlike other solutions, there is a cost for Classroom Manager (annual fee of $99 for a super admin or $10 for annual teacher license). If you get the super admin license, you do not need to purchase individual teacher licenses. Schools can take advantage of a similar tool known as Little SIS for Classroom. Available from Amplified IT, it is free to schools until July 1, 2020 due to COVID-19.

One final point to keep in mind. There are many apps that work with Google Classroom. You can even take our self-paced course, Google Classroom, if you want to earn your digital badge and certification.

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digital physics screenshot
Content AreasGood TeachingiOS Tips and TricksSTEM/STEAM

Digital Physics with Physics Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a physics teacher looking for simple tutorials, interactives, or concept builders? Digital physics has never been easier. In this blog, we’ll explore a variety of digital resources you may find useful as a physics teachers.

Introducing Concepts to Students

You may find introducing tough concepts to be difficult. While interactive experiences are foundational, try some proven strategies to introduce students to new learning.

What are some great surface learning strategies? Here’s a quick recap on what surface learning strategies do:

Surface learning strategies introduce students to concepts, skills and/or strategies. These strategies seek to assist students gain requisite, background knowledge. The need this background knowledge before they can move forward to deep learning.

These strategies introduce students to unfamiliar content. You can see the effect size for each strategy in parentheses. Here are some you can use:

1) Jigsaw Method (1.20)

The jigsaw instructional method is a cooperative approach to learning. In this method, a teacher introduces a main topic and several subtopics. Divide students into “home groups.” Assign each member of the home group a subtopic. Students then divide up to study their assigned subtopic and have a discussion. At the end of the jigsaw, students return to their home group where each has a set time to share about their subtopic. Culminate the activity with a reflection component.

Tech Tip: Organize your instructions and sub topic resources topics in a Google Sites or a hyperdoc to structure subtopic explorations.

2) Flipped Classroom (0.58)

This is an approach that involves the teacher pre-recording video or audio presentations. Students can then watch/listen to content at home or in other situations. When students return to the classroom, engage them in hands-on activities that focus the learning. You can use a deep learning strategy like Reciprocal Teaching (0.84) to dig deeper into content in class. Or, use a simulation.

Tech Tip: Try using solutions such as Actively Learn, Edpuzzle, or  Kami. to heighten the interactivity of videos.

See more strategies and technologies you can use online.

Ready to explore the Physics Classroom website? Let’s get started.

The Physics Classroom Topics

This section offers source material (great for jigsaw) you can use. For example, some of the topics include:

In each section, you’ll find a series of lessons. For example, for Reflection and the Ray Model of Light:

The first lesson focuses on reflection and its importance with specific topics:

  1. The Role of Light to Sight
  2. The Line of Sight
  3. The Law of Reflection
  4. Specular vs. Diffuse Reflection

There are more lessons available. Each lesson provides great content students can read.

Physics Interactives

This section focuses on HTML5 interactive pages that work on various devices. This includes devices such as iPads and Chromebooks that no longer work with Adobe Flash.

digital physics

From their website (with slight edits):

Some Interactives are simulations that allow a user to manipulate an environment. They make it easier to observe the effect of changes in variables upon the simulation. Other Interactives are skill building exercises. In these, the user practices a skill that is crucial to learning some aspect of physics. Topics for Interactives match the classroom topics listed above.

Some Interactives provide game-like environments. These need the user to use a physics concept to meet a challenge. These are great for deep learning since they dig deeper into a concept. You can introduce them with direct instruction (.59) strategy. Use them when students are ready to build a deeper conceptual understanding. Strategies you can use include classroom discussion, reciprocal teaching. This involves students grappling with ideas together.

Concept Builders

Physics Classroom’s website offers access to 120 concept builders on 14 different topics. They describe it in this way:

A Concept Builder is an interactive learning activity. It targets student understanding of a discrete concept.  Each Concept Builder presents learners with carefully crafted questions. These target various aspects of the concept. There are many levels of difficulty or activities.

Track learner progress at each level or in each activity. Often, when a student misses a question, they have two opportunities to try again. Once they have done so, they will have exhibited skill.

You can see two screenshots of the concept builder below:

Lots More Resources

There are many more resources at the Physics Classroom. Explore it to see all the amazing content available for physics learners.

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