First Week of Virtual School!

Well, I just wrapped up week one of virtual school. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't horrible. I tried some new things and some things went really well.

The BEST decision I made was to have a two week Unit 0 where we practice using the tech and the tools. This was so smart. Here are our learning goals for Unit 0 and my plan. (This is student facing...and coded and linked)

I am SO glad I did this. Some things that I tried that went well.

Digital Four Fours (From Week of Inspirational Math)

We did this on the first day and I loved the chance students had to collaborate digitally.

Virtual Emoji Graphs (also from Week of Inspirational Math)

We explored these after watching the math is visual videos from YouCubed and Jo's Emoji Graph. We brainstormed some ideas for visual graphs like this with no numbers. I gave students the option to create one digitally OR on paper. Love the idea of a Google Doc for a quick digital brainstorm. The brainstorm is like my check for understanding to make sure everyone has an idea and can get started because you can't really monitor when you release them for work time when the work isn't digital.

All of the things, I used from Steve Wyborney (Esti-mysterys, Splat, Cube Conversations):

These adapt SO well to digital teaching and are easy to download and ready to go. They are in my cycle of 5 things I am rotating through for warm ups (These 3 plus slow reveal graphs AND 3-Act Tasks) .

Virtual 3-Act Tasks

Check out resources from Dan Meyer and Graham Fletcher to plan these.

Desmos:

This get to know you activity from Desmos is SO GOOD. I especially love the first slide and the question about people's names. I have learned SO MUCH about people's families and cultures from this slide.

Introduction Flip Grid:

One of the simplest things I did was have students do a Flip Grid introducing themselves for homework on the first day of classes. Because not all of them are turning on video during calls this was for some of them the ONLY way I get to see their faces. Of course, you still have students who will do this in their flipgrid to avoid being on camera....but I'll take what I can get.

I didn't link to actual resources here so please comment or reach out via twitter @MsHereth if you want some. I am happy to share =)

Comments

Estimation 180 as a Number Sense Review

I have been back at teaching middle school for a month now. It has been challenging, amazing, and also so deeply tiring! Years ago I read that the biggest barrier to high school and middle school is lack of mastery of number sense from elementary school. I've tried lots of things as daily routines to help students close this gap but my favorite by far is an idea I got from 4th cohort Desmos Fellow friend Sarah Furman. Sarah shared that she uses Andrew Stadel's Estimation 180 problems but gives her students a clue that allows them to review a key number sense skill. I decided to try it in my classroom and I don't really have words for how amazing it has been. Here is what I do: I give them an Estimation 180 problem that is either from Andrew Stadel's amazing website ( http://www.estimation180.com/ ) or one that I created about myself, my family, or my community: I ask students to write their first guess down. I walk around to get a sense of what they are w...

Desmos ALL the Things

My district was not prepared for E-Learning. When the initial order came to close the schools on March 13, we were one week away from Spring Break. They didn't do anything for that first week. After Spring Break the governor closed the schools through April and the district send out a their plan. They mailed work home to students and asked teachers to create videos and lessons to support the completion of that work through Schoology. I EDIT EVERYTHING. I THRIVE ON EDITING MY MATERIALS and ADJUSTING PACING. I CAN'T TEACH SOMETHING I CAN'T EDIT. But I had literally just started this job two months before, so I prepared to bite my tongue, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. The first two weeks of that home learning period they used I-Ready Home Learning packets from Curriculum Resources. These weren't horrible and I created video tutoring lessons to post in Schoology, got good at Schoology links and pages, and hosted zoom tutoring calls. I figured out the home learnin...

Google Slides Portfolios

I have a new Saturday morning ritual. I get up before the kids and make coffee and sit in the basement and grade portfolios. But it's actually fun. (unlike grading tests) I am only 2 weeks and 4 slides in BUT THIS IS SO FUN! I was deeply inspired by Adele's (@mathinct678) Blog Post Here. And as soon as I heard we were 1-1 I wanted to find a way to try this.... After each class (we meet twice a week virtually) students are responsible for creating 2 portfolio slides summarizing their learning. These are from a template that I share with them via Schoology (our LMS). Schoology makes it so easy to assign a Google Slide Presentation. It automatically copies my template into their google drives AND shares with me. When I grade I can do it through my Schoology account and I don't have to wade through the unorganized swamp that "Shared with Me" can become. I can comment in the Schoology Gradebook or Insert comments directly into the Slide Show. My first slid...

Leading From the Classroom

Search This Blog