Author Archives: Dean Richards

WebEx Wednesday: A Model for Efficiency and Effectiveness

Posted on by
3

Isn’t it great to see kids back in class? Everything else aside, isn’t it great to see them?

With Wednesdays being WebEx-only days, we wanted to take this week’s blog to think through ideas for breakout rooms.

It can be nerve-wracking to release students to work independently without supervision. However, with structure and an efficient plan, WebEx breakout rooms can be a great way for students from across both cohorts to connect with each other and share their thinking or practice what has been taught in person.

Here are a few ideas about how to make the most out of your WebEx breakout rooms:

  • 1. Keep them short. Keep the break out rooms times between 2 and 3 minutes, no longer than 5 unless there is substantial work being completed.
    • It is better to use breakout rooms multiple times in a class session, rather than give them one breakout room for too long. NOT giving them enough time to have a complete conversation is best practice for virtual engagement. Too much time is unpleasant and awkward.
  • 2. Give the students one task to complete rather than several. Give them one question to discuss, rather than several. Provide Sentence stems. If students are unlikely to know how to begin, a sentence stem or two can provide a clear first step in how to start.
    • This link provides some prompts for students to engage in academic conversations:
  • 3. Provide a shared document. Create a Google document or a Jamboard (each group gets their own board) with a task or question that is to be completed during the time in the breakout room.
  • 4. Assign jobs. In order to help students, stay on task when working together in a break out room a specific role will guide their next steps.
    • a. Leader. Makes sure that everyone is participating, that people are unmuted and that cameras are on when possible.
    • b. Time keeper. Makes sure that the task will be completed before the breakout room is over
    • c. Scribe. Write the answers in the shared document. Alternatively, all students could be a scribe and write their answers in a different color.
    • d. Technician. Share screen in the breakout room so all can see what is being worked on.
    • e. Presenter. Share the group work at the end of the breakout room.Jobs can be assigned by alphabet, next birthday, tallest or other random affiliation.

After the breakout room is done, it is great information to ask students how the process went in their group. A scale of 1-5 in a personal chat will give you feedback on how the breakout rooms went when you were not able to be there.

In a nutshell, less is more. Less time, fewer tasks, little open-endedness. Keep them focused. Keep them efficient. Your students will be breakout room rockstars.

Standards of Practice: How They Can Help Us and How They Can Help Bend-La Pine Families

Posted on by
Reply

 

WE HEAR YOU.

Whether teacher or administrator, we hear that you are putting more time into this new version of a school year than you thought possible.  Whether you’re in your first five years, or your first twenty-five, this is HARD.

As much as we wish – for ALL our sakes – that we had a clear freeway exit coming up, we all know we must continue forward.  We must continue to deliver the best education we can teach ourselves to deliver in this new medium.

To support your efforts to guide and create, we’re committed to providing a small, but creative, variety of strategies each week.  We’ll anchor our work in the Secondary Standards of Practice, which were thoughtfully and conscientiously created by myriad district voices, to be a kind of operating manual for the demands of this year.  Sometimes we’ll build the content you’ll find here, sometimes other district teachers will; sometimes it will come from the Canvas support team, sometimes it will come from the internet.

We’re committed to continuing to listen to you, and trying to provide ideas you’re looking for.  And trying to build a ladder through this year, one rung at a time.

INCREASING FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

  1. Standards of Practice #1: Intro and Family Engagement  (5:25). Written by our district, this video introduces the Standards of Practice for Virtual Instruction and provides motivation and rationale for reaching out to families with more frequency than in traditional school years.  Also provided is a brainstorm of many possibilities for doing this efficiently

    1. Standards of Practice #1: Intro and Family Engagement – Slideshow  Here is the PowerPoint that lines up with the video.  Administrators or ICCL leaders, you may want to present this yourself and then discuss with your staff accordingly.

  2. 5 Ways to Build Connections with Students Online This article, written by a high school English teacher, gives 5 quick things he does to stay connected with students in remote learning environments.  

  3. How Teachers Can Maintain Positive Parent Relationships During School Closure  The article proves several simple, yet clear ideas about how to keep parents in the loop during CDL. 

        .