Teaching with Covid 19

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Hi everyone,

This winter I have my first teaching job, it will be a weird start since the whole class will be taught by Zoom. I'm making this thread to have the feedback of other students as to the way their different teachers approached ''zoom teaching''.

Was it a 2 or 3 hour class by zoom, were there some videos made before the class in which the content was presented and the zoom meeting was there to discuss the videos? Were there other teaching choices? If so can you name it?

Also, which method did you prefer and for what reasons?

Thanks!
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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages



I am a teacher teaching fully virtual (27 students over Zoom). I definitely have my routine down at this point. I teach elementary aged children, but if any of my experiences can be of use, please let me know.



I am a teacher teaching fully virtual (27 students over Zoom). I definitely have my routine down at this point. I teach elementary aged children, but if any of my experiences can be of use, please let me know.

I'm teaching philosophy in ''cegep'' which is between high school and university in Quebec. My students will be at least 17 years old. I'm not sure the same methods would word hahaha. I'd still be interested to see how you do it!



I'm teaching philosophy in ''cegep'' which is between high school and university in Quebec. My students will be at least 17 years old. I'm not sure the same methods would word hahaha. I'd still be interested to see how you do it!
I think that you need to step outside of the digital/tech piece and decide what you want the structure of your class to be.

One model is the "flipped classroom". This is where you post informational videos for students to watch the day before or morning of your class. The expectation is then that kids come to class ready to ask questions and apply what they have learned in the videos (application could include a writing piece, a debate, answering a problem set, etc).

In a more typical class structure, you begin with a bell-ringer (a question/prompt to get students thinking or activate prior knowledge), then you teach/lecture for a short time, then they go off into small groups or work individually on an application, then you come back together for some sort of closure.

Something that many teachers seem to get worse abut on Zoom is having too much whole-group/teacher-instruction time. A good rule of thumb is to never dominate the conversation for more minutes than is equal to your students' ages. So after 15-20 minutes of you talking, I'd recommend slinging them into breakout rooms to discuss a problem. You just need to set clear expectations for what they will accomplish during that time.

If you are in a hybrid model, you can have the in-person kids join the Zoom and that way they are more a part of the class and can go in breakout rooms with the other kids. If there's a confidentiality issue, you can have the room kids be in small groups with each other.

I use Google Classroom and GoFormative to give assignments so that I can monitor their real-time progress.

I also have a rule that students must have cameras on, and they need to sit where I can see they are "in class". If they are leaving for any reason, they write "bathroom" privately to me in the chat and "I'm back" when they return. That way I can monitor participation/attendance. I allow students to respond to questions verbally, in chat to everyone, or in the chat privately to me.

I would recommend that one of the first things you do is establish norms with your class for whole group and small group situations. I often give the prompt: "How can we act so that everyone feels respected". Students have to phrase their rules in positives. So instead of "Don't look at your phone," it's something like "Put other devices away or on silent so I can focus."

I would also recommend very proactive communication with your parents. I send a personalized e-mail to each parent every week or every other week. That way no one is hearing at the end of the semester that their child hasn't handed in any work.

What a crazy time to be embarking on your first teaching gig!! Best of luck and let me know if I can be at all helpful!



Thanks a lot for your in depth ''guide'' to zoom teaching, it's very helpful.


I was thinking that I would do the ''flipped classroom'' model, it seems more dynamic to students than teaching the whole class live via zoom.



Thanks a lot for your in depth ''guide'' to zoom teaching, it's very helpful.

I was thinking that I would do the ''flipped classroom'' model, it seems more dynamic to students than teaching the whole class live via zoom.
The only thing to really think about with the flipped model is how you will handle students who do not complete the "pre-class" work.

Something that I am very passionate about is not allowing outside school hours stuff to impact student learning. If a student does not complete homework or watch a video, yes, it might be laziness or forgetfulness. But they also might have a home life situation that gets in the way. I urge you to be very thoughtful about how you will support your learners who come to class unprepared.

I sometimes have my students do a 3-2-1 (3 things that surprised/interested you, 2 questions you still have, 1 detail that you'll remember forever) at the beginning of class, and that quickly lets me separate out who did not do the work ahead of time. You can then either strategically place those students with other kids who DID do the work, OR you can create a small group of students who are unprepared and have them stay with you to complete the small group work while the other students go off on their own in to breakout rooms.

Do you have a strict block of time, or do you have flexibility? In my district we have set hours, and there are limits on how much time is allowed to be asynchronous (when the kids are not with you in the Zoom). I do all of my classes fully synchronous but I have some colleagues who give asynchronous work.

You might consider using either GoFormative or EdPuzzle to create asynchronous lessons for your students that have embedded questions/reflection. And you might consider having "office hours" during those times so that students can come to you for help if they do not understand the video/article.



Honestly I don't have details yet on the school norms I'll have to respect. I knew I had the job on friday, so I guess I'll know more tomorrow. Usually classes are at the same block of time each week, but there might be more flexibility because of Covid and the fact that the classes are taught virtually.


Since most of my students will be adults and that they're not forced to be there, I don't know to which extent I can verify if they did the work ''preclass'', I guess I'll take the time to re explain some things during the zoom calls!



Since most of my students will be adults and that they're not forced to be there, I don't know to which extent I can verify if they did the work ''preclass'', I guess I'll take the time to re explain some things during the zoom calls!
You might ask around about getting a mentor teacher, or even just being allowed to observe in another teacher's class to get the vibe of how things are done.

Verifying whether people did the pre-class work isn't about getting students in trouble or a "gotcha"--it's more about knowing how to talk about things. If half the class didn't watch a video and you start lecturing as if they had, those students will be confused/lost. But there are lots of quick routines that can help with this. Like send every student into a breakout room with a partner and say "You have three minutes to come up with a list of the five most important things from today's video". That way the people who didn't watch it at least get the gist before you start into the heavier work.

My biggest tip is really just pushing the small group work/time. It's so easy for students to get "lost" or forgotten when they aren't physically in front of you. Putting them in small groups means everyone gets more time to talk about the content and it's really helpful for students who are too shy to speak up in front of the whole class.

I also highly recommend setting your chat so that students can message you privately but cannot message each other privately.




My biggest tip is really just pushing the small group work/time. It's so easy for students to get "lost" or forgotten when they aren't physically in front of you. Putting them in small groups means everyone gets more time to talk about the content and it's really helpful for students who are too shy to speak up in front of the whole class.

I also highly recommend setting your chat so that students can message you privately but cannot message each other privately.

I think the small groups are a good idea, I'll increase my zoom knowledge before the beggining of the semester in order to know hoe to do that haha!


Thanks again for your answers, it really helps me to have the feedback from someone who experienced it!



I think the small groups are a good idea, I'll increase my zoom knowledge before the beggining of the semester in order to know hoe to do that haha!


Thanks again for your answers, it really helps me to have the feedback from someone who experienced it!
There are also a lot of webinars out there on teaching specific topics via Zoom.

I don't know if there's a good organization for your subject area (for example, the NCTM is great for math stuff), but if there is I recommend seeing if they have free resources about teaching your content digitally.