Last week we started a deeper dive into the 21st Century 4Cs - Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical thinking. Continuing on that journey and suggesting ideas that can be used right away in class, let's focus on communication:
Google Hangouts: I feel like this is a loaded suggestion. Google Hangouts may be can be a student distraction. But the reality is, if the kids weren't on Hangouts it would be another platform, see this article from The Atlantic on the hottest chat app - Google Docs. So what are the wins of Google Hangouts? If you were a kid in the 90s you may have passed paper notes hoping they didn't get taken up. Google Hangouts leave a digital footprint - if a student is sending inappropriate information or bullying another student, a digital trail is easier to track than a paper one. More than just the digital footprint, Google Hangouts offer students the opportunity to connect with one another whenever and wherever they are working. Do you divide your students in (table) groups? Great! Have each group setup their own Hangout. If a student in the group is going to be out, has a question about an assignment, or wants to study with others the chat is a great place to start. As with all digital tools, we can work to shut it down or teach students how to use it constructively.
Publish: In last week's blog I talked about the four walls of the traditional classroom having come down. This can be leveraged in having students publish their work. It could be a website, a blog, a podcast, or another medium that a student feels connected to. A lot of times we (teachers) feel that we have to be the 'knower' of all tech tools and recommend those tools to students. Meh. Kids have all kinds of platforms, tools, and apps that probably aren't on our radar. Instead focus on development of the content!
Portfolios: I thought a lot about the title of this category, and I settled on portfolio but I am not married to it. Maybe it is a journal, a learning log, or a collection of the student's work to show growth over time. In art it might be a digital collection of the student's work in various mediums. In math it might be a photo collection of "math in real life" (ie. snap a photo of 3 right angels) - I'll also give a plug to Denis Sheeran's work on relevance in the math classroom. Students can write, students can script, and students can communicate their thinking.
Daily / Weekly / Monthly check-ins: Have you ever spent hours pouring over and putting together a great lesson to only have it fall flat? Are you struggling to get your students to turn on their cameras in Zoom meetings? Are you struggling to get your students to come to Zoom meetings? Check-in with your students. What part of that great lesson didn't work? How is your work load at school right now? What would make the Zoom session more valuable to you? It's tough to put ourselves out there, but students words are powerful. Wondering where you might start on student check-ins, check out this great blog post by Catlin Tucker.
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