Veteran teacher Rebecca shares recommendations for her favorite virtual learning and community tools.
One of the biggest downsides of the virtual teaching and learning currently underway across the country is the loss of true classroom community - the bond between us and our students, and the incremental learning and socialization that takes place when students interact with each other in the same physical space.
It's hard to replicate that community through a video call or via email. Regardless of how excited you and your students are to see each other in a lineup of Zoom windows, fostering the sense of communal space found in the classroom is challenge even for Zoom ninjas among us. Fortunately, there are some other edtech tools that you can use to layer a more "classroom-like" experience onto your video teaching.
Below are some ideas for tech tools that can help continue a community culture for your classroom while doing virtual learning.
Google Classroom
This tool may be an obvious and one that you are already using but there are some unique ways it can be used outside of posting assignments.
- Attendance question of the day: Ask a fun icebreaker type question for students to respond to as a way to take attendance.
- Boredom busters: Have students post ways they are beating any boredom during the quarantine.
- Riddle me this: Post riddles that are challenging and fun! The first one to answer correctly could get a small prize.
- Give students the floor: Assign a day to each student to share a post almost like a morning meeting. They can post what they are doing, worries, concerns, or celebrations.
Seesaw
Seesaw is catered to remote learning and can be a fun and creative application for connecting students online. You can post videos, demonstrate math problems, do science experiments, discuss reading passages and view them online together, assign skills for students to practice, and more. Seesaw can also act as a tool for students to post and demonstrate their learning in fun, creative ways. It acts like a message board that appears like a scrapbook of learning for parents and students to view. There are even pre-created curriculum posts created in a library for teachers to pick from to make it even easier to teach new skills.
Learn more about using Seesaw for remote teaching.
ClassDojo
When it was launched several years ago, ClassDojo was mostly known for it's incentive-based behavior management approach. These days, it has become a complete classroom management solution with many features that are perfect for replicating your classroom (and school) community virtually.
I use ClassDojo to post videos, announcements and important news for both students and parents. My students can share their work and progress with me using portfolios and videos. My school also uses the school-wide communication tools for announcements.
Kahoot!
Kahoot! lets you create learning games and activities for every subject. It was always a huge hit with my classroom when we were actually in the classroom - but it is working great for me through virtual learning too! Set up a time and code for your class to access and enjoy a learning game together virtually!
Socrative
This tech tool is a really engaging fun way for students to all be logged in at the same time and interact together with games, lessons and activities. Teachers can help set a routine that allows students to feel connected by being involved with lessons in real time. There is a way to message one another and for the teacher to help create the feeling of being together. This tool helps establish a routine and allows students to feel more on a schedule like they did in their classroom.
Do you have great ideas for using edtech? Share with us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Rebecca has experience teaching elementary school (grades 2-5). She has expertise in personalized learning, integrating meaningful technology in the classroom, and best practices for teaching to the whole child. She lives in Charlotte, NC with her family.
