Deciding whether to allow students to listen to music in the classroom is a modern teacher’s dilemma. Every single time students need to write an essay or work on a problem, they say, “Can I put my headphones on? I think better that way!” But is that really true? Does music help or hinder concentration? Let’s take a look at the thoughts of three different high school teachers and their takes on letting students listen…
Read More »According to folks who spend a lot of time hosting web meetings, there doesn’t seem to be any gray area–it can be either incredibly rewarding, or endlessly frustrating. As technology improves, web conferencing applications enable hosts to extend the benefits of live classroom interaction into online spaces, while also allowing students to meet together online as they collaborate and grow in their knowledge and skills. When it all comes together, it’s a beautiful thing–but web…
Read More »in Teachers, Technology
What does the first day of school with online learning look like? Your impulse may be to think about replicating the first-day activities from in-person learning, but what works face-to-face doesn’t necessarily translate well online. Here are some Zoom teaching tips for the first day of online school. 1. Create a good first impression. We all know first impressions matter, perhaps even more so than anything else the teacher does in the course. To start,…
Read More »Let’s not beat around the bush–online learning is tough, and many students and parents are unsure of how to structure their school days. Adopting good habits as early on as possible will set your child up for success. Then, with the right routines established, older students should be working more and more independently as time goes on. Here are 8 online learning tips to help families make the most out of online learning. 1. Be…
Read More »As school districts in Massachusetts submit their fall proposals to the state, many parents are coming up with their own contingency plans. Normally, students would be wrapping up their summers and preparing to return to school at the end of the month. But these aren’t normal times, and we’ve never seen a back-to-school season like this. Homeschooling pods are being discussed as a viable alternative to returning to schools or enrolling in online education. This…
Read More »in Teachers
It’s common practice for teachers to use deadlines and late penalties as deterrents for students who request extensions or turn in late work. One teacher, however, provides a peek at how and why she morphed from a rigid to a more flexible deadline/late penalty policy and what she observed as a result. When Brenda Thomas began teaching online in 2015, her policy was to deduct 10% of the grade for each day an assignment was…
Read More »Are you ready to make a truly inclusive classroom? To do so means challenging the status quo, removing curriculum barriers, and presenting educational goals in interesting ways to engage all learners and serve all students equally. Inclusive learning provides all students with access to flexible learning choices and effective paths for achieving educational goals in spaces where they experience a sense of belonging. In an inclusive education environment, all children, regardless of ability or disability,…
Read More »Building community among students and teachers is more important now than ever, but it’s also probably never been more difficult as all learning moves online. Teachers can still build strong communities of learners and strong rapport with students, however, even without seeing them in person. Here are four tips for building community in the online classroom. 1. Frequent communication is a must to begin building classroom community. Sending a welcome email at the beginning of…
Read More »Online learning is the new norm, which means it’s time to mix things up! Here are three tech tools you can use to keep online learning current. Adobe Spark Adobe Spark is a web- and mobile-based tool that allows users to design visual content in the form of posts, videos, and web pages. Adobe Spark has three components: spark post, spark video, and spark page. Spark post creates a visual storyboard that represents what the…
Read More »Perhaps the most essential part of learning online is connecting with and encouraging online students. Merely copying and pasting the course content into a learning management system cannot be the extent of online course development. Encouragement can come in many forms, including positive feedback on assignments, emails, phone calls, and video messages. To encourage online learners, teachers can create short video messages that can be used to help students persevere through academic and personal challenges.…
Read More »