Mel's Teaching Corner

What Can  Vocaroo  Be Used For?   Vocaroo ( https://vocaroo.com/ ) is a tool that can be used to create podcasts. To begin, a podcast is a digital audio file that can be sent to your audience. So, why do you want to consider using podcasting for instruction? To begin, you are very busy. Imagine if you can reduce the number of emails you need to send, or imagine if you can reduce the number of times you need to repeat instructions. A podcast can be used to give instructions about an assignment, or a process that you want the learners to know about. All you need to do is copy the link into your learning management system, or in the chat box of your virtual classroom. Your learners will have the instructions at their fingertips that they can pause, rewind and replay as needed. This frees you up to focus on areas of your instruction that can really help students, such as teaching a student how to do something. Next, you can use podcasting to send announcements to yo...

Interacting with your students in a virtual class can be difficult if you do not have the right tools. In fact, this is a common complaint I see among teachers. For example, Zoom is a great resource to meet with students, but you can only share a screen, use the polling tool, and use the chat. The Zoom resources are meant for webinars not teaching a class. Also, there are resources, such as Blackboard Collaborate, which allow you to use whiteboard tools, polling tools, chat, app sharing, etc..., but great options like this cost money. What do you do when you want to interact with your students for free? Also, how do you interact with your students using platforms, such as Zoom? One option that you could use is  https://www.whiteboard.chat/ . In this platform, you have access to the following: Polling Tools: You can ask students practice questions. This allows you quickly check how students are doing with the material. Do you need to spend more time on a certain topic before moving ...

Do you ever have an idea that you want to implement as a simulation in your class, but you can't find what you want online? If this is the case, you can create your own "Simple Simulations" for any subject. You could create a simulation for solving math problems, you could create a story with moving parts, you could create a virtual lab, etc... The options are endless. For example, check out the Chemistry videos below to see what can be done. To be able to create your own simulations, you will need to start with a plan.  What do you want on each slide? What text will go on each slide? Do you want a moving part on each slide? Will there be any links on each slide? Once your game plan is developed, you will need to create GIF's for each moving component you will want in your simulation. If you are unfamiliar with how to create a GIF, you will want to check out the video below. Once you have your GIF's created, you will need to add your GIF's to the correct slide...

What should you use for your class? Should you choose Zoom, Microsoft Teams and/or Google Meet? To begin this conversation, you first need to understand how to use these tools. Check out the following videos: How to use Microsoft Teams How to use Google Meet How to use Zoom Now that you know a little bit more about these three platforms, how do you choose? To begin, Zoom is great for meetings with your staff, or a meeting with students, but it is not as interactive as Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. How do you choose between Google Meet and Microsoft Teams? To answer this question, you need to ask yourself the following two questions: Do I use Microsoft or Google for creating my materials? Does my school have a preference? Overall, if your school uses Microsoft and you create most of your materials using Microsoft, choose Microsoft Teams. If your school uses Google and you create most of your materials using Google, choose Google. Yes there is a price tag depending on what you are loo...

Google Sheets has a variety of uses, but I love using Google Sheets for data. When you are collecting data on students, you can keep a variety of information in Google Sheets. Also, this data can be shared with the administration and/or other teachers. For example, imagine having a school wide Google Sheet for every student at the school. You could use Google Sheets to report plagiarism issues (See "School Plagiarism Policy" below). If a student is plagiarizing in one class, they are probably plagiarizing in another class as well. You could share a Google Sheet with every teacher, so each attempt of plagiarism is accounted for and can be followed-up with the schools plagiarism policy. note the number of times you attempt to call a student and/or guardian and the outcome of each attempt. Also, if six teachers call 2 times a week, the family may get very annoyed, but, if you could look at a Google Sheet to see if any other teacher has tried to contact that student, you could av...

When teaching virtually, it is important to find ways to connect with your students. Music is a great way to build connections. Students love to listen to music, and they always have an opinion about a song. When teaching virtually, you can play music at the beginning of the class while students are logging into your class. For example, if their last class ended at 10:30 AM and your class begins at 10:35 AM, you could play music for those five minutes. When the music goes off, it means class has started. During this time, students will talk about the songs, and you can engage them in a conversation. Also, this is a great mind break for students between classes, and students will log in early to engage in the music and conversation.  When choosing the music you will play, it is important to find kid friendly music. For example, you don't want swearing in the music because you are teaching at a school. Kid friendly music is key. You can find kid friendly music on YouTube and/or Pando...

Do you ever want students to get immediate feedback as to whether an answer is right or wrong? You can use Google Sheets to do this for number and short answer questions. Example 1: In this example, if a student gets the term correct, the cell will turn green, but, if the student gets the term wrong, the cell will turn red. The student knows they need to go back and re-look at the terms and definitions if the cell turns red. Example 2: This shows a students work for a math problem. If a student gets the work correct, the cell will turn green, but, if the student does not have the correct information in the cell, the cell will stay red. How Do You Set This Up? Watch the video below to see how you can use conditional formatting in Google Sheets to set this up. Quick feedback can really help guide your students regarding right and wrong answers. You may not be able to give detailed feedback in Google Sheets, but the students will know right away what is wrong and what is right, and they ...

Have you ever considered giving students the opportunity to reflect on what they have accomplished? Giving students time, in class, to see what they need to do and what they have accomplished so far can help your students. How does this work? Create a Google Form for your students to complete. Example Google Forms Grade Check Ketchup Day After you have the Google Form created, make sure to send it out to your students. Your students will check their grades, see what they have completed, see what they need to do, see if they can retake anything, etc... This truly gives students the opportunity to see where they are at in your class. After your students complete the Google Form, you can look over the Google Form results. These results can be a starting off point for you when you talk to your students. You could set-up five minute appointments for students each week. For example, instead of hosting class on Fridays, you could give students work time which is very helpful when teaching onl...

Games can be a great way to interact with your students. You can use games... at the beginning of the semester, so students can interact and start to build relationships. Also, this allows students to build connections with other students, so they are comfortable in a virtual setting talking to other students. for a reward. If students meet certain benchmarks, you could reward them with a free day where they can play games and talk. Overall, games can help your students interact with each other which is a key part of an online class. Students need to feel comfortable interacting with each other.  Check out the following Google Slide Games Checkers Tic Tac Toe If you would like to use these games in your class, you can make a copy.