I am addicted to the thinking classroom. I have found so much value in the students thinking through their own work without me handing them everything. I have found so much joy in listening to their thinking and seeing them persevere through a problem. I have enjoyed the challenge of listening to their understanding and finding ways to push them farther. I have found pride in the daily occurrence of the type of class that many teachers dream of happening. But it all comes to a halt as we close the doors of our school due to COVID-19. Or does it... I can't let it. I can't let the benefit go away because of distance learning. So, I believe I have found a solution! It only takes two different ingredients: Zoom (for random grouping) and Google Jamboards (for the vertical, non-permanent surfaces) Random grouping Using zoom, I put students into Breakout rooms. I don't know if this is possible on other platforms, but I have found it to work beautifully in zoom. I thought it was only possible if you have a pro version, but it is possible in a basic version. You just have to go into settings and enable it. Breakout rooms allow you to randomly split the students into groups of any size. While in the groups, they can send a message to ask a question. You can drop into any group that you want to check on them. When you want them all back as a full class, you just close the rooms and they have a 60 second time frame to finish what they were doing and come back. The only drawback is that it takes a little bit of time to change between rooms (10 seconds). I have found very few stumbling blocks, which are pretty easily fixed. Vertical Non-permanent surfaces I was originally going to use google slides and have the students use the "annotate" tool to write. But then I found out that Chromebooks cannot use the annotate tool. I was also going to try the explain everything app, but I found that difficult to assign to students in groups. I finally stumbled upon Google Jamboards. The easiest description is that they are a simple version of Google Slides. But the main, most important difference is that they are meant for writing on, just like a vertical non-permanent surface. I create one Jamboard for a class period. Before class, I give each slide a number that matches the breakout room number and insert any needed information for the problem. I also make sure that I set the jamboard to "anyone with a link can edit". In Action:
During our class zoom, I let the students know we will do a breakout. I paste the link to the zoom in the chat window and give them time to open it before sending them to the breakout rooms. (Once they go to the rooms, they cannot access the chat window. At least we haven't figured it out, we are still new at this). I have also found that some have troubles opening from the link. We have found two work-arounds. One, copy the link and past it into a new tab. Two, I email the link to them. Once everyone has the Jamboard open and ready, I give the typical verbal instructions that I would give in class. Then I click on breakout rooms. I pick the number of rooms that allow for 2 or 3 in a room. Since I have a para in the zoom also, I do a quick check on what room I want them in and move them there. I then "open the rooms". The students then click on the invitation to join the rooms. I wait a bit to let them settle in. I spend quite a bit of time watching the jamboard, switching between the different slides. This gives me a quick check on where the groups are and if they need me to step in. Then I start to drop into the groups based on what I see. This part works just like it does in class. They ask questions, I ask questions, and they sneak peaks at other slides. I have also found it helpful to sometimes just write on a slide instead of dropping into the room. It has been helpful because of the time it takes to drop in a room. It only takes 10 seconds, but it takes even less to drop a hint on their board. Plus it allows me to be with one group in the breakout room while also keeping an eye on and helping another group. When it is time for the wrap up, I close the rooms and the students join me back in the main room. I then share my screen and go back to the Jamboard. Just like in class, we go through the solutions and see each group's work. I have discovered something very important about myself during this time. I used to think that I loved teaching math for the challenge and enjoyment of teaching math. Teaching in a distance learning setting has revealed that, although the math is a great excuse to teach, I actually love teaching math because I enjoy the students. I am still teaching math all day, but it really sucks without the students in the room with me! Really, the only thing making this somewhat bearable is that I can still listen to and see their thinking. I can still push them to expand their thinking. And they can still work together to learn from and push each other.
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12/16/2022 02:03:37 am
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AuthorI teach mathematics for grades 7-12. Teaching mathematics is my passion. Archives
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