The school year in the times of COVID19 is just getting started, and already I have seen a flood of friends and family who are parents, write about the struggles of their child learning online.
One friend wrote about how she checked her son's computer screen, and he was playing ROBLOX instead of listening to the teacher.
A cousin expressed how her daughter kept getting up in the room, making excuses so that she would not have to sit still and listen.
My own children tried outschool.com for about two weeks, and by class #3 The excitement of meeting up for class wore off for most classes they were enrolled in.
As a former elementary teacher turned homeschool mother, I can imagine how tough this time is for teachers. Many are really not that technologically savvy, so learning a bunch of new technologies in addition to trying to figure out how to engage students, while their own children are also home alone in many cases, there’s no doubt challenging.
However, as a teacher who prided herself on planning engaging lessons, I want to pass on some tips to those teaching online on how to keep their class fun and engaging.
Tip 1 Use a document camera
Figure 1. What kids see without a document camera
Teachers, when you hold a worksheet or workbook up to your WebCam, no matter how clear the picture, the students cannot see the material well. Instead, use a document camera. A document camera simply takes whatever you have on the desk in front of you and projects it clearly to the students. I have observed 7 children in my household doing virtual school - trust me, they cannot see what you are doing, which in students who are not motivated, can lead to boredom and frustration.
Figure 2. What kids see with a document camera (Left is projected to students)
Figure 3. Text is clear and easy to read (Below)
Figure 4. A Document camera allows you to model clearly. The image on my laptop is what students see up close.
Figure 5. You can easily turn the camera towards yourself with the technology of the AVer M15W document camera.
AVer and Taiwan Excellence are the sponsors of this blog post and my Youtube Video on how to use a document camera to improve your online teaching, so if you’re in the market for one I would highly recommend the AVer M15W. You can check out my lesson plan for the lesson shown in my Youtube video here. You can also contact them here to purchase, and they’ll give you the best price for your situation (school district, individual, etc).
The Taiwan Excellence Awards are yearly awards that are given out by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan External Trade Development Council to encourage Taiwan industries to upgrade and incorporate innovation and value into their products. These products are considered the best of the best.
If you are strapped for cash, there are also used document cameras on eBay and new ones on Amazon - but BEWARE and do your research, a lot of third party sellers have dramatically inflated the prices due to the coronavirus demand. Some cameras showing up as $500 were just $150 in January 2020! Best to go directly to the company.
Tip 2 Have fun every class
Learning is supposed to be fun! It doesn’t matter if you teach preK or 12th grade, your students still want to be engaged, especially since they have been socially distancing all summer. Don’t just go over the work or stay strictly business. Add in some FUN! Here are some ideas on how to fun it up:
Hold a raffle every 20 minutes for students who were engaged. Give away Homework passes, 5 minute breaks, virtual backgrounds, shiny pencils or other objects cheap to mail, ebooks, and more!
Put in group brain breaks! Allow students of all ages to get up and dance, do yoga, or GoNoodle. Don’t let them just wander off on their own - brain breaks should be purposeful.
Come dressed up, and allow the students to dress up! Each day of the week can have a theme.
Figure 7. My daughter’s outschool teacher made lessons fun by incorporating real experiments during the class period.
I have noticed teachers on Outschool who make EVERY class fun have much higher ratings - one teacher my children had was fun one week and low energy the next. So the kids fed off that energy and started to ignore the screen in favor of other things. In comparison another teacher had moderate energy but at the beginning of every class she let the kids share one thing that happened the day before, and at the end of every class they had a dance party for the last five minutes.
Tip 3 Change the name (and feel) of your class
Just because your students are taking Geometry or English II doesn’t mean you need to call it that! Changing the name of the class can shift the mindset of both you and your students, which can lead to an increased dedication to the class. Here are some ideas:
Geometry 1 can be called Shaping Your World
Writing/Language Arts can be called The Convince Your Parents of Anything (And other Ways writing can make your life better) Class
Reading can be called Book Club
Life Science can be called The Prove Unicorns are Real Society
Whatever you will be teaching, find something practical that students will get out of the class and turn it into something silly and fun. Think about it, do you want to take “Debate 101” or “How to Win Every Argument Class”?
Using these tips will engage your students and make online teaching and learning more pleasant!
Hello I wanted to know if you do online tutoring.
Please keep us posted on your website if you decide to teach an outschool class or any class. I'd love to enroll my daughter. You seem like a phenomenal educator.
I like your idea of changing the name of subjects.I’m now thinking of how I can translate that idea into providing interesting headliners for my maths lessons.