Weekly eGeekly
April 3, 2020 Covid Quarantine Week 3
Helping Kids Find Their Work (video version below)
1. Use Modules in your Canvas course. If we are consistent, this will help. Modules organize your content, and can contain Discussions, assignments, pages, text headers and files.
2. Make a module for each week with that week's assignments and instructions in it. Name it with the dates (March 30-April 3, for example)
3. Move the current week to the TOP of your module list. They will drag and drop.
4. In Google Classroom, Use Topics to organize your assignments. Move the current topic to the top. This creates an index on the left so students can jump to the current week easily.
4. Have a consistent spot for all your stuff. If you are experimenting with new tools, that is AWESOME! But always put a link to them in Canvas or Classroom.
5. Hide anything the kids don't need. If you have uploaded all the files for your entire course into Modules, move only the files they need for the current week into the week's module and hide everything else.
6. Use due dates. Students can submit after a due date passes, but using due dates will help them find what is current. You can set the due date to 11:59 on Sunday night.
7. Encourage students to use the card view on dashboard in Canvas. Some are switching to the "List View". In list view they will only see a timeline of assignments, quizzes, and discussions that a) have/had a due date.
8. Put a link to the main lesson plan page somewhere very visible. You might even make a module for it all by itself. In Classroom, you could your weeks' plans in an announcement each week. This will encourage students to visit lesson plans instead of jumping straight to assignments and "guessing" what they need to turn in.
9. To view what a student sees in your Canvas class, go to Home in your class and click the "Student View" button on the right side. This will work for most of Canvas with the exception of things like Google Cloud assignment where Canvas is linking to an outside tool.
Okay Zoomer...
If you missed my email the other day about Zooming...
- Zoom links should be posted inside of the canvas classroom or Google Classroom (privately) and not on publicly posted lesson plans.
- Either require a meeting password or enable the waiting room feature so you can account for who is in the zoom room. The waiting room is automatically enabled now, so you can just leave that turned on. (see more info about waiting rooms below)
- change screen sharing to "host only"
I have put together some instructions for how to conduct a class meeting on Zoom here.
There are also some instructions for teachers, instructions for students, and best practices on the Communication Guidelines put out by FISD. These are being updated to reflect changes in our online communications tools and policies, which seem to be evolving rapidly.
More info on waiting rooms:
How do I admit participants into my class?
As the host, once you’ve started the meeting, you’ll begin to see the number of participants in your waiting room within the Manage Participants icon. Next, select Manage Participants to view the full list. Then, you’ll have the option to admit participants individually by selecting the blue Admit button next to their name or all at once with the Admit All option on the top right-hand side of your screen.
How to Manage Your Waiting Room
Watch this 2-minute video breaking down how to manage participants. What’s more, read this blog post to learn how to secure your virtual classroom.
Watch Now: http://click.zoom.us/e/84442/rY6gamqx5UA/bjm2k6/1471625671?h=bgwsU2spdIeakuXcwd4UlNMFaIGsaSbZlboQg-VntlY
Read More: http://click.zoom.us/e/84442/ur-meetings-zoom-waiting-rooms/bjm2k8/1471625671?h=bgwsU2spdIeakuXcwd4UlNMFaIGsaSbZlboQg-VntlY
For more information on the Waiting Room feature, please visit Zoom's Knowledge Center or our Blog.
TCEA Free Membership!
Texas Computer Educator Association (TCEA) is offering free, one-year membership to educators from now until May 8, 2020. The free membership includes all of the online learning, resources, networking, and other features that can help staff, especially during eLearning. The free membership is open to anyone, regardless of where you live or work; whether you are in a public school, private school, or home school; whether you are a teacher or administrator or librarian or counselor or technician or anyone working in education today.
TCEA is always a great resource for DLCs and teachers wanting to learn more about creating engaging lessons utilizing technology. Right now, they have created a resource for teachers to help with remote learning and how to offer effective and engaging learning opportunities to students at home. They will be available on this website with four new videos added each day. All of the videos will include quick, easy-to-implement ideas, lessons, activities, and resources.
Innov8 Presentation Proposal Deadline Extended
We have extended our proposal deadline. Proposals are now due by Wednesday, April 15.
Our summer symposium, Innov8 2020, will celebrate the innovative, future-ready, student-centered learning experiences taking place across our campuses. Innov8 2020 will be held on Tuesday, July 21, at Memorial High School. We are seeking Frisco ISD teachers to facilitate breakout sessions in addition to our scheduled outside speakers including Trevor Muir and Adam Saenz! Please share this session proposal form with your teachers who are doing amazing things for our kids and encourage them to share their learning at Innov8 2020! We are excited to highlight the work happening in Frisco ISD! Proposal Form
Office Hours
I will be on zoom most of the time from 8-3:30 at https://zoom.us/j/8153946674 and you are welcome to drop in and say hi! You can ask questions, share your screen, I can share my screen, we can chat, whatever! If I am not in, chances are I had another meeting. The DLCs are trying to meet each day as well. But if you check back in 15-30 minutes I should be there. :)
I set up a chatroom in Google Hangouts for any questions you might have! You should have gotten an invitation on Monday. If you didn't, please let me know!
You are, as always, welcome to send emails with questions!
If you need help, please let me know.
Printing at Home (for Teachers)
If you borrowed a Chromebook, you can add a printer via USB by plugging your printer into the Chromebook and following the on-screen instructions or you can add it via network by following the instructions in this help center article: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/7225252