Our schools closed on March 13 with a flurry of checkouts, Chromebook and Kajeet Internet Hotspot loans, and shouts of, "See you in two weeks." Little did we know. Little do we still know.
Thankfully, because our county had adopted Canvas as our LMS three years prior, we had a platform that students and parents were familiar with. We had also had several in-school practice Digital Learning Days (ostensibly for snow days) to ensure that activities were relevant, engaging, and most importantly, DOABLE by students by themselves.
What was I going to do with the 205 kids who had signed up for this year's Reading Rocks! challenge? Or the 50 kids who regularly participated in our weekly Lunchtime Book Clubs? Again, I turned to the power of our LMS and the fact that our students were already engaged on that platform. I added students who weren't currently on the Reading Rocks rolls, and we took the leap. The following tools were my lifesavers.
1. Canvas Announcements. I encouraged kids to continue their good work and shared great examples in the announcements as well as on Instagram (and infinite thanks to Martha Bongiorno for encouraging us to create an active social media presence with students). Announcements reach not only the students, but their guardians as well, which added a level of accountability, even in this optional activity. This extra communication energized kids to keep moving forward.
2. Digital Reading Resources. Fortuitously, our county's middle schools had decided to dedicate part of our budget towards Sora, the Overdrive reading app for students. We had gained access earlier in the spring and I had just begun to promote it. COVID forced it to the forefront. In that platform, Sora created its Sweet Reads program, which gave unlimited access for ebooks and digital audiobooks. I am also thankful to Junior Library Guild for opening their digital ebook and audiobook collections at no cost to our students. But more on that in the next post.
3. Microsoft Teams. Can we talk about another godsend? Our county partners with Microsoft because of its commitment to student data privacy, so the selection of Teams as a videoconferencing platform was a natural. Our county asked us to protect students additionally by recording every session. This way, kids were able to catch up with information they missed, and the recordings provided transparency for all parties. And because Microsoft plays well with Canvas, I was able to set up a meeting directly into the Canvas announcement. Easy peasy. The first meeting, we held on Teams, 18 kids showed up! My heart was so full. And I met ALL the pets.
Out of the 205 kids in Reading Rocks, I was impressed to see that, despite the pressures of online learning and the stresses of being sheltered at home, 15 completed all three challenges. I also had another 16 who participated in at least one of three challenges. Given the spotty completion rate in some academic classes during this same timeframe, I was pleased.
When we go back (whenever that might be), I will get input from those who completed as well as participated to see how we should move forward with their incentives. Whether it's the Game Truck or some other incentive, I'm in.
Thankfully, because our county had adopted Canvas as our LMS three years prior, we had a platform that students and parents were familiar with. We had also had several in-school practice Digital Learning Days (ostensibly for snow days) to ensure that activities were relevant, engaging, and most importantly, DOABLE by students by themselves.
What was I going to do with the 205 kids who had signed up for this year's Reading Rocks! challenge? Or the 50 kids who regularly participated in our weekly Lunchtime Book Clubs? Again, I turned to the power of our LMS and the fact that our students were already engaged on that platform. I added students who weren't currently on the Reading Rocks rolls, and we took the leap. The following tools were my lifesavers.
1. Canvas Announcements. I encouraged kids to continue their good work and shared great examples in the announcements as well as on Instagram (and infinite thanks to Martha Bongiorno for encouraging us to create an active social media presence with students). Announcements reach not only the students, but their guardians as well, which added a level of accountability, even in this optional activity. This extra communication energized kids to keep moving forward.
2. Digital Reading Resources. Fortuitously, our county's middle schools had decided to dedicate part of our budget towards Sora, the Overdrive reading app for students. We had gained access earlier in the spring and I had just begun to promote it. COVID forced it to the forefront. In that platform, Sora created its Sweet Reads program, which gave unlimited access for ebooks and digital audiobooks. I am also thankful to Junior Library Guild for opening their digital ebook and audiobook collections at no cost to our students. But more on that in the next post.
3. Microsoft Teams. Can we talk about another godsend? Our county partners with Microsoft because of its commitment to student data privacy, so the selection of Teams as a videoconferencing platform was a natural. Our county asked us to protect students additionally by recording every session. This way, kids were able to catch up with information they missed, and the recordings provided transparency for all parties. And because Microsoft plays well with Canvas, I was able to set up a meeting directly into the Canvas announcement. Easy peasy. The first meeting, we held on Teams, 18 kids showed up! My heart was so full. And I met ALL the pets.
Out of the 205 kids in Reading Rocks, I was impressed to see that, despite the pressures of online learning and the stresses of being sheltered at home, 15 completed all three challenges. I also had another 16 who participated in at least one of three challenges. Given the spotty completion rate in some academic classes during this same timeframe, I was pleased.
When we go back (whenever that might be), I will get input from those who completed as well as participated to see how we should move forward with their incentives. Whether it's the Game Truck or some other incentive, I'm in.