Teaching in the Online Classroom

I started reading TALC 2.0 before Christmas after critical mass of Twitter comments built up. Events over took and I haven't finished it, but what I have read so far convinced me of the good sense of buying "Teaching in the Online Classroom".

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Thoughts:

The book is filled with plenty of practical ideas for how to improve online lessons, some are easily implemented on an individual level, others would need organisational input.

I've been on a bit on a mission to try and be more systematic and intentional about my professional reading, so I made some notes ( still working on my graphics tablet handwriting)

My reflections

Parts of the book were really reassuring as I nodded to myself that yes I already do that, mostly practices I have brought from Face to Face teaching into the online realm.

Some things mentioned I have less control over (such as having cameras on and allowing private chat).

Two themes that really struck a chord with me as areas I want to improve were, acknowledging and highlighting success and prompts for task instructions (I had already been doing some work on F2F but had gotten a little lost in the switch to remote) .

Acknowledging and Highlighting Success

I have been narrating the positive and using the school reward system for positive behaviors, but Lemov talks about transparency and dissolving the screen but both of those can be missed by the students. In the next half term I want to implement a routine that makes praise more highly visible.

Simplicity, Clear instructions & Transitions

I have definitely been guilty of getting over excited by all the shiny things out there and trying everything out. At times this has been a roaring success and at others a complete distraction from what I want the students to learn. I want to concentrate on doing a few things routinely and well.

I have been using OneNote for my teaching which I love for it's flexibility and ease of sharing but I've not always made it clear where students need to input. Transitions between tasks have also been problematic, with student missing instructions or not being clear on how to follow them. Next half term I want to create and embed routines which make it really explicate what needs doing when and by whom.

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Actions

1. Routinely share success with classes using start up screen to "Shout Out"

2. Create a set of icons for visual prompts on OneNote Page (for me and the students)

3. Create script for me to use along side icons

4. Pick the activities/webpages etc. I am going to use and stick to them

5. Start CONSISTENLY using a lesson template on my OneNote pages

6. Settle on a Consistent Do now entry activity

I hope some of my ramblings have been of use or interest, I'll come back later to share how my actions have gone.