Using Popular YouTube Videos to Engage Students in Critical Thinking

There are some incredible YouTube Channels for almost every content area and grade level. Many of these are incredibly well done and have a lot of potential to engage students in essential concepts and ideas. I've even shared some of my favorites in the past. Still, the use of these videos in many eLearning experiences is still mainly about the consumption of content. Content matters, but I think we can do much more with YouTube than just distribute content.

Incredibox Brain Breaks - Curious Engagement Matters

I've tried to create a variety of different activities to engage my students as we learn more about best practices for remote learning. Some of the activities have gone very well and some not as well as I hoped. I was a bit stressed about this until Hank Thiele put this all into perspective for me. If you've not read Hank's Twitter post, I would recommend taking a quick look at Twitter here. 

Hank's tweets served as a great reminder that more than anything else, I want my students to explore new things and be curious. I want them to be curious about something, even if it isn't connected to my content. When you get right down to it my content only matters if my students are interested. Engagement in learning something new is what matters most. 
While I will continue to explore different ways to engage students in Environmental Science, I am excited to find unique ways to engage them in learning regardless of the content. This is why I am excited about an activity that I initially posted as an enrichment activity.

Remote Learning Resources - KQED Learn and More

I've long been a fan of the KQED Mindshift Blog, but I have to admit that I've never taken much of a deep dive into some of the incredible resources they have for teachers and learners. There are some incredible resources beyond the education post that are made for lifelong learners.

Virtual Field Trip Resources - Bring The World to Your Classroom

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Field trips have long been an important part of the learning experience for many students and schools. There are very few things that are more fun than taking a break from the normal routine for teachers and students. Amazing learning can also happen outside of the classroom. These experiences are still limited by time, space, and money. This is where virtual field trips can step in and fill in some gaps. Virtual field trips have incredible power to break down the walls of our classroom to engage students in exploring our world.

"Field trips are informal learning experiences that get students out into the world, exploring the world and students' interests. Trips to museums, parks, historical sites, and more show students that learning (and life) happens outside the classroom, too. During field trips, students discover new things and learn in authentic environments, placing classroom content into new contexts. Unfortunately, for many schools and students, field trips are rare (if they happen at all). Thankfully, there are great games, apps, and websites that can bring places and experiences fostered by field trips to the classroom. While not an outright replacement, these field trip tools can offer inspiring and intriguing experiences for students." (Common Sencse Media)

Remote Learning Resources to Support Parents and Students

I've been amazed by the awesome learning resources so many educators are using to engage students during school closures. I've also been excited to see the great resources that are being created and shared for resources to support parents and students. 

Google Experiments for Remote Learning - Art, Music, AR, AI, and More

 

"Since 2009, coders have created thousands of amazing experiments using Chrome, Android, AI, Web VR, AR and more. We're showcasing projects here, along with helpful tools and resources, to inspire others to create new experiments. Here are collections of experiments to explore, with new ones added every week. Have fun." (Source)

Experiments with Google is a great place to look for activities and resources to engage learners in a variety of topics and ideas. Many of these experiments connected to different content areas while others are great places to get students thinking critically.  Many are also great ways to engage students in some fun exploration or even a way to take a brain break.

Have You Seen the New TED-Ed @Home Daily?

TED-Ed has been a favorite resource in my classroom for quite a while and they recently released a daily newsletter to support remote learning at home. Know you can subscribe and receive a daily email with new video lesson plans.

To support the millions of students, parents and teachers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, TED-Ed is working with expert educators and TED speakers throughout the world to create and share high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons on a daily basis, for free.

Teaching or learning from home? - TED-Ed

Learn more about using, creating, and modifying TED-Ed Lessons here. 

If you are looking for something more to engage students in remote learning experiences, be sure to explore our Collection of Remote Learning Resources and Activities. 

Let me know if you have any questions or share your favorite TED-Ed Lesson in the comments below. 

Two New Choice Board Resources for Remote Learning @Home

Today I wanted to share two great resources from my PLN. I would put both resources in the category of a Choice Board that could be adapted for teacher professional development or student activities.

Google Resources for Remote Learning

If you've been following on social media, you've seen ten of thousands of educators and EdTech companies step up to support teachers and students during the school shutdowns. For better or for worse, I've been one of those. I know it can be a bit overwhelming and it is probably too much right now for many of us. 
I wanted to start this post by first apologizing to everyone who is being overwhelmed by all of the great sharing that is happening. I know I am part of this, but I also wanted to share what I think is some practical advice.

You don't have to change everything you believe in as a teacher and a learner to succeed as a facilitator of learning, but you do have to change something. Challenge yourself to try one new thing with your students at least once. You never know what you might learn.  

So here I go again. Apologies in advance. I will continue to be a bit selfish because I truly believe that the more you share the more your learn. Creating is part of my learning experience, and creating for just myself has too much of an empty feeling.

Using Classhook Videos to Engage Students in eLearning Experiences

Classhook is a video engagement resource that I discovered a few years ago and it is one of the first places I explore when I am looking for new videos to engage students in a concept or activity. Classhook curates short video clips from movies, television, and more for educators and students. 

"TV shows and movies often contain scenes that discuss topics such as Science, Math, Art, Music, and more. While funny and amusing, these scenes also have valid educational merit.
Such scenes not only teach students but also make learning more relevant. Students can associate a concept in class to an image they see in their everyday lives. Bringing television shows and movies to your classroom helps connect students' personal lives to the concepts they are learning in class. As a result, content retention increases, and learning becomes more fun." (Source)

Google Classroom Workflow and Organization Tips and Tricks

Google Classroom is a great workflow solution from Google Apps for Education. It is important to understand that Google Classroom is not a traditional website that can be fully customized. Google classroom is more of a Learning Management System. Classroom allows teachers to post announcements, post and collect assignments, ask questions, share resources, and create a calendar of due dates in a secure online location.

Google Classroom is an essential tool to support collaboration, communication, and digital workflow connected to Google Apps for Education.

Google Classroom Tips and Tricks Resource Document

Google Forms as Learning Frameworks - HyperDocs and More

I've long been a huge fan of Google forms for exit slips, surveys, and formative assessments. For me, it is one of the easiest tools to efficiently engage my students in reflective learning and assessments. I've even dabbled with using Google forms as learning pathways. Similar to Google Docs and Slides as HyperDocs, Google Forms can be used for student-paced activities and lessons. 

A great feature of Google Forms is the ability to direct learners to different sections of the form based on their answers to specific multiple-choice questions. This is a great way to support differentiated learning experiences. Students can be directed to additional information, video, a website or other digital resources based on the answer they choose.

I've also recently seen some posts connected to using forms to create Choose Your Own Adventure Stories. I've used Google Slides for Choose Your Own Adventure Stories, but I like also the idea of doing this with forms.  

Students can even create their own branching forms. This has some great connections to critical thinking and computational thinking.

Newsela for Remote Learning Engagement - Readings With Built in Assessments

Reading is at the center of all learning and Newsela is a great resource to engage students in relevant articles connected to topics that teachers and students care about. Newsela has event build a great Coronavirus Text Set that can quickly be shared and explored by students. 

"Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that brings together engaging, accessible content with integrated assessments and insights to supercharge reading engagement and learning in every subject. Content on Newsela covers topics students care about, that connect to core curriculum, and are aligned to standards. Each article on Newsela is published at 5 reading levels so that every article is accessible to every student in a class, regardless of reading ability. Thousands of articles are leveled specifically for grades 2-6, ensuring that you'll find content that is accessible for younger readers too. Additionally, many articles available in both English and Spanish. Assessments are integrated directly into articles to help students engage with the content and to give teachers and principals actionable insights on students’ activity. The result is more engaged readers—and engaged readers are better learners." Source

Newsela is supporting all teachers and learners by offering free access to all educators. Just visit the Newsela site and click on the red bar on the top of the page to get set up.

Learn more about engaging students with Newsela on the Newsela Support Page

The Newsela Blog is another great place to learn more about teaching with Newsela.

Video and Audio Resources for Remote Learning Experiences

A flipped classroom is a type of blended learning where students are introduced to content at home and practice working through it at school. This is the reverse of the more common practice of introducing new content at school, then assigning homework and projects to completed by the students independently at home. In this blended learning approach, face-to-face interaction is mixed with independent study–usually via technology. In a common Flipped Classroom scenario, students might watch pre-recorded videos at home, then come to school to do the homework armed with questions and at least some background knowledge. (Teach Thought)

The idea of flipped learning can also be applied to support students in the event of an eLearning day. Videos and audio recordings can be used to engage students in learning experiences outside of the classroom. These recordings can be simple introductions to a topic or complete learning experiences for students connected to classroom content. Most of the resources on this document are geared towards laptops or Chromebooks, but many also have mobile apps.

Tips to Use Google Applied Digital Skills for Remote Learning

Google Applied Digital Skills is a great resource to engage students in project-based learning using video. Educators can use the lessons with little or no modification. Teachers can also connect their classroom content to many of these lessons. The lessons can be used in class or as part of remote learning experiences.

Remote Learning Doesn't Just Have to be About Consumption of Content

My students and I are embarking on a remote learning experience over the next several weeks and right now I have more questions than answers, but a plan is beginning to form. My goal is to use my content to engage my students in the 4 C's of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

Resources to Grow as an Educator and Lifelong Learner

I think most of us would prefer to be in school sharing and learning with our students, but I know many of us may be away from our students for extended period of time during the Coronavirus Pandemic. 
I know we will busy adjusting our objectives and schedules for when we get back. Many of us will also have the opportunity to engage our students in eLearning activities. When all this is done, we will have something that we often struggle to find during the school year, time.

How will you use this time to grow as a teacher and learner? 

Learning Doesn't Need to Stop if School is Closed - It Really Doesn't!

Many EdTech companies have jumped in to support teachers and learners as schools close in response to the Coronavirus Pandemic. You don't have to look far to find these resources.

A Few Lists of EdTech Tools to Support School Closures

• Wakelet Collection - EdTech companies offering FREE support and/or access to schools affected by COVID19 closures.
• Google Sheet - Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions due to School Closings

If you are looking for more, Twitter is recommending the hashtag #RemoteLearning

These resources are great but are important to also remember that engaging students outside of the classroom does not always have to be digital. There is something called a book, reading still matters. Paper is another great resource. Drawing can powerful way to engage students in a learning experience. I am a huge fan of sketchnotes and infographics. I've also been exploring some ideas to engage my students in just making observations without any technology.

We can’t ignore the power of digital resources to engage students in ideas and concepts. Here is our collection of recommended digital resources and digital learning frameworks to support learners outside of our classrooms.

One Doc to Rule Them All

HyperDocs - Interactive Engagement for Remote Learning

When students can't be with their teachers, HyperDocs can be used to provide students with engaging student-paced learning experiences. We've put together a document of resources and recommendations to help educators use HyperDocs with students outside of the classroom.

Pear Deck Awesomeness - Pear Pop and More

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Pear Deck is an awesome tool that allows educators to create interactive questions to engage students. Educators can create and add questions to a Google Slide Deck or a Powerpoint.

I've been a huge fan of Pear Deck for several years and I was super excited to learn about the new Pear Deck Pear Pop option for quick interactive feedback collection from students. Pear Deck Pop now allows educators to quickly create a prompt without using Google Slides or Powerpoint.

Pear Deck Pop is only available on Premium Accounts. You can learn more about Pear Deck Pop here.