Stories from the Classroom

How to Boost Engagement During Remote Learning (Without Using Zoom)

Episode Summary

Four educators (from elementary to high school) share their best advice for those doing distance / remote learning, including one educator in Hong Kong who has just completed his 10th week of remote teaching.

Episode Notes

I reached out to a handful of people on Twitter who had done distance learning for at least a couple of weeks already.  Student engagement is one of the biggest challenges in distance learning. While I originally just asked for their best tip, I love that thoughts and guidance on how to increase student engagement was a part of each of their answers.

In the episode, my guests are:

Andrew Chiu | Hong Kong
Middle-School Digital Design Teacher
*just finished his 10th week of distance learning*

CJ Reynolds | New Jersey
High-School Literature & History of Hip Hop Teacher

Mark Rogers | Texas
1st Grade Teacher

Sam Kary | California
6th Grade Humanities Teacher

They share the following:

• the simplify, simplify, simplify approach Andrew takes
• practical tips in communication, organization, and video conferencing from 10-weeks of trial and error
• how CJ hooks his students right at the beginning of the lesson
• how Mark keeps his 1st graders connected to one another without video conferencing
• how Sam structures engaging at-home projects that are differentiated and support students each step of the way
   

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Some of CJ's green screen lesson hook videos
• Hyperdocs resources that Sam referenced
   

CONNECT WITH THESE EDUCATORS

Andrew Chiu

• Twitter | @chew_ed

CJ Reynolds

• Get his new book 'Teach Your Class Off'
• Hear a previous episode of the podcast CJ was on where he talked about how he uses social media in the classroom.
• YouTube | /realrapwiththereynolds
• Instagram | @realrapwithreynolds
• Facebook | /realrapwithreynolds
• Twitter | @realrapreynolds

Mark Rogers

• Hear about the looping project Mark is doing with his students in a previous episode of the podcast
• Twitter | @rogersmarkd

Sam Kary

• Check out one of the resources Sam created that I contributed to | Student-podcasting project for remote learning.
• Twitter | @newedtechclass
• Facebook | /newedtechclassroom
• YouTube | /newedtechclassroom
• Website | newedtechclassroom.com
   

CONNECT WITH THOM

• Twitter | @gibsonedu
• YouTube |/gibsonedu
• Instagram | @gibsoneducation
• Website | thomgibson.com
• Email | thom@thomgibson.com
   

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

• Enroll in the How to Teach Kids About Money course for educators
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