Tips & Best Practices

The 4 main rules for teaching to kids remotely through video:

1. Always be on camera! 

2. Question the students about EVERYTHING!

3. Keep it Simple!

4. Don't mute you (the teaching site) unless it's absolutely necessary!

Always be on camera - sounds simple, but many forget as they move around the room. The remote students need to see you at all times, just as if they were in the room.

Question EVERYTHING! - Start the class with "can you see and hear me" from the remote students. Then ask if they see the content you're sharing correctly. Ask them if they understood your instruction or assignment. Ask them if they are having trouble as they are working. Ask them if they have questions randomly! This will ensure that the students are 1. paying attention and 2. actually engaged in the class. If they know that the class is as interactive as if they were in the room, they are far less likely to be doing other things during your class. 

Keep it Simple - Start as simple as you can with everything! Start with just being seen on the camera, then work on sharing content from your computer. Get good at each task and then add something else in. Maybe add in an interactive app to play a game with the kids. Always start simple and try one new item at a time. Maybe the app  didn't work out so well, then scrap it and try another! Find out what other teachers are using. 

Don't mute You - I know it's tempting to mute your audio when the kids are quietly working, etc... but don't do it! You can't mute yourself to the students in your classroom, so don't mute the remote students. Discussions and questions that happen after instruction can be beneficial to everyone in the class. It also helps the remote students get to know you better by listening to any small discussions, etc... If there is a private conversation that doesn't need to be overheard, then you can mute. Or if the bell rings, or fire alarm sounds, then you mute, but as a rule of thumb, Don't Mute Yourself.

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Zoom Account Basics

• Creating a meeting

  • For daily or recurring class, schedule one meeting with no end

    • That will make it easier to have a link that doesn’t change all the time

    • Use Google Calendar (or other) to share and change the start and end time. Changes made in Calendar do not affect the Zoom link.

  • For a one-time meeting, create those separately with dates/times.

• Registration Feature - Use this for parent meetings, special meetings, and events with many students or teachers/parents.

  • Walk students and parents through this the first time so that they know what to do.

Meeting Special Tools/Features

• Start Simple! Don’t try to use all Zoom features at once! Learn to use one or two and build onto that.

  • Polling - create before or during the meeting.

  • Screen Share - can enable students to share or just the teacher. This has a whiteboard feature as well.

Settings 

• Require Passwords - this is a must and will prevent uninvited individuals from entering.

• Use registration - This will ensure each person is registered for the class/meeting

• Enable Waiting Rooms - this will ensure students aren’t in the meeting without you.

• Disable Screen Sharing - have this set up in advance for all meetings. If you need this turned on for a special class, you can enable this during the meeting.

• Disable Private chat - have this set up in advance for all meetings

• Lock your meeting - once the class has started and everyone is there, use the security settings to lock your meeting. But be aware that a student may not be able to return if they lose connection and leave the class.

• Restrict participants ability to: screen share, chat, rename themselves, and annotate

• Updates - Do the updates as soon as Zoom sends out a notice. This will ensure you have the newest version.

Troubleshooting

• Restart camera/audio, restart computer, leave Zoom meeting and go back in - these are the first steps to most troubleshooting.

• Camera/Audio/Mic Issues - In the lower-left portion of the Zoom screen is the microphone and camera icons, click on the little arrow beside them to be sure the correct camera or speaker/mic is selected. This is a VERY common issue. Be prepared to walk students through this. 

• Have a Plan B - always have a backup in case something happens and you cannot continue class. This could be worksheets related to the instruction topic or a small project that students can complete with little help.

Office Hours

• Have times available for students and/or parents to check in with you or ask questions.

• Use this during Parent-Teacher Conference time as well. 

  • Use a scheduling feature such as Google Calendar Appointments to do single appointments can help tremendously!

Taking Attendance (if most students are virtual)

• Launching a poll - this will ensure that every student responds and you can later export the poll report to know for sure who participated. 

• Gallery View - take a screenshot of the gallery view to save as attendance record. Or use the snipping tool in the same manner.

Breakout Rooms

• You can set this up prior to the class with prearranged student groups.

• You can have up to 50 separate sessions without disconnecting from the main meeting.

• Practice using this with students before actually using it for a lesson.

Best Practices & Teaching Strategies

• BE ON CAMERA!!! This seems basic, but kids don’t want to listen to a voice with no person in the picture. You might not be comfortable (at first) with being on camera all the time, but the students NEED to see you! Just like in a regular classroom they need to see your face to get to know you. Students may be shy as well, so make them comfortable leading by example.

• Practice, practice, practice! Practice lessons, connecting, etc.. with another teacher or staff. Keep in mind students will need time to get used to the technology as well.

• Noise - always be aware of background noise and noise that you create

  • Don’t wear jewelry/clothing that has a lot of noise

  • Don’t do things right next to the microphone - even moving paper around next to the mic is distracting to students

• Background - Be aware of what is seen on your camera. Whether in the classroom or at home. Also, help kids to find a quiet spot in their home and be aware of what is in their background.

• Record the instruction portion of a class - If someone is absent, that will give them the chance to see the lesson without having to reteach or spend extra time.

• Be Patient & Flexible! - Some days might be more difficult than others dealing with issues, etc.. Just remember that there are team members there to help! Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Laugh at the blunders and be flexible! 

• Do not have students create Zoom accounts. There are a list of con's to that you don't want to deal with!

• Build Relationships - you take this for granted in a normal classroom setting, this automatically happens. With distance, you will need to make a point to make sure this happens with your students.

  • Make things personal, use first names, lots of interaction

  • Get to know you activities, etc.. 

  • Being on camera and making sure students are on camera go along with this.

• Speak close to the microphone! Especially if you are required to wear a mask, be sure to be as close as possible to the microphone and speak clearly. If you have questions or discussion in the classroom, you might need to repeat what students say if not heard.

• Resources - Be mindful of your student’s resources at home

  • Physical supplies as well as technology resources

• Devices - Don’t expect students to use the device they are using for the video call and use for the class at the same time.

• Check-in with students often. Students might be more hesitant to ask questions, so try to incorporate questions often to get them used to speaking on camera.

• Encourage Class Interaction - Be sure to have students at all locations work together and interact. Do activities that help them get to know each other. These students are all a part of the same class!

Recording Tips

• Storage - Pro accounts have a small amount of space to record to the Cloud. That’s not much if you plan to record a lot.

• Use the “Record to Device” feature - Then be sure to move it to Google Drive, or another resource to free up space on your computer. DO NOT store them on your computer, they take up a lot of memory!

• Pause While Recording - When recording your class, use the Pause feature in the upper left corner. Hit record to start the class (so that you don’t forget or if it’s automatically set to record when the meeting starts), then unpause when you give instruction or teaching material. If there is a lull (students working, etc..) hit the pause again to save from editing that out. It also creates a smaller file to save. When class is done, hit the stop button.