Recently I was listening to a podcast in which Esther Brunat was sharing how she engaged her students during distance learning. While the ideas she shared came about during distance learning these ideas could also easily be implemented into a physical classroom. As I was listening to Esther talk, the one thing that stuck out to me was the fun they were having as a class, and the community they were building. She also mentions in the podcast how these activities served as a warmup for her students. While distance learning, her students would come onto her video lessons with cameras off and unwilling to talk. However, once Esther started to incorporate these warm ups into her lessons, she said her students were more likely to talk throughout the lesson, and some even turned on their cameras! (*gasp*)
Recently I was listening to a podcast in which Esther Brunat was sharing how she engaged her students during distance learning. While the ideas she shared came about during distance learning these ideas could also easily be implemented into a physical classroom. As I was listening to Esther talk, the one thing that stuck out to me was the fun they were having as a class, and the community they were building. She also mentions in the podcast how these activities served as a warmup for her students. While distance learning, her students would come onto her video lessons with cameras off and unwilling to talk. However, once Esther started to incorporate these warm ups into her lessons, she said her students were more likely to talk throughout the lesson, and some even turned on their cameras! (*gasp*)
This week I wanted to share with you three different activities that Esther has established to help get her students warmed up for her lesson, while also building a community in her classroom. While you can share these activities in a variety of ways, including posting them to your board in the morning or the start of class, another suggestion I want to make is sharing them on your Google Classroom. These activities can easily be posted as a question within Google Classroom, in which your students are able to respond as well as comment on each other's posts. This is a quick and easy way to get students talking with one another, as well as these activities give every student a voice and a sense of belonging. The best part is that it does not have to take away from any class time. This could be an assignment that students complete outside of the classroom that will help to build connections past the end of the school day.
This week I wanted to share with you three different activities that Esther has established to help get her students warmed up for her lesson, while also building a community in her classroom. While you can share these activities in a variety of ways, including posting them to your board in the morning or the start of class, another suggestion I want to make is sharing them on your Google Classroom. These activities can easily be posted as a question within Google Classroom, in which your students are able to respond as well as comment on each other's posts. This is a quick and easy way to get students talking with one another, as well as these activities give every student a voice and a sense of belonging. The best part is that it does not have to take away from any class time. This could be an assignment that students complete outside of the classroom that will help to build connections past the end of the school day.