Please note that the resources included on this site are intended to be used to assist with virtual learning within the Orton-Gillingham Virtual Clinic only. You are not permitted to share/distribute these resources with any party outside of the the cohort.
Here are some other useful links to help you adjust to the platform.
(Please note that the above video states that students cannot annotate on Zoom. There is a way to make them a co-host and that will allow them to annotate. If you're interested, I can walk you through this.)
Did you know you can lock a Zoom session that’s already started, so that no one else can join? It’s kind of like closing the classroom door after the bell. Give students a few minutes to file in and then click Participants at the bottom of your Zoom window. In the Participants pop-up, click the button that says Lock Meeting.
Click the arrow next to Share Screen and then Advanced Sharing Options. Under “Who can share?” choose “Only Host” and close the window. However, if students need to share their work with the group, you can allow screen sharing as needed.
The Waiting Room feature is one of the best ways to protect your Zoomvirtual classroom and keep out those who aren’t supposed to be there.
When enabled, you have two options for who hits the Waiting Room before entering a class:
1. All Participants will send everyone to the virtual waiting area, where you can admit them individually or all at once.
2. Guest Participants Only won’t work for us because we use free accounts.
The virtual Waiting Room can be enabled for every class (in your settings) or for individual classes at the scheduling level.
How to enable the Waiting Room
Teachers can restrict the in-class chat so students cannot privately message other students. We’d recommend controlling chat access in your in-meeting toolbar controls (rather than disabling it altogether) so students can still interact with the teacher as needed.
If someone who’s not meant to be there somehow manages to join your virtual classroom, you can easily remove them from the Participants menu. Hover over their name, and the Remove option (among other options) will appear. Click to remove them from your virtual classroom, and they won’t be allowed back in.
The cool thing about Zoom is that you have these and other protection options at your fingertips when scheduling a class and before you ever have to change anything in front of your students. Here are a few of the most applicable:
· Do not require registration. We are using the free version of Zoomwhich bans accounts for anyone under 16.
· Use a random meeting ID: It’s best practice to generate a random meeting ID for your class, so it can’t be shared multiple times. This is the better alternative to using your Personal Meeting ID, which is not advised because it’s basically an ongoing meeting that’s always running.
· Password-protect the classroom: Create a password and share with your students via school email so only those intended to join can access a virtual classroom.
· Disable join before host: Students cannot join class before the teacher joins and will see a pop-up that says, “The meeting is waiting for the host to join.“
· Manage annotation: Teachers should disable participant annotation in the screen sharing controls to prevent students from annotating on a shared screen and disrupting class.
Additionally, teachers have a couple in-meeting options to control your virtual classroom:
· Disable video: Turn off a student’s video to block distracting content or inappropriate gestures while class is in session.
· Mute students: Mute/unmute individual students or all of them at once. Mute Upon Entry (in your settings) is also available to keep the clamor at bay when everyone files in.
· Attendee on-hold: An alternative to removing a user, you can momentarily disable their audio/video connections. Click on the attendee’s video thumbnail and select Start Attendee On-Hold to activate.
Teachers: We encourage you to NOT post pictures of your virtual class on social media or elsewhere online. While it’s fun to share in the excitement of connecting over Zoom, we are particularly committed to protecting the privacy of K-12 users and discourage publicly posting images of students, especially minors, in a Zoom virtual classroom.