Blog Post 1.5
2 May 2020
Hi everyone and welcome back to Zealous English. We really are living and working in challenging times. Finding the balance between work, home duties and leisure (depending on what you are able to do in terms of Covid19 restrictions) is no easy feat.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of the truly AMAZING work that is being done by teachers of all disciplines across the world and the way we have all transitioned to remote learning with grace, pride and passion. We all deserve a huge pat on the back for the tireless work we are doing.
In light of this transition, I wanted to share with you all some tips and strategies for teaching our EAL/D learners remotely during the Coronavirus learning from home restrictions. Even if we transition back to face-to-face learning soon, there will still be many students across the country who will be accessing their learning remotely. At present, I have students who have returned to their home counties still accessing my classes remotely, as well as local students.
The biggest message echoed by many experienced online educators is that moving to the online environment shouldn’t drastically change the way you teach remotely. The pedagogy you apply in the classroom is still the core of what drives the remote teaching. Almost all in-class activities can be conducted in the online environment.
Caveat: I am cognisant that many students, in particular our EAL students, currently have limited access to devices and acknowledge how fortunate I am to not only have multiple devices but also my students. My experience in transitioning to remote learning has been challenging but not nearly as challenging for those of you who are working with students who have limited or no access to devices and secure internet connections. The tips and strategies below reflect my personal teaching experience working with mainstream EAL students who have a 1-1 personal Apple MacBook.
Here are my top tips for teaching EAL learners remotely:
1. Share your resources with the students prior to the lesson
Provide a clear overview (dot points work well) of what tasks will be completed in the lesson as well as what equipment is needed. You can also include links to your video conference lesson information (such as a Zoom link and password) if you are using video conferencing.
Here’s an example:
In today’s lesson we will:
· Complete a quiz about common mistakes in our writing
· Complete a journal writing task about “cultural identity” (this will be uploaded to Showbie at the end of the lesson)
You will need:
· Pens (no whiteout please)
· Your 5-subject notebook or lined paper (journals must be handwritten)
· Some calming music to help you to focus
· Your dictionary (printed version) – no screens allowed during journal time please!
I have never made so many PowerPoint presentations in my life, however, for content-based lessons this seems to be working well during remote learning. It also gives something for students to focus on during a face-to-face lesson or a step-by-step self-directed lesson. Sending the slides to students prior to your lesson tunes them in to the lesson and enables them to prepare for your class.
2. Find a balance between synchronous and asynchronous learning
Not all of your lessons need to be conducted face-to-face. Some of you might not even have this as an option, so you may like to create screencasts instead (this is covered in tip #5). “Zoom fatigue” is real. It is impossible to sit of front of a screen for 6+ hours a day. We can’t do it so neither should our students. Think about what aspects of your lessons can be achieved without the need for face-to-face instruction. Short writing tasks, group work tasks, voice recordings, and listening exercises can all be done without the need for explicit teacher directed instruction. Here is a link to a great article about this. Find a balance that works for you and your students.
3. Make face-to-face lessons fun and interactive
We know that lessons are always more powerful when students are actively engaged and doing something in the lesson. This can also be achieved remotely. Some of the tools I am finding helpful include, using the chat function in Zoom for quick responses to questions to gauge student understanding; using forums on my school’s LMS where students respond to a prompt question and then respond to each other’s comments; and using the annotation tools in Zoom whereby students (or I) can annotate texts or images just as we would do on the whiteboard in class. Here is an article about some these great additional features in Zoom.
Quizzes, games and interactive videos are also a fantastic way of making your lessons engaging. Using a Google Form for a quiz or programs like iSLCollective and Edpuzzle are just a few ways that students can interact with content in a fun and playful way whilst teachers also gauge students’ comprehension and understanding of topics.
4. Engage students in group work
If possible, assign group tasks just as you would do in the classroom. Create breakout rooms in video conference lessons (Zoom and Microsoft Teams both have this feature) and set students up with a manageable task that can be completed within the lesson. You can also jump into the breakout rooms and listen to students speaking and rehearsing.
If you want to take it a step further, get students to set up their own meetings and record them. A very successful lesson I had this week involved pairs in my year 8 EAL class having a conversation about Chinese stereotypes and debunking them based on a similar YouTube video we had watched on Australian stereotypes. Students set their own Zoom meetings, recorded the conversation and then uploaded these onto their Google Drive. Next lesson, we will watch the videos together.
Another idea is where students work collaboratively on a document via Google Docs. Such as a pair writing task, deconstructing and reconstructing a text etc.
5. Screencasting is amazing
I have been eager to teach myself how to screencast for a while now and have dabbled with a few tools such as Screencastify (a Chrome extension) and ExplainEDU (an app. which can be downloaded from the App Store) but the impetus to start screencasting has really been spurred on by remote learning. You can also record yourself in Zoom which I find easiest.
I am predominately using screencasting to pre-record instructions for a lesson and then send the video to my students. This option is great for students who have may be sharing devices so that they do not need to be part of a synchronous lesson. I am also able to annotate texts in Zoom or ExplainEDU and students can follow the annotations, pause and replay sections whilst annotating their own texts. This works particularly well with senior students for text study and language analysis work. Here is an article about the benefits of pre-recording lessons.
6. Showbie can help with the marking load
I cannot begin to tell you how much Showbie has revolutionised my marking and collaboration with my students. Since we cannot physically collect students’ writing (especially handwritten work) at the moment, I find Showbie very helpful for this. Also, this limits the backlog of emails in your inbox from students submitting work via email.
Showbie is an app which can be downloaded for free from the App Store. I have been using Showbie for a while now to track submission of students’ work and correct students work (for this I use an Apple pen). You can even leave students voice comments and typed comments on their work which is of great benefit to our EAL students who may have difficulty reading handwritten corrections and notes. And you can create a portfolio of students’ work which is excellent for parent-teacher conferences. There are many “how to” videos on how to use Showbie. Here is one you may like on the basics.
In a nutshell, once you have created an account you can create class groups and share a “class code” with your class for students to submit their work to. Students must also create an account which is linked to an email (preferably their school email address). By creating class lists, assignments can be submitted and marked electronically via a tablet, phone or on the web interface. Once students have completed their “assignment” (this can be a short piece of writing, a test, an actual assignment – anything text based), students take a photo of their work (or upload a typed text) to your class which you mark and students instantly receive their feedback via an email and/or notification on their device.
If you are using Zoom, you can also share your iPad in the share screen mode and annotate a text using Showbie.
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So, these are my top tips for teaching EAL/D remotely and some helpful software I am currently using. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy lives to read these suggestions. You may like to share them with your teams and colleagues. And of course, let me know if you have other ideas!
Stay safe, stay home and happy teaching!
Julia
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