Teaching is About Relationships Even in the Digital Age

I have long told teachers in the department where I used to head up that they need to call parents and even meet with them rather than just email them. I used to say that it really isn't what you say in the those meetings, but rather that you show that you care. From there a foundation can be built.

As you can see from the video above that is a short interview with Bill Gates of Lyon Terry, the 2015 Washington state teacher of the year, I am not the only one who feels this way. Even though my students will now only be online, relationships still count. Conversations on the phone still work. Working with the individual needs of the students still works whether it is a brick and mortar classroom or online.

The other telling thing that Terry mentions in the video above is showing students how to sift through the amazing amount of research online to come up with answers and I might add to ask new questions (which brings up this interesting video on teaching in the 21st century).

By the way I found this video and the accompanying post on Bill Gates' blog which started as a way to showcase the books he has read to add in many other things such as people he meets, ideas he is learning, etc.

Comments

Homework Reminders

When I want to quickly contact my online students, I use Remind.com . It allows you to send a text without knowing their phone numbers. Additionally you can set a time for it to be sent. You can add a link and/or upload a document. If you choose, you can also text individual students. All of the texts are recorded and kept as long as you keep the class. Above is a video giving you a great overview and here are several videos explaining how to use different parts of it. If you use Blackboard, the video below shows you how to embed Remind texts into a Blackboard page.

How to Make Your Own Flip & Tutorial Videos

Over the years I have made lots of video tutorial for my blog followers and flip videos for my students . Every single one of them have been made using Screencastomatic . You can purchase your own yearly subscription, but I have not only never paid, but also never even set up a free account. You don't need to since you can make the video and then just upload it onto YouTube. Watch the video above and you will be able to see how to record, add you talking (or not) to the recording and to upload it - all in less than two minutes. Go forth and make your own tutorials and teach lots of others. In a later post I'll show you how to organize your YouTube video library.

Snow Days Online

So we have a potentially major snow storm coming to DC this week. I am thankful that we have the technology to make up for not having school, esp. in classes like AP or IB ones where time can't really be missed and your students are more likely to do the work at home. Of course my online students get to work no matter the weather. So how can you get your brick and mortar students to work on a snow day. For my online kids I use Blackboard Collaborate so I would create a shell for the brick and mortar students as well and set an agreed upon time to meet which I reminded them about a few days before a snow storm. If you don't have something like Blackboard Collaborate you could you a Google Plus Hangout live stream where you could send a link to your students and they could watch a live lecture ( here's how ). You could then use Today's Meet to send a link to students and you could see their live questions. You would be able to do this b...

eLearning Blog

Search This Blog