Bytesize 7 - Zoom, One Year On
Many of us have been on a steep learning curve over past year. In some cases, online learning and teaching has become the sole means of communication with our students. Zoom has found its way into schools and homes around the world, but has it lost some of its lustre over the past year?
The video below showcases some of the NET Scheme good practices of “How online English learning and teaching has evolved over time”.
Breathing New Life into Old Zoom Lessons
It’s inevitable. Over the course of a semester, online lessons can start to become a bit repetitive. More and more students are turning off their cameras and it feels like your computer is the only thing that’s listening. Here are some suggestions that might help you breathe new life into your online lessons.
· 5-minute “say good morning to your classmates” breakout rooms. Start your students’ day by participating online by chatting with their friends. They can even set up their own breakout rooms!
· Draw students in with scaffolded interaction. Start with simple interactions (non-personal, no correct answer questions) using the chat feature and let your students participate in lessons. The first example might be “How many people ate tomatoes yesterday? If you ate a tomato, write a ‘1’. If you did not eat a tomato yesterday, then write a ‘0’”. Then progress gently, i.e. one word verbal response, write one word in the chat to read aloud. Focus on eliciting students' views and opinions. [https://youtu.be/VlSRK7DVeXE]
· Annotate the screen. Many teachers have turned-off the screen annotations, but this is a way for students to show what they are noticing on the screen. Allow them to show you what they see. Some ideas might be circling things they can see in a picture or circling words that support broader ideas in a text.
· Break up a lot of sitting with a kinesthetic activity from GoNoodle or KooKooKangaRoo, e.g. for KS2 Dinosaur Stomp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imhi98dHa5w.
· Integrate virtual whiteboards into breakout rooms and let students work in smaller groups. Each group can work on one question or they can choose a question and paste it on their slide. Jamboard is a Google product that allows students to write on a virtual space. The online version of PowerPoint also allows students to do similar things but has higher technical requirements. How to Use Google Jamboard
Guided Reading 'Lite' Videos
The next guided reading 'lite' videos for the sixth units are also available for:
- P1 Fun Time at the Zoo
- P2 Henry Hamster’s Week
- P3 Florence and Drago
For PLP-R/W schools see the link below:
https://nets.edb.hkedcity.net/individual.php?p=102
For Space Town schools see the link below:
https://nets.edb.hkedcity.net/individual.php?p=104
