The following is a guest blog post by Grace Twietmeyer. Grace is one of our online eLo Geometry teachers along with being a Math teacher at Naperville Central High School in Naperville, IL. In this guest post, Grace shares why she has had so much fun in her first year teaching online. You may follow Grace on Twitter, @gotwiet.
Teaching an Old Dog (Teacher) New Tricks!
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| CC Image courtesy of Superfantastic on Flickr |
When I signed on to be an eLo teacher about a year ago, I knew that I’d be learning many things (tricks), but I had no idea how much fun it would be! In this post, I will comment on a few of those "fun" things!
1. Each time I host a virtual conference with my students my enjoyment increases. I use the BigBlueButton tool present in the Canvas LMS. Just in the last two days, I’ve held two 1:1 virtual conferences with students. The conferences were fun and informative for both my student and me!
By connecting synchronously with my student, we were able to accomplish more together than had we decided to e-mail back and forth. When I collaborate and talk with my students during a virtual conference, I can demonstrate to them specific math problems. Students may then realize whether or not they are on the proper track and make immediate adjustments.
2. Padlet is a cool new tool that I have found useful. Padlet is a virtual wall where students may post their ideas in many different forms. Recently, I learned how to post an image or video from the internet directly on my padlet wall. For the present chapter we are studying, I am challenging my students to perform a similar action. Everyone in the class may see what one other has posted. Padlet is like a giant bulletin board that you would typically have in a traditional class but takes a virtual shape in the online environment!
3. Socrative is super fun and an easy tool that helps you capture quick information from your students. There are many uses for Socrative but I’ve used it to determine whether students are learning the targets for each lesson. I have used Socrative to check for understanding after students have completed a lesson. Students can chime in using their smartphone, laptop, or tablet. The login procedure is quick and easy and so is receiving feedback.
4. The Canvas LMS has been my mainstay for my time as an eLo teacher. I went from knowing very little about Canvas to navigating and creating every day inside Canvas. Canvas has even made a big transition into my face to face classes. My eLo students learn their lessons in Canvas, check their understanding daily in Canvas, post discussions in Canvas and even assess in Canvas. It’s a powerful Learning Management System and I love using it.
See, you can teach an old dog (teacher) new tricks! And it’s fun along the way!
-Grace Twietmeyer
eLo Geometry Instructor
#eLofan
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