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Since distance learning began in the fall, I've had to make a lot of changes to my teaching practices, the structure of my classroom, and how I communicated with students.
As I wrap up this semester, I'm reflecting on what I'd like to continue + I'd like to improve.
As I wrap up this semester, I'm reflecting on what I'd like to continue + I'd like to improve.
My warm-ups routinely change as you'll see in the thread. One thing I love about distance learning is the chat feature as I can collect a lot of responses simultaneously. More importantly, I can copy & paste all responses and share all of their ideas. This + annotate = 
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When facilitating number talks online, I love that I can collect responses through the chat, and I can acknowledge all students who used a particular strategy while asking one to share (and rotate through who shares).
Pattern talks are similar. I can acknowledge many ideas, and ask students to share different understandings. I love hearing different voices throughout the pattern talk.
CPM teachers, I was worried about facilitating silent board games, but they ended up going really well. It's fascinating following the thought processes through the chat, and I can continue to center different voices when sharing ideas.
For classwork, I've been having Ss use Desmos and Digital Notebooks (through Google Slides) to demonstrate their work and understanding. The digital notebooks are harder to check as I can't see all Ss' work at once, but I like how Ss can easily screenshot their work with Desmos.
Desmos has been and continues to be amazing. I love the flexibility of students being able to sketch or type their work.
I've been assigning asynchronous work using Google Docs. I like how I can chunk the problems for students, and I like how students can show their work using a lot of different tools such as algebra tiles or Desmos graphing calculator.
I've paced myself a lot more slowly this year. I see my students every other day. Although last Friday was day 90 overall, it was really day 45 for each class. The pacing has been great for my Ss, and I feel that more of them are understanding the ideas well than in the past.
What isn't going well? Collaboration is a mixed bag. I struggled to facilitate groups at the start. I decided to give Ss an option after seeing a tweet about separating Ss, based on preference, into an open (talking) group, closed (chat only) group, or main group with me.
In every class, I have at least one open group. What I've been impressed by is that all these groups have been together all semester long and they continue to work REALLY well. In person, I'd usually have students ask to switch groups by the end of the week 
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I still have about half my Ss who would prefer to work independently. This has been helpful for many of them as they use the chat for immediate feedback. However, the burning teacher in me knows they'd learn so much more if they had opportunities to share their thinking.
There are still a handful students I haven't been able to build a connection with and support emotionally and academically. I am hoping to focus my attention on them and their families as the second semester starts.
@Idil_A_ an update: digital notebooks are going well. Mostly because it's a great place to store screenshots of work.
@a_schindy would love to hear about what you've seen that has gone well in other 8th grade classes.
@iTEACHiLEARN let me know if you'd like to share resources!
@a_schindy would love to hear about what you've seen that has gone well in other 8th grade classes.
@iTEACHiLEARN let me know if you'd like to share resources!
