This week, my students definitely seemed a little unmotivated to do online school. Where I live, we received enough ice and snow this week to keep us all cooped up in our homes. My students were begging for a snow day, which we unfortunately no longer have. Therefore, I decided to put a little spin on my typical text structure review. I used Google Slides and Google Forms to create an interactive winter wonderland breakout for my students.
On the day of the breakout, I had students go into Google Meet breakout groups with a partner. One student was the recorder, while the other was the navigator. The navigator shared their screen and worked their way through the winter wonderland. The recorder kept the Google Form open and typed in the answer to each question. I made sure the answers on the Google Form were "text specific" so they could not move on until they got the answer correct.
This was also an incentive for students to turn in missing assignments. I know how much they enjoy breakouts, and getting to talk face to face with a classmate, so I told them, their ticket into the winter wonderland was to have their weekly assignment turned in. I had some seriously high engagement this week! I think it's been important to remember each week that not only are our students navigating a brand new form of "school" but they are also surviving a pandemic. I had to redefine my own expectations as a teacher and realize that their mental health is more important than taking a quiz or another formative assessment. This year has been a nonstop adventure and full of surprises so being able to give them something collaborative and fun during NTI is always a plus.
This is awesome!! I love the graphics you added as well. I bet your students loved this activity. I feel like that was a great way for you to get missing assignments too! I love this idea! - Ashley Dockery
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE that you were able to modify your plans and expectations to allow students to engage your students in a unique way. Getting to collaborate with a partner while also doing something interesting is always a great way to get students interested. Also the graphics and bitmoji are perfect!
ReplyDelete-Sara Graviss (Week 7 Response)
This is so cool! Its so obvious you care about your students and you could tell they needed something a little different this week. This creativity in your lessons is amazing, and it looks like something I would stay engaged with too!
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteThis breakout room review game looks so fun for students! My students also get very frustrated and bored of online learning so I have found the more I can change up lessons to be something new and engaging the better. I think it was also a good strategy that you required students to make-up missing assignments before they got to participate in this activity. I am wondering how long it took you to create this review activity? I am familiar with google forms and slides so I am hoping that would help speed up the process if I created it on my own. -Angela Zurales, Week 7