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Ways to Improve Emotional Support for Teachers

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in Professional Development & School Culture.

Teachers act as a frontline support system for students’ emotional needs. COVID-19 intensifies the emotional needs of students, which intensifies emotional stress for teachers. Many district leaders are looking for ways to increase their emotional support for teachers.

You are probably interested in supporting teachers emotionally because it is the right thing to do. Did you also know that emotionally supporting teachers has practical benefits as well? It promotes a positive district culture, improves student learning, and is cost-effective. 

District Culture

Improving trust and relationships among teachers and administrators is the first step towards creating a positive district culture. District leaders build confidence when they value and support their teachers. Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell, a leading authority on organizational culture from Harvard Graduate School of Education, said, “A culture will be strong or weak depending on the interactions between the people in the organization. In a strong culture, there are many, overlapping, and cohesive interactions among all members of the organization.” Simply put, district leaders who consistently interact with teachers will be in a better position to support them.

Student Learning

Experienced teachers positively influence student learning because they develop their skills over many years. Teachers who feel supported by their leaders are more likely to stay in their positions. Unfortunately, even before the pandemic, statistics showed that over 50% of teachers quit teaching before reaching retirement age. That attrition rate hurts students.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals describes how principals should not underestimate their role. According to the Wallace Foundation, principals rely on district leaders to provide resources and help. Research shows that even leaders as high in hierarchy as the superintendent impact student achievement.

Cost-Effective

Retaining teachers also saves the district money. The cost of recruiting, hiring, and training one new teacher typically ranges from $9,000 to $21,000. An urban district with 5,000 teachers could save five million dollars by reducing teacher attrition from 15 percent to 10 percent. Dedicating half of it to support teachers equals 2.5 million dollars. Dividing those resources among 5,000 teachers equals $500. $500 per teacher will provide a lot of supportive resources.

Respect, Listening, and Responding are Foundations for Emotional Support

We asked teachers across the US to describe how administrators are supporting them this year.

Some teachers gushed, “My administrators are the best! I don’t have enough superlatives to describe how they go above and beyond to help us teachers feel supported. I love my job.”

Others said, “My administrators are not helping at all. They make it worse. I am stressed beyond belief, and they keep piling on the work.” Emotionally supporting teachers requires respect. Micromanaging kills respect. Instead, empower teachers to play critical roles in decision making about how to achieve shared goals. Giving teachers agency fulfills their inherent desire to make a difference.

Another key to emotionally supporting teachers is listening and responding appropriately. Listening sounds easy, but not enough leaders intentionally incorporate listening into their day. The danger of not seeking input from everyone is that more vocal teachers will dominate what you hear. To get a balanced understanding, go into classrooms or call each teacher regularly. You will learn a lot from these informal conversations.

Crafting a response that values the teacher is hard too because leaders must confront their limitations. However, failure to listen and respond appropriately creates a chasm between teachers and district leaders.

One teacher wrote that teachers in her district told leaders they were suffering from work overload. The district responded with, “Take time for self-care,” but then added more meetings to the schedule. Luckily, most district leaders are more perceptive than that.

Support that Goes the Extra Mile

You may be looking for specifics for taking your emotional support to the next level. Teachers sang the praises of the administrators going above and beyond the norm. Read on for inspiration about outstanding teacher support that fell into four categories.

  1. Reducing Responsibilities and Granting Time Off
  2. Giving Gifts and Supplying Food
  3. Building Community
  4. Providing Technology Tools

Helping Teachers Fulfill their Responsibilities

Teachers feel overwhelmed and expressed how much they love getting time off from work to relax and recuperate. However, unless administrators also amended professional responsibilities, receiving time off felt disingenuous. After all, most teachers are already putting in more than their contract hours. As one teacher said, she doesn’t have “a work fairy.” Here are a few ways principals and district leaders lightened teachers’ loads.

  • Taking over recess/lunch duty
  • Making phone calls to students’ homes
  • Covering classes when a guest teacher isn’t available
  • Shortening and canceling meetings
  • Postponing professional development
  • Not requiring teachers to turn in lesson plans for review
  • Making one non-instructional day per week to allow for planning, collaboration, and communication
  • Streamlining the Educator Effectiveness Plan process

Giving Gifts and Supplying Food

Food and gifts show teachers that you care about them and build morale. Here are a few gestures from principals and district leaders that made teachers smile.

  • Organizing parents to bring meals to teachers
  • Buying gift cards for a restaurant
  • Catering staff meetings
  • Bringing coffee and doughnuts on Mondays
  • Stocking the staff lounge with grab-and-go snacks and drinks
  • Organizing meal delivery to teachers experiencing hardship
  • Giving door prizes at meetings where the lucky winner received a bottle of wine, a gift card, or a gift basket
  • Cash bonuses or raises
  • Adding an ergonomic chair to every classroom
  • Giving token gifts such as a meditation app, hand sanitizer, lotion, masks, a book of inspirational quotes
  • Adding a teacher’s calming corner, complete with a massage chair, in the teacher’s lounge

Community Building

Teachers often feel isolated from peers. Principals improve camaraderie and innovation with community building. Teachers like the following ideas.

  • Relaxing the dress code
  • Book clubs
  • Throwing eggs at a big sign saying “COVID”
  • Putting a blank poster outside the door of staff members and encouraging everyone to write uplifting words and praise
  • Virtual game nights like Bingo and Trivia with small prizes
  • Starting each meeting with a quick icebreaker
  • Scavenger hunts
  • Creating a book with a page dedicated to each staff member, showing what makes that staff member special

Providing Appropriate Technology Tools

Social distancing required teachers to adopt technology at warp speed. Unfortunately, many teachers spend their personal money to equip themselves and students with the proper EdTech tools. Districts support their teachers emotionally by supplying improved software and hardware to teach efficiently. Here is a list of some of the tech tools teachers appreciate.

  • Microphones, document cameras, monitor lights, tablets
  • Communication platforms
  • Access to an easy to use and robust Learning Management System
  • A discretionary budget for learning apps and subscriptions
  • Digital collaboration tools
  • Curriculum software that includes automatic grading and data collection.

As leaders, you may follow the philosophy of the French statesman, Andre Malraux, who said, “To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.” At Harris Education Solutions, we want to help you honor and support our community heroes-teachers.

Help Students Returning to the Classroom Navigate their Emotions

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in MTSS & Student Support.

Ms. Conner guarded the door, which was ajar, so seven-year-old Mark would feel safe changing his rain-soaked clothes.  As Ms. Conner discretely ensured Mark’s privacy, she pondered his destructive tendencies and realized that they were his way of expressing and releasing emotional turmoil. Now his stress and grief were manifesting as a fear of being alone, even for a few minutes. Admitting this vulnerability and asking for help was out of character for Mark. Despite his usual bravado, this little boy needed emotional support as much, if not more, than other students did. Mark is hardly alone in having a big emotion overwhelm his ability to regulate behavior.   

No child escaped repercussions from the pandemic. Some students suffered catastrophic losses. Many students dramatically changed their lifestyle. Every student had to adapt to differences in the community and at school. New thoughts and conversations about safety permeate every aspect of daily life.  

Students returning to the classroom after remote learning or a holiday break will have varying responses.  Returning to school can be an emotional experience, even in regular times. In addition to all the typical emotions, students returning in 2021 may also be suffering grief, depression, fear, disappointment, anxiety, guilt, loneliness, and more.  

No one expects you to act as a counselor. However, your daily interactions provide an opportunity to help students develop socio-emotional skills. The blog Supporting Students Experiencing Trauma During the Covid-19 Pandemic discusses the importance of classroom routines and ensuring students feel a sense of control in their lives. 

Teaching Empathy and Emotional Intelligence 

As discussed in Three Steps to Emotionally Support Students to Promote Academic Success, feeling emotionally safe in the classroom improves learning. As the teacher, you set the tone. However, students affect the emotional climate as well.     

A student who has not experienced stress from the pandemic at home may start feeling it in the classroom. Students likely echo their family’s response to the pandemic, which may be quite varied among different students.  

This convergence of perspectives and feelings offers an opening to explore empathy and emotional intelligence. Without such instruction, many students will be oblivious to the feelings of their classmates.   

Consider the differences between Marie and Mason. Marie had regular social interactions outside of school during the pandemic, including attending group events. Mason stayed home except for a few brief outings in which he always wore a mask and stayed six feet apart from others. At recess, Marie repeatedly invites Mason to play, and Mason continually declines. Marie may inadvertently be pressuring her friend to engage in a way that makes him uncomfortable, and Mason may be unwittingly hurting Marie’s feelings by rejecting her invitations.   

Open conversations about what feels safe to each student help mitigate these types of situations. Reading and discussing literature is another great way to explore different emotional responses. Teaching children to respect the feelings and differences of other perspectives not only improves class culture. Harvard Business School considers Emotional Intelligence essential to a person’s professional success.   

Happy, Sad, Excited, and Nervous – All at Once 

Human emotions are rarely orderly and logical. Students often experience cognitive dissonance because they have conflicting feelings about the same situation. Let students know that an onslaught of coexisting mixed emotions is normal. Mason’s anxiety about the virus does not negate his excitement to see his friends.   

Helping students identify each feeling and its source helps them make sense of how they feel. According to the experts in emotional intelligence at 6seconds.org, naming and admitting fear and anxiety helps people face them. Emotional check-ins also give students practice identifying their emotions and aid in forming a trusting relationship.  

Like learning any skill, learning to identify and cope with tricky emotions requires seeing someone doing it. Some of your students may lack a model of emotional health in their home environment. You could act as the model or invite a guest speaker to address the class. Talking about a time you experienced conflicting emotions normalizes how they feel. The Disney movie Inside Out does a great job showing the purpose of negative emotions and could be used as a light-hearted entry point to the discussion.  

Of course, keep your discussions and resources appropriate for the students’ developmental level and the classroom. As you teach students to identify authentic emotions, including healthy coping strategies will help your students through tough times. These conversations invite your students to increase their awareness and manage their feelings. 

Providing Comfort and Calm 

Even in the calmest, most nurturing classroom environment, students may have emotional breakdowns.  Emotional breakdowns look different in different individuals because emotional expression varies by culture, gender identity, developmental level, personality, and temperament. Whereas Mark often destroyed property, Marie would cry, and Jordan would withdraw. If possible, try these strategies to help the student in crisis.  

Help calm students so they can think clearly. Human touch is healing, and your first instinct may be to hug the child. Now, a simple embrace may not be allowed or safe. Dr. Robert D Keder suggests students hug themselves. The pressure and skin-to-skin contact of a self-hug mimics the feeling of a real hug. The self-hug will release oxytocin to aid in calming the child. He also provides some mindfulness exercises such as deep breathing.    

Once the student relaxes enough to think and talk, ask them what caused the intense emotions. As you listen, help the child find places they can take control of the situation. Unfortunately, there are circumstances where the only thing they have the power to control is their thoughts. Luckily, improving the positivity of one’s thoughts cultivates positive emotional responses.   

In the revolutionary work, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” it says,  

Whether they’re aware of it or not, all people keep a running account of what’s happening to them, what it means, and what they should do. In other words, our minds are constantly monitoring and interpreting. That’s just how we stay on track. But sometimes the interpretation process goes awry. Some people put more extreme interpretations on things that happen-and then react with exaggerated feelings of anxiety, digression, or anger. Or superiority. (p. 215) Carol S. Dweck 

For example, a child who incorrectly answers a question could think, “I am dumb.” or “I need to study this more.” The first thought demonstrates a fixed mindset, whereas the second thought shows a growth mindset. The growth mindset fosters an improved emotional response because it puts the thinker in control of the situation. Dr. Dweck emphasizes the critical role teachers play in helping students develop a growth mindset. There are plenty of growth mindset resources available for the teachers.  

Sometimes an event becomes catastrophized in the child’s mind. For example, a child may touch another child who is fearful of germs. While the event may seem small to an onlooker, the scared student may jump to the conclusion that they now have a fatal infection. The thought induces a panic attack.   

Acknowledge the student’s authentic emotion. The way a student perceives the situation may, or may not, have its basis from accurate information. Either way, the feelings triggered are genuine.  After verbally acknowledging their feelings, you may help the child reframe their negative thoughts and perceptions.  

Enlist Help 

A much as you care for your students, you do not have to shoulder all of their emotional needs yourself. Send families these parent resources  from National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Ask a mental health professional to teach some lessons on coping strategies. Refer children who need it to the next level of support.   

Being back in the classroom may present some emotional challenges for you too. Remember to take time to address your own emotional health needs. In the next blog, we will discuss how administrators can support the emotional needs of teachers and each other. At Harris Education Solutions, our mission is to help schools improve and succeed, thereby helping students succeed.  

Recognizing and Exiting Survival Mode in Education

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in Professional Development & School Culture.

Your family is enjoying a lovely picnic in the park. Suddenly, the wind picks up embers from another family’s barbecue, and sparks fly to dry grass near you. Everyone drops their food and runs over to stomp out the flames. You extinguish all the blazes, narrowly averting a wildfire. Unfortunately, the food is ruined, the grass is scorched, and your family is stressed.  

That scenario exemplifies going into survival mode to manage a crisis. You jump into action. You don’t pause to discuss fire science. When the fire is out, you clean up the mess and get new food for your hungry family. 

Survival mode is necessary to mitigate damage during a crisis. You must make tough decisions and follow through rapidly. The pandemic put many, if not all districts, in survival mode. At edInsight, we appreciate your decisive action to educate students safely. We are here to support your ability to make wise decisions.  

Most of our recent blogs focus on tips about educating during the time of COVID. This blog encourages you to consider the future as you transition out of survival mode into repairing the damage incurred. Survival mode is not a natural place for visionary leaders. Since you are reading a blog about creating future success, consider yourself a visionary leader.  

Pandemic Damage 

Everyone is stressed by constant changes and a lack of control. School-level educators are drowning from work overload trying to meet all their students’ needs and fulfill other expectations. A teacher posted to her friends, “There is nothing quite like the nauseating sting of anxiety from muddling through one monumental task, then sifting through the pages of emails you didn’t have time to take care of only to find out that you’re even further away from catching up. I give up… for today.”   

Parents are pulling their kids out of the public school system at alarming rates, stretching thin budgets even more. At least some parents chose to leave because they worried about their children struggling academically and socially. Parents of children with previously existing academic challenges were especially frustrated by their distance learning experience in the spring. EdChoice published a report detailing parental concerns by demographic data. 

Distance learning exposed weaknesses for the most vulnerable populations. Even teachers doing face-to-face instruction had to change their typical methodologies to enforce social distancing practices. Teachers are reporting that more students have more significant learning gaps than ever before. A high school teacher with many Title 1 students said that fifty percent of her students are failing. A fifth-grade distance-learning teacher lamented about a depressingly low student engagement. Another teacher admitted that she feels disconnected from her students and doesn’t have a firm grasp of what students know.  

It is up to district leaders to provide these dedicated educators with the tools they need to do their job well. 

Recognizing and Exiting Survival Mode 

While quick decisions and actions are necessary during a crisis, it comes at a cost. Some people call survival mode “slow death mode” because it is a downhill slide into reactionary management. Focusing on disaster mitigation leaves precious little energy and resources for repairing damage, systematic planning, and creating a culture of improvement.  

Teams in survival mode often exhibit the following traits: 

  • Not investing in systems and training 
  • Spending most of the time reacting to urgent situations  
  • Ignoring issues previously considered a high priority 
  • Overwhelming exhaustion and stress
  • Not tracking success indicators 

When a crisis lasts for a long time, such as the pandemic, teams must be careful not to become stuck in a reactionary mode rather than a proactive mode. The lack of a systemic approach to management and resource allocation eventually puts students’ future academic growth in jeopardy.  

Experts warn that pivoting out of survival mode is a gradual and intentional process. Some members of your team may be resistant to the change. Perhaps they think survival mode is still necessary or they feel energized in times of crisis. Listen to their concerns and value their skillsets because their energy and insights are valuable.  

However, as a visionary, people are relying on your talent for seeing a path toward a successful future. 

The Impact of Survival Mode on MTSS  

If your district’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) deteriorated in survival mode, you are not alone. Implementing a robust MTSS system requires district leaders to analyze and plan carefully. Districts that invested in MTSS before the pandemic avoided much of the damage, but no one remained unscathed. 

If your district did not have a strong MTSS before the pandemic, it will need one after. The sooner your team starts implementing MTSS measures, the better for student outcomes. 

MTSS improves student achievement, closes learning gaps, and supports teachers. It focuses educators on the highest priority needs, increasing effectiveness and reducing stress.  

Repairing MTSS Requires Data  

As you transition out of survival mode, you need to know where students and teachers need support to create a road map to achieve desired student learning outcomes. Start by gathering pertinent data and analyzing it carefully. A comprehensive data dashboard makes those tasks much quicker and easier.  

Teachers teach most effectively when they quickly and easily see students’ growth. School administrators implement MTSS with Fidelity when they track student progress for large groups, sub-groups, and individuals. The ability to track progress gives administrators valuable information about which interventions to prioritize. A data dashboard provides teachers with specific information for improved communication with parents and students about progress and the next steps. Clear directives are vital to empower stakeholders to act towards the goal of every student meeting standards. 

edInsight Supports MTSS and Future Success 

Most people think of edInsight as merely a data dashboard. While our data dashboard is an incredible productivity tool, we are so much more. Our trainers go beyond teaching how to use the software; they coach how to think of data in new ways. You choose the criteria and benchmarks to support your specific MTSS approach. Every aspect is customizable. 

The software provides a way to include informal teacher assessments and formal district assessments in data analysis. It reduces teacher workload because they enter assessments directly into the system. The district software connects to the edInsight data warehouse, automating reporting and analysis.  

When your district is ready to plan for success, our products make an excellent investment in student growth. Say good-bye to trying to make sense of piles of paperwork and lost folders. Say hello to data-driven collaborative decision-making. 

Click here to learn more about how our team can help convert your vision into reality. 

Ideas for Reading Aloud in Multiple Learning Environments

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in Instruction & Classroom Practice.

“Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.” 

Jim Trelease, author of Jim Trelease’s Read-Aloud Handbook

Reading aloud to children is a treasured time-honored practice, widely promoted by researchers and teachers. It improves literacy and language abilities, develops social-emotional skills, strengthens the learning community, and expands content knowledge. Many students, even those in high school, say that listening to their teacher read aloud is their favorite academic activity.

With all those benefits, you want to continue doing it even though reading aloud to remote learners takes some extra technology and planning. We asked some teachers for ideas about managing reading aloud in various situations.

Showing the Book

Most teachers suggest using a document camera to show the book to remote learners. Teachers like having a hands-free way to show the text, taking pictures of the book’s pages, and then embedding the photos into a Google Slides presentation. Teachers with both face-to-face and remote learners project the book on an interactive whiteboard or another screen for everyone to see.

Live Readings for Synchronous Teaching

Many teachers instructing in-person and remote-learners simultaneously read aloud in real-time rather than making a recording. They do not want to use valuable prep time making a recording.

Remote learners join via their video conferencing platform, such as Zoom. To do live readings to both groups, set up your technology so remote students see projected images and can interact with you and their classmates. You may be able to do it without extra audiovisual equipment, but a Bluetooth microphone and camera give you more configurations. Having another adult present helps coordinate the technology and student interaction.

Recordings for Synchronous and Asynchronous Access

Many teachers pre-record themselves reading aloud instead of reading the book in real-time. To lessen the amount of work of creating recordings, teams often assign members to read and record different books or chapters. This method also benefits students because they get to hear a variety of voices and styles.

Teachers with limited synchronous contact time often decide reading aloud works as an asynchronous activity. A lot of teachers pre-record themselves reading aloud even for synchronous learning. When possible, they make the recording without wearing masks, making it easier for students to listen. Teachers say using a recording gives them a much-needed opportunity to rest their voices during the school day. Using a recording enables teachers to focus on students better too. When using the recording synchronously, pause the recording as needed for class discussion.

Recording software, such as Screencastify, is useful for recording and creating a link to it. Some document cameras come with this ability too. Then you upload the link onto your LMS platform for synchronous or asynchronous access.

You do not want to violate copyright laws. Typically, you would need express permission from the publishers to make and distribute an audio recording of their book. This year many publishers, including Penguin, Penguin Random House Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and HarperCollins, have given teachers and librarians permission through December 31, 2020. You do need to follow specific requirements, though. Begin the recording by saying, “I am reading (title of book) by (author) with permission of (publisher).” If you upload the video to youtube.com, use the unlisted sharing setting.

To record a book from other publishers, or in 2021, go to the publisher’s website for copyright information.

Choosing Books

You have a wide variety of great books to choose from for reading to your class. Part of the selection process includes finding books with premade support materials available. Efficiency is especially important these days because prep time is at a premium. The following synopses are a sampling of elementary books supported by Castle Learning’s curriculum. Secondary teachers will also find plenty of support materials.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is the fantastical story of James Henry Trotter, who lives with his mean aunts after a rhinoceros eats his parents. Magic crystals make a peach grow as big as a house, offering James a place to escape. Inside the peach, James meets giant bug friends, and they go on an amazing adventure. Your class will laugh at the interactions of the boy, the bugs, and the outside world. They will even learn some interesting facts.

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner comes from a legend in the Rocky Mountain area. Little Willy lives with his grandpa. They struggle financially when his grandpa gets too sick to work. Little Willy sets a goal to help by winning prize money from a dogsled race. The only problem is that his opponent, Stone Fox, has never lost. Teachers who have read this book aloud rave about the love, lessons, and action but warn that you should have a box of tissues at the end.

Teachers of young children are wise to include an easy readers section as part of their read-aloud selection. Children will feel more familiar with characters and storylines when you introduce them through a read aloud. Familiarity gives young readers confidence to try reading these books independently. Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak is a classic series of stories about the adventures of a bear. Frog and Toad by Arnold Nobel are humorous stories about the friendship of Frog and Toad.

Non-fiction books are a great way to support and expand your lessons. Choose award-winning books like Horses by Seymour Simon. Its beautiful photographs and detailed descriptions are sure to ignite new interests.

My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the Worldby Margriet Ruurs shows how children in different parts of the world access books. Your students will gain insight into peers’ lives in other places. They will also see there are many ways to solve the same problem.

For more descriptions of great books, consult Jim Trelease’s Read-Aloud Handbook. Among the books listed are James and the Giant Peach, Stone Fox, and Charlotte’s Web, all supported by Castle Learning.

Ideas for Fun and Expanding the Learning

Students especially enjoy listening to books when readers dramatize them with costumes, voices, and gestures. Perhaps enlist a thespian guest speaker for unique recordings. By using technology, guest speakers could hail from across the globe as easily as down the hall. You might also use the free books currently available to students on Audible.com. The voice actors do a great job animating the story.

Build on the reading aloud experience with pre-reading and post-reading activities. Students could write or draw about connections from other literature or their own life. One teacher successfully used virtual conferencing for a readers-theater activity.

Castle Learning’s large bank of standards-aligned questions makes it easy to integrate a read-aloud into a lesson on language, comprehension, or other content areas. To find the appropriate questions, enter the book’s title into the keyword search tool and select the questions that fit the learning objective. You can print assignments and use them virtually. At Castle Learning, we help teachers work smarter, not harder.

Make the Most of Every Minute of Class

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in Instruction & Classroom Practice.

COVID-19 Puts a Strain on an Already Scarce Resource – Time

Every instructional minute is precious. You have diverse learners needing to learn a lot of material in a short time. Hybrid and remote learning has amplified the challenge of optimizing instructional time. Routines such as taking attendance, cleaning, and checking for understanding take a bigger bite out of instructional time than usual.

To make the most of every instructional minute, try these three steps:

  1. Analyze contact minutes to identify time spent on administrative and custodial tasks.
  2. Increase the time you spend on actions that promote learning.
  3. Improve the effectiveness of instruction.
Analyze Contact Minutes to Identify Time Spent on Administrative and Custodial Tasks

Think about each minute you are with students. You want to streamline everything you do that is not tied to students learning. Use a simple accounting method to code your daily tasks by whether or not it advances student learning.

Use these notations for each routine task – PL for Promotes Learning, and AC for Administrative and Custodial. For example, taking attendance and approving bathroom visits are Administrative and Custodial, whereas Promote Learning would be for direct instruction and facilitating a class discussion.

Next, use the PL and AC codes to track how many minutes per hour you spend on tasks not tied to student learning. Simultaneously tracking and teaching would be challenging, if not impossible. Enlist the help of your colleagues. You and a colleague could use planning periods to help each other, or you could request an instructional coach to observe and track.

You may even ask students to observe and track. If you have young remote learners, their caregivers could help. Remote learners and their caregivers will have a different perspective on how much time is devoted to non-learning activities than you do. Asking for their observations will give you a more robust understanding of what you do not see.

Using eWalk would make gathering and analyzing the information manageable. eWalk is a flexible cloud-based app designed to help educators improve instruction by organizing observational data.

Increase the Time you Spend on Actions that Promote Learning

After getting a clear understanding of how you spend your contact minutes, try to streamline AC tasks. Every minute that you convert from an AC to a PL helps students stay engaged and learn more. Even modest improvements add up. Assuming 180 days of instruction, if you convert five minutes per day from AC to PC, your students receive 15 hours more hours of instruction in a year. Think of what your students could learn in 15 extra hours!

To take your spirit of improvement to the next level, involve the whole school. Ask school leaders to create an eWalk survey of the staff. This second survey will gather ideas about what other teachers do to reduce time spent on administrative and custodial tasks. These surveys act to solidify a culture of collaboration, valuing time, and data-driven instruction.

You probably won’t be able to convert all your administrative and custodial minutes. Set up ways for students to engage in independent learning during these times. When you must complete administrative and custodial duties, try one of these independent activities: reading, writing, completing emotional check-ins, doing warm-up exercises, and taking quick formative assessments. Castle Learning, eDoctrina, and edInsight offer easy cloud-based assessment tools that work equally well for remote and in-person learners.

Improve the Effectiveness of Instructional Time

After increasing instructional minutes, you will want to make the most of those minutes. The following ideas will help you improve the effectiveness of each instructional minute.

  • Plan your lessons to address specific learning outcomes using the district curriculum and state standards. A curriculum that is hard to access and transfer into planning makes identifying the desired learning outcomes challenging. Administrators can help teachers by providing easy to use curriculum and planning tools. edInsight software makes the curriculum more accessible and user friendly to facilitate setting goals, lesson planning, and collaborating.
  • Assess frequently to use data-driven instruction. Computer-based assessments make monitoring students’ progress easier. Not only are computer-based assessments easier to create and administer, but the data organization is also far superior to paper and pencil tests. You will have a better understanding of students’ level of mastery. You will then know how to differentiate instruction and choose lessons that address student needs. Targeted instruction advances your students toward meeting and exceeding the standards.
  • Use a dashboard to create groups for remediation and acceleration. Students get more value from their class time when instruction targets their specific needs. Student dashboards, like those from edInsight and eDoctrina, make differentiating instruction easier because you see at a glance where each student needs support.
  • Use individualized learning apps to take advantage of downtime. Students who work faster than their peers often get bored waiting for the next learning opportunity. Apps such as Castle Learning, edInsight’s Kandoolu, and others allow students to work on the specific skill they are ready to practice.
  • Communicate with caregivers of remote students about how students are responding to remote lessons. Remote instruction adds several layers of complexity to getting feedback about student understanding. Many remote students fail to alert the teacher when they don’t understand. Teachers then lose the opportunity to address the problem at the moment.

Sometimes the caregiver attempts to help and has various levels of success. Other times, students wait for the teacher to notice that they are struggling. Asking caregivers for their feedback and suggestions will go a long way to solve this problem. Once again, eWalk would be a valuable tool for gathering and organizing information.

Putting it All Together

While making the most out of every contact moment takes some effort, the rewards are worth it. Consider a science teacher who has 180 student contact hours per student per year. First,  streamlining her administrative and custodial tasks increases instructional minutes by five minutes per class. This change gives her students 15 more hours of instruction per year. Then, improving the effectiveness of every instructional minute by 10% is equivalent to adding six minutes to every hour of class. The students effectively get another 1080 minutes or 18 hours to the school year.  15 hours + 18 hours =  33 more hours of science.

That is an increase of almost 20% and enough time for students to learn a lot more science!

Three Steps to Emotionally Support Students to Promote Academic Success

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in MTSS & Student Support, Uncategorized.

The Relationship of Emotions and Academics

“Jesse” got in a car accident on the way to a job interview. He was not physically hurt, but he felt emotionally shaken. Upon arrival, Jesse snapped at the secretary. During the interview, he struggled to retrieve words. These behaviors were uncharacteristic for him and yet, consistent with the effects of emotional trauma and stress. Not surprisingly, he did not land the job.

Jesse’s experience illustrates the relationship between emotions and cognitive functions. You probably see evidence of that relationship in your classroom. A plethora of research confirms that emotional factors influence students’ ability to concentrate, communicate, regulate emotions, and form relationships.

There is a common saying among educators, “Maslow before Bloom.” Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes what motivates people. Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning describes levels of thinking. The saying “Maslow’s before Bloom’s” means that students must have their physical and emotional needs met before teachers should expect substantial academic progress.

Three Pillars of Supporting your Students’  Emotional Needs

You probably have children in your classes now struggling with emotional trauma and chronic stress. Chronic stress is ongoing, such as prolonged food insecurity. Trauma refers to events, such as the death of a loved one. Some traumas, such as abuse, occur repeatedly.

If a child is acting out and showing a lack of self-regulation, their need for emotional support is evident. However, not every child who needs emotional support shows it externally. The quiet child following the rules may be silently struggling, too, hoping someone will notice. Addressing and supporting your students’ emotional needs requires intentional effort.

Like most teachers, you would fix all the issues in your students’ lives if you could. While you may not own a cape or magic wand, three actions will make you a superhero in the lives of many children.

  1. Build a trusting relationship with all children.
  2. Teach emotional awareness and self-care skills.
  3. Identify children who need more support than you can provide and refer them to qualified specialists.
Building a Trusting Relationship

Your students will probably not tell you about their fears and insecurities on the first day. They must feel that you are a trustworthy person before they allow their vulnerabilities to show. You will earn students’ trust by creating a safe space for them. Give students control of how they share, be available to listen (or read) without judgment, and follow up on what they share.

Tell your students from the beginning that if they tell you that someone is in danger, you must report it. You do not want to breach their trust if that situation occurs.

Students will test your trustworthiness and open up slowly. The kid who starts talking about bickering with their sibling may be working up the courage to confide a more intense problem. That progression is why active listening is vital even when a particular struggle seems trivial.

Remember to follow up on celebrations too! A simple, “Congratulations on scoring a goal!” goes a long way towards your students seeing that you value them as people beyond the classroom walls.

Checking in with your students also contributes toward building a trusting relationship. Daily emotional check-ins give students practice with self-awareness. They also provide opportunities for students to alert you when significant changes occur in their lives.

Daily check-ins do not need to take up much class time. Depending on your learning model, students can do their emotional check-ins using a Google form or paper form. Either way, the students should be able to control who sees it. Forcing them to share their stories and emotions with you or other students will erode trust.

The actual check-in could be as simple as choosing the appropriate emoji to represent their current emotional state. It could be as involved as filling out a quick questionnaire. The questionnaire might ask questions such as, “How are you today?” “What is making you feel that way?” “Do you want to talk more about this?”

In addition to daily check-ins, you may want to incorporate regular in-depth check-ins. These could take the form of drawing, journal writing, and individual conversations. The longer check-ins give students more time to reflect on their feelings.

Teaching Self-Awareness and Self-Care

Your students will likely start by only sharing basic emotions, such as mad, sad, and happy, because they may only be aware of the surface level of emotions. As you build rapport and students become more self-aware, they will communicate a broader range of emotions.

There are many great programs for helping students build emotional awareness. They start by teaching students to identify their feelings. The Zones of Regulation® by Leah Kuypers is a popular program for younger children because it correlates emotion with learning readiness. Other programs use Plutchik’s emotion wheel to recognize opposing emotions, emotional intensities, and emotional combinations.

Students must go beyond identifying emotions to transition from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. They must feel in control of their lives and feelings.

Talk about ways to self-regulate when their emotions overwhelm them. Research shows that engaging in mindfulness practices is key to self-regulation. There are great apps, books, and games to help teach mindfulness strategies. The strategies are often as simple as counting to ten, breathing deeply, and positive self-talk. Remind them that self-care, such as getting sufficient sleep, exercise, and human contact, are vital ingredients to self-regulation too. Edutopia’s list of mindfulness resources for distance learning offers some helpful suggestions.

Identifying and Referring Children 

Some of your students need more than what a listening, caring teacher can provide. They will require action, and the best way you can be a superhero is by connecting those students with the appropriate person. As a mandatory reporter, you must contact child protective services if you hear of abuse. Let professional investigators do the rest.

Teach your students about various resources available to them. Many school communities have hotlines, counselors, and other professionals that students can reach out to and ask for help. Provide a list of community programs to help with food, health, and clothing. Depending on the population you serve, you may want to alert them about which programs require proof of residency.

Academic Rewards are only the Beginning

Students who feel unsafe, unloved, and unworthy often struggle to remember information, understand concepts, apply new skills, or create things. You might say that the “lizard” part of the brain (amygdala) must be calm before the “wizard” brain (frontal cortex) functions optimally. The lizard part of the brain is the part that operates flight or fight responses, while the wizard part drives decision-making, self-control, and creativity.

Of course, emotionally supporting your students helps them in areas beyond learning. Young people need to learn how to navigate complex social relationships too. A teacher that communicates, “I hear you.” “I see you.” “I care about you.” will affect students profoundly and positively. That message has a rippling effect throughout the community.

Using Data to Pivot Instruction to Meet the Needs of Distance Learners

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in Assessment & Data.

Pivoting Instruction

As an administrator, you don’t directly teach students, yet you play a vital role in their progress. You provide resources and guidance to teachers, empowering them to deliver targeted, customized instruction. These days teacher resources must include ways to ensure that distance learners advance adequately. Teaching remote learners requires changing some traditional instructional practices to prevent distance learners from disengaging.

How do teachers know what they need to change?  You can provide some professional development about research-backed strategies. However, there is still a bit of trial and error involved in discovering what works best in their specific situation and student population.

To see what strategies work best, teachers and principals need to monitor student progress systematically and measure the effect rate of interventions. How can they figure out which instructional methods are serving their specific group of distance learners? They would have to analyze the data from their learning population.

The Gap between the Goal and the Reality

Educators love talking about the benefits of data-driven instruction. Yet you must ask yourself, how often do teachers use detailed data analysis as a driving force for their instructional decisions? Probably not as much as you would like. Why is there such a disconnect between the ideal and actual practices?

You may want to ask teachers, “What holds you back from implementing data in more of your instructional decisions?”

You will probably get an earful describing the labor-intensive methods for organizing data points into useful information. Most teachers and principals already well worked beyond their contract hours before the pandemic. Now, many feel as though they are drowning at work. Keeping up-to-date with data organization feels like a pie-in-the-sky dream. The stresses of providing quality education remotely only exacerbates the problem. Yet, remote learners need data-driven instruction even more than face-to-face learners do.

Bridging the Gap

What can you do at the district level to bridge the gap between the desire to use data to drive instruction and actually using it? Gathering data points is not a problem. The challenge lies in organizing them in a useful way. Without flexible organizational tools, the data is painstaking to organize. Thus, rendering it almost impossible to use for pivoting instruction.

You can change the way teachers interact with data by providing efficient and easy-to-use tools. The right software organizes thousands of data points and puts data-driven instruction within reach. Lacking useful software leaves teachers with two unfavorable choices. Either they spend hours of personal time, manually tracking and analyzing data- or they admit defeat and stop trying to implement data-driven instruction. One option leads to teacher burnout, and the other choice leads to hunch-driven instruction.

Improve Instruction Quality with more Efficient Data Tools

One tool to dramatically increase efficiency is software with computer-based assessments. The software automatically organizes results from the students’ responses. Computer-based assessments include formative and summative assessments. Whereas formative assessments provide a snapshot of student learning, summative assessments span more material and provide educators with broader learning patterns. Both are important.

As soon as students finish an assessment, teachers quickly see what students have mastered and where interventions are needed. No time wasted creating endless spreadsheets. Teachers may wish to filter all the remote learners to evaluate if the environment affected understanding. Toggling from one domain to another takes only a few clicks.

The more assessments students take, the more data points the system has about individuals and groups of students. The teacher can then quickly analyze what strategies are working, and not working, for remote students. The way to pivot instruction becomes more and more evident.

If a much larger proportion of remote learners answered incorrectly than face-to-face learners did, that provides evidence that the instructional method did not work well for remote learners.  Teachers learn two essential pieces of information 1) They need to reteach the concept, and 2) Not to employ that instructional method in future lessons. If an entire grade level scores poorly on a concept, administrators know to investigate further. Perhaps supplemental curriculum resources or professional development would solve the issue.

Computer-based assessments, while always valuable, are especially critical with remote instruction. Face-to-face students give subtle cues, such as slumped shoulders, when they don’t understand. Such feedback is a data point alerting the teacher to intervene. During remote instruction, teachers have fewer behavioral cues and, therefore, must rely heavily on assessments.

The Color-Coded Dashboard and Alert System

Like teaching, driving requires continuous monitoring and adjusting with various conditions. The driver uses gauges to monitor speed, gas levels, and engine temperature. When something needs immediate attention, a beep or light alerts the driver.

Instructional data dashboards provide similar functions. Educators can monitor many measurements all from one place. When someone needs close attention, the dashboard alerts them by showing up in bright red. The color-coded dashboards make it easy for teachers to make informed instructional decisions based on data.

The importance of the dashboard is especially critical with remote learners because gauging engagement is difficult. However, after a few assessments, teachers may notice red alerts on their dashboards, indicating that a student is falling behind. The teacher then knows to take immediate action to help that child succeed.

Districts have many educational dashboards to choose from, and each one has a variety of benefits. Many teachers like eDoctrina because of its flexibility of viewing options. They can look at their whole class, narrow the field to sub-groups, and focus on individuals. This feature puts making data-informed instructional decisions in the hands of teachers.

eDoctrina Offers a Data Solution

eDoctrina is a cloud-based software that integrates computer-based assessments, user-friendly analysis tools, and a student dashboard.  Teachers use eDoctrina for:

  • Assessments
  • Data Reporting
  • Question Banks
  • RTI – MTSS Goal Tracking
  • PBIS
  • Online Learning

Most importantly, they like the ability to serve their remote learners with data-driven instruction- and still have time for a personal life.

District administrators like eDoctrina too, but for different reasons. They like it for planning & curriculum mapping, tracking professional development, and monitoring educator accountability.

Not every district has the same needs, so eDoctrina has various levels of support. The Educator Suite provides tools for planning and assessing and an RTI student goal module. The Accountability Suite includes educator effectiveness tools and student learning objectives. Adding auxiliary functions customizes the software license to create the exact tool you need. Giving educators the information they need to pivot instruction for remote learners benefits all learners.

Data Tools to Implement MTSS and RTI with Fidelity

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in MTSS & Student Support.

The Daunting Task for Administrators

One of your most essential, yet complicated, responsibilities is supporting the wide variety of learning needs of all students. Data-driven education practices continue to revolutionize the way we approach learning. Reams of data are only helpful if you can quickly see patterns. You need flexible tools that provide comprehensive, relevant, and organized information.

Students’ needs change frequently. Some students struggle with learning disabilities, some with mental health, and others with physical health. A few students face multiple challenges simultaneously. Sometimes students are doing just fine and then, “bam!” their life spins out of control. A family or personal crisis creates new needs in otherwise stable students.

Deficits are not the only reason students need extra support. Gifted students may need enrichment and acceleration. High achieving students often need encouragement when they experience a setback. Students from wealthy families have educational gaps from travel-related absences.

Supporting special needs can be so overwhelming that some administrators end up neglecting building robust foundational structures and systems. Every student needs a well-designed curriculum, high-quality instruction, and a safe environment. Without those, students end up experiencing academic and socio-emotional stress. Students experiencing stress are more likely to need more intense interventions. It becomes a vicious cycle of reactionary, rather than proactive, education solutions. Monitoring and adjusting for all aspects of student success requires a systematic approach.

The Data-Driven Three Tiered Solution

Most states use the Multi-Tiered System of Support framework, or MTSS, for supporting student needs. MTSS is the combination of Response to Intervention, RTI, and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support, PBIS. RTI + PBIS = MTSS.

RTI is the academic component, and PBIS is the behavioral and socio-emotional component. Each tier of MTSS incorporates both RTI and PBIS.

The popularity of the MTSS framework is a direct result of its benefits. Targeted, data-driven instruction increases learning. Consistently gathering data enables educators to monitor students and programs. Monitoring provides information so that you, and everyone on the educational team, offer the right interventions to the right population at the right time. Identifying students with the most intense needs and allocating resources to help them improves student outcomes.

Collecting and analyzing data is the center of identifying needs and providing appropriate interventions.

Educators then use the data to create action plans that include research-backed interventions. For example, “a cute activity from Pinterest” would not fit within the MTSS framework, unless there is evidence showing its effectiveness for the specific population.

Tier One: 

This level offers universal support for every student. A tier one support system might include an automatic notification about absences and follow-up protocol.

Analyzing tier one interventions uses data to answer questions about the strengths and weaknesses of district-wide and school-wide programs and procedures.

These questions might include:

  • Do most of our students consistently come to school ready to learn? If not, why not?
  • What do our classroom teachers do well, and where do they need to grow? Does our professional development align with teacher needs?
  • What gaps do we have in our resources, and how can we fill them?
  • What is our student culture like, and how can we improve it?

Using data to answer those types of questions will help you meet the needs of most students. However, some students will need additional interventions.

Tier Two: 

This level includes additional interventions that 10-25% of students need to succeed. An example of a tier two intervention would be a set of questions that the principal uses when calling home after three unexcused absences or ten excused absences.

The more problems you solve at tier two, the less severe tier three issues will be. Analyzing tier two interventions uses data to drill down into the details of various sub-groups. These questions might include:

  • How do we help the 20% of our children who skip breakfast and do not concentrate well?
  • What extra support would help the 25% of third graders not meeting benchmark standards for reading comprehension?
  • What resources and training do our special education staff need this year?
  • Do advanced readers have access to appropriate books?
  • Why do the same students repeatedly show up in the office for discipline? Are they missing a behavioral support system that we can put in place?

Tier Three:

Tier three interventions are for children experiencing unusually challenging situations. Typically, fewer than 10% of students need tier three interventions. These supports often include individualized interventions that often require the help of a specialist. An example of a tier three intervention would be a home-based tutor for a child with significant health challenges.

Analyzing tier three interventions uses data to answer questions about specific individuals and small groups. These questions might include:

  • The Jackson family continues to have a high rate of absenteeism. Should we enlist the help of social services?
  • Did counseling reduce the number of fights between Sierra and Morgan? If not, what is our next step?
  • Why are Johnny’s grades dropping significantly this semester? How can we help him get back on track?
  • What additional support does Sam, the sixth-grader reading at a first-grade level, and Frankie, the first-grader reading at a sixth-grade level, need?

You can see how useful data collection and organization help create action plans in each tier.

Tools to Effectively Implement MTSS

Implementing the MTSS framework with fidelity takes teams equipped with adequate resources. Without proper analytical tools, you and your team will likely suffer from data overload and give up before seeing the possibilities.

Harris Education Solutions has an ecosystem of software to identify needs, organize data, support analysis, and create targeted action plans.

Castle Learning supplies tier one and tier two RTI support. It makes it quick and easy for teachers to align their content and instruction with assessment data. Teachers have the tools they need to pivot instruction almost immediately after assessments.

eDoctrina provides assessment tools and data aggregation to support RTI at tier one and tier two. District-level administrators use it to identify students and teachers who may need more academic support.

eWalk is a powerful and flexible data-gathering tool useful on large and small-scale improvements. Administrators mainly use it to improve the data collected during walkthroughs. With eWalk’s customizable templates, educators at all levels are discovering that they can use it to help solve various challenges.

edInsight helps schools collect multiple measures and then display them in a color-coded dashboard. Anyone can quickly see who needs tier two or three support. You can then use the software to track interventions and create appropriate individualized education plans (IEPs). It helps you monitor progress and report on intervention effectiveness.  Read their free RTI guide.

If you want to use MTSS, but feel lost among the numbers, we can help. Click on the links to our websites above and request a free demo, or request to be contacted.

How to Set Expectations for Virtual Class Meetings

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in Instruction & Classroom Practice.

Discussions about appropriate student norms for class meetings are taking Twitter by storm. It is one of the most controversial conversations related to remote learning. Many teachers require students to be in front of their cameras during class meetings. These teachers feel that they can better monitor student engagement when they can see every face in attendance. However, requiring students to show themselves on their camera presents challenges. Teachers ask:

  • Should we allow kids to show up to class in pajamas?
  • Can we allow students to participate while eating a snack in bed and cuddling with Fido?
  • How will we enforce rules?
  • What can we do to help all your students and their families feel emotionally safe on camera?

Students and families have many valid reasons for not wanting to appear on camera. If you allow students to stay off camera, that brings up other questions. Teachers ask:

  • How will we encourage students to be prepared for class?
  • How will we monitor engagement?

Methods Change but Your Goal Stays the Same

It is tempting to re-create the same expectations that work best for face-to-face learning in remote situations. However, experts caution that the vast differences between face-to-face class meetings and virtual ones mean that you cannot apply the same rules across different environments. While your general approach still applies, the methods must match the platform.

Think of this analogy. Across the US, teachers want students to get outside and play at recess. Being safe outside requires students to dress appropriately for the weather. However, students dressed appropriately in Arizona will look completely different than students dressed appropriately in Alaska.

In virtual and face-to-face environments, you want evidence that your students are present, prepared, and participating. In both situations, your expectations set students up for success and give you feedback about their engagement. However, the method for observing your virtual participants looks different than it does for your face-to-face participants. The way you help your remote students feel safe also looks different.

Monitoring Engagement

You cannot rely on body language to monitor the engagement of students who choose not to be on camera. Instead, you will need to teach your remote students to show involvement with other cues. As Mr. Rogers said, “We speak with more than our mouths. We listen with more than our ears.”

Technology offers many tools to assist in monitoring engagement virtually. Here are two simple ideas.

  1. Ask students to use the chat feature for quick responses, such as a thumbs-up emoji.
  2. Students can put colored pieces of paper in front of the camera. Each color can indicate something different. Perhaps use green for “I am here and learning,” yellow for “I have a question or comment,” red for “I’m stuck,” and so on.

Frame Expectations as Guidelines Rather than Rules

Many teachers say that students are most prepared for learning when sitting in a quiet location, dressed, and not distracted by food. If so, consider phrasing your expectations as guidelines rather than rules. Guidelines put you in the role of a helpful guide rather than as a controlling dictator. Giving students a choice about being in front of the camera reduces the feeling of violating privacy or emotional safety. Consider how you would feel if your boss sent you the following rules.

Rules for Virtual Meetings

  1. Log in a few minutes early and wait for the class meeting to begin.
  2. Dress according to the school dress code.
  3. Sit upright at a desk or table.
  4. Stay in full view of the camera at all times.

Would you feel trusted and respected? Now consider how you would feel if your boss sent these guidelines.

Guidelines for a Successful Virtual Meeting

People learn best when they feel ready to focus. Please use these guidelines when joining a meeting.

  1. We want to start the meeting with full attendance. Please log in a few minutes before the session begins to allow time for remote troubleshooting any technical issues.
  2. Turn your video on if you feel comfortable. We enjoy seeing you. If your camera is on, please dress as you would in public.
  3. Use a place with limited distractions so you can listen and participate.
  4. Please take care of your personal needs before the meeting, such as using the bathroom and getting a snack. If you need a snack or drink, please remember to mute your microphone first.
  5. If you need to leave for a moment, please indicate when you leave and when you return.

Everyone is Still Learning

Many educators and families report that the instruction in the spring of 2020 occurred in crisis mode. Educators made enormous efforts to teach with limited resources, planning, or knowledge. Fisher, Frey, and Hattie, authors of The Distance Learning Playbook, say, “Now we have time to be more purposeful and intentional with distance learning.”

As you approach distance learning with more purpose and understanding, you may find that some of your previous expectations do not serve your remote learners. Luckily, expectations are easy to change. Start by asking your distance learners and their families about their experiences. As Maya Angelou famously said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

We commend your efforts to set class meeting expectations that help your students grow and learn. We continue to support educators in improving their craft, whether in person or virtually.

Learning Management System (LMS) Integrations

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in EdTech & Digital Literacy.

With the uncertainty of the 2020/2021 school year, we understand that having tools that will make both in-person OR distance learning easier on everyone is paramount.

Castle Learning is pleased to support the following platforms: Google Classroom, Schoology, and Canvas. Each system is designed to benefit the teacher and student. An assignment link can be copied and inserted into the LMS (Learning Management System), providing the teacher a better way to deliver the activity to the student, and monitor the student’s participation. Grading and assessment data can be pushed back to the LMS for reporting, and/or the grade-book. The student benefits from the direct to assignment link, reducing their steps to access an assigned activity. The student will appreciate that all their school-related tasks and information are located in one portal.

Google Classroom, Schoology, and Canvas integrations are an option available to districts or schools with site license access and need to be turned on via the Castle Support Team.  If you have one of these LMS services and would like the integration opened to your school or district, please call 800-345-7606 or email: [email protected].

In cooperation with BOCES, the Castle Training Team is also available for a virtual presentation on how to use the LMS integrations.  Email [email protected] to learn more.

How to Get Started Using Social Media to Strengthen a Learning Community

Written by HES Marketing on . Posted in EdTech & Digital Literacy.

How to Get Started Using Social Media to Strengthen a Learning Community

Social media can quickly transform a collection of students into a dynamic learning community. It provides a digital platform for students and teachers to engage in conversations and build relationships. Social media has several educational benefits, even for classes that meet in person. Using a digital platform becomes essential in situations when students have limited personal interaction, such as distance learning.

Social Media Increases Participation Levels

Students often contribute more to informal channels than they would in a formal academic setting. The asynchronous feature allows participants the ability to engage at their own pace. Deep-thinkers appreciate the ability to mull over concepts and make connections to other disciplines. English language learners and those who process language slowly often find it easier to follow a written conversation than an oral discussion.

Social Media Ignites Interest

Students connect with other learning communities interested in similar topics, regardless of location and time zones. The heterogeneous grouping infuses various perspectives into a conversation. Your students may explore subjects with renewed vigor with the influx of new ideas. Students’ interest also gets fueled by instantaneous peer feedback to their posts.

Social Media Facilitates Integrating Critical Thinking into your Curriculum 

As social media increasingly becomes a way to disseminate information, teachers are focusing more attention on teaching students how to evaluate the credibility of information sources. Teaching digital citizenship includes providing students with guidelines for posting links and explaining how context is vital to understanding content.

Social Media Encourages Students to Challenge the Status Quo

The anonymity of social media helps students question ideas they might be too timid to ask in person. Taking academic risks leads to more profound thinking, and therefore academic growth. However, that feeling of anonymity is a double-edged sword. Without care, conversations on social media often devolve into name-calling and hurt feelings. If you decide to use social media, you must be willing to monitor your students’ communications. Establishing a culture of respect and intellectual honesty is easier to do on platforms that allow administrators to preview comments before students post them.

Choosing the Right Platform is Important

With so many benefits, you may wonder why teachers don’t always incorporate social media into their instruction more often. Teachers share valid concerns about privacy, accessibility, price, and the time they will need to devote to monitoring their students’ activities.

One of the first steps towards making social media work for your class is selecting the appropriate platform for your educational goals. Think beyond popular platforms of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Many families concerned about privacy and a lack of parental controls will likely object to their children having an account on those popular platforms.

Luckily, you have options beyond these common platforms. Many are safer and more educational than the ones listed above. Most are free or low-cost.

This social media list will get you started on platforms that will help you take advantage of the benefits of social media and avoid many of the risks. Common Sense Education evaluated various platforms with the educator in mind.

  1. Twitter aids in quick communication. The iconic hashtag helps people sort by topic. Adding GroupTweet | Group Twitter Accounts Made Easy helps teachers safely manage the conversations.  Target Ages: 13 and up; Cost: Twitter is free. Group Tweet starts at $7.99 per month for the administrator.
  2. Twiducate – Social Networking & Media For Schools: Education 2.0 offers students the opportunity to try micro-blogging similar to Twitter. Target Ages: 6-18; Cost: Free
  3. The Wonderment blends the ideas of content creation and crowdsourcing to help students explore and get involved in projects. Target Ages: 6-18; Cost: Free
  4. DIY.org – Online Courses and Fun Projects for Kids blend the successful approaches of scouting organizations and YouTube. Kids see videos with instructions on how to do projects. They get to share their accomplishments and earn badges.Target Ages: 7-14; Cost: $15-25 per month
  5. Project Noah: Citizen Science Platform for Wildlife helps nature lovers of any age discover, share, and identify wildlife. Target Ages: 7 and up; Cost: Free
  6. Youth Voices encourages teens to express themselves through writing and podcasts. Topics range from personal narratives to academic musings. The site’s organization makes it easy to read and comment on the content of peers. Target Ages: 13-18; Cost: Free
  7. Goodreads | Meet your next favorite book helps teens and adults engage with literature. They can follow friends, participate in literary conversations, and get suggestions for new books that they might like. Target Ages: 13 and up; Cost: Free

If you didn’t find the right solution for your needs, try asking your colleagues for more suggestions. You may find a wealth of information in professional groups from your own social media.

No matter what platform you choose, you will want to get parental consent. Explain to families why you are choosing to incorporate social media as part of your instructional model. You can use many of the benefits outlined in this article. Describe the safety and privacy features of the particular platform and your role in monitoring the conversations. Detail your expectations for responsible digital citizenship and how (or if) you will use social media participation as part of your grading.