Virtual Classroom Tour: 3rd Grade with Ms. Wilson
As she closes out the school year, LeYuani Wilson reflects that being flexible and creative contributed to her students’ success in remote learning during school closures related to Covid-19. Ms. Wilson, a 3rd grade teacher in Henrico County, Virginia, invited Lauren Vargas, EdConnective’s Director of Instructional Coaching into her virtual classroom for a brief tour and some quick tips for educators to keep in mind while teaching remotely.
One of our EdConnective coaches, Nicole Thomas-Jackson, has a son in Ms. Wilson’s class and connected us because of his positive experience. Nicole also joins the conversation to offer a parent (and coach) perspective on Ms. Wilson’s approach.
Nicole points out that one of the small but effective moves that Ms. Wilson utilized was her attention to detail in her virtual classroom, especially in the visual effects. She attempted to replicate some of the familiar elements of their school classroom - a blue reading chair with a string of lights and the classroom shields above the board. On this page, she included the necessary links and information for the week, linking both the text and images to important resources. Each week, Nicole says her son would eagerly look for the changes that Ms. Wilson made to the classroom, and that made the starting point fun. Here’s an example of her virtual classroom:
Ms. Wilson made extensive use of project-based learning while facilitating remote learning. For each project, she created a projects guidelines sheet with details, the due date and related materials. Then students submitted their project (in a range of formats: photos with corresponding writing, videos, PowerPoint slides, etc.) on a shared Padlet so all students could see each other’s work. Here’s an example of one of her projects from this spring: Griot Storytelling Project. Other projects included the Floating Bubble project, Earth Day project, Save Our Home project, and the Global Citizen project.
In order to continue to promote the love of reading, Ms. Wilson made use of doing a read aloud of the book The Wild Robot on Loom, which students could easily access by clicking on the book on the classroom page. Check out her Loom videos here. This is powerful because not only do students get the literacy benefit of a great read aloud, but they also have the personal connection of hearing their actual teacher doing the reading.
In addition to her virtual classroom page, Ms. Wilson held live classes on Zoom twice per week for an hour to an hour and a half per session. While discussing new content was a key element of this class, she made time for relationships building, SEL and student sharing at the beginning of each lesson. Here’s a typical class agenda:
First 15 min – Greetings/catch up, class meeting, SEL, special guest or game
15-20 min – “Share Out” padlet where students share completed projects with the class
30-45 min – Direct Instruction includes online game or activity
10-15 min – Reminders and follow-up activities
Nicole notes that she saw how helpful it was for her son and his classmates that Ms. Wilson clearly established and practiced the expectations for learning in a remote space, especially in live class sessions. Ms. Wilson explained that she was establishing new routines and norms, just like at the beginning of the school year, only now in her virtual classroom. She sent these expectations to students and families, and then walked through each step in her live class:
Welcome to our Digital Classroom
Zoom Rules
I will mute all and then unmute you, when it is time for you to speak. If you mute you
rself, remember to unmute your mic when you are asked to speak.
Find a comfortable and quiet spot to learn. It is best to keep your device on a steady surface. I suggest a table.
Make sure your device is plugged in or charged.
Gather any supplies or printed work, so you are ready to go.
Even though we are not in our classroom, all of our classroom rules still apply.
Remember to sit tall, turn your video on so that you can actively participate, and stay in one location.
Do not hold up things that you want your friends to see when it is not your turn to share. This is very distracting, especially if it does not pertain to what we are talking about.
Listen carefully to me, and if you have a question, when I open up for questions, raise your hand.
If I call on you to share and I unmute your microphone, make sure that you unmute your microphone too, if necessary, and speak clearly so we can all hear you.
Get ready to learn and be patient with me because this is a learning experience for everyone. We will all try our best!
*Parents, remember that this is our digital classroom. Please do not log into our meeting. Other students are present, and this should be viewed as our classroom. Your child has got this! He/she has been present in our real classroom on his/her own, and has flourished! I thank you for being nearby, present and available while your child is meeting, should he/she need help with the technology piece. I need help with that too! Thank you for always supporting me, your child and our class efforts.
In order to engage students and families on days when live sessions were not held, Ms. Wilson created a lively class Instagram account.
As you are planning what you potentially remote or hybrid classroom looks like for 2020-2021, you’ll find some great tips and tricks from Ms. Wilson!