6 Ideas to Stay Comprehensible While Teaching Hybrid or Remote even if you’re not a tech person.

Staying comprehensible in our WL classes during remote teaching is not easy but we can do it. These are some ideas to keep our classes comprehensible!

In my last post, I shared the importance of staying comprehensible in our WL classes regardless of our teaching situations. One of the most powerful strategies that I shared, was to teach to the eyes. We can do teach to the eyes when we’re F2F, but how can we stay comprehensible during hybrid or remote ?

In my district, students are not required to have their videos on so I cannot see their eyes, and even if students have their videos on, it’s just hard to have that eye to eye connection. So, what can we do?

I. Let’s star by addressing our students as if we were looking at them.

It feels weird at the beginning, but it has worked for me. I talk to them, ask them questions, and then I respond for them like if I was them. I can say in Spanish:

Justin likes school.

Interesting …

I think [my student’s name] likes school too. I think all my class like school. I know they like school.

Sometimes there is a silence but most of the time some of my students respond, “No, I don’t like school. We don’t like school”. At that point, I just created that eye to eye contact. I continue talking with them and making them part of my conversation. At the beginning of the year, there was a lot of silence, but little but little, some of my classes have become much more vocal. We still have some moments of silence at times, and that’s okay.

I also ask my students tons of questions to check for understanding. They can answer by using their mic, or writing in the chat, or using the reactions features. If nobody answers, I pretend that they answer. I know a lot of them are listening and if I keep my language super simple and comprehensible they will keep listening. I need to focus on the important thing: stay comprehensible.

In a hybrid class, I also like to ask the opinion of my students that are F2f about the students who are virtual and vice versa. I can ask “Do you think Melanie likes her English class?” It seems a small detail but it’s very powerful to connect both group of students.

II. Create Academic Investment with Exit tickets.

When students are at distance, they will have a lot of distractions. It’s part of being at home. But we know, we need their full attention. I remind them every day at the beginning of the class, but a lot of them still think they can multitask.

So, I have been using exit tickets. Since my input changes from class to class, my exit tickets cannot be planed in advance. I have been using the idea shared by Sra. Chase in her blog about fast quizzes. It’s easy, and effective.

These exit tickets have created an academic investment for my students. If they give me their full attention, they will receive an A. It also lets me know if I’m doing a good job or not. These exit tickets have little weight in their grade but students love to see As. By now, they know that if they pay attention, it is more than likely that they get an A.

For my hybrid classes, they usually can complete their exit tickets using their phones. But, if a student can’t, I let him answer on a piece of paper.

III. Tools To Check for Comprehension During Instruction:

If you are a tech person, there are some tools that help me check if my students are with me while I’m providing my input. I like to use whiteboard.if, Peardeck or Nearpod, formative, or a shared document (google slides or powerpoint) where they can take notes while I provide my oral input. The benefit of these tools is that I see their comprehension and engagement while I’m providing the input. But, they require some prep and energy, and some days I don’t have it.

So as long as I can keep it super simple and comprehensible, I’m doing my job. It’s okay.

If you need more information about formative or Nearpod, there are different PD sessions in my FB Group Growing With CI.

IV. VIRTUAL BACKGROUNDS:

They work great if you are using Zoom for your live sessions or if you can use Zoom to record videos. You can create virtual backgrounds pretty easy using Power Point or Google Slides. You add the images or words to your slide, and then export the slides as JPEG files. Then, you can upload those images to Zoom and you have your virtual backgrounds. If you need more help with virtual backgrounds or Zoom in general, you can check Justin Scolum Bailey course Low-Tech Zoom Success for Teachers. It’s super useful. If you need backgrounds for Spanish, I have made some with the most frequent verbs, question words, and daily routines like check ins and calendar talk. Click here to get that in your inbox.

V. WHITEBOARDS:

One of my most effective ways to provide input and stay comprehensible is to illustrate and write on my whiteboard. It slows me down and gives me a lot of focus. My students really enjoy to see a story developing while observing the illustrations.

If you are remote, you still can use your whiteboard or a small white board to draw or write. You don’t need any tech tool.

However, there are online whiteboards that you can use for your live sessions or to record videos. Zoom and Teams have their own whiteboards. You can use those fairly easy if you have a touch screen computer. It’s a little bit more difficult with a mouse but it’s doable. Google has the Jamboard tool too. I haven’t used it, but I’ve heard great comments.

VI. FLIPGRID VIDEOS:

If you need to record videos, you should check Flipgrid. The new filters of FlipGrid allows you to add text and images to your videos so you can stay comprehensible. It’s super easy and fun to use. This is my first video of the year. My Spanish 1 students watched it the second day of class and they understood everything!!!

At the end, with tech or no tech, remote or F2F, we need to keep the important thing, the important thing. We need to stay comprehensible. Our new realities and constant changes are super challenging and very overwhelming. If we want to change every piece at once, we will probably burnout soon. We are the pilots of our classes. We need to be okay, so my invitation is to focus on what matter’s the most and let everything else go a little bit. Do what works for you. Keep it simple, short, and enjoy the moments of silence. It’s okay.

Let me know what’s working for you! Stay connected. If you’re not a member of my FB Community Growing With CI, join us today. We have tons of free PD sessions about a lot of the things I mentioned in this post and I regularly show up there to share best practices and strategies. We’re in this together.