Category: Blog

As the weather warms, you may find yourself looking for new ways to keep your students engaged. Or perhaps you are at the secondary level and want to include more SEL check-ins as students navigate the upcoming schedule changes. Educator Esther Park has a large number of free templates for you to use. She has experience as a high school ELL teacher so she has several templates for vocabulary acquisition which is great for any content area. She has templates (Jamboard and Slides) for daily check-ins, story elements, brain breaks, and group discussion frames. Be sure to check out her website as you look for new ways to engage your students. https://mrspark.org/free AND https://www.mrspark.org/tech-tips

Speaking of Jamboard, be on the look out for a new update that will have Version History which should be arriving any day now.

 

What are discussion boards?

Did you know Canvas has discussion boards? They are a powerful learning tool when we are remote or in-person. Using this medium encourages all students to participate, not just a few vocal students. Additionally, by writing comments as a “rehearsal” for a live discussion you may get more thoughtful contributions. Here are a few main points to note:

• Discussions can be graded or ungraded
• Discussions can be focused (only respond to the teacher’s question) or threaded (see and respond to each other)
• You can allow students to like posts
• You can create group discussions so students are not as overwhelmed with the amount of posts to read
• You can pin a discussion (such as Common Questions and Answers) to the top of the discussion page
• In discussions, students have access to the Rich Content Editor so they can include, links, images, or even record audio/video in Studio
• For a more formal discussion posts you can require peer review and Canvas can automatically pair students or pair them manually

How can discussion boards be used?

• Post questions before a test
• For an enter/exit ticket
• Use for book club discussion (set up group discussions)
• Use as a gallery walk for viewing work from other students

Tips for Success

When you begin using discussion boards, you might find that students need help cultivating quality responses. Setting expectations from the beginning help reduce frustration.

• Teach quality commenting skills using the CAPS acronym
• Craft effective prompts, use discussion groups/roles, and provide a rubric
• Give the students options for their post: type out the answer, record video or audio with studio, or post a picture of a visual representation of their thinking

Canvas has annual updates which include items such as new features, “bug” fixes, and enhancements to make the Canvas experience more efficient. On March 20th, Canvas will be releasing a fairly significant update that will benefit all users. Below is a list of notable features:

• Students will now be able to submit and upload files via their webcam. Click for more info
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• In Speedgrader, teachers can reassign an assignment to an individual student and ask them to redo their submission. Click for more info
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Files linked in the RCE(Rich Content Editor) can be previewed in an overlay or inline. Click for more info
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

• New Quizzes can be created when adding a quiz to a module. Click for more info
  

March is Women’s History Month. Here is a choice board that can be used by students to help students explore influential women and create something using their new knowledge. You can explore it yourself to find things that relate more specifically to your content. These are geared toward upper grade levels.

To find more lesson plans based for all grade levels try these resource collections:

• Scholastic’s Women’s History Month
• Lesson plans from the Anti-Defamation League

March is Reading Month. To celebrate, use this “activity board” for students to explore books and create their own literary works. Be sure to preview the links yourself and File/Make a Copy if you want to make modifications. You’ll need to review the “Create a Reading Fort” link to insert your own place where students can share what they create, perhaps they could post a picture to the Canvas discussion board. You can also share this particular resource with the short link: bit.ly/readacross21 Happy Reading Month!