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This is definitely a balance that I am still trying to find within my classroom and even one that I think my students are trying to figure out. There are some days where they would rather take control on their own, but other days when they want to be given more structure and told what to do or how to do something. I think this balance is hard to find depending on the particular student because some really struggle with the autonomy provided in online learning and still need those additional structures in place. Is there a formula to follow in terms of finding that balance? Does the balance vary from class-to-class depending on your students or can it be a one-size-fits-all approach? These are things I know I will figure out in time, but it can be frustrating at first.

I agree with the comment above wholeheartedly. I think this is what caused my genius hour plan to not be what I had hoped a couple years ago. I saw weak projects and kids not very motivated. This is what I want to make sure does not happen again. I just wonder will I really be prepared and confident? Will I have learned enough? Hope so!

I use Sybaloo and can definitely see how its use by students as they are creating/ learning in Personalized Learning would be useful.

This is true for a lot of teachers--I think we are often slow to set up our own professional learning tools whether that's joining a professional learning network via an LMS, Twitter, or just tools to help us organize our own resources.

Yes, passive learning doesn't get far in personal learning so we have to find ways to change the narrative and train learners to understand a new set of "success criteria." What used to look like being a good student won't work as well.

I've used symbaloo as a way to organize myself and I've even put together webmixes on a specific professional development topic before. Reading about Symbaloo in this context makes me rethink how this tool might be helpful in personalized learning. Building in interaction is a really interesting idea I had never considered.

What does that look like? Explicit expectations for what learning looks like, encouragement, assistance and tutorials for tools, formative check-ins to see how things are going and offer guidance. There's a lot to think about .

We have 1-on-1 technology in our district, which is ideal for PLEs.  However, when the student forgets the laptop or has no power left in the battery, the smartphone comes in handy.  It is tougher to monitor the smartphone.

Autonomy is a great concern for me.  With collaboration being stressed in CCS, will students be able to conquer this skill without the use of technology?  At some point, some issues have to be discussed face-to-face, and there is a separate skill set for that environment.

I like the idea of Symballoo--kind of like a favorites list and bookmarks in my Google account.  What will take time for me is learning all the lingo attached to Symballoo!

What is aggregator?

I have always been a support of helpful tech resources that students are interested in, which is why I am always trying to learn more about different Apps and tools and explore them myself. Once I play around a bit, I usually introduce it to my students. Sometimes the resources are new, sometimes not, but there are so many wonderful tools out there. I visit Richard Byrne's site once a day! Currently, our language arts department has Chromebook carts for each classroom and the district is allocating more and more to different departments. They are wonderful to have, but students will get bored very quickly if they are only being used for tech sake. I LOVE the idea of having students create a Symbaloo. In fact, my plan is to have them begin one at the start of the school year and then they can add to it as we move through different units. This would have been particularly helpful during our research unit.  I also like the idea of "empower"ing students to use their phones and other mobile devices, but we do have a pretty strict policy on phone usage at our school. Sometimes students' phones work much more efficiently than the Chromebooks. (Alissa Hansen)

I think my students would love deciding which medium to use. I also have a lot of artistic students who would chose to create a paper/pencil project similar in format to a prezi presentation or blog with pictures.

Choice can be such a motivator for students, we all have our strengths and weaknesses! 

This is something I also worry about with the students I teach. While I appreciate their willingness to use technology and the creativity it lends itself to, I worry about their ability to solve problems and communicate effectively face to face. How do you ensure they are learning these essential skills as well when things are so individualized? 

This made me think about how difficult it is to have a PLE in a traditional classroom setting. We have 1:1 technology in our district, but students are extremely limited in what websites and programs they can use (You Tube, all social media, etc is blocked for students.) We also do not allow students to use tablets or smartphones in the classroom, with some teachers wanting to enact a school wide ban on smart phones and tablets so that they are not allowed in school at all. I am so excited to be learning about all of the opportunities PLEs offer students, but I also think there are many changes that will have to be made before we can start moving in this direction.

I also worry about autonomy, as I teach freshmen English and 14 and 15 year olds do not have a "high level of self-management and awareness," at least not many. Like any classroom, however, guidelines need to be firmly in place and I think autonomy would need to be frontloaded before jumping into a PLE. I do think students would do very well in this type of environment. In fact, I often have students telling me about different resources they go to on a daily basis...whether it's to get advice, read a review, write a review, or even write a short story! The possibilities are endless, but I do think structure needs to be in place. At least to begin with. I start the year with my freshmen discussing and reading/watching material regarding civility, we made a code of civility in each class, and then we blog about our practicing of it throughout the year. I would like to implement a PLE in much the same manner. (Alissa Hansen)

I do think that using a Symbaloo is a great idea to manage resources, and it looks like something my students would enjoy working with. However, my school has really moved towards using Google Classroom and teachers having Google sites, which I spend a lot of time and energy on with both. I think too many tech items can be a cognitive overload for students and teachers alike. I think if I am to use something like Symbaloo, I would need to eliminate at least Classroom or Sites and maybe even some of the other many sites that I have students use (Newsela, NoRedInk, Kahoot, etc.). It's just hard for me, especially with the site that I have created because I have spent so much time on it over the past three years. I just don't think students would benefit from having to click around to a lot of different resources, especially if they are teacher-created. (Alissa Hansen)

I like the idea of a daily log in for updates.  I think this would work in the Green Belt classroom for relaying information as students don't attend the same schedule each day.

Great quote on the benefits of PLE, but getting students who are not "ready" or mature enough to handle this type of self-direction will struggle. A challenge for teachers indeed! I think the classroom (physical environment) setup is the first thing that needs to be changed in order to prepare students for this type of autonomy. What do the rest of you think? (Alissa Hansen)

I guess I should also state that I do not think students are getting enough opportunities to be autonomous, which is why they struggle and fear it when they are given the opportunity. (Alissa Hansen)

I am really looking forward to starting this with students. It's like a one-stop shop for their individual needs. One of the biggest setbacks I have faced in recent years was trying out a multitude of tech resources and although some were helpful, clicking around all over the place was overwhelming! (Alissa Hansen)

I was devistated when google removed igoogle, and I think this could definitely take its place. I agree that students will appreciate the convenience of this site.

Alissa, I get overwhelmed with the amount of resources and tools available. I often don't know where to start, so I opt not to. Thankfully, I'm taking this class and I have the opportunity to investigate and use some PLE tools like Diigo and Symbaloo, things I've never heard of until now!

I think this would be very powerful and I would love to create something like this, personally. I think my accellerated students would thrive, but worry that my lower level students would struggle due to a lack of confidence in themselves and lack of self-awareness. I wonder if there are certain organizational PLE templates that would work better for certain learning styles? Or perhaps a template would defeat the pourpose.....

I love the idea of supporting students individually, I just struggle to envision being able to support all my students adequately within my classroom. I feel like it would be easy to digress with a student over their PLE, but feel it could be difficult to find the time.

I sooo agree!!!! I would love to watch how an expert teacher teaches in a PLE classroom! I love the concept and the idea I am just struggling to make it work in the classroom.

I like this concept, I think it is easier to do in a classroom that is content specific.  I can see where it would be more difficult if a teacher was responsible for teaching multiple content areas.  At the same time, that teacher doesn't have to be the the information source for all the students, time is just the factor.  

That's interesting.  I think PLEs would be easier to manage in multiple content areas because they would have to be working on their own thing.  The environment is really suited for it.

Subscribing to news feeds and blogs would be a great technique to compare and contrast views related to the students' topics of interest. This could be difficult for the teacher to monitor, digo might be a great way to track this!

This is what I am trying to develop in my preschool class room where the students are in charge of their own learning, and I am more of a resource. What I struggle with is classroom management, I feel like all of the students are demanding my attention and I can't help everyone. 

Sometimes it is hard to fathom the classroom management of a PLE of 12-22 students, which is what I currently have, let alone 30+ like many districts have.  

Having your students be more independent is wonderful.  This past year I did less large group instruction and more small groups.  I taught my kindergarten students "Ask 3 before me".  They had to ask 3 people for help or what we were doing before coming to me.  When they came to me, especially when i was working with my small group, I asked them "did you ask 3 before me?".  If they didn't, they would just turn around and go find something.  This is a start for having your students become more independent.  BY creating a PLE for young students, they feel more in control of their learning too.  If you, the teacher, set it up and give them access to a variety of things to do, they will enjoy what they are doing and feel they are making "their own choices".  

I don't want to sound negative in my post here because I really am all for personalized learning. I wonder how we can get administration on board with us. I struggle with old school administration who tell me as a teacher that I can not use my phone during the day, that I can not use facebook, and about passed out when they realized that parents text me, questions and changes in their child's schedule. I did have a secret facebook page and it was wonderful I would use it to include parents with our studies. 

Good point. I agree with your post. It is hard to get some administrators going along with this new idea of personalized learning. Even at my other school I taught at Facebook and some other social networking sites were blocked. I like the idea of having a Facebook page with parents and students to keep parents informed with stuff going on at school, and also a way for students to post and communicate with parents and classmates. I think these social websites are necessary in schools, but the big question is how do we get teachers and administration to go for it? 

Our District has blocked a lot of the social sites as well, it comes from the upper levels of administration and not our building admin.  I think they tend to be out of touch with the possibilities and fear the unknown.   It would be great to use Facebook for connecting with parents and students.  The alternative given to us is Canvas in which parents have access to teachers.  But it isn't as easy or convenient as Facebook.  That is certainly one site I wish we could use at work.   I do like the idea of personalized learning environments, especially the concept of students seeking knowledge that is useful for them!  This appears to be the best way to create life-long learners!

Facebook is blocked at my school as well, which is a shame since it'd be a way to create an immersion like setting in my Spanish classroom.  If I see something cool on the site that related to class, such as photos from a friend's time in Panama with the Peace Corps, I turn the wifi off on my phone so that Facebook will work, and just walk around the class showing kids, which is risky, I know.  I'm sure there is a cord that I could connect from my phone to SmartBoard to make this more feasible.  I should probably get a separate teacher facebook page for things like this.  Some of the articles that pop up in my feed from magazines like Women's Health are not school appropriate!  

by teaching students how to be self learners and how to be active in the learning process I think that as kids and adults these students will want to be life long learners and not someone who only does it because they have to. Or worse yet lets everyone else do it for them. I love the independence PLE classrooms create

I see so many students who do not understand how to play an active role in their learning because they have been conditioned to rely on the teacher. Many students get very anxious and really don't know what to do when they are asked to complete self-directed activities. I think PLE will provide students with the opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning, which will help them throughout their lives.

This is very important! I see the (LMS) approach in our school and in many other schools. I feel like it wouldn't be hard to confuse (LMS and PLE) these different approaches, because they seem so different. The chart gave a good outline of how different they are compared to each other. 

The chart is helpful in understanding the differences.  The LMS could also be a tool in a student's PLE.  

Agreed, charts and lists make learning so much easier than paragraphs, at least for me. 

I like the idea of getting student feedback on technology and the use of different resources. You can really learn student interest and their honest opinions through surveys or different forms of feedback. 

These look like awesome reasons why Symbaloo is a great learning tool for students. I can definitely see this resource being used in grades k-12. Although, for example, I teach 1st grade and I can see my students loving this, but they will need lots of guidance and modeling of how to set it up and use it to help them become independent with it. I can see once it's set up it would be awesome for students to have all of their favorite resources and sites all in one place! 

I like the idea of having research available at one spot.  So many times when I ask a student where he/she found the information, it cannot be located.  I want to see projects with more detail.  

I have a concern about distractions.  Students tend to use their phones and computers more for entertainment and chatting with friends over research and presentation.  

Agreed, a high school I taught at did not have locks on lockers, meaning kids brought their phones to class so that they wouldn't be stolen. Preventing snapchatting was difficult for me!  

I have experienced the same issues with my high schools students.  I may take a different approach based on one of the side articles that stated, "students are still learning while they are wasting time because they will see consequences are for late work."

I would like to have some strategies to help students having an understanding of the shift in learning for them to become more involved in their learning.  How do I motivate them to go beyond bookwork to exploring topics?

When you find the answer, please fill me in too!

I feel this is a big struggle right now in our district.  Teachers are wanting their students to dig deep into a topic or their work.  Students are given choices but still only surface the top of the water, doing the bare minimum, when we want them to dive in and go to the bottom.  In my classroom, my students have a writing journal.  We write in this "special" journal once a week.  At the beginning of the year, I give them ideas to write about.  Some write while others will simply draw a picture because they don't know how to write.  By the middle of the year, every is writing something, whether it is a complete sentences or a few words.  I will give them a few choices to choose from or they can write about something they want to.  BY the end of the year, they know to take out their journals and write about anything they want.  I want my students to take control of their own learning and reflect back on their work over the year so by having this year long journal, they can see their progression and how they took control over their writing.  

With my limited experience with Symbaloo, I agree with the fact that it does seem easy add and customize content.  I think my students would find this to be a helpful tool.  I also like the idea of encouraging students to use it for tracking both personal and school related information.  

This is a good reminder.  Students need to take on a more active role, but there is always a good balance.  It probably shouldn't be all one way or all another way.  

How true!  It will be difficult for some students to lead their own learning.  They have been passive for so long it will be a shock to their systems.

So like the apps that come with an iphone. 

Just set up my account and can't wait to see what else I can add.  This is a great time saver.

I really like the idea of showing students how to use this technology and their learning for both "professional and personal use." I think when you tell students that it is "ok" for them to use technology this way, they learn more because they aren't compartmentalizing their usage of this technology as only for school, which means that they are more likely to use the program and play around with it, which will increase their learning opportunities.

I think it is a great idea to have a place for students to "store" the information they need to research and interact with their content. My students have used symbaloo in computer class and it has taken away a lot of the management concerns. Students know where to go to find the tools they need to keep progressing with their learning!

What a great idea!  When that notebook with all the notes is missing, it could be stored and used during class instead of searching or pretending to search.  Maybe we could teach them responsibility again!

This is exactly what we want - students to have a high degree of control over their work! By allowing them to customize the learning experience and connect with others, including experts, students are getting real-life experience that will help them solve the problems they face in their everyday lives. A PLE can help students organize this self-directed learning. Students will likely know what they want to learn but organizing that learning is often what students need support in. PLEs are helpful in providing students with tools they need to gather information, conduct research, and present their findings!

In my opinion, this is exactly what we want students to be able to do! By supporting students in their academic endeavors, students learn to view teachers as guides or facilitators rather than "the one who knows all." In thinking about what we want students to be able to do when they leave school, we want students to be able to do seek out their own research, contacts, and resources to solve everyday problems. If students are never presented with opportunities to direct and manage their own learning, they will not be as successful!

You are right!  If students do not get to practice this skills by doing then they will struggle when they enter the workforce. 

This sounds absolutely ideal. The challenge we as educators face with students using their own technology during instruction and competing for their attention has steadily increased over recent years. How cool would it be if it were used to enhance their learning rather than get in the way of it!

I do have some concerns that a lot of the PLE is based on on-line learning. Students use technology constantly, but I have also seen them get frustrated with technology and on-line learning when it seems hard to navigate or they are not receiving adequate feedback.

As someone completely new to this type of program, I really like the looks of it.  It appears friendly and seems to lend itself to some really great things.

This is really handy for parents as well.  I send them the link and they can access my web mix at home.  When I make an update, I alert parents via my shutterfly site.  Parents can go to my web mix and have their child show them games we are playing that reinforces our learning goals.  It is also nice because parents don't have to download anything or search for hours on something educational for their child to do because it is already done for them.

This is so great because I can share this with parents and their child can access my game page at home.  If parents allow screen time at home, I feel that by providing this web mix to them to access will only benefit their child and help them learn and reinforce our learning in the classroom.  

This is the comment many teachers were hoping to read.  I understand the hesitation to give students control of the learning environment, but is it working by controlling them?

PLE research shows there are less behavior issues because kids get to learn based on their interests promoting intrinsic motivation to learn.  I think it would be great to teach in a PLE.  

These seem like the types of things I was going to have them do with this. Maybe not, but at the very least these are things to look into as I explore this resources.

That's a great definition, so I marked it. It sort of encompasses what it is and why it's important, in addition to providing some ideas.

Love this definition!

saving this definition to share with my students this fall....

I think something like this is helpful to get everyone on the same page.

This is a great definition, as others have posted... but I just continue to see pros and cons to all this self-directed online learning for so many of our kids. Good for many... not the best fit for many others.

Nice! As an instructional coach, I've constantly been saying "the person talking is the person learning" (for two years!) in order to have the teachers understand that if they talk for the entire period (i.e. are the holder of all knowledge, content, and skills), all the students are getting is short term learning and dependence on the teacher. I feel like this is the same idea.

Indeed, working with students to become not only savvy consumers of media and information ("fake news?"), but working with students to sharpen the skill of organization of said information is key to their navigating an increasingly complex information-world.

I agree - however I don't know how many of my colleagues do. This all goes back to being student centered and student driven.

Now that's a good idea!

I love this and want to strive for this but this also terrifies me. I'm in the "awareness" stage of learning about PL. My concerns are, How will I truly balance this? Is it the right balance?

I'm also concerned about balance for each individual student. Some students will naturally blossom with independent learning, but others will need more consistent help until they have the skills or confidence to do more independent work (hopefully only at first, I anticipate some will need continuous support)

I love opening a highlighted section to make a comment...and there's more than just ME thinking about the "perfect balance." It means I'm not alone in being anxious about it. Part of me believes that, like SBG and common core, students will adapt and this will become second nature to them if we present it in a positive manner like we do know what's best for them- because we do. :)

I like that the instructor can still play a role in students' Symbaloo. The examples given are a great way to engage students.

There is great information describing the differences between LMS and PLE but what is a specifc example of a LMS? Would this be like our school library reference page that has specific links that students use for the states projects year after year?

Where is this balance? Is there is a suggested ratio of teacher input/lesson to student directed learning? Does it depend on the age of the student?

These are great questions. I have found myself wondering the same thing. For me, allowing my students to be their own learners and not depend on me is a hard concept for me to grasp. I am a kindergarten teacher. It make me question at what age is this all appropriate and how can I set up my students to be able to be successful learners on their own. Many of my students are not responsible enough to handle facilitating their own learning. Does anyone have ideas on how I can prepare them for this?

I agree. I keep reading that there's a balance or strategies, but I'm unsure of what those are.

I also wonder: does it have to be an equal balance? What I mean is does the process start with a more teacher-heavy interaction, where the teacher frontloads, teaches strategies, and models; once students have that background knowledge, does the balance shift to student-centered? The balance may not always be equal, but on the whole both groups play an equal part -- just something I"m curious about as I think about how I might create this type of learning in my own class.

Agreed. The balance between human contact and online learning. Life skills learned through working and playing with each other cannot take a backseat to online skill progress.

I agree with the balance. From experience with our students and using online programs. Communication and soft skills are some of those skills that can't be learned online.

Wow! I didn't know you could search for webmixes and then add them to your dashboard. I wonder if other teachers have created webmixes for their students to reference. A teacher could make a webmix to share with students on their personal dashboards to get them started. What a great example of the collaboration of online tools.

It would be nice if there are already created webmixes out there to help get a start in learning how to utilize Symbaloo.

Wow! There are a lot of components to the Networked Student in the image below. My concern is ensuring students have the foundation for these components before they start PL. Practicing digital responsibility is an important piece. When we provide students with technology, we are giving them access to a lot of information and responsibilty. This can be positive or negative.

Ah ha! I was just wondering whether NTN's "Echo" system would be my students' PLE...nope. I'm curious to keep reading to see how Echo can blend with a PLE for my PBL students next year...

Also...I'm saving these images throughout the class to my Pinterest Board for further reference!

Could a Google Classroom or Google Hangout that students create be considered a PLE?

I also wondered this as I was reading the article. I use Google classroom but more as an information board for student organization.

In this way, PLEs seem to mirror one defining component of PL: learned controlled. But, I would assume the "facilitator" (teacher) would also have access....

I think as we learn about how to be the facilitators in courses like this, we also need to think about how we will train our students to be this type of learner.

Okay - I've never heard of Netvibes...I'll check it out as a possibility for my pbl students this fall.

catchy name: the aggregator!

And here is the "fit" for New Tech...we will definitely be offering Symbaloo as a PLE option for our PBL students!

The only problem is when a student doesn't want to use the tech - rare, but it happens.

Do you have this happen in your classroom? How do you handle this situation if so?

I think this is difficult because it shifts not only the center, but the ownership and control. The fear is what might happen if the teacher gives up control or the teacher giving up their pet project or unit that they enjoy. It is hard not to be selfish sometimes when you invest so much of yourself into something.

I truly wonder what this might look like for teachers. Would there be way more preparation or maybe less preparation is needed? The thought makes me nervous!

I agree! I feel that as students take charge of their own learning, it will mean less work for us as teachers. I am also curious of what this looks like. As a kindergarten teacher, I feel that there will need to front load what personalized learning looks like. I will still need to make sure my students are being responsible learners.

In DMPS we are moving to schools for rigor which is all about creating student centered classrooms so I wonder if this will be something that DMPS looks into as well.

I feel like it would create MORE work, but in a different way. You have to always be aware of what all of your kids are working on and touch base and provide supports as needed. Less in control of their learning, means you're less in control of what you'll be expected to do each day.

I see myself having a menu for students to put in their own webmix and then having additions as we go along.

What types of sources would you require students to put in their menu?

These are really helpful

I like the line 'productive applications' - I think this connects back to training our students to be successful in the PLE

I plan to use Google Sites for the portfolio in my course, but I see Symbaloo as their dashboard/launchpad. We will use Moodle, an online textbook, and myriad online resources.

When students create an eportfolio is this something that can be shared with parents as well? Does it follow them all through school?

This is a huge benefit considering one of our biggest goals of teaching is to make students lifelong learners. However, what happens when students don't have access to resources outside of school?

This is a really great idea so that the learning does not stop just because the school day does.

Of course, it also makes the gap bigger between children who have support and resources at home, and those students who do not.

What are these strategies? As a 4th grade teacher, I have a handful of students who struggle to work independently and trust themselves while taking control of their learning.

I also would like to see some strategies to help with these students.

I agree some strategies would be helpful. I can anticipate that many students will need some frontloading or strategies in order to be successful with their first PLE.

Agreed! I would love some ideas as well.

As an elementary teacher, I think Symbaloo allows for more management. When meeting with students regarding their PL, we can find/add websites to Symbaloo together especially if they can't edit the "webmix" in their own accounts.

LOVE this idea for collaboration and opportunity to teach each other!

I hope I get a better idea of what a "webmix" is as I start the tour of Symbaloo; can't find a definition so I'm guessing it is a term used with this database.

This would be good for class sharing that you don't necessarily want others to have access to.

Great to know!

Collaboration is key for students to get the experience of working with others especially if it is a situation that they are not in a regular education classroom environment.

This is important. I can see myself creating a screencastomatic video as an intro to each of my classes in order to meet this criteria.

Moodle_iowa This is a good one. I have always known the "course syllabus" in my head, but especially next year, it would be super helpful to give a course syllabus to families. In the case that we do have to move online for a period of time, families could see where we are going like a roadmap to help their children achieve success.

moodle_iowa I agree, Jill! It gives families a roadmap, and if we have to suddenly switch modes, it is already in place. It will take some time, but the preloading should help in the long run.

This is something that I need to do a better job with in all my classes. This summer I have been working on updating and improving my class syllabus to be a much better overview of the class and showing what is expected of them throughout the course.

I need to be better about posting and discussing learning outcomes before every lesson I teach.

Identifying the objectives can be easy for a teacher to do but the communication piece is more difficult. Students need to see what does that objective mean and what should it look like.

This is where teaching online can sometimes be beneficial as long as you provide various ways to learn--videos, text, using text speak, etc.

Agreed! This is super important to meet the needs of all of our students!

moodle_iowa Yes! I think it calls for collaboration with specialist teachers to be sure we are providing the accommodations needed.

Visual graphics and videos for visual and auditory learners. Checking in with and offering office hours and extra support for students who may need this. Accommodations for students with disabilities or other needs.

I think this is very important in the classroom and online. When students collaborate they can share knowledge and learn from one another.

Allowing students to do their own PowerPoint presentations of lesson material. Always letting students ask questions which are answered during Zoom meetings.

I feel this is the part that can be missing in online learning. How do you get collaboration and provide a safe environment. As the instructor, do you need to be involved in every interaction between students? Yes when you are dealing with younger students. I am still looking for tools that allow collaboration with adult supervision.

In order to make an attempt to combat "cheating" in an online course, developing authentic assessments is crucial.

Just as in a F2F classroom, a variety of assessments should drive instruction. Assessment is important for both teacher and students.

The OLLIE courses are perfect for this!!!

Exactly what I was thinking!

I feel that all four of these sub-standards are critical to the professional growth of any teacher who is teaching an online course. Teachers need to stay current with technology, network with peers, and apply learned knowledge and skills to improve best practices.

This is essential!!!! I wanted my students to still know and feel like I was their teacher and I think it is important for any teacher to do this. Students still need to know we care and want to help them become better learners. I believe keeping in touch with my students daily/weekly was vital in their success this spring.

In our Zoom classrooms I always try to greet each student as they enter, to check in how they are doing and whether or not I can hear them and they can hear me.

Students need interact with their peers as well as their teachers. Teachers should provide opportunities for students to interact, as is appropriate. Weekly class meetings give the students a chance to see each other and to catch up.. This was very important--especially to our littlest learners during the spring 2020 shut down.