Howdy everyone!
I’m back to school now, and 3 weeks in! It’s been an amazing 3 weeks full of hypercharged learning as I’ve adapted to teaching virtually. We currently are teaching over Google Meet in 100% distanced learning-so all students are at home on chromebooks.
To my pleasant surprise, I think I’ve been able to adapt instruction really successfully, mainly due to the powerful engagement platform, Desmos. By finageling Desmos (traditionally used for math class), I can ask my students questions live, see their answers being typed live (LITERALLY LETTER BY LETTER), check for comprehension, check for engagement, and invite student voice and choice. It’s been a wonderful learning experience.
I hope the following videos are useful to you:
Part 1: Setting up my virtual teaching station—the physical space
Part 2: How I engage with students and deliver instruction over the computer
Part 3 (in development): a sample class to see what it all looks like with actual students.
Happy teaching!
ComprehensibleRVA 
This is such an excellent tutorial! I’d love to know how you handle absent students who miss the live class with Desmos. Thanks again!
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That’s the best part about the setup. I record each class on google meet and the desmos link stays live for forever. So absent students open the desmos and follow along with the video at their convenience. I don’t make that google doc of daily questions available, so they have to watch the video to see the question via the screen share and to understand the context of the question. It’s the best absentee work I’ve ever been able to give!!!
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What is the name of the activity you are using to ask the simple daily questions?
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It’s a combination of 3 programs. I write the questions on a document. I use google docs but word would work fine. Next, the students see the question via screensharing on google meet. Finally, students respond on desmos. The videos explain in more detail.
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I can’t thank you enough for this. It’s making me hopeful for next semester, whereas, at the moment, I’m feeling pretty down about how this semester went.
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A nice little Christmas break will hopefully help as well! I wish you energy, optimism, and vigor in the New Year!
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I just started using des is, but I love your idea to keep it open the whole class and adding the class writing.
Do you record all your classes every day?
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Yes, each class is recorded by mandate of our county. We post it on Canvas, our online learning platform, so absent students have access, and for anybody who might want to review.
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