Retrieval Practice is a powerful strategy that improves learning by pulling information out of students' heads.  Allowing students to quickly connect learning in both a flexible  and low stakes way has been shown to have a huge impact on long-term achievement. Learning is not about what you put into the brain but what you can retrieve and take out. Integrating retrieval practice into instruction offers student's the opportunity to transfer knowledge and apply it to what they already know.  

Two quick strategies to integrate Retrieval Practice into your virtual, hybrid or in person teaching environment are Brain Dumps and Two Things. 

1.  Brain Dumps
At any point during a learning session, pause and ask students to write down everything they can remember about the topic you are learning about.  Students are given a short period of time to write and just "dump" their thoughts.   Click here to make a copy of my Brain Dump Form.  It has a timer built into it, so the students can begin the activity on their own. 

2.  Two Things
At any point in a learning session, ask students to write down two things in response to a specific prompt. Possible prompts include: What are two things you have learned so far today? What are two things you learned yesterday (or last week) that connect to today's learning? What are two takeaways from this unit thus far? What are two things that you might want to explore further? What are two things from your own life that relate to today's lesson?  Click here to make a copy of my 2 Things form. You can edit your copy or use it as is.

Consider integrating either of these strategies while also using  "Think, Pair, Share", having the Brain Dump or 2 Things strategy be the "Think" stage in the process. ​

An example of the Retrieval Practice Challenge Grid being used in math is shown by @MsJonesEdu.

Templates to create your own Retrieval Challenge Grid were made available by Mark Anderson and can be accessed here. 

Leveraging the research of cognitive scientists like @PoojaAgarwal will boost the learning in any classroom.  (Additional strategies can be found in Retrievalpractice.org guide "How to Use Retrieval Practices to Improve Learning") I have not read her book yet, Powerful Teaching, but it's on my list for winter break. 

If you have additional strategies that you have found to be effective, please share them below. 

My Bullet Journal

Evolved - that's what I have to say about my Bullet Journal. In the beginning, they were called my "notebooks". I am on version 7 of what I now call my Bullet Journal.  Each year I have tweaked how I set my journal up and utilize it. I look back at each year's book and cherish the memories, documentation and learning that I see as I read through the pages.  Ryder Carol is the original creator of the Bullet Journal Method and his book is a solid resource.   

Five reasons why you should consider creating and using a Bullet Journal are:

1. They are customizable to meet your needs and budget
2. They are easy to Set-Up
3. They are visual 
4. They are comprehensive, in that everything is in one place
5. They are helpful in tracking short and long term goals

I have a favorite when it comes to my physical Bullet Journal.  I crack open a new Leuchtturhm 1917 every July.  ( I start mine each year in July as I plan for the upcoming school year.)  I love the feel and the weight of the Leuchtturm paper.  At the beginning of each journal their is a blank table of contents. Utilizing the table of contents allows me to quickly reference notes. The Leuchtturhm 1917 also has  pre-printed page numbers that can be referenced in the table of contents.  These features make organizing and finding your content easy and efficient.  

A Bullet Journal can be set up in a number of different ways. Some people's Bullet Journals are works of art, others, like mine, are not.  (I have art envy for the effortless creativity and artistic skills that some people possess!) There are tons of resources you can sift through when setting your Bullet Journal up. Masha Plans is one blog that offers ideas and inspiration. Below is the method I am currently using with my Bullet Journal.  I section my journal into three parts:

• Weeks -  I divide a page into thirds and give each week for the year a section. I enter in items that need to be taken care of during that week or notes that I need.
• General - Day to Day Meetings and Notes (This is the largest section as most everything goes into these pages. I can find notes quickly by using the table of contents.
• Learning  -  This section is where I take notes and process things that I learn during the year.

And finally pens, my favorite bullet journal accessory! I have tried a lot of different pens over the years and Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Medium pens have become a favorite of mine. They are reasonably priced, don't bleed through my Bullet Journal pages, write smoothly and come in a variety of colors.  If you are reading this on Black Friday,  Paper Mate Flairs are on sale today on Amazon for half off. 

If you use a Bullet Journal and have tips or advice, please share them with me below. My Bullet Journal will continue to evolve! 

And a quick shout out to others that I know on the Bullet Journal journey - Dan Greenberg, Amanda Seba, Michael McDonough and Kori Catlin!

This week we held a meeting to touch base with student leaders on our campus.  At the beginning of the meeting we opened it up and asked students how everything was going?  We received some solid feedback about online learning and the challenges and successes that students were experiencing. 

Communication came up a few times and specifically the challenge they were facing with email. This was something that I had not even thought about.  Prior to COVID email was not a system we used across the school to routinely communicate with students.  Our student email addresses are formatted with a string of numbers and at a domain that has been hard for students to remember. Students did use personal gmail or other domain specific addresses but we did not utilize our district addresses. Not having a centralized email system was one of the first things we realized we needed to use when we transitioned to distance learning.  As we prepared to reopen in September virtually, we made sure that students were aware of their district emails and taught them how to find and sign into their accounts.  And that's where we stopped. We assumed that accessing their email account was all that they needed to learn. ​

At the meeting, one student leader brought up the challenge of managing their email account. The student talked about the many notifications and assignments that they received from our learning management system as well as other platforms.  As he was speaking I was thinking, we haven't introduced them at all to the tools that are available in their Outlook account to help them manage email and stay organized.  (I know as an adult and experienced user of Outlook, I struggle to stay up to date and organized.) I explained that there was a way to set up rules in Outlook to filter emails into different folders as they arrived. Students' hands went up from across the meeting asking to be taught how to utilize this feature. I told them I would send out a screencast showing them how to create rules. Following the student meeting, I retold this story to a colleague. They looked at me and asked if I would send the screencast to them because they did not know how to create rules. Reminder, we don't know what we don't know.  ​

While COVID has slowed learning in some ways, it has accelerated the learning in other areas that are not necessarily a part of the standards and course content.  Many of these skills I am realizing we just assume students/adults know because they have had access to them on their device. ​ I am going to continue to look for the nuggets of learning that are happening in spite of the pandemic.

If you haven't met with your students or solicited feedback, I highly recommend it. This is one of a handful of things we learned from one brief meeting.

• It’s important to remember that learners enter online spaces looking for what they need to learn. You do not want the design of your page to interfere with or distract from that goal in any way.  Write concisely. Use images or other media only if it supports the intent of the page. Use no more than two fonts: one for headings and one for body text. (Top 10 Beautiful Google Font Combinations.) Adjectives you DON’T want to describe your pages are “crowded,” “busy,” or “overwhelming.”
• Use the time outside of asynchronous tasks to connect one to one, or one to a few. Sometimes the feedback that you need to give students needs to be face to face.  You can use Google Calendar's appointment slot feature to have students sign up for small group times to meet with you during office hours or tutorial times. This video will show you how.
• Establish a system for students to self advocate and assess their learning and request specific follow up help.  Click here to see a form that a student can complete to request additional support. (A plus for using a form is it also helps the teacher keep track of requests and have a record of who has asked for help and the resources that were shared.)
• As you move through your course ask questions specifically about your role as the teacher, examples:
  • ​Is the timeliness of my responses helpful?
  • Are the types of responses you are getting helpful?
  • Is there anything else I could be doing to help you?
  • Were the directions clear, or were there points you didn't understand what you should be doing?​

​These are a few of the key take aways that I have gathered as I have looked more closely at designing asynchronous learning experiences. The more I read and learn, the more I realize how much work it is to do it well.  If you have additional ideas and resources, please share them below! 
​​

As we move through our Covid 19 distance learning experience, my focus of inquiry has turned to what role instructional design and assessment play during distance learning.  When you take away the carrot and the stick of earning a grade for engaging in learning, how do we motivate students to show up and engage in learning?  

• Focus on the critical learning targets - scale way back
• Make the learning intention clear.
• Make the learning relevant.  Students should be able to answer the question "Why do I need to know this?"
• Articulate the success criteria that will be used to determine when students meet a learning goal. 
• Provide examples or good models for students to reference.
• Offer choice in how it can be learned
• Focus on feedback
• Be clear about how you will know if students "get it" and not worry about quantifying their performance on a scale of 0 -100

By making student learning our primary focus and helping students share that same focus, the learning experience moves from knowledge transmission to active learning.  Teachers are the authors of their instructional design and should take into account the different ingredients when designing instructional experiences.  Think about something that you are good at.  More than likely, you were not always good at it. How did you get good at it? Look at the graphic below, were all or most of the elements below a part of your learning pathway to achieve the level of proficiency you now have now?

Learning should be assessed formatively using digital tools in small checks for understanding along the way. These are low or no stakes experiences or practice assessments that yield feedback to students.  Check-out Retrieval Roulettes developed by Adam Boxer as a tool to use. The brain science behind retrieval practice is solid and this is an excellent tool to empower students. It allows them to spiral back through content knowledge.  

Generating opportunities for students to give you "summative output" can be done by student created products or student performance within an online testing environment. Check out 100 Things Students Can Create to Demonstrate What They Know or the website Exam.net.   Exam.net is free to use right now if your school is outside Sweden.  An additional resource for math teachers to look at is a post by Alice Keeler, From @mathdiana: Have Students Talk About Math.  (I prefer to call it a task not a test” – @mathdiana) 

During these difficult times, we will learn new and better ways to guide students along a learning pathway than placing a number on a paper.  I believe that growing and getting stronger in instructional design and assessment practices will transfer to improved learning experiences for students once we are back in our brick and mortar classrooms.  And this goes without saying, but if you have a solid relationship formed with students this is all going to be a lot easier!

If you have additional resources and ideas on instructional design, assessment and feedback practices, please share them! I know that I have only scratched the surface in my own learning. 
​

Key take aways from week one:

• There are many benefits to starting slow. There is less stress for teachers and students as everyone is given additional time to get used to the new normal.
• Creating a schedule that is flexible and allows for students to work and connect at times that work for them is critical. 
• Allow for time for teachers to connect with students and just normalize what their online space will look like.  Check-out the fun themes that math teacher Julie Burnside put in place in her live sessions. 
• While a teacher may not be physically present in a classroom, there are many ways to make oneself known in a digital space. Achieving connection online means utilizing a range of different communication methods and ensuring that you check in on them daily or hourly if needed. Discussion boards, emails, announcements, and data forms, are just some of the ways you can be present each day in your online classroom. 
  
• ​Establishing and teaching routines, systems, and expectations clearly and consistently. Fewer “How do I…” or “Where can I…” questions and a smoother transition to distance learning.   The two infographics below are good resources to use with students regarding netiquette. 

And the last take away I'll share is this....extend grace and follow that with empathy and repeat. Everyone is doing the best that they can.  

As we begin our transition to distance learning having students submit hand written or created material will be something we need to make simple.  It's easy to snap a picture and send or upload, but now on the iPhone it's SO easy to actually scan it into a note and upload it directly to Google Classroom or Microsoft.  The quality is much better than an actual photo too!

In the past I have used the Office Lens app by Microsoft. It's a good alternative, but using the Notes scan feature is just faster. 

 Check-out the short screencast below to see how it works.

This is just one more tip that might help a student or teacher's workflow be more efficient!  

Whew.....what a week! We are off and running organizing what distance learning will look like at my high school.  I want to share a quick tip that I learned this week around creating a folder in my bookmarks bar in Chrome and adding classes in one place from Google Classroom.

• First make sure that your Bookmarks Bar is visible. 

Tricks like this save time and increase efficiency.  Let me know how it works for you!

This weekend I was creating a new course in Google Classroom and wanted to use my own image. Experimenting with the right size and placement of images took me a bit of time.  Have you had the same header for awhile or are you creating a new class?  Make your own custom header fast using this template. l

• Click on this link
• Go to file
• Select make a copy to edit you own file

Watch a quick screencast to see how to use the template below.

Students will notice that you have made a change!  Use this template to quickly create new headers and keep your Google Classroom page updated throughout the year. 

I would love to see examples of headers that you create! 

This Voice Recorder is a convenient and very simple online tool that can be used right from your browser. It allows you to record your voice using the built-in microphone on your device and save it as an mp3 file. Just click the mic on the landing screen and you are on your way to recording your audio file.

Additional features;

• it's free (FREE),
• the tool auto trims the beginning and end of recordings for you
• allows the user to crop the recording and share just what is needed 
• all of your recordings are secure, accessible only to you

Student voice is powerful.  An audio file is a product that a student can create as a product of their learning.  When might you use voice to enhance or show learning? Check out this Voice Recorder to make the process simple.