Screenside Chats feature online practitioners as they discuss their experiences, strategies, and tools building and interacting in pedagogically sound online learning environments.
In this Screenside Chat, IU High School social studies teacher, Christine Hitchcock, shares how she helps students think about what they know and how learning from their peers shaped their own thinking.
Please watch the video and then join the conversation below!
I am looking forward to using discussion boards in my virtual classroom. As a history teacher, I will definitely use Perusall so students can discuss primary and secondary sources. I find when I hold in class discussions, students don’t often want to talk up in front of their peers. I am hoping, with some scaffolding, that students will be able to have constructive discussions about the material and I am not seen as the keeper of “THE”right answer. I can foresee that some students may prefer this type of on-line discussion rather than in class, as well. In this week’s discussion, we were given a few curricular structures to look at. In “A Pragmatic Approach to Online AssignmentsV10 Revised Untracked” I came across some reflective questions that have students reflect on what they learned from peer comments. Ms. Hitchcock also mentioned these types of meta cognitive questions. I can see how this will help students engage with the material and peers, but it will also help the teacher to reflect on how the lesson was presented and changes that may be needed. Because we won’t have those non-verbal cues, this may be away of assessing student comprehension.
I did like these reflective questions and I do plan on implementing them this year. I believe students should understand meta-cognition. I am even thinking that I can pair students to hold a discussion like this one between these two instructors as an activity/task. I think students would like to view this from others. Mrs. Mahan and I could hold a 3 -4 min discussion about a document or artifact and how it situates into the time period as a model and then students could be paired and be given a choice of documents (first come, first serve) of which they can hold a discussion. So I am using this youtube not only as an excellent example of reflection questions that encourage meaningful thinking and participation, but also as an idea to incorporate into lessons!
Connie,
Love your idea about pairing students to discuss a document or artifact. I have designed a lesson to incorporate this in small groups, but hadn’t yet thought of using this for a partner activity. Definitely going to do this as well to change things up.
I talk with kids orally when I conference with students on their writing – “what are you thinking?” Now I see how meta-cognition can be used on-line as well. Have you used Flipgrid? I was thinking about having students record their responses to these questions as well. Another way to vary the assignment…maybe start with Flipgrid and transition back to writing. Sometimes, it is hard to get kids to write.
Connie and June – great ideas. I also think that the use of partners that could then “partner up” with other partners as a way to expand the number of students that give feedback and also the “safety” of working together is something to build upon. The idea of Flipgrid is great! You could have students record feedback and then post them? I also think that the simple tool of Google Docs is one that is so productive in a feedback situation since there is an option to reply to comments. I know that I have been utilizing it so much more through this class and have seen its flexibility as an essential tool. I also think that Google Slides could be used – feedback in one slide? Also, if we choose to meet with students in a conference and they have done this ahead of time, they will have so much more to discuss and if “forces” them to have thought through their choices as writers.
I agree that the ability to have a conversation via comments in Google Docs is really powerful. Alice Keeler has some great ideas for using Google Slides, including having feedback slides included in “assignments” for students. You can really use color here, too – the information/example slides could have one color background, the “you do” slides could have another, and the feedback slides could have a different color. You can also insert Bitmojis into Slides really easily (more easily than in GDocs, in my experience) which can be fun for feedback.
Christine – Thank you for the ideas! Color coding and bitmojis – brilliant. Kids will love that for sure and it allows for students to focus in on things as they go. I often use color coding as I teach different focus skills. For example, in teaching how to organize analysis paragraphs, color coding sentences helps students see if they have what they need to complete the paragraph and have all of the component parts. I will look into Alice Keeler! Thank you for the suggestions!
Here’s an example from her (Alice Keeler’s) blog: https://alicekeeler.com/2020/03/28/game-changer-add-a-feedback-slide/#:~:text=Link%20to%20Feedback%20Slide&text=student%20about%20it.-,Control%20L%20to%20highlight%20the%20URL%20at%20the%20top%20of,to%20my%20feedback%2C%20NO%20SCROLLING!
She also has some really cool ideas for using Google Sheets. I’ve taken a few of her go slow workshops when they’ve been offered for free. I used Google Sheets for participant responses and workareas for a workshop I led earlier this year. This is one that doesn’t have any responses on it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NGhSW4gnNQFmAgCBZwEKPJkM0N0c2YsBsej4WC3DJh4/edit#gid=0 You could include a tab for every student (think Alice Keeler has an add-on where you can link right to your roster to create a tab for every student to work on – if not, you could make a template sheet at the beginning of the year with a tab for every student and then make a copy of that for each new project). There are a lot of possibilities. 🙂
Chris – Thank you so much for the connection to Alice Keeler! The ability to insert feedback (via video or text) directly into the slideshow makes it feel much more interactive and conversational. This is great!
I very much liked the point made about reflection being connected to a type of discussion/connection that students are able to have with one another. I am a firm believer in the power of reflection to learn, deepen understanding, and to connect with oneself and others.
My practical application takeaways were the great reflective questions discussed:
*What did you learn from what others are doing?
*What did you learn from what others said in feedback to your peers?
*What did you learn from what others said in feedback to you?
*What did you learn about how to convey your ideas more effectively from what someone else said?
*How would you change your work based on what others are doing?
What a great summary, Mary! I use these questions to grade student artifacts through reflections. This way I have a fuller picture of the student’s understanding as I grade the essay or other artifact.
Thank you! I appreciated the questions, and the chat. I am trying to build student reflection tools/structures for my classroom, as well as exploring how collaboration could look online and ftf, so these questions were very helpful!
I like how you distilled this to the essential questions. As I listened to her discuss this feedback, it really doesn’t seem too different from what we do when we see our students in a classroom. They are expected to leave written feedback for a students – but what usually does not happen is having multiple students review and also consider how that feedback works within what they are writing. I feel like this takes feedback to the next level and allows for more consideration of a more authentic audience.
Hi, Eugenie! This is a great point, and I like what you said about feedback’s place in student collaboration. I’ve trained students – to a degree – to give more effective feedback, but your ideas made me think about more intentional, extensive training, and guiding students in learning a common feedback shorthand language.