Making Blackboard Accessible to All Learners: Organizing Your Course using Icons

I was lucky enough to take all 3 Blackboard classes when I was hired in the district as part of my TDP credits. So, the switch to using Blackboard as the delivery system for this school year seemed like it should be simple, right? I already knew everything I needed to know to get started! And, from what I remembered, many of the tools were similar to tools from other programs. You can add images, videos, text, links, no problem! 

However, when I popped back into Blackboard for the first time this year, it didn't seem to be working the way I needed. In the spring, I had found a way to use Google products to create (what I hoped would be) kid-friendly materials that ALL students could navigate themselves rather than relying on adults at their house to figure it out.  As I thought about how I made that happen in the spring, I realized it was not the program I chose to use but how I was able to organize the content that made me reach my goal. 

The tool I found most helpful last spring was using icons. An icon is a graphic representation of something: a person, a place, or, in this case, content. I had created an icon to show kids where to click and one that reminded of how to put their device in present mode (arrows). There were also icons to show what they needed to watch, do and share (T.V., pencil, Google Classroom icon). This made my content easily accessible to all of my learners.

Good news: you can do that in Blackboard, too! Check it out for yourself:

You can also use icons to make your course accessible to all learners.

First, you need the actual icons, or pictures that will cue students.  There are a few ways to do this:

• Search an icon using Google
• Find one on website thenounproject.com (all free and transparent background images)
• Create your own by using Google Drawings or Canva (Canva is an online graphic design platform that provides free pro accounts for teachers)

Once you have the icons you need, there are two ways you can add them to your BB9 course.

1. You can place them directly into BB9 using the insert image function. To make this an active button that students can click, you would select the image and choose to link it to where students need to go. 

For example, the first grade team at Hadfield designed their announcement page to be a collection of icons leading students to each separate content area. As students enter the BB9 course, they can easily choose the subject they are working by clicking on the picture that matches.

2. Another option would be to put your icons on Google Slides. This option might feel a little more familiar to you especially if Slides is how you previously organized the materials for your students last spring like I did. Just like in BB9, your icon can added by using the insert image function and it be linked to whatever students might need access to complete their work.  Once you have added your icon and links, you can embed the Slide directly into your BB9 course. 

Below is an example from the music page at Hadfield. The table was created by using shapes in Google Slides so the icons and links could be organized by classroom teacher. An added bonus in using this method is that any changes you make within a Slide will be reflected in the embedded content on BB9 automatically. For instance, if the content needs to be assigned to a different homeroom as the specials rotation changes.  That means once your Slide is embedded  you do not have to make any changes directly to your BB9 course again.

Watch the tutorial on how to embed a Slide into BB9 to see the step by step instructions on how you can use this method of organizing your content by using icons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS1cjJxREPo&feature=youtu.be

Teaching through COVID-19

Let me start out by saying that I'm not sure, after 4 weeks of this, whether I'm doing enough, too much or too little. All I know for sure is that I miss my classroom, my students, my colleagues and my normalcy. I miss fifth grade banter that made me laugh out loud on a daily basis. I miss field trips and group work and my morning high five or fist bump. I miss debriefing at the end of day with my colleagues about our shared students. I miss teaching!

Although I miss those things I am equally amazed at the way our district made it possible for us to work through this pandemic and create a virtual school setting within two days. Our IT department has made some really great decisions that have allowed us to stay connected with our students and families and provide a bit of routine as well as academics to our students. Before all of this I felt intimidated that I had to dabble in technology here and there, and I definitely dosed it out slowly as to not feel too overwhelmed. 

Now I don't know what I would do without it! My DAILY routines consists of Google Classroom, Google Slides, Jamboard, Webex Teams, Quicktime Player, Class Dojo and I even created my own Youtube channel! I feel like for the most part we are all starting to settle into a "routine" (if that is what you can call it), as we all hunker down to accept our new normal. My students started sending messages on Webex just minutes after hearing the news that we were closed for the rest of the year. I was in tears as I read their messages to one another stating their current feelings about the situation and offering support to help each other get through probably one of the most difficult times of their young lives.

Student response to school closing

My family and I getting ready for our Banting parade!

student response to school closing

These are their sentiments as well as mine. I am a teacher and a parent of the School District of Waukesha, and I couldn't be more proud of BOTH of those roles. I truly believe we are pioneers at a time where uncertainty is so prevalent. We are doing everything within our control to stay connected to our students and families, making it possible for us to continue to teach, just in a very different way. And my own children are continuing to learn, which I am so grateful for as well. But at the core of all of this craziness, I still believe that relationships matter. Not only do they matter, they are the foundation of successful schools. They are what makes my classroom management, interventions and student growth possible. Relationships are what is making this virtual learning possible.

I was keeping my fingers crossed that we would be back together again before the end of the school year. However, I will start the new school year with a very different perspective about technology and it's power, as well as a completely reaffirmed belief that being with my students and the relationships we create throughout the year are the most important part of teaching.

 

Slides + Quicktime = Learning Video

I LOVE Google Slides! Slides are versatile and so much more than a presentation tool. Using Google Slides along with Quicktime to screen record can make a nice little learning video.

One way that I like to do this is to start with a new Google Slides presentation or use an existing one.  I try to think about the steps I would take to show a skill or concept during a face to face lesson and then I use each page of the slides presentation to show a small part at a time. 

I use the “animate” feature in Slides to make visuals or text appear slowly onto the page so I can try to explain an idea in a coherent and sequential way.

When the slides and animations are in order and they make sense, I go through them in “presentation mode “and I practice doing a voice-over through each page of the slide as if I am recording. After a few short run-throughs and a couple of adjustments with the Slides, then I add Quicktime. 

Quicktime is a tool that is used to record audio and video. I use it on my Macbook to Screen Record while I speak. Quicktime allows me to record my voice and my computer screen simultaneously. When I am ready to screen record, I put my Slides in presentation mode, select to record the entire screen and I teach the skill or concept through the visuals and text on the slide along with my voice. This little combination then produces a learning video that I can use to teach a concept through a flipped environment, blended learning or for virtual or distance learning.

I have included two resources to help you get started. There is a video that I made to introduce perimeter with my 3rd graders so you have an example of the final product. Also included is the Slides Presentation that I voiced over to create the video. The Slides include the animations so you can see how I ordered them to produce the sequence of visual and text. Feel free to make a copy and try it out on your own. 

Lesson Video Link  & Slides used for Video. 

The video can be shared out to your students in a variety of ways. The video can be easily uploaded into Youtube and shared out. I have given kiddos access to them in the classroom as an in-class flipped environment with QR Codes or direct links. I have shared the videos with kiddos in an LMS like Blackboard 9 or a workflow app like Showbie or Google Classroom. 

Things to keep in mind as you begin. 

1. Start small. Use the skills you have and build up little by little.

2. Be okay with making some mistakes along the way. It took me many tries to put it all together. 

3. It doesn’t have to be perfect! It’s ok if you stumbled over a word or two in the voice over. It’s ok if you don’t edit out the “dead” time when you start the video. 

4. If you are trying a first video during the virtual learning with the pandemic, kiddos love hearing our voices. Remembering this helped me to let of go of the perfectionistic tendencies when sharing out content online. The sound of our voices with the inflection, tone, and intonation can bring understanding to a topic and a sense of comfort at the same time.

How Google Earth Saved my Social Studies Unit

I have to admit, I sometimes dread planning for social studies lessons.  Mostly due to the fact that we have standards to cover, but not a whole lot of resources to implement stellar lessons.  My first grade students needed to learn about maps, landforms, and identify suburban, urban & rural areas. Yikes.

I did what desperate teachers do... looked back at my plans for this unit from last year.  I wasn't overly impressed with my 2019 self.  At all.

I had thought to check out Google Earth, which is an app I was familiar with and have explored on random "roll the dice" expeditions from time to time.  I started the unit by having students explore a Google Map of their community.  (I had my iPad projected on the SmartTV) My students were cheering with excitement when they saw familiar landmarks on the map.  They were interested in finding their own houses and asked if they could go home and learn their address to look up the next school day. I have never had so many kids beg for homework!  This was also a perfect segway into learning about map symbols.  They were able to identify shopping centers, gas stations, fire stations, etc.

Landforms was next.  I can't speak highly enough of the engagement I experienced with this one!  I had to do some work on my own finding real examples of landforms on Google Earth, but it was beyond worth it.  Students were asked to choose 3 landforms that were interesting to them.  They explored the examples I gave and screenshot their experience. They used the screenshots to create a Clips video sharing what they had learned.  This lesson was very successful and I can't even begin to explain how much more students got out of this lesson being able to see landforms such as Mt. Everest in 3D.

We ended the unit exploring rural, urban & suburban areas.  Once again, I provided examples of these for students to more easily pull from to expedite the lesson.  Students chose an area, watched a QR code for the corresponding Brain Pop Jr. video, then explored the real life examples on Google Earth.  They were then matched with students who researched one of the other area types.  They taught each other about their findings using an adapted AVID strategy.  I heard amazing student-to student questions, such as "why are there always a house next to the farms?"... questions students would never organically come up with from a text.  

Do yourself a favor and find some time to play around with Google Earth.  There are endless possibilities to use in your classroom.  Try it out with students and let me know how it goes.  I'm also happy to share any templates mentioned in this post. :) 

From Post-Its to Jamboard

"Okay kids, make sure to refer back to today's anchor chart when you are responding to your prompt in our thoughtful logs". If you teach literacy and especially using the Comprehensive Literacy Model, you have said these words. But how do we assure students are using the resources we are providing? It's a tough job: they have to be engaged, routines have to be in place, there also has to be a system of accountability for students when they are working independently. So, on my Journey to Modification, I decide to try out Google Jamboard with my students. The results were great!

We have "bilingual" groups established and we work in them almost daily, so I sent out a Jamboard to my students and assigned a specific page for each group to work on. From my perspective, as I was walking around the room I could see that everyone was either typing their ideas or discussing them. Side note: this RARELY happens, there is usually an argument or two that I have to referee in order for some groups to get through the task. After the 15 minute timer went off we convened on the carpet and this is what I heard from my students as we reflected on the day's lesson:

• "That was so much fun!"
• "Everyone participated this time!"
• "Mrs. Hegg, can we please NEVER go back to writing on boring Post-its?" 
• "I love it when we use Jamboard"

Of course I won't say never to Post-its, but using Jamboard has really made a difference in my classroom. Those Jamboards that we created then became a resource for everyone, as they could access the information from all groups after sharing out, during their independent application time. As I settled in to work with a group of students I popped open my iPad and launched Apple Classroom just to check in and hold my students accountable for their independent work time.

This has proven necessary as many of them tend to wander on Safari instead of staying focused on the tasks for the day. To my surprise, I had 11 students on Jamboard using it as a resource while writing out their answers to the days prompt!! Score!!!

The Journey Continues

My goal to use technology in the classroom to increase engagement has led my explore my use of powerpoint, or google slides, presentations. I usually begin new units with presentations for the purpose of introducing new terms and formulas that will drive our learning for the unit. I noticed that an increasing number of my students (high school students in physics and AP physics) started taking pictures of the slides in the presentations. I inquired into why some students did this and they told me they just wanted the pictures to review later. Most were also writing down the information while also taking the pictures. However, an increasing number of students are only taking pictures and not writing anything down. They said they would review them later, before the test. A few students admitted that most times they would fail to review the notes at a later time. This got me to start thinking about changing the way I present material to students.

I found 2 products, Peardeck and Nearpod, that make presentations more engaging by letting students interact with the material on their screens by answering questions, drawing, etc. I settled on using Peardeck. After struggling with the normal learning curve of using Peardeck I was ready to use it with students for the first time this week. When I put the login screen up on the projector some students said "Cool, I really like this," as some teachers in the building have been using Peardeck for a while. I used it for one class and realized I needed to fix a few things as I had used text boxes instead of drawing boxes, easily fixable things I can do. The second class dove in with an equal enthusiasm. Near the end of the presentation, when the students had drawing boxes to use, I decided to use the "Show Answers" feature. As I scrolled through the answers I came across a very inappropriate response from a student. Yes the answer was on the projector for the entire class to see. Ahhhhhhh!!!! I realized that I now have to freeze the screen before I search through the answers to present to the class. (Yes I found the student and handled the disciplinary situation appropriately.)

I am not going to let one bad apple spoil my use of interactive presentations. Students like them and I find that students are more engaged than a "regular" presentation. I will reflect back later to see if the newness wears off and students will sour on the interactive presentations like they did with my "plain" presentations.

Forget your MacBook at home!

A few weeks ago, the unthinkable happened... I forgot my MacBook at home.  I live far from the building I work in and I had no one available to stop home and deliver it to me, so I was left with panic and cold sweats.  Suddenly, it felt as though I didn't have a pulse or even air.  As I stood in my classroom thinking I was in a bad dream and wondering how life would go on, I suddenly remembered I had a different tool I could try to use to get me through teaching for the day - my iPad.  (That thing you use to take pictures in your classroom)

I was fully prepared to give my students a talk about my mistake and how a few things might be different today, since I was unable to access their attendance and other files we use.  After playing around on my iPad for a while, I became more and more aware that my day would not be affected very much after all.

The morning started.  I shared my digital attendance slide to my SmartBoard with just a few short clicks.  I airdropped my math lesson to the students rather than pulling it up on the Smartboard.  I quickly grew more comfortable with the flexibility I had walking around the room with my iPad as I taught.  Was it possible I was enjoying this?  My students were more engaged in my lesson than usual.  I tried things I hadn't tried with them before and explored new apps.  A wave of relief came over me as I wondered why I don't use my iPad more often.

I'm the first person to tell you how vital the MacBook is to my day.  However, I encourage you to leave it at home - just once- to force yourself to change things up and find the beauty in the options the iPad can give you.  I was forced to change my routine and try something I hadn't thought to do and now I'm very thankful the universe was not on my side that day.  My creative juices for activities I can do using my iPad with students have been flowing ever since.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes!  You got this :)

(By the way, I created the image above on my iPad!)