Induction & Onboarding -  1.4 - Best Practices for Synchronous Instruc

Induction & Onboarding - 1.4 - Best Practices for Synchronous Instruction

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Welcome to Induction Module 4!

Induction Module 4: Best Practices for Synchronous Instruction

At CCA, we pride ourselves on personalizing learning to meet the needs of all learners in our synchronous instruction. It's the cornerstone of what we do! In this module, you will build on your current instructional practices by exploring research-based strategies for planning and delivering synchronous instruction. You will also explore the benefits of being a reflective educator. To model the practice of offering choices, this module includes some options for you! Be sure to choose what works best for you each time. Now, press the start button to begin your journey!

Start

Welcome to Induction Module 4!

Objectives

By the end of this module you will be able to: Plan a high-quality synchronous lesson Deliver a high-quality synchronous lesson Reflect on that lesson

Materials

Welcome to Induction Module 4!

Materials

Materials: Your edio

let's go!

Learning Menu

Planning

Go in any order! Click the images in the circles to go to that section.

How do you plan a quality synchronous lesson? This section will talk about what to do before learners even enter your room.

Delivery

What will you do when the learners are in front of you in Zoom? This section will talk about how you actually deliver the lesson.

Reflection

What happens after you have taught a lesson? This section will talk about how to be a reflective educator.

Finished?

Planning

Planning

• Scope and sequence
• edio

Every good synchronous lesson starts with a solid plan. To make sure that you are planning solid lessons, use the resources that we have here at CCA. Click the "info" button below to explore the resources on the digital course materials for your course.

Digital Course Materials Key:

• WB = workbook
• EPW = extra practice workbook
• LCG = learning coach guide
• TG = teacher guide
• AK = answer key
• S/S = scope and sequence

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Planning

Using Edio

After looking at the K-12 digital course materials, it will be time to take a look at the edio lesson content. edio courses function as textbooks. In a brick-and-mortar classroom, you wouldn't read a textbook aloud for an entire class period. You would use your knowledge and expertise to choose what to teach based on the needs of the learners. You would bring the information in the textbook to life through interactive activities, discussions, and hands-on experiences. The same is true for CCA's edio courses. Use your course scope and sequence, assessments, learner data, and the standards to pick the most important information in edio to cover during your live and guided classroom sessions.Asynchronous learners might watch your recordings, but they don't need to match edio exactly. Remember, you are not "teaching edio"; you are using edio content to teach learners.

Are you saying I can't read anything from edio aloud?

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Planning

Live classroom days provide extra time for:

edio & Live Classroom Sessions

In edio, some courses have live classroom days that have no posted content, but they are still part of your comprehensive course. The content you plan for them should connect to what you are teaching in your guided classroom sessions and the overall goals for the unit. Live classroom days offer you time and space to personalize the learning in your course further. Based on the needs of the learners, enrich, remediate, and/or extend the learning experiences you provide. Check out the ideas to the right!

• Extended discourse activities
• Learning centers
• Related virtual field trips
• Remediation based on learners' needs
• Projects
• Experiments
• Cooperative learning activities
• Inquiry-based activities
• Guest speakers
• Choice activities
• and more...

i am a teacher with more than 3 years experience (page 15)

i am a teacher with less than 3 years experience (next page)

Planning

Start planning by:

Content Planning Questions

• identifying the PA standard(s) you will be teaching
• identifying the content that needs to be taught
• reviewing the unit test and any assignments, projects, or quizzes to find out what will be assessed
• consulting learner data to find out what the learners already know and what they need to know

• Which standard(s) will be addressed in my lesson?
• What do the learners need to know and be able to do as a result of my instruction in this lesson?
• What do the learners in my classes already know? What do they need to know?

These planning questions will guide you!

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Planning

Example: Science 7 Lesson 4.2.3 Plant and Animal Cells

See how a teacher might walk through the process of answering the content planning questions:

Which standard(s) will be addressed in my lesson?

• "3.1.6-8.B Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 2024)."

What do the learners need to know and be able to do as a result of my instruction in this lesson?

• differentiate between plant and animal cells
• identify these cellular organelles: chloroplast, centriole, vacuole

What do the learners in my classes already know? What do they need to know?

• Most of the learners in my classes know what a cell wall, cytoplasm, and an organelle are. They can easily identify a plant cell by its cell wall.
• Formative assessments from my previous lesson indicate some learners confuse the terms nucleus and nucleolus. Not all learners are able to describe how Golgi bodies and ribosomes function. I will need to review these concepts.

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Credits: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2024). Standards Aligned System. Retrieved April 2, 2024 from https://pdesas.org.

Planning

Example: Science 7 Lesson 4.2.3 Plant and Animal Cells

See how a teacher might walk through the process of answering the content planning questions:

Which standard(s) will be addressed in my lesson?

• "3.1.6-8.B Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 2024)."

What do the learners need to know and be able to do as a result of my instruction in this lesson?

• differentiate between plant and animal cells
• identify these cellular organelles: chloroplast, centriole, vacuole

What do the learners in my classes already know? What do they need to know?

• Most of the learners in my classes know what a cell wall, cytoplasm, and an organelle are. They can easily identify a plant cell by its cell wall.
• Formative assessments from my previous lesson indicate some learners confuse the terms nucleus and nucleolus. Not all learners are able to describe how Golgi bodies and ribosomes function. I will need to review these concepts.

continue to the Next Page

Credits: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2024). Standards Aligned System. Retrieved April 2, 2024 from https://pdesas.org.

Planning

Your Turn

K-12 Digital Course Materials and Resources Key: WB = Workbook EPW = Extra Practice Workbook LCG = Learning Coach Guide TG = Teacher Guide AK = Answer Key S/S = Scope and Sequence

Take a few moments to think through the process of answering the three content planning questions. There is not time to do a deep dive into course assessments, content, and learner data right now, but you can get a taste of what it is like by looking at the scope and sequence for one of your courses. Press open the K-12 Digital Course Materials and Resources document linked below. Find the scope and sequence for a course you teach or any course of your choosing. Select one lesson on the scope and sequence. Answer the content planning questions in your mind or record your answers. Do whatever is most helpful for you.

Content Planning Questions:

• Which standard(s) will be addressed in my lesson?
• What do the learners need to know and be able to do as a result of my instruction in this lesson?
• What do the learners in my classes already know (look for the prerequisite skills on the scope and sequence)? What do they need to know?

K-12 Digital Course Materials and Resources

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Planning

Make sure to click on the icons on the right!

Identify Barriers

After determining what needs to be taught, take a moment to identify potential barriers to learning. For example, what will you do for learners reading below grade level? Once the barriers are identified, plan ways to address them. Press the lightbulb on the right to learn more!

Formative Assessments

As you look at edio and your standards, start planning your content. Determine where you are going to help you add formative assessment questions. Plan out your questions in advance and have some scaffolding questions ready, just in case. Check in with learners often to know if they understand the material. Want more information on formative assessments? Press the magnifying glass on the right!

Teaching Sensitive Topics

No matter what your subject is, every once in a while, you will come across a sensitive subject. It's important to remember that here at CCA, we are inclusive of everyone. Think about how you are going to address some of these topics without bias or your opinion. Need some help? Press on the icon on the right to read the article. Also, reach out to your mentor or your supervisor for more help.

Now, it is time to check in on what you have learned in the Planning section of this module.

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Quick Check (Page 14)

Quick Check

Quick Check

Great job!

Congrats!

You have finished this section. Click the image on the right to go back to the main menu to go to the next section.

Delivery

Delivery

In this section, you will explore best practices for delivering synchronous instruction through the lens of the following questions:

• How are you going to engage learners while you are teaching?
• How are you planning to share the content?
• How are you going to build classroom community?

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Delivery

How are you going to engage learners while you are teaching?

Engagement

In virtual settings, where there is so much vying for learners' attention, it is especially important to plan engaging lessons. Lecture-style instruction is one of the least engaging and most ineffective teaching strategies. For times when lecture-style instruction is necessary, ask learners to respond in some way as frequently as possible and plan for no more than 5-10 minutes of teacher talk before doing an activity. Below is a menu of resources with alternatives to lecture-style instruction and some "grab and go" ideas. Explore as many as you like!

Ways to Start Lessons with Interactive Activities

Interactive Digital Resources for Instruction

Discussion and Questioning Strategies

Tips for Facilitating Group Work

The Big Book of Synchronous Engagement

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Delivery

Engagement

Which describes you?

At CCA, you are not alone in your quest to deliver engaging instruction. You have access to numerous third-party digital resources. If you haven't done so already, take a moment to scroll through the list of resources linked below. If there's something you are interested in but not sure how to use, check out the EdTech page on the CCA Employee Portal or reach out to your mentor.

New to teaching cyber (less than 3 yrsGo to next page)

Experienced teaching cyber (more than 3 yrsgo to page 25)

+ resources

Delivery

How are you planning to share the content?

Sharing Content

Resource Examples:

• Adobe Express Presentation
• Classkick
• Document Camera and Curriculum Kit Materials
• Genially
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• OneNote Class Notebook
• Padlet
• PearDeck
• Wayground
• Zoom Tools

After choosing how you will engage learners in a lesson, you will want to select a compatible way to share the content. To the left, you will see some examples, and on the next page, you will find some helpful guiding questions for choosing a resource.

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Delivery Methods

Guiding Questions for Choosing a Resource for Sharing

General Questions

• Does this resource feature assessable fonts and clear, uncluttered images?
• Can I make edits, if necessary?
• Can I save my work in this resource for future use, or is it possible to lose access?
• Is this resource safe and approved for use at CCA?

Questions for Resources You Share with Learners

• Is this resource accessible to all learners (i.e., can you add alt text, is there a read-aloud feature, is the font readable)?
• Do learners know how to access this resource (i.e., do they have to log in, do they know how to open it)?
• Is the resource CCA approved (CCA resources have been vetted for their handling of learner data and compatibility with our technology)?
• Are the learners familiar with how to use the tools and features of the resource (if they are unfamiliar with the resource, it could disrupt the lesson flow)?
• How often might learners need to toggle between Zoom and the resource (This affects your timing for sharing the resource, and you may need to account for transition time)?

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Delivery

How are you going to build classroom community?

Building Community

Questions and Checklists for Reflection

• What drew you to the field of teaching? Consider writing a personal mission statement based on your passion and posting it at your workspace to remind yourself of your "why."
• How would you like learners to feel about you as a teacher?

• How can you model your expectations to create a safe learning environment?

• What steps can you take to create a safe environment for learners to interact with each other?

• How do you want learners to feel about learning?

Perfectly crafted lesson plans and engaging activities will fall flat if learners do not feel safe and known in the learning environment. Thus, the importance of building community cannot be emphasized enough. Community building takes time and purposeful planning. It requires modeling from you as the teacher by how you interact with learners and anyone else who enters your learning environment. And it all starts with your beliefs. Do you like the learners in your classes? Do you care about their well-being? Are you interested in what's important to them? The answers to these questions will be apparent in your written and spoken words and your actions, whether you are conscious of it or not. So, take a moment to think about your beliefs and how you want your learning environment to function. Use the questions and checklists to the right to guide you.

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Delivery

Building Community

Once you have reflected on your beliefs, you can choose research-based ideas to apply to your practices. Here is a small sampling. Explore as much as you prefer.

Start the class with something on the screen and something for learners to do.

Welcome learners by name as they come into class.

Provide opportunities for learners to talk during class.

Connect learning activities to learners' interests.

Now, it is time to check in on what you have learned in the Delivery Methods section of this module.

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Delivery (Page 25)

Delivery

Delivery

Great job!

Congrats!

You have finished this section. Click the image on the right to go back to the main menu to go to the next section.

Reflection

reflection

Now you have taught the lesson to your learners, what do you do? Reflect on your data! Look at your exit ticket, formative assessment questions, etc. Did your students understand the lesson? Plan your next step accordingly. Plan for a live classroom day to review the material, or just the beginning of the next class to clear up any misconceptions.

• Did my learners understand the material?
• Where did I go wrong when teaching?
• What do I need to reteach?

+Next

Reflection

reflection

Great job!

Congrats!

You have finished this section. Click the image on the right to go back to the main menu to go to the next section.

Congrats!

You made it!!

Great job finishing this module. You are now ready to prepare the most engaging synchronous lessons!

• Reach out to your mentor, supervisor, or instructional coach if you are still unsure or need any more help. They are all there to help you!

Professional Development Page

Formative Choice Ideas:

Choose one (or more) to learn more about!

Exit Ticket Ideas

Formative Assessment Infographic

edio courses are written in learner-friendly language and you may find the exact phrasing you are looking for in an edio lesson. It's okay to use it! The directive here is to plan synchronous instruction purposefully to meet learners' needs versus skipping the planning process and reading edio aloud.

Choose one way to learn more about how to address barriers.

📚 Read:How to break down barriers to learning with UDL

💻 Watch:Learning Barriers

Credits

This page contains links to the following websites:

• https://ditchthattextbook.com/student-interest-surveys/
• https://www.teachers.net/wong/OCT13/