If you're teaching remotely, have you seen your students' faces?
One of my client districts I support as a math intervention specialist doesn’t require students to turn their video on during zoom lessons. Most schools in the district are title one schools and internet connection is choppy, backgrounds may be distracting, students might be embarrassed of their background or living in a shelter. So I get it and agree with that decision. But the teachers I support are frustrated. We became teachers because we love our students! And not getting to see their faces is alllll kinds of strange.
One of the special education math teachers had a fantastic work around I want to share. He made a recorded video a homework assignment so he could see his students’ faces in a setting that they wouldn’t feel embarrassed. He had them record their response to his prompt on Flipgrid and turn it in as their first homework assignment of the year. I love this idea! If you don’t want to learn a new technology like Flipgrid, you could make this as easy as students recording a video and submitting it to you on whichever LMS system you’re using like Google classroom or Schoology. Below I give you 5 prompts you could use for a recorded video assignment for your secondary math students! You could also check out my 35 student check in prompts for even more ideas.
This is a great math intervention strategy and math teaching strategy for students with learning disabilities. Using the video modality may actually better meet some of your students need better than pen to paper. It's so important that you first take some time to get to know your students and help them feel comfortable in your class before you get to the math. If you haven’t seen your students' faces yet, I encourage you to try something like this teacher did and integrate a recorded video into a homework assignment.
This is also a fantastic strategy for teaching math to ELL students. Our ELL students may be nervous to show their face or speak in front of their peers. Offering a recorded video assignment may go a long way to decrease that anxiety and help them feel more open in your math class.
So here are 5 prompts you could give students for a recorded video assignment. Enjoy!
