Digital Escape Rooms & a designated student (per week) checking in with online learners

First post prompt: What is going well?
Balancing synchronous and asynchronous has been… interesting. It has been exhausting, stressful, fun all in one. At the beginning of the school year, I was exhausted from my classes. The main reason for this being when the distance learners would speak, it would be projected out of the smart board, loudly, and would interrupt the entire flow of the lesson. It made me lose my patience way too easily. The first thing that made me feel at ease again in the classroom was the implementation of this tiny thing: having them use the “raise your hand” icon on MS Teams. It took a while for them to get used to it, but eventually they got in the habit (just like being in the classroom and raising your hand before speaking). This tiny ask made a huge difference; I was able to have full control of the classroom again and not lose the attention of the students in the class!

An idea a colleague had to engage online learners was to have one designated member a week (rotate throughout the class) to message or video call the online learners to keep them up to date with what’s going on at school, ask them how they are doing, show them a virtual tour of the school/classroom. It has been a great success so far. The online learners have felt very included.

Another tool I am using are digital escape rooms. I have created one for as a review period before a test (and made one for each class that is Halloween themed based on the current unit). This is a great and fun way for students to review concepts, but is also an excellent activity for online learners. Every student (whether in the class or learning from home), feels a part of this lesson and is able to participate 100%. It has brought normalcy back to the classroom and reminded me of what fun was like in the classroom before the stress of the pandemic. The best part is how much the students talked about it for weeks afterwards; reminding me that I am doing a good job, that I am doing enough. When I tell them they can expect one for their next review period (in about a month’s time), they are almost excited for their next test.

Escape rooms require a lot of work… unless you purchase one or two from teachers pay teachers. Then, once I got the hang of it, I have simply “made copies” and then edited them to fit the concepts being assessed. The students are completely engaged and love every minute of it. Most of my escape rooms are not fancy. I typically create a Google Form, and print out a worksheet or two, that would then require them to come up with a code – it could be “solve these problems and your secret code will be the 3rd largest number”. However, there are great resources such as http://jigsawplanet.com where students have to solve a jigsaw before even seeing the questions. Students love cracking codes and solving problems.

Attached is the Escape Room on whole numbers for grade 5. Worksheet below, and link to the google form of the escape room here.

Halloween Escape Room (Review Quiz) 2020

How can I ensure that the online learners are feeling as engaged during every lesson and feeling a part of the class?