![\"Teacher](\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/rutheichholtz\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/51\/files\/2014\/12\/image-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Teacher overview on Classkick<\/p><\/div>\n
After hearing about Classkick <\/a>on twitter a few months ago, I had the IT department download it onto our class set of iPads. I tried playing with it in a math class of 15 students, where they worked at solving problems in groups and wrote their solutions on the iPad. I could track each group’s progress but I wasn’t really interacting with them through the tool the way shown in the video. It was fun\u00a0and certainly the novelty factor was engaging, but I didn’t see it becoming a regular feature in that class. To be honest, the workflow\u00a0involved in setting up a deck of math problems\u00a0required too many clicks\u00a0for me, and the resolution on my images was poor. I set it aside for another later attempt.<\/p>\n And then, just a few weeks ago, I had one of those difficult days as a teacher: a sick child at home and a class of advanced math students requiring instruction. Teaching has missed out on much of the workplace flexibility that has infiltrated other professions with the internet age. Teaching children and young people requires a responsible adult to be present in the classroom, and so teachers remain chained to their scheduled work times. This requirement for physical presence has been one of the most difficult for me as a working parent – as it is for many teachers who are parents (and all sorts of other working parents!) \u00a0In addition, my grade 12 students are in their final year of university preparation and are ambitious in their goals: I want to support them as much as possible.<\/p>\n Due to our school schedule and course alignment, our grade 12 advanced mathematics class can’t afford to miss a day of learning. Flipping lessons has greatly reduced the stress on each lesson, and allows me to keep the pace of the course moving along at a good clip all year, regardless of whether I am absent (or the students are absent – they can keep up via video). But the lesson I missed to nurse a sick child a few weeks ago, that lesson was a review class where the students were consolidating their learning – it was about them doing the work, not me teaching them anything. In the past I would have left them to themselves; they are a small group of high-achieving students, self-directed and independent learners. This time, I opted to continue teaching… remotely.<\/p>\n The novelty factor is helpful<\/p><\/div>\n I had my iPad at home and had iPads brought\u00a0to the students at the beginning of the lesson. They were monitored at the start by a substitute teacher, who made sure they were present and that they received my email instructions. And then they joined my lesson on Classkick and worked, for 75 minutes, with me<\/em>. As the students worked through each review problem, I could see their progress. I could make comments on their solution methods, correct their mistakes, and praise their successes. A few times, I tried to tell them they could use pencil & paper and just resort to Classkick when they needed help, but every single one chose to work on the iPad for the entire lesson!<\/p>\n The ability to teach\u00a0remotely added an entirely new dimension of flexibility that has been lacking in this profession. We teachers work pretty hard already, and teaching is an intense job. It’s surprising how exhausting it is, and teachers should probably take all the down-time they can get, right? And yet, every teacher will tell you: it is harder to be absent from school and prepare lessons for a substitute, than it is to be present<\/strong>. It’s why teachers keep teaching while they are sick – it’s actually easier than the alternative. But Classkick has opened up new routes for me to keep students learning\u00a0when we aren’t all in the classroom together.\u00a0Before flipping lessons and teaching remotely, every\u00a0class I missed had to get smashed into another lesson, making the subsequent lessons more stressful. Keeping the pace of my class moving along when I’m not able to be in the classroom is less stressful<\/em>, even if it means teaching from home.<\/p>\n<\/a>