Remote Learning--Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Note: I wrote this blog post and had it ready to share on March 3rd. It was going to be another post about the utility of HyperDocs, the theme I have adopted for the year. Then, the coronavirus pandemic found its way to our corner of the globe so I buckled down to support "alternative instruction" as we are all working from home. But in reality, HyperDocs are the perfect tool to support remote teaching and learning. Like the subject of the post below, we are all without a classroom to call home at the moment and are stuck "teaching on a cart." I hope you'll take a moment to read below to see not only what she did and how she did it, but also know that you can do it too!

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During February Break, I attended an EdCamp at Phoenix Central Schools. During a session on HyperDocs, a Health teacher from East Syracuse Minoa High School shared her approach to instructional delivery. As a newer teacher, she does not have a classroom to call home, but rather has a mobile cart to carry her materials from classroom to classroom. Because of the logistics of her teaching day, she has prepared unit-long HyperDocs as a means to "package" all of her instruction in a single document, in this case Google Slides. See a sample unit below:

How'd She Do That?

• This particular HyperDoc was created using Google Slides. 
• In Google Drive, click on "New" and select "Google Slides."
• The teacher changed the page setup to mimic an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper to accommodate students who chose to print their notebooks. 
• In Google Slides, select "File" and click on "Page Setup." From there, change the setting to "custom" and change the dimensions to 8.5 x 11 inches.
• She changed the look of her Slides by inserting a background image.
• From the Google Slides menu, click "Background" and upload or search for a background image.
• Right-click on the slide preview (the small list of slides on the left of the screen) and select "Duplicate Slide."
• Do this several times until you have as many slides as you will need for your HyperDoc.
• You can also change the background en masse at any time by selecting all slides (click the first one, hold down the shift key and click on the last one) and then change the background per the directions above.
• Her first slide has a space for students to enter their name and block (period). 
• Rather than using an "underscore" or line like we would traditionally do on a printed document, the teacher inserted a text box for the students to enter their names. She changed the border color from black to teal. If she used an underscore as she might have done on a paper document that would traditionally be printed and copied for students, the characters would move as the students type.
• To insert a textbox, click Insert and select Text Box. There is also an icon on the menu that will accomplish the same task. It looks like an editable box with a capital T in it.
• To change the border color of the text box, click on the text box and select the border icon from the menu (it looks like a pencil with the selected color under it). You can also adjust the border thickness with the adjacent border weight icon (it looks like a stack of lines of varying thickness).
• Use this technique whenever you want students to respond to a prompt--offer them a dedicated space to type their answers.
• Pro-Tip: You can use the paint bucket icon to fill the text boxes with color to make them stand out.
• The first slide also includes a table of contents that links to lesson-specific content within the unit.
• This step should be one of the last things you do before sharing your Hyperdoc with students (once all of your slides are done).
• Type a list of lessons.
• Highlight the text of a specific string of text and insert a link (click the chain link icon or select "Insert" and "Link" from the menu.
• Rather than linking to a website, select "Slides in this presentation" and click on the specific slide you to which you would like to link.
• Insert images and create assignments
• This teacher added relevant images to communicate content. She also added links to digital content and more HyperDocs for students to demonstrate learning.
• Interestingly, the teacher created "fill in the blank" activities in which students can drag-and-drop vocabulary into a lined space to match words to their respective contextual definitions (See Lesson 4).
• Share with students
• This HyperDoc unit was shared with students via Google Classroom
•  In Classroom, click on the Classwork page and create an Assignment. 
• Attach the HyperDoc (Google Slide) and select "make a copy for each student."
• This way, your template will remain intact and every student can have their own copy of the HyperDoc.
• Students should NOT turn in their work right away--if they do so, they will no longer have the ability to edit their file. 
• The teacher is always an editor on Google Classroom Assignments and can offer timely meaningful feedback by opening a student's work and inserting comments synchronously or asynchronously.
• Check out the full HyperDoc unit here.

You Can Do It, Too!

You, too can create a HyperDoc like this...the skills you will need:

• Create a Google Slides presentation
• Change the background image on a Slide
• Insert text, images, links
• Create an Assignment in Google Classroom and make a copy for every student

That's it! With a little time and creativity, you will have a lesson or unit that embraces 21st century pedagogies and supports self-paced, personalized learning for all students.