Z e e A n n P o e r i o
A BOARD FOR ALL SEASONS : solutions for collaboration
If you are looking for some tech tools to engage your face-to-face or virtual students , take some time to explore some whiteboard options to use in the year ahead . Here are some whiteboards to explore :
Jamboard is Google ’ s whiteboard , now integrated in Google Classroom and Google Meet . can be created on the fly and the link automatically appears in the Chat of a Google Meet has limited features , like color choices and only 20 frames- Remember to change the settings so that everyone can edit , and assign frames by number to each student . Have student put a Post-It from the toolbar with their name on their frame can also share a link to a Jamboard that you have already set up with premade content to share . ( Search online or in your personal learning communities for JamBoard
templates !)
Google Slides works as a whiteboard with a slide deck being set up ahead of time . more familiar to most students enter the link in the chat of a Google Meet from your Drive teacher can assign individual slides and go to the GRID view in Google slides and see everyone working at once . ( On a Jamboard , you have to click through the frames at the top .)
Whiteboard Fi is a nice mix of the both Jamboard and Google slides .
It has a free version where you can start a class , name it , and then share a URL or a QR code for your students to join . The class “ room ” is only active for
2 hours , but has some nice security features . Student enters their name which will appear as part of their board . There are more tools on the toolbar and more color choices for the pen tools than other boards . The teacher can view ALL student boards at once like you can do in Google Slide view , but it ’ s a cleaner view and the teacher has a personal board that can be shared at any time with all
students .
The teacher can PUSH an individual student ’ s board out for all to see . There is no need to sign in to Google Classroom or have a Google account . ( There are many other features in the free version , so it is worth a look .)
Zee Ann Poerio has been an educator for 24 years . Poerio is the K-8 STREAM Teacher and
Project . She loves teaching with Minimus : Starting Out in Latin .
DRY ERASE WHITEBOARDS
Go old-school and use a dryerase board and marker . Whether you are teaching virtually or face-to-face , have students hold up their boards and share in the classroom , or hold them up to the computer ’ s webcam to share . I purchased a double-sided board set on Amazon that came with the eraser and dry erase marker . I gave every student a set inside a large gallon Ziplock bag for storage . ( Note : many sizes available . If you purchase on Amazon Smile , choose the American Classical League as the charity you wish to
support .)
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N . B . Before introducing any online tool to your students , remember to have “ the talk ” about being a good “ digital citizen ”, using appropriate names , and following school protocols . It is also worthwhile to take time to introduce the tool with simple practice . Let students explore the tools with simple tasks that allow them to check out the features .
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