I knew my classroom would constantly be evolving this first year, but wow! Already, my classrooms have looked drastically different as my time here at Michigan Virtual has expanded!
At the beginning of the fall semester, I had the basics for my classroom (the announcements, an extra resource/lesson sprinkled in, etc.), but I still felt like my classroom wasn’t complete. Even though I had detailed announcements, my class was just so…blah. Over the first semester, my goal was to investigate and listen. The webinars and Collaboration of the Minds were great resources for me to fill up my mental file cabinet with notes on how to make my classroom better for next semester.
The biggest idea that I filed away was that I need to make my classroom more inviting and informative. I wanted my students to look forward to opening the classroom to see my announcements and what I had posted. I saw great ideas for Padlets and polls, but the biggest thing that stuck with me is the way that I could create supplemental materials. I kept thinking about how boring handouts in a f2f classroom could be and I had flashbacks to students complaining “another handout?!” How could I provide supplemental materials without it being “just another handout”?
After viewing some examples and hearing some ideas, I realized that my handouts didn’t have to just be regurgitated written out information. This is probably one of the few professions where I am encouraged to use memes and cartoons. Thankfully, there are other English nerds out there that enjoy puns and other silly English jokes as much as I do. The number of English memes and cartoons are unlimited.
My response when I first heard the suggestion of using videos in my announcements to help teach was DUH! I always used short videos in my f2f class, but while thinking of how to create announcements, I didn’t think of using videos in my “handouts”. I mean, how can you put a video on paper?! This adds a whole different element to my supplementary materials!
The idea of adding folders in the left-hand main menu was mentioned in one of the webinars by another instructor. I loved this idea, so thought I would give it a shot this semester to help organize the extra materials that I am creating. While students can scroll back through the announcements to find information, I figured that some students may prefer more organization of the materials in a folder. Since there was already a “Grammar Guides” folder, I have begun to create a “Writing Guide” as well. Later this semester, I would like to make a survey to get students’ viewpoint on this new folder to see how often they used it and if they had any suggestions.
I enjoy creating these fun supplementary materials (maybe a little too much sometimes!). As a result, I have begun to post more resources in my classrooms as it not only teaches them (obviously), but I am able to also build my online persona. Killing two birds with one stone! Since semester one has finally ended and I have been able to focus more on redecorating my classroom, I have already had a few students comment about how my announcements helped them or simply that they enjoyed them. I feel like I’m moving on up!
This is my most recent supplementary material post.