Be inspired by selected examples of digitally-rich lessons and projects created by other teachers as part of grants and other projects.
Examples from NYSED grants
Teachers who participated in certain New York State grants have been required to create publicly available online materials that other teachers could benefit from; you can access these online materials in the following websites:
- “Examples of digitally-rich teaching from GST BOCES Smart Start Grant – grades K-8”
- “Examples of digitally-rich teaching from GST BOCES RESET Grant – grades 9-12”
- “Examples of lessons implementing the 2020 NYS Computer Science & Digital Fluency Standards, from WFL BOCES Smart Start Grant – grades K-8”
Examples from the pandemic
These “lessons learned” from teaching during the pandemic have been shared by a few K-12 teachers who participated in the NSF-funded UR Noyce Master Teachers Program: Preparing Highly-Qualified STEM Teacher Leaders for Urban Schools (Phase II) (award #1540712).
Facilitating remote projects with young children
Dr. Marie Rice, kindergarten teacher, Wilson Academy, Rochester City School District
How can we create meaningful activities for young students to do on their own remotely? Providing a good structure and guidance is critical.
As a concrete example, I am sharing the set of slides I created to guide my kindergarten students through the challenge of “building the tallest free-standing snowman using only the materials provided”, following an engineering design process.This handout for teachers provides additional information about how to prepare for and facilitate this experience
Adapting successful teaching practices to a remote setting
Michaela Marino, math teacher, East Lower School, Rochester City School District
Teaching remotely does not mean you have to totally change your successful classroom routines – there are ways to adapt practices that worked before to an online environment!
Here are three examples of how I was able to do so successfully:
- Students’ self-assessment rubrics to determine a “daily grade”
- Building community through Acknowledgements, Apologies and Ahas
- Engaging students in “Summary Discussion” at the end of inquiry-based units
Leveraging Pear Deck to increase student engagement in online lessons
Mark Foster, math teacher, East Upper School, Rochester City School District
How can we better engage students in synchronous online lessons? This has been the biggest struggle as my district decided to go fully online during the pandemic. I found Pear Deck a very powerful tool to foster students’ interactions during my math lesson. Here are my reflections and lessons learned from using Pear Deck in my math synch lessons.
Supporting the planning of remote lessons
Lisa Zeller, , Rochester City School District
As a science coach, I have tried to support other science teachers in designing remote lessons that meet the Next Generation Science Standards.
In this 5-minute vlog I report on a specific experience involving a remote science curriculum planning day I held with two teachers, and the lessons I learned from it. I am also sharing two tools I have found useful to guide the planning of phenomenon-based science unit template and daily lessons for a virtual learning setting.