-: All right, well, good afternoon.
Thank you everyone for being here.
My name is Kelly Gomez Johnson.
I'm at the University of Nebraska, Omaha
in the Teacher Education Department
and just thank you for stopping in today
and seeing how, a little bit,
about how I adjusted some instruction over the last year,
and still trying to kind of keep the things
that I really felt were important
and honored in my classroom,
and then just how to make that shift,
using free resources that were not too far away for me
since it was such a quick shift.
So, thanks again for taking time.
This is just to talk a little bit about Google Jam Board.
I hope I give you a little extra time at the end to play,
but we're gonna start off being pretty interactive here
in about how I use this.
I kind of had to transform a low-tech to a high-tech option
to maintain, basically ensuring
that I still had that learning environment
and norms established in my classroom.
So, I'm gonna ask you to immediately participate
and I won't apologize for it.
But I'm just wondering, just if you'll share
one or two things about what does it take to be successful
in your class, in your teaching
or in the people that you work with.
Like, what's an expectation?
A non-negotiable that makes being in your environment,
helping other people be successful?
So will you take a minute, and if you wanna,
if it's online you can put kind of an O in front of it
or if it's in person,
but I'm just looking for,
you know, what are those non-negotiable expectations
that help people be successful in your space?
Take about a minute.
For some of you, if you don't teach a course,
then it's maybe the people that you work with.
What are those things that you expect from others?
Thanks, Lynn. Yeah completing assignments online.
Having people be self-starters, great.
Hi Liz. Being able to read and follow directions carefully.
Yeah, the devil's in the detail, right?
Take about 30 seconds. If there's other people.
What are those non-negotiable expectations?
Thanks for adding those.
So that expectation of participating,
whether in person or online.
Being able to engage with others.
Yeah, these are sometimes things that we expect
or don't expect, and what I've found is interesting
is how diverse students coming from class, you know,
they go from class to class
and how different the expectations are.
Many times, they do go to classes
where it's kind of just expected to sit and get,
and then they come to our class and we're like,
"No, you need to participate,
you need to speak up, you need to collaborate,"
and sometimes those expectations don't translate
like we think.
So, beyond the statement in the course outline
or the syllabus, really this presentation
is just to help show one way
that I try to set the tone for expectations.
Sorry about the emails.
They're just gonna keep dinging.
But trying to set expectations
and create norms that I think we take for granted
as being just what we expect from our students in college.
So, one piece of information that I always start with
and I teach in teacher ed,
and so one of the biggest things that we talk about
is it starts with relationships and expectations.
And so the only way that I can teach them
to care about these things and how they matter
in the future is if I model this myself.
So a couple of pieces is that we know that active
and engaged learners can help retention
and also academic success.
So ultimately we want our students
to be successful and putting in environments
that we know create active learning environments
for them can be really helpful.
Also, in terms of when I think about classroom community,
one fun fact I think about all of my classes
is that every single one of my students
has to know every single other person
in the classroom's names,
so that when they're referring to each other
that it's something where we create a classroom community.
And that has to start day one.
Again, my classes are about 30.
So I know some of you out there are like,
"I have classes of 100. Dream on, lady."
I completely understand that different situation,
but how can we create that community
and that partnership and that community feel mentality
of a community of practice
where we're all like learning and sharing together?
Also, oftentimes, you know,
I'm trying to teach them also how to create a classroom
community, but to become a part of a community,
everybody has kind of a stake,
and so co-constructing norms and what is going to be,
what is our cultural makeup?
What's our classroom culture gonna feel like?
It's really not ours
if I'm kind of downward telling them
what it's gonna look like.
So, this is gonna be sort of a modeling
of how we do that using technology,
and how it kind of transformed from being a low-tech way.
And honestly, the students
in my classrooms are very diverse,
and they come in with very different experiences.
And so, opening it up to hear them from the get-go,
it not only lets me set the classroom expectations
that I know are gonna help them be successful
as they matriculate through our program,
but it also gives them a voice
and it can also bring out some of those potential bias
that I may have,
but then also our students.
So we can start to have
kind of really intentional conversations
about just teaching and learning,
and what that might look like for their success.
And like I said before,
just what are the things we're gonna celebrate?
What are the things that we're gonna uphold
and how can we individually and as a group be successful?
So, the structure.
It's called above the line, below the line.
And it's really a way that I try to create
a classroom community where we put it all out on the table
from the get-go.
Like, what are those above the line
behaviors, actions, words,
things that we're gonna say and do?
And then what are the things we don't wanna see?
What's that below the line?
We're gonna kind of collectively decide
this is not gonna be in our space
and it's not gonna be in our class.
And so, this is kind of the structure behind it.
I put students in small groups.
So, even before COVID,
they were in small groups and they are assigned a topic.
And so sometimes it's like respect.
You know, these big topics that people are like, yeah,
we're all gonna respect each other.
But what does that look like,
sound like, feel like, what does that actually,
like, how can you paint that
so that we all know and have a similar vision
of what that's gonna be like?
So they're in groups and they're assigned a topic.
And I try to make sure that the roles are
moving along as they go through each of these topics,
because I want students from the get-go,
from the very first class,
to realize that every day,
it's kind of an off your seat on your feet,
even if you're online,
but that your active participation
is gonna be an every day thing in the classroom.
And so, they always take different,
they take turns,
on who's gonna write or who's gonna type
and that's gonna be something that's shared
and not one person's responsibility.
I usually have about five to six different topics
that they fill out, which I'll show you
a couple of examples,
and I keep it very structured and timed
so that they start to see a little bit
about how you can very, in a very organized way,
structure kind of cooperative learning environments
and also how you can keep things moving and on pace.
And that I'm not really gonna give them
a lot of time to get off track.
And I'm gonna give them very clear expectations
on how this is gonna look, but they all rotate.
I give them usually about 30 seconds to a minute
to write a few topics.
And you'll see that here
on something above and something below the line.
And then they always have to kind of go through
and read before they write.
So, I want them to really kind of take in,
what do other people expect
about what professionalism looks like,
or what do other people expect
is below the line for collegiality?
And to really kind of take that in,
because I wanna open up a space
where they can agree or disagree with that,
but then also not repeat the same ideas.
So, that's kind of a little bit
about the read before they write.
And you'll see, it's like I said in the example here.
And then they always return back
to the first topic that they had.
So, it's almost like a gallery walk
where they normally would walk around the room
and add to poster boards.
And then they finally get back to the first poster
that they were at or the first topic they were at.
And they realize a lot has been added since they left.
So, it kind of honors this idea
that the first thing I think about
isn't always the first thing someone else thinks about.
Or that my ideas can be really added to
by the experiences of others.
And so this is a little bit
about the above the line, below the line,
just the structure in itself.
And then it always leads to a whole class conversation,
where I can not only add on and elaborate
on those expectations that I might have
that were right on the outline that they had read
before they came in, I'm sure.
But then where we can have some agreements
on what our classroom culture is going to look like
and what our co-constructed norms are gonna look like.
So here's an example.
And this is, this visual here,
is actually Google Jam Board.
So it's kind of, it looks and feels
almost like a slide show.
And like I said,
I'll give you a chance to kind of play with this a bit.
But it's a place it's basically a bulletin board.
Normally, you know, you would walk around the room
and maybe put sticky notes up on a board,
and this just gives you kind of a digital version of that.
And so this one, for example,
that's shown is that collaboration and collegiality.
So, if you look on here,
the above the line student and below the line student,
I used to not separate it into quadrants,
and now I have done quadrants,
so that there's kind of above and below the line
as a student and above and below the line as teachers.
So, my students really have to navigate
two different environments,
because for some parts of the semester, they're on campus,
they're a college student.
And for other aspects of the class,
they're out in the community,
they're working with service learning,
or they're out in a school building as a practicum student.
And so, it kind of helps them.
And also me, because they put in here,
like, what do I expect from my teacher?
What do I expect?
Like, what are the experiences that have happened
to me that are not really helping my learning?
And that below the line teacher tells me a lot
about what frustrates them
and what types of things
that aren't going to help them out
in terms of their success.
So, like, I love that these were student comments.
So, not always pairing with the same students.
So, being really intentional
about the grouping structures that we have.
Not having clear expectations for group work.
And then having conversations
about how we will always have very clear roles
and responsibilities, independent and group tasks
that are gonna be graded kind of differently
and assessed differently.
So, I put on here a couple of reasons
why I use the structure,
which I've talked about a little bit,
but really it helps develop a classroom culture.
And it immediately says you will be collaborating
with people, whether I'm putting you in small breakout rooms
or whether this is happening in class,
in kind of a turn and talk situation.
But day one, you have to be ready to roll
every single day to collaborate and add
to what's happening in our class.
I'm also able to model teaching practices
that I expect them to use later,
or, and sometimes it's just the things
that I expect them to be able to apply later.
So, organization, clear expectations, directions,
those types of pieces.
One piece that I'll point out
on the next one here is that interactive and proactive.
So, there's been a lot of things that get brought up
that I can then add on to to really elaborate on.
And so, for example, on the next slide,
we'll see a little bit about,
like what does respect look like
and how I can bring up some of our own biases that we have
in terms of what respect looks like
and how, maybe our past and our experiences
might give us a look at, like the deeper cultural aspects
that other, that, you know,
someone might not think they're being disrespectful,
but we are observing that as disrespectful,
and how we can start breaking down that sort of bias.
And then eliciting evidence of student thinking.
So, Gonzalez, Moll, and Amanti
talk a lot about the funds of knowledge.
And so what kinds of experiences do they have learning?
I also am in mathematics, right?
And so, a lot of my students, if I ask them
about their mathematics experiences of the past, I hope,
and not the future or the now,
but, it's that they were kind of the receivers
of information and that someone knew a lot about math
and they were trying to tell them
about what that looked like.
And so trying to get them to explain their prior experiences
and then being able to build off of that
so that we can deconstruct it and say, okay,
but what's equity, what's effective?
Bringing out their experiences is a huge aspect of that.
So, and just in terms of time,
because I wanna make sure that I get to the pieces.
This is the low-tech way.
I used to just put up boards
and I'd put five of them around the room.
And I would put a topic in the center.
Like this one's respect. What's it gonna look like?
And they would kind of put pieces in here
and then everyone would be circled around the room,
and be able to, and then we just kinda have a conversation.
And at the end, we'd be looking at,
okay, if we were to lock arms, we don't actually lock arms,
but what are the things we're gonna say?
This is what our class is gonna look and feel like.
And this is how we kind of co-constructed.
Now, I was able to add onto quite a bit of these pieces.
So, for example, you know, if students would put,
you know, it's below the line for students to be rude.
And that would be a great way for me to be like,
tell me more about what that, tell me more about that.
Like, what what's rude to you?
Because for some people it's, you know,
showing up late.
For some people it's not turning on their camera.
For some people it's not responding to an email
within 24 hours.
And so breaking down what we define that to be,
as a group, just helps us all be
at a more level playing field.
Also using technology appropriately.
So, for example,
that's my chance where I tell my students, you're an adult.
I know you have things happening in your life.
If you have to take a phone call, if it's an emergency,
then you step out,
and I honor that you are a person
and a human and you need to do that,
but don't make me guess and think
that something else is going on
because you have your phone out every day.
So, giving them that opportunity
and having that conversation on day one
just helps a lot with later stresses.
Confidentiality in terms of teaching.
It's a great opportunity for me to bring up
our accessibility services and saying,
talking about the differences
between confidentiality and privacy
and how, if I'm ever worried about their wellbeing,
or if there's anything that, yeah,
I will keep it confidential,
but that I can't always keep it private.
And also the mandatory reporting aspect of their role
as a future teacher or just as a citizen.
So, it also brings up a lot of those other pieces
of content that are either coming
or that I really wanna make sure are known on day one.
Also be present.
So if they say, be present.
Well, what does that look like online?
What does that look like if you're in person?
I taught hybrid,
so I would have half my students online
and half in person simultaneously.
And so having those conversations
about what that's gonna look like and really painting it
for them just makes everybody know
kind of what success might look like.
So this is Google Jam Board to the rescue.
Like I said, this was a shift
that I wasn't willing to give this up.
This was great.
And it set my classroom norms,
but I wasn't willing to give it up.
And I've actually realized that Google Jam Board
has made it even better.
They still, they all have their computers.
So whether they were at home
or whether they were in class, they could participate.
Each group kind of took a turn.
So maybe the first time, only four sticky notes.
And then the next group had at it,
and then they they kept going over it.
So it just kept building, each one of these slides.
If I look at the whole Google, oops,
you probably won't be able to see that; probably not.
If you look at the entire Google Jam Board,
I have like five or six slides in there.
And then as we kind of talked, I was able to move these.
So being on time and prepared.
Well, that ended up being an above the line
for both teachers and students.
Using devices in the right way.
Especially since they were considering themselves
as both teachers and students, so.
But it was important for me to see them write things
like flexibility with home life.
And breaking down more appropriate dress
and how we would talk more about that.
This is one that I added in
as we had an in class conversation,
because we kept talking more and more.
And so we really had to talk about, okay,
so what's our expectation on the camera, on or off.
And what does active participation look like?
And ultimately we decided,
camera on and that you needed to be un-muting.
And that when I asked a question whole class
that you were welcome to answer out loud.
But then also just communication.
If your wifi was bad or if you weren't on
in a great setting that day,
that communicating in a private chat was something
that I would really appreciate as a teacher.
And so just those types of pieces.
And then also the idea of not taking class from your bed.
Those are just some of the conversations
that we could have that day so that I wasn't,
that I was gonna fairly evaluate them as a student
in terms of like,
how serious they were taking the class.
But then also just what,
I was trying to set them up for that professionalism
that we were hoping to instill in them as well.
And then I just wanted to show
a couple of other examples here
of other ways that I used Google Jam Board
just throughout the class.
This up here, this is another example of,
we were talking about kind of universal design for learning
and it's kind of challenging
in the different areas of action and expression
and representation and engagement.
And so allowing students to really dig deep
into what these mean.
So, you know, if you look on here,
individual op, let's see, optional, I'm sorry,
It's so small, I can't even read it, but,
oh, optimize individual choice and autonomy.
So then, well, what does that actually look like?
And so they were able to use a Google Jam Board,
which they were already familiar with
to apply this understanding.
And I also let them use Google Jam Board
as a great way to just do high points, low points,
and turning points in kind of their field experiences.
So, they could start to notice
and wonder about what other people were posting
in kind of an anonymous way.
So, if they had a day where a lesson bombed
or something didn't go well,
or if they were confused on a concept,
they could put those pieces on the Google Jam Board,
and it just really kind of helped them
share and not feel alone, I suppose.
So this is, I just put up here a little bit with practice.
So, if you wanna scan this, you absolutely can.
I also have the link I can put into the chat.
But this is really, oops, sorry. I lost it.
I don't know where that went.
Let me see.
There we go.
I'll put this into the chat.
Oops, I lost you again. Sorry everybody.
Here's the chat.
For the Google Jam Board.
And this is where you can kind of get a feel
if you haven't before,
on what might be a benefit for you or for your students
in using a Google Jam Board.
This is just to kind of a way to get used to you can drop
a sticky note on there, or you can add text,
you can add a picture, but this is kind of an example
of how it gives you immediate response
and immediate opportunities.
And yeah, you can move it. That's fine.
It just gives you a great way to interact
with your students in real time.
And for something like building norms
and having expectations in your classroom,
it's a great way to kind of set the tone
for your whole class in a way that then you share this
and say, okay, this is what we agreed upon.
And even later on, if you have to kind of have
an intervention with a student,
which I do all the time,
I can kind of make comments and saying like,
these were some of the agreed upon things
that we talked about on day one.
Can you tell me how I can support you in meeting these?
So, I wanna open it up if you have any questions
about Google Jam Board.
I invite you just to play if you haven't before.
It's open for you to use.
And students like it 'cause it's fun and it's free.
Are there any questions?
Participant: I do have a, oh. Wait.
-: Yeah.
Participant: I do have a question.
You were saying that you had people rotating
between groups to address the same,
and then they'd come back, right?
Like kind of the gallery walk thing.
What I'm wondering is,
was there like a persistent thing that was shared
in that room or someone who was in charge of that?
Or how did you handle that logistically?
I thought that was an interesting idea.
-: Yeah, so they were just in, they each got a slide.
Kind of a slide number,
and then they were in their small groups.
And so, even people online could be in a group
with people in person.
It ended up working out even in that hybrid.
And then I would say switch,
and then they would go to the next slide.
So, some people would start on slide one,
and then they go to the second one
and then I could shift them about every minute.
So, that's kinda how it was orchestrated online.
Participant: So they weren't actually switching rooms.
They were just switching slides.
-: Yeah, they stayed with the same group.
Participant: Okay, great.
Awesome, that's helpful. Thanks.
-: Any other questions?
-: The next session starts in about four minutes,
but we can probably still get a question in if you want.
-: Thank you all so much for coming
Lynn: This is super helpful, Kelly.
Thank you; I'm feeling a little clumsy with Jam Board,
but I think I would get better over time.
-: Oh, thanks, Lynn.
Yeah, I used it over and over in different ways.
And so students just got more and more comfortable with it,
but I ended up really loving it, so.
Lynn: Okay, I'm gonna explore that.
I think it's cool. Thank you.
-: Thank you. Good to see you.