The Hybrid Teacher: Using Technology to Teach In Person and Online

THE HYBRID TEACHER

Using Technology to Teach In Person and Online

EMMA PASS

Copyright © 2021 by Emma Pass. All rights reserved.

Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Imprint

111 River St, Hoboken, NJ 07030

www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, phone +1 978 750 8400, fax +1 978 750 4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, phone + 1 201 748 6011, fax +1 201 748 6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: Although the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly, call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800–956–7739, outside the U.S. at +1 317 572 3986, or fax +1 317 572 4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119789857 (paperback)

9781119789864 (ePDF)

9781119789871 (ePub)

COVER DESIGN: PAUL MCCARTHY

COVER ART: © JACEK KITA | GETTY IMAGES

FIRST EDITION

About the Author

Emma Pass is a middle school language arts teacher at a hybrid school in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is the creator of Tag: personalized spelling lists, and works as an educational technology consultant and professional development provider with her own company Empowered Edu.

Acknowledgments

A huge thank you to all of my colleagues and friends who I interviewed for this book: Kate Stevens, Tory Wilson, Stacy Denham, Lindsey Mater, Hannah McGrath, Amie Sharp, Aubrey Yeh, Cole Zawaski, Theresa Hoover, and Emma Chitters.

Sam Nagel, who kept Empowered Edu afloat when we were drowning in work.

Cleo Masia, Meraki Designs, for helping to make my work look nice

Betsey Martens, Iris Writing, for quick, clean, and kind copyediting, plus never ending support.

Izzy Martens, marketing advice and general support.

Will Pass for endless edits and enthusiasm.

Before We Begin

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK (PRINT)

I am an English teacher and therefore love physical, paper books. I love to hold them, smell them, gaze upon them as they sit peacefully upon my bookshelf. However, this is a book about technology, and technology is fast paced, flexible, and alive.

Nearly every page of this book has a live link for you to explore, which is very hard to do on paper, which is why I've created an interactive webpage to accompany this book that you can access at hybridteacherresource.com. The links are also available on this book's page on www.wiley.com.

I recommend you highlight, underline, and annotate galore in the print version, and when you get to a link you want to explore, visit the webpage on your computer to find and follow the link. They should be easy to find as they are organized in the same chapter and subsection headings.

Then, be sure to bookmark your favorite tools to use later!

FREEMIUM

As I mentioned, this book is chock full of links to educational technology (EdTech) resources. Often I see myself as less of a writer and more of a librarian or curator of EdTech tools, and this book is a collection of my current favorites.

Because the people who make these tools often do it as a means of employment, most tools have some premium version that you can buy to unlock additional features or products.

However, because I am myself a teacher and know all too well the reality of teaching without a classroom budget and spending out of pocket, EVERY tool I mention in this book has a FREE version. In fact, almost every tool I use in my own classroom is the free version.

If you have a sizable classroom budget, why not upgrade and support the education technology industry? If you have a sizable heart and pockets, consider donating to Donors Choose (www.donorschoose.org) to help other teachers upgrade as well.

Disclaimer: I am not sponsored or paid by any of these companies to promote their products.

GLOSSARY

These terms will help provide a foundational understanding for the content that follows.

Introduction

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

—Theodore Roosevelt

THE WHY

Before I start teaching a new unit, I always try to address the Why? with my students. Why are we learning about this? Why will it be meaningful to you? Why will it be beneficial to your life?

For this book, I've not only asked myself the why? but a few more Ws too. Here is what I've come up with:

What: This is a book about using technology and online pedagogy to enhance teaching and learning as a whole.

Who is it for: K-12 teachers of all content areas, in brick-and-mortar, remote, and hybrid schools.

How might it be used:

Emergency Preparedness

I was approached to write this book in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of schools globally shut their doors in order to reduce the transmission of disease and save lives.

When it comes to safety, schools regularly prepare and practice for emergency scenarios. I imagine schools will now begin to adopt and regularly practice emergency remote learning to be prepared for future disease outbreaks, natural disasters, or any other number of unforeseen circumstances.

This is a guide for them.

Emerging Hybrid School Models

Although many teachers, students, parents, and administrators (rightfully) struggled with adapting to emergency remote or hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope some innovative educators were able to see beyond the struggle to the benefits of hybrid learning for certain student populations, and new hybrid schools models will begin emerging in districts across the country.

This is a guide for them.

Educational Technology Benefits Everyone

In a 2016 Arizona State University study on educational technology (EdTech), researchers found that the use of EdTech in teaching and learning can have considerable positive impacts on student performance, and efforts to adopt new educational technologies in the classroom will be rewarded.

Although this book is focused on teaching in a hybrid model, the tools and techniques can be applied to most learning environments.

The study also found that the biggest barrier to success in the implementation of EdTech is providing teachers with the necessary professional development.

This is a guide for you.

Bring it back to the building

If you teach full time in a brick-and-mortar classroom, look for these sections, where I explain how an online tool, resource, or strategy could be used in a traditional classroom model.

MY WHY

My first teaching job was as a 6th-grade English teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada.

My years there were easily the most challenging and rewarding of my life. My love for those first students of mine resonates throughout my entire body. My students came from the most diverse (in the true sense of the word) backgrounds imaginable. They were Black, White, Latinx, European, African, and Asian. They were the children of wealthy surgeons as well as single parents who worked the night shift at Burger King. Some of my students had boats that they would take out on Lake Mead, while others were homeless. Our school was a magnet school for the deaf and hard of hearing, and we had a number of students who were Syrian refugees.

Meeting the needs of such a diverse and large group (I taught nearly 200 students per year) was an impossible task. However, I thank my lucky stars every day that our school was awarded a grant in my first year of teaching to receive 1-1 Chromebook devices. (Meaning each student had access to their own device that they were able to use in school and take home.)

Because I had little other experience teaching, I threw myself entirely into learning how to use educational technology to engage my students and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of as many learners as possible. I was also incredibly lucky to have a teacher-mentor, Larenda Norman, who supported me and encouraged me to continue learning.

A few years later when my husband had the opportunity to cover a European news circuit, we jumped at the opportunity to live in London. There, I had another lucky break in meeting my next mentor, Andy Caffrey, with whom I traveled the country and continent working as an educational technology consultant, teaching and training other teachers to use technology in their classrooms.

I currently live in my home state of Colorado, where I still work part time as an EdTech consultant through my consulting company, Empowered Edu. I also teach 7th- and 8th-grade language arts at PSD Global Academy (PGA), a public hybrid school in which students spend half of their time learning in person and half of their time learning from home.

I wanted to start with my story because the perspective of this book comes entirely from these experiences. A lot of what I write about comes not from research or interviews but the time I've spent with students.

Everything I do in education is for them.

A NOTE ON ACCESS AND EQUITY

I want to address the privilege assumed in this book.

My experiences in hybrid teaching are based largely on my current position as a teacher at PGA. We live in a well-funded, predominantly White city where we are able to provide laptop devices, 1-1, to all of the students in our school and district.

Further, many of the students who come to our hybrid school have a stay-at-home or work-from-home parent to support and encourage their learning during online/remote days. There are exceptions, but we are ultimately teaching in a position of great privilege.

This type of digital access and support is not a reality for many schools and districts that are disproportionately made up of low-income, rural, Black, Latinx, and/or Native American populations.

I say this to emphasize the existence of a digital divide in our country, which needs to be bridged so that we provide access to technology, Wi-Fi, professional development, and after-school/at-home support to every student, school, and district nationwide.

Shining a light on the issue is only the first step, and it is not enough. People in a position of privilege can choose to simply look away because it does not affect them. If you are in such a position, choose to turn toward the light, then act. There are several immediate steps we can take to help:

Sign a petition on Change.org demanding action to provide internet access to low income families.

Contact your state representatives to request additional funding to public education, specifically to address the digital divide.

Donate to ConnectHomeUSA.org, a company working to bridge the digital divide in government assisted housing, or to DonorsChoose.org, where you can provide resources directly to teachers and classrooms nationwide.

I have done my best to explore practical and tangible options for addressing access to technology in the section Access to Technology in Chapter 14.

With great hope and effort, we will achieve digital access equity in our country.

Teach on,

Emma

RESOURCES

Items in bold in the text are listed here in the Resources.

2016 Arizona State University study on educational technology—http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED577147.pdf.

Chapter 1

Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

—Albert Einstein

When we talk about teaching and learning, especially in the context of a digital learning environment, we are typically thinking about it in one of two ways:

Synchronous learning is what typically happens in a traditional brick-and-mortar school; it's what we think of when we hear teaching. The teacher stands in front of the class and delivers instruction, and the students receive the information simultaneously. Then students practice and apply their learning within the time constraints of the class period.

However, it's important to note that synchronous learning can also be conducted remotely over a video conferencing platform like Zoom or Google Meet in a remote or hybrid learning scenario.

In contrast, asynchronous learning is typically prebuilt and posted for students on a learning management system (LMS) to access within the time constraints of a day, week, or unit.

Many 100% online schools are entirely asynchronous, where students have access to the entirety of their prebuilt course work, unit, or module, and they work through it at their own pace.

Hybrid schools often use a combination of both. Our PSD Global Academy (PGA) middle school schedule, for example, follows this system for delivering instruction:

However, there are other methods for delivering synchronous/asynchronous instruction that you can read about in The Administrators' Appendix. These examples are found in schools that are attempting to teach synchronously to students who are both in the classroom and at home by livestreaming their lessons (concurrent instruction).

I believe there are benefits to both synchronous and asynchronous instruction, and both should be adopted as instruction methods regardless of whether you're full-time brick and mortar, hybrid, or remote.

Chapter 2

Synchronous Learning

Good teaching is 1/4 preparation and 3/4 theatre.

—Gail Goldwin

Typically, whenever we are in the classroom with our students, we are engaging in synchronous learning. However, synchronous learning can also be delivered remotely via a video conferencing platform like Zoom, Google Meet, or Skype.

At PSD Global Academy (PGA) Middle School, we typically engage in synchronous learning 2 days/week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Those lessons are done in person at our school building. During the COVID-19 school building closures, we simply moved our classes to a video conferencing program (Google Meet), maintaining nearly the exact same schedule that we had in person.

Although I almost always prefer in-person synchronous learning to video conferencing, having those established times during the week to meet as a class to check in, see each other's faces, and hear each other's voices felt necessary not only for our academic success, but for the social-emotional well-being of students.

I am going to assume that most teachers reading this book are comfortable with delivering synchronous instruction live/in person, so I will use the rest of this chapter to explain how synchronous teaching and learning can be adapted to an online environment.

Still, keep in mind that many of these tools and tips could also be integrated into in-person synchronous instruction when we return to the classroom. For example, see the section The Chat Box later in this chapter to see how I plan to use the chat box in my brick-and-mortar classroom.

CHOOSING A VIDEO CONFERENCING PLATFORM

Most schools or districts will provide you with a video conferencing platform, but if you have a choice, here are some factors worth considering:

Zoom

Microsoft Teams

Google Meet

Since the initial publication of this book in June 2021, all three platforms have been working hard to meet the needs of remote educators and all three now have hand-raising, breakout rooms, and custom background features. Keep in mind, however, that all platforms are continuing to make changes and release additional features in the upcoming months, so check their websites for updated information.

At PGA, we use Microsoft Teams for our staff meetings and Google Meet to teach our students. I prefer Google Meet, and most Google products, because they are simple, easy to use, and integrate well into the Google Ecosystem. Throughout this book I will be referencing Google Meet when I discuss video conferencing or meeting online.

KEY VIDEO CONFERENCING FEATURES

Regardless of what you choose to use, any video conferencing software will have these key features.

The Microphone

It is the norm in my synchronous online classes that students' microphones are muted unless they are called upon. This is essential for students to be able to focus on the content being delivered. I try to hear my students' voices as much as possible during class and will ask students to unmute their microphones throughout the lesson. We also have class discussions and small-group discussions where students are encouraged to speak.

However, all of these activities need to be done thoughtfully to avoid chaos. There are just too many background sounds in all of our homes (cats, kids, dogs, garbage trucks) for more than a few people to have