Interacting in our Virtual Library Classroom: Part 1

I knew this year would be challenging.  After my first 3 days of remote teaching I wasn't sure there would be any life left in me to check out a book or have any brain cells left to compose an email.  Seven days later I admit that I still feel stumped and frustrated, but I have had small victories that are worth celebrating.  

The Challenge

1st and 2nd grade students did not have the skills to minimize our Zoom and interact with content.

The Solution

Create opportunities for students to interact without clicking while we develop these skills.  I developed activities that required students to make a choice (think "This or That" or "Would You Rather" type activities).  

Introducing Vocabulary 



To launch our celebration of reading, one of the books I read was Wild About Books.  There are so many different animals and potentially unfamiliar words in the book though.  To introduce these, we played several rounds of "Would You Rather Be A..."





We also identified what a bookmobile and a zoo were before we voted on which place we would rather visit.  With big smiles on our faces we were ready to read!


After reading our book, students wrote or drew what they were excited about reading this year.  We shared our thoughts and our library year was launched.


My Takeaways

  • This example felt particularly successful (as far as remote teaching goes).  I was able to introduce vocabulary and do so in a semi-interactive manner.
  • The reality - this took SO long to create, relatively speaking.  While I would love to make every lesson like this, I don't have enough hours in the day (or creativity) to do so. 
  • I recorded me reading this so I could take attendance while the book "played."  I discovered that when I play videos and share my screen this kills my connection.  I had many students flagging me down because they could not see or hear the recording.  I am back to reading "live" now, but I still record these so students who are dealing with unstable Internet connections can catch what they missed.  *A new child broke my heart when on day one I asked what questions they might have and he wanted to know why I "read without him" (he was in the bathroom).*  Cute question, but it is a bigger problem.  So many of my students are getting kicked off of our Zoom.  How much of our class are they actually getting?  I am leaving the books available for them to enjoy later.


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