The idea by covering so much ground was we would need parent to help the kids with the older material and the kids to help with the newer items.   The topics were broken down by week:  Pop Culture, General Trivia, Music Trivia, Sports Trivia, TV and Movies trivia, and Political trivia.  Each week the three of use would build the questions (I took the oldest, Travis the middle years, and Anna the youngest in our group the modern).   We would build the game in Kahoot.  Travis would run the game from Dublin, I would run the google meet (about 160 people involved in the game--moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends.) 

Players would need two devices: One to Watch the questions on the google meet (computer) and a phone to join the game and answer the questions in the meet (a few did it the other way around and found it hard to see questions, ect.) and off we went.  

As the person always watching the reactions, I loved this.  I watched families slap high fives, hit each other, bury their heads in their hands, jump and cheer, dance to songs, and even spill the popcorn, and so one.  THEY HAD FUN.  

The two school principals got involved, and I issued bets to the Principal of Davis for who would win the most games (still waiting on my T-shirt:) 

On the last day of school  we played and Davis Middle School pulled out the victory.  That made the victories 3 for Beachwood and 3 for Dublin.  So by popular demand, we can back from the rubber match the next week when school had ended.  Beachwood pulled out the victory (We picked winners by top five--3 of top five) 

Several district contacted me and I forwarded the Kahoots so they could start their own family fun nights.  

With both Beachwood and Davis starting year on Remotely, we will start the games back up.  Nothing I did in remote learning made me, the families, the students feel more apart of our community.  

Now you are ready to allow your students to have fun and learn at their own pace, remotely.  Below is a gallery of some of the work that my students have submitted.  I have found that the drawings are much better because they are taking their time working remotely and not rushing to fit them all in, in a 40 minute class.  Enjoy the Experience, Everybody.  -J. C.

I was very glad when they reached out to see if the presenters were willing to present and provide the video to them for an online conference.  I was happy to do that.  Anna Love, who is student teaching with me was very excited to present the first time at an educational conference, so I am glad we got the chance to do this. Then JC, Travis, and I presented a topic I was only going to present, so  you will have to cut us some slack, as we could not be together to film, so we talk over each other a few times and you will hear the silent as we wait to see who will talk next.  But the ideas are here.  I hope you can find them useful and visit NEOTech next year!  

Remote learning? What is that?  Today is a weird day for me.  I am a tech nerd.  I have played with tech for years, taught tech at the graduate level, and set up a studio in my office for the next few weeks of remote learning.  I like to try new things and always am looking to improve my craft.  For almost ten years, I blogged a few times a week, but that ended a few years back.  I was tired.  

I had tried many new ideas in the classroom and need a break from writing about it.  I have had kids blogging since 2009, writing their own textbook, building VR, websites, smore, sutoris, slideshow, music videos, RSA animations, interviewing experts around the world, KidTalks (Like TEDtalks) and so much more. Not to mention that I team taught over distance (130 miles) each day via the web/meets with another middle school in Ohio for four years.   ​

 However, this week is new.  Going online.  Not seeing my kids, not talking to them in the halls, not hearing the latest gossip, not solving all their problems. In fact, not feeling normal at all.  Worried about my family and my friends, my students and their families.  That is what we need to do at this point and we need to take a step back.  I am not focused on "Teaching" kids, but providing them with educational opportunities to learn.  So this week, I used a lot of tools to present my weeks worth of work, but the work is review--No new content and is not overwhelming to my students.  So, what did I do. Well see for yourself--  The slide show says it all (youtube one slide two is live however, I have disabled some of the links for you).  

In the end, people matter most!  Stay safe and keep learning... Cheers, Garth 

2.  https://tactiq.io/ Homepage  and then Extension 
         a.  To be honest, we did not use this one, so I am unable to really talk about how it works or if it works well.  However, you can check it out if you want a workspace for everyone in the meet, links to calendar invite and more (seems like a google doc sort of, but we will see).  

3.  NOD This is the game changer. It is the one Zoom had that google meets did not. 
       a.  Lets student raise their hand!! (ONLY THE MEETING ORGANIZER CAN SEE THIS) 
       b.  lets students show understanding, confused, like, etc..  Everyone can see these!  

Zoom is an awesome product.  I have used it many times, but for the world of remote learning these extensions have changed the game in favor of google hangouts (especially google schools).  The real issue for me is will your school district "push" out the extensions for students (GRID AND NOD), if not, then I am not sure the game has changed.   Let me know your thoughts.  Garth

This project is made on tour creator.  This student made podcasts to accompany her 360 VR tour as she went on 10 stops of a religious pilgrimage during the middle ages.   She is role playing a peasant.  This is best viewed in VR, but it works on the computer.  

Tutorials I used to help them get started are found here.  Students were told to start watching at 8:57 as they already have used Google Earth Projects and the tutorial compares the two.  

This students parents gave me permission to post her work here.  Enjoy.... 

Not only am I concerned about how my students are going to progress in their learning of the Social Studies curriculum but also their well-being and state of mind through this terrible pandemic.  That's also why I am trying to connect with them frequently on lighter terms, even though we are not required to. Here is where I am digging into my tech toolbag and pulling out a few tricks.  Silly tricks also, but I like to have fun in my class so why stop now even if we can't see each other face to face.  I created a "Pet Padlet" (see below) for them to post pictures of them with their pets.  Not every student has a pet and I asked them to be creative if they didn't have one.  Some have posted pictures of stuffed animals and even siblings! Another way to stay in touch is FlipGrid, which I will be posting to often and probably too often!   More to come later!  I know this may be challenging for many, but hang in there, and as best as you can...Enjoy the Experience! ​

We are presenting 
Wednesday in A216 Empowering and Creating student Legacy with electronic portfolios at 3:30-4:30
Thursday in B232 HyperQuests: Creating Engaging Experiences for Students at 8:00-9:00
Thursday in B246 Engaging Students in a Globally Connected Classroom at 1:00-2:00
Thursday in A210 Ramping up your Formative Assessment! Make it FUN!  at 2;15-3:15  
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