# @edutopia on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CFxDtXYFb9S
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/20304314-edutopia-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/88dca27af9.jpg
- **Posted:** 2020-09-30T15:57:40.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Edutopia (@edutopia) — https://gondola.cc/edutopia

## Caption

Keeping tabs on student engagement during remote learning isn't easy—especially when kids switch off their cameras. “During a guest lecture on Zoom, several typically engaged students had their cameras turned off,” writes high school teacher Katie Seltzer. One student later quit attending Seltzer’s synchronous class meetings; another stopped turning in assignments. The reason? They didn’t want to be on camera.⁣
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Rather than force students to be on camera, Seltzer realized, she needed a new way to make sure kids were engaged.⁣
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Here are the strategies she’s using this year to maintain community and incorporate camera on/off choice for her students: ⁣
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• Rethink virtual Socratic seminars: Allow the outer circle of your Socratic seminar to turn cameras off, while the inner circle speaks with video and cameras on. Outer-circle students can use the chat feature to “echo powerful comments they heard and ask questions” of their inner-circle classmates. ⁣
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• Provide choice: Build student agency by offering kids choice for how to show their learning. With Flipgrid, for example, Seltzer allows students to block the camera, and during synchronous video meetings, students can participate by chat, video, or just audio. She also builds in camera-off breaks to allow kids to work independently before rejoining the group.⁣
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• Foster engagement across formats: Polling tools, such as those built into Zoom, provide simple opportunities for formative assessments, quick check-ins, icebreakers, and multiple-choice quizzes. Check for understanding by asking kids to hold up a paper or whiteboard to the screen—no need to show their homes or faces on-screen.⁣
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• Plan video-optional work: During in-person lessons, some students feel awkward and rush through  activities involving reflection time. Seltzer says that with cameras switched off, protocols for “deep textual analysis and reflection might work even better in the virtual realm.” She anticipates experimenting more with these protocols in breakout rooms. ⁣
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Link in bio.⁣
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#Teacher #TeachersofInstagram #TeacherTip #OnlineLearning #VirtualLearning #DistanceLearning #RemoteLearning #TeacherStrategies #TeacherTalk

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## Tags

teacherstrategies, teachertip, distancelearning, remotelearning, onlinelearning, teacher, virtuallearning, teachersofinstagram, teachertalk

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