Teaching in the pandemic

[sankeydd]

This could relate to VRC as well, but more for new IQ teams. We started building the classroom in January but all the kids have to take turns building. I really like this and will adjust my teaching in the future.

1. More kids get a chance to build.
   Everybody gets their day. When 4 kids are up trying to build the bot ti’s always one kid building, one or two kids helping, and one kid doing absolutely nothing.

2. No bored kids
   By making them take turns they all get a chance and they are all engaged. The kids that are not building are working on their units on the computers.

3. Better Engagement
   I have the time now to get to know the kids more because when I give them all a turn they each get to show me what they can individually do.

4. Shared notebook responsibility
   Now all students have to keep track of the work that they do in the notebook. Most of my kids are using Google docs so they can all see and keep it up to date together even on their off days.

Curious if any other teachers have seen differences in their classrooms with covid restrictions and how it’s affecting your teaching in a positive way.

[holbrook]

Not really a classroom thing, but a similar experience from the events side - we have been really happy with the remote judging format. We have things scheduled so judges have a few days to look through notebooks at their leisure, which lets them read much more thoroughly than they would normally be able to when reviewing notebooks at the beginning of a typical in-person event. Plus, having the interviews scheduled rather the squeezing them in whenever has allowed them to get more in-depth without teams stressing about where they need to be in the next 5 minutes or what part of the robot just broke and needs to be fixed before the next match.

In-person judging has its advantages too, but I definitely think we will miss some parts of remote judging when we are back to running normal events.

[sankeydd]

@holbrook

We have things scheduled so judges have a few days to look through notebooks at their leisure, which lets them read much more thoroughly than they would normally be able to when reviewing notebooks at the beginning of a typical in-person event.

I agree here 100%. I think notebooks should just go digital.