The new school year is here bringing cooler temperatures, early mornings, and a new classroom of students eager to make connections. Start the year by engaging students and helping them feel safe and connected in every classroom. Students, educators, and families can access licensed and purchased digital resources and tools from INFOhio that can be integrated into classrooms and libraries at no cost. Find out how to use INFOhio to make connections.
According to Fisher-Weaver and Walter (2022) in Connected Classrooms: A People-Centered Approach for Online, Blended, and in-Person Learning, "all learning happens through connection." In this book, the authors share what they call Connected Teaching Commitments to support teachers with centering humanity in their work in the classroom. These nine commitments are:
This blog focuses on three of these nine commitments to support a connected classroom. These three are going beyond the classroom and making deep connections with students through their passions and interests, celebrating global connections by learning about cultures and identities that transcend their own, and building in affective supports to teach students executive function skills and student wellness.
To help each student feel connected and important, learn about every student's interests, passions, and strengths. As daily communication occurs in the classroom around learning targets and goals, also add in daily chats about who they are and what they are excited about. Provide students with choice in what they are reading and learning about. To support this choice in your classroom, INFOhio has curated collections of eBooks and videos by grade band and has also created choice boards on high-interest topics, providing easy ways for students to stay engaged and find content to learn more about their interests.
eBook & Video Collections
With funding through Future Forward Ohio, INFOhio has purchased about 6,000 student eBooks and videos to read or watch for enjoyment and learning. To make it easy for students to find the perfect title that fits their passions, the eBooks and videos have been curated into collections for Ages 3-5, Grades K-5, Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12. Find each collection within the corresponding grade band button on the INFOhio homepage.
Each collection is browseable and students can scroll to see all the eBooks and videos.
Filters are included in each collection as well. After clicking the filter icon next to the search bar, a set of filters opens that include Item Type, Language, and Content Area. The search bar can also be used to find eBooks and videos on specific topics.
A keyword search for soccer yields 18 results.
Not only is choosing books based on interests helpful in engaging students, but it can also help grow students into life-long readers and learners.
All eBooks and videos are unlimited use, which means that multiple students can be on the same eBook or video at the same time. These eBooks can be used for independent reading, but they could also be used in a whole-group setting and shared during guided reading groups. These simultaneous-use books are also perfect for book clubs where each member has access to the chosen eBook.
Choice Boards
Choice boards are a great way to share a small collection of eBooks and videos on a topic of high interest. Find the choice boards in the INFOhio Choice Board collection in Open Space, or search Educator Tools with the keywords "choice board." More than 40 choice boards have been created.
From cars, to crafts, to animals there is a choice board that will be of interest to all students. For students who want to learn origami, share this choice board with them.
Choice boards have also been created to supplement the curriculum with specific topics in science, social studies, and English language arts. Here are just a few:
Share this choice board on the American Revolution with educators searching for supplemental materials to build vocabulary and background knowledge.
Celebrating our differences and commonalities is a great way to make connections and build trust and understanding. "Connected global classrooms open windows for students to learn about cultures and identities beyond their own" (Fisher-Weaver & Walter, 2022). INFOhio has eBooks, videos, and resources that help support learning about other cultures. Providing students access to CultureGrams through INFOhio will allow students to learn about their own country and those around the world.
CultureGrams
To support global connections, have students use CultureGrams: Kids Edition or CultureGrams: World Edition to learn more about countries around the world.
In CultureGrams, every country in the world has a page that includes fun facts and information about population, language, history, and land and climate. Also included are greetings, recipes, photos, and videos of the people and places that inhabit the country.
Be sure to check out the Video Gallery to see what life is like in the country. This video shows what a typical market looks like in Oaxaca, Mexico.
This example shows the general attitudes of Brazilians. Students will learn that "most Brazilians tend to have an extremely casual attitude about time."
For a fun activity, have students choose a country that they have always wanted to visit and use CultureGrams to learn some interesting information about these countries. Then have students pair up and find commonalities and differences between the countries.
eBook Series
INFOhio has purchased several series of books to encourage learning about different cultures. Check out these series:
Highlight a new country every month using the Your Passport series featuring 28 different countries. Each title includes a Fact File page. Use this page of facts from the country selected and compare it to life in the United States.
Affective supports include emotional support and empathetic dialogue to help establish a sense of belonging and safety in the classroom. Build in affective supports by focusing on students feelings and behaviors in the classroom and by "directly teaching strategies related to self-efficacy, emotional regulation, healthy relationships, and self-care" (Fisher-Weaver & Walter, 2022).
Self-efficacy, according to the American Psychological Association, "refers to an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments." INFOhio has several eBooks that support the teaching of self-efficacy:
Emotional regulation "is the ability to exert control over one’s own emotional state. It may involve behaviors such as rethinking a challenging situation to reduce anger or anxiety, hiding visible signs of sadness or fear, or focusing on reasons to feel happy or calm" (Psychology Today). INFOhio has eBooks that support emotional regulation:
Important traits of healthy relationships include building mutual respect, kindness, and trust. Directly teach these skills to students by sharing these eBooks:
Many of these eBooks include guiding questions to help students think about the topic and learn more about themselves. In Making and Keeping Friends it includes questions throughout. While reading, pause and let students answer these questions in a journal or jot them down to write about later. Some of the questions are:
A great way to start your year is to pause and begin by making connections with students. Providing resources that support the forming of relationships, learning about their interests, finding global connections, and student wellness are just a click away.
To spread the word about INFOhio's licensed digital tools and resources at no cost, share the updated Teach & Learn With INFOhio: Digital Resources for a Digital Age flyer with your colleagues that showcases select resources for each grade band. Also, make sure to Stay Connected with INFOhio by signing up for our newsletter.
We are here to help! If you have questions visit support.infohio.org.
Sarah Mowery is a Professional Instructional Specialist with INFOhio. She has worked in education for 16 years as a school librarian and technology coach in elementary and middle school settings. While in these roles, she's been an integral part of the building leadership teams working as a curriculum connector and integrating web-based tools. She earned a BA in Sociology from Bowling Green State University and an MLS with a specialization in PK-12 schools from East Carolina University. Sarah was one of the original INFOhio ICoaches when the program first began in 2013 and has a passion for sharing how INFOhio resources can transform teaching and impact learning for students and educators across the state of Ohio.
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