With schools being closed due to the pandemic, many teachers are being asked to teach via videoconferencing. It’s a great idea until you start to picture doing it with students who have limited attention spans, do best with hands on learning activities and struggle with generalization! Don’t panic!! Here are 10 videoconferencing ideas to help you engage your students and sneak in instruction.
Play Hangman
Hangman is a great way to work on letter identification, spelling and positional concepts like between, before and after. Click here or the picture below to read tips on integrating word work, vocabulary and phonics into the game.
chat while having snack or lunch
This is a great opportunity to work on social skills, conversations, answering questions, etc. It’s also a great time to remind students about any eating goals and skills you are working on. For example, not biting the straw, don’t put too much in your mouth, etc.
Charades
This videoconferencing idea uses the vocabulary words you are currently working on and play charades. It will help students practice vocabulary and thinking about the words and concepts in different ways. Display your theme or vocabulary words on the screen or next to you to give visual supports to students if needed.
Simon says
Not only is this game a good social skills activity, it’s a great way to target imitation with students. Imitation is an important foundational skill.
question of the day
Have a daily question that promotes conversations. There are lots of choices for this videoconferencing idea:
- Would you rather…
- Which do you like better…
- Have you ever….
- Do you like…
- What do you want…
Show and tell
Students are naturally excited to show and tell you about something they love. Doing this over videoconferencing opens up the possibilities of what students can share about. It also helps them make connections to what others are sharing more easily because they may have the same thing or something similar right where they are.
zones of regulation check in
Have students continue to practice assessing their feelings and mood by stating which zone or color they are in. Many of our students are struggling to understand all of the changes, so help them continue to practice self-regulation and coping strategies during your videoconferencing.
scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunts are a fun way to build in motor movement to a session while targeting vocabulary, labeling and function of items. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Find something you read.
- Show us an item you use to stay warm.
- We are working on measuring. Can you find something you use to measure with?
- I have a red apple. Find something in your room that is also red.
- You found a book. What else could you read?
read aloud
A simple read aloud, while not very imaginative, can be very engaging for our students. They get to see you and experience something that is very familiar to them.
Try out several of these videoconferencing ideas with your students to see which ones get the best engagement. It may depend on the group of students and the goal of the group. Experiment and see which works best for your class!
Like what you read? Pin and share the photo below so you and your colleagues can refer to the post.
