Teacher
Katie Juul is an English teacher at Kennedy High School. She designed and teaches a BPS Online American literature course. She favors student-centered instruction and caters to the individual needs of her students.Instructional Strategy
Katie takes on the role of teacher as facilitator by designing learning activities that give students ownership over their learning. Katie uses Flipgrid and online discussion forums to encourage students to share authentic examples of their learning while reinforcing peer-to-peer relationships in the online classroom.As she’s gotten to know her students, she has learned some thrive in environments with few distractions, while others prefer to move at a faster pace or more independently. Her online course provides opportunities for teamwork and collaboration while offering students more choice in how, when and where they learn best.
While Katie notes that teaching online presents challenges to building relationships with her students, she strives to connect with them personally by learning about their goals, needs and interests. She observes that her students take online courses for a variety of valid reasons, challenging previous assumptions that students opt for online classes to get out of "doing school."
“I have a student who is very self-conscious, and it has affected his school performance. Attendance, work completion and participation have been difficult for him. When I acknowledged him for his great work in the online class, he told me it was one of the few times a teacher has recognized him for doing well. He is so proud of the work he's doing that he continues working ahead of many of his classmates. He's also reaching out to me through our online course, and I've been able to connect with him through technology in the same way as I connect with students in my face-to-face class.” - Katie JuulKatie’s empathy for varying student needs is reflected in how she designs a safe environment for online discussions. In a traditional classroom, it's often the same students who participate and share ideas, but online courses encourage students who are quiet or self-conscious to speak up. She says her students are more open and honest in their online responses than in face-to-face discussions.
See What It Looks Like
- Visual tour of Katie Juul’s online American literature course
- Interview transcript with three online American literature students
Comments
Post a Comment