Fresh Teaching

Ideas for your

First Online Class

A publication of WizIQ, Inc.

© 2013 WizIQ Inc. All rights reserved.
Contributor: Theresa Heary
ABSTRACT

Teaching online is a growing field, and homeschooled students are a fast

growing segment of the distance learning population. If you can teach in
person, with WizIQ, you can also teach online. This paper will give you
step by step instructions for launching a class for high school and middle
school distance learners. It is a perfect class to introduce and familiarize
both yourself and your students with the online classroom. The details of
this paper refer to teaching a class about the US government, but the
organizational scheme provided can be used to teach anything.

Introduction 3

A Format for the class 4

Preparing the Whiteboards for the class 5

Timeline for the Class 8

Conclusion 8

About WizIQ 10

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INTRODUCTION 3

Are you thinking about teaching online, but unsure where to begin?

Here are specific instructions to help you run your first class, complete with tested curriculum and detailed plans, so
that you can introduce students to the online classroom. The details for this paper are for teaching a class about the
US government, but the scaffold provided can be used to teach any online class. Students will learn about the three
branches of the US Government, what their roles are and how the system of checks and balances works. You will
learn how to plan and organize a class.

Orientation Sessions:

When working with people who are new to WizIQ, especially children, it is useful to run an orientation session, so
that they will be familiar with the online classroom. Simply invite the students into the online classroom at 15 minute
intervals, alone or in pairs. They should know how to use the chat box, raise their hand, and be comfortable with the
writing tools. For this particular lesson, there is an activity in the break out rooms that involves moving around text
boxes. Be sure to show the students that when they want to move a text box, they must click outside of the box,
first.

Set up a board like this:

CLICK HERE

They should also know how to use the

microphone. Be sure to explain to them that
they must turn off the microphone when
they are not speaking, so that the
classroom’s auditory space is not cluttered
with the sounds of adolescent’s breathing.

Show them this picture:

Explain to them that when they are not speaking, they should click on the microphone that is above their head. They
can click on it again when they would like to talk.

Have the students’ practice going into break out rooms and sharing controls. Finally, allow them to play on the white
board.

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A FORMAT FOR THE CLASS 4

There are many ways that a teacher can organize an online class. This is one suggestion, which you can tailor to
your teaching style and to the needs of your students.

E-mail an assignment:

You can e-mail a document to the students 5 days before the class is scheduled. You might
also want to e-mail a recording of your voice reading the assignment. Many kids need to both
read and hear in order to really understand what is expected of them. Make the assignments
due a day before the scheduled class. This gives you enough time to read and organize the
students work, but the content should still be fresh in the student’s minds. You might want to
only make the classroom available to the students who have done the reading and completed
the assignment.

Your letter might look like this:

Dear Students:

We are going to be studying the structure of the US government. The US government is arguably
the most powerful in the world. Whether or not you care about politics, it is important to know
how the government runs, because its laws affect you! For example, do you know that even
though you are a kid, you have rights according to the US Government? Did you know that if you
ever find yourself in a public school, you can not be forced to say the pledge of allegiance? Did
you know that you are allowed to criticize the government, even publically, in a public school?
These are things that every kid should know!

The US Government has three branches. The Branches are the Legislative, Judiciary, and
Executive:

We will meet in the online classroom on (date) to learn more about the branches of the US
government and how a bill becomes a law. In the meantime, define these words and e-mail it to
me. Please e-mail the assignment to me by (date).

Veto:

Filibuster:

Legislative:

Judiciary:

Executive:

I look forward to working more with you!

Sincerely,

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PREPARING THE WHITEBOARDS FOR CLASS 5

There are a lot of really great features in the WizIQ classroom. For your first few classes, though, it makes sense
to keep it simple.

The easiest way to make sure your class flows easily is to have your white boards loaded and organized
according to the schedule of concepts that you want to cover.

Here is a potential list of white boards for this class:

White Board #1, The Welcome Board:

The first whiteboard might say something like: Welcome to “Understanding the US Government: An
Introduction.” It is also helpful to include a fun graphic, perhaps of Uncle Sam. Friendly graphics do a lot
to make kids feel more comfortable, which is essential to their ability to learn.

White Board #2, Review of the Three Main Branches:

The second whiteboard can simply list the three branches of government, along with a graphic to
represent each branch.

White Board #3, #4, and #5 The Legislative, The Judicial, and The Executive:

Here you can explain the powers of each branch. The Truman Library has a great list. You can use it to
prepare both whiteboards #3, #4, and #5, as well as the Breakout room activity.
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/teacher_lessons/3branches/6.htm

White Board #6: Checks and Balances:

Here you can define what the system of checks and balances is, and why it is so important: You might use
a couple of examples, such as:

The President Signs bills into law, but the congress can override his veto if enough congress
people are opposed to it.

The Judicial branch can declare a law unconstitutional, but the legislative and executive
branches have to work together to make a bill into a law.

The legislative branch has the power to declare war, though the president is commander in chief
of the armed forces.

It is a complicated system, where the different groups have different powers and different ways
that they can limit each other.

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 PREPARING THE WHITEBOARDS FOR CLASS 6

White Board #7: A Diagram of the Checks and Balances:

White Board #8: Learning the Powers of Each Branch:

Introduction to a flashcard activity.

White Board #9 and Break out Room: An Activity about the Powers of Each Branch:

You can create the rooms and have a learning activity waiting in the rooms for the students. You can not
actually assign student to the rooms until the class begins and you know exactly who is there. The
whiteboard can be ready, then you can have the kids watch a quick presentation or video while you
actually put them into the rooms.

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PREPARING THE WHITEBOARDS FOR CLASS 7

Prepare Whiteboard #9 and the break out rooms like this:

Judicial

Executive

Legislative

Note that each text box is separate, so that the students will be able to move things around.

Dear student,

I am so looking forward to talking with you today about the branches of the US government and how a bill
becomes a law. Class will start at 10:00. Stop into class, say hello, so that we can make sure that everything is
working properly. Then you are going to go and watch theses two videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5M50xBz1cU (3:01)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCB8EOY5d48&feature=related(3:48)

As you are watching the videos, answer these questions:

What does the Legislative branch do?

What does the Executive Branch do?

What does the Judicial Branch do?

We will meet again in the online classroom again at exactly 00:10.

See you then!

Your name

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A TIMELINE FOR THE CLASS 8

0:00-0:10 Whiteboard 1 is displayed. A Staggered Opening

A staggered opening gives you a chance to welcome students individually and deal with any last minute
technological problems. When you send the kids the link to the class, also send them a link to one of the sites listed
in Appendix A: Resources for a Staggered Opening, or a link to another resource that you want them to view. The
students will check into class, and then go off to complete a 10 minute learning task. When everyone gathers again,
they will already have learned something and you will have had a moment to make sure all of the technology is
functioning properly. Note that while everyone is watching the video, they can still hear you. Be sure to mute your
microphone if you are not talking to your students.

0:10-0:15 White Board 2 is displayed

The branches are listed on the board. Ask the students if they can share what they found about what each branch
does.

0:15-0:25 Read through White boards 3, 4, and 5

Frequently ask the students to respond in the chatbox or out loud with ideas or answers. You might also want to
ask a few poll questions, to keep the format varied.

0:25-0:30 Show them Whiteboards #6 and #7

Ask different students to use different colors and drawing tools to annotate the diagram as you explore it with
them.

0:30-0:35 Introduce the students to a flashcard activity

Explain to them that this activity is just like using flashcards.

They can flip the card to see the answers, but they should try
to know what the answer is before they actually flip it over.
When they get it correct, they should double click on the
“Correct” pile, if they get it incorrect, they should double click
on the “Incorrect” pile. Have them work independently for five
minutes, and then call them back into the classroom.

http://www.studystack.com/flashcard-12943

0:35-0:45 Give the whiteboard controls to the students

Give all of the kids white board controls, and ask them to group the powers with the branches. You might want to do
a quick review and end the class here. If things are going well, you can.

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A TIMELINE FOR THE CLASS 9

0:45-0:55 How the branches interact

Use the Screen Share mechanism to show this PowerPoint presentation about how a bill becomes a law:

http://kids.clerk.house.gov/middle-school/ Also, have on hand this School House Rocks

lesson.html?intID=17 video about How A Bill Becomes a Law:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TI8xqLl_-w

0:55 Quick review of concepts, and close the class

Then talk them through this list:

http://www.icivics.org/web-quests/three-branches http://www.icivics.org/games/branches-power
It’s REALLY Amazing, but gets a little too complicated for this particular lesson

0:05-0:10 Some videos and games on the working of US Government

Very basic talking head cartoon: Great Game about the system of Another Great Game about the
http://www.youtube.com/watch? checks and balances: system of checks and balances:
v=KOgIkZtykNE (1:45) http://www.purposegames.com/ http://www.quia.com/rr/92742.html
game/db9ee9e200

CONCLUSION
Let this detailed plan be your inspiration, but do not stop here. What is it that you want to teach? You can
use the organizational scaffold to teach anything. Go do it. Get ready to teach a class.

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 ABOUT WIZIQ 10

WizIQ is an online education platform that offers

SaaS based virtual classroom software for
teachers, trainers, colleges and universities, high
schools, and training and tutoring centers.
Available for individual teachers as well as
organizations, WizIQ is a highly scalable solution
for both synchronous teaching and asynchronous
tutorials and assessments. Used for everything
from teaching hybrid courses at major universities
to offering guitar lessons one-on-one across
thousands of miles, WizIQ is an incredibly flexible
tool for delivering and enhancing any type of
training or instruction.

WizIQ has over 220,000 teachers and 3 million learners using the platform in more than 100 countries around the
world. WizIQ is rapidly becoming the preferred method for educators at all levels to establish an online e-learning
presence that is engaging students with a degree of value that competitors simply can’t match.

WizIQ’s teaching tools work from a web browser, eliminating the need to download any software or worry about
upgrades. WizIQ also offers a content library, a test/assessment module, teacher profiles, and public classes by
experts. Going beyond providing online teaching tools, WizIQ enables trainers and tutors to find new clientele and
sell their courses through an online marketplace with an integrated payment gateway, helping them build their
individual teaching businesses. At the same time, these tools are scalable to meet the needs of universities and
major training and teaching organizations.

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