HyperDocs: Teaching Tools for the Pandemic and Beyond

Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting a new colleague who would teach the same subject on a different campus.  Danny is a dynamic educator and a curriculum design powerhouse.  When he graciously offered to share his files, it became apparent Danny was that teacher.  The one you love and are jealous of and hope never supervises you, but secretly try to convince to become your life coach.  Not only was he generous, he was organized and armed with a treasure trove of beautifully designed units that were ready to roll out at a moment’s notice.  I have always wanted to be that teacher.  I am not that teacher.

This pandemic has forced us all to face a number of realities about our education systems, about teaching, and about ourselves.  Our greatest strengths in the classroom don’t always translate to distance learning platforms.  I personally pride myself on my intuition, adaptability and flexibility. What I lack in efficiency I make up for in student centered teaching that rarely feels stale and is always open to improvement. I think of myself as an educational curator.  I observe my students closely to discern their preferences and learning styles. I am really good at finding and integrating new resources; I switch it up all of the time.  I will throw out things I spent hours prepping over the weekend if Monday’s class illuminates a better way forward or a different need.  Something not working?  No problem. I have another idea.  Discussion reveals a tangent worth exploring? Let’s go! We will circle back eventually.

None of that is useful anymore. 

Now I only see my students “live” once a week. We are all craving normalcy, routine, and assurance. I have just enough time to walk them through an assignment’s location and directions, to make sure they have everything they need, and to answer questions.  We might be able to have a small group activity using video breakout rooms, but I concede they need that time for socializing, and I hold them marginally accountable.  They are doing most of their learning asynchronously.  Everything needs to be prepped and posted days ahead of time. Whatever I start, I have to stick with. Change causes chaos. I have had to become more like Danny.  More transparent. More organized. More intentional.

Enter the HyperDoc. 

There are several excellent guides to designing and using HyperDocs. I recommend checking out the work of The HyperDoc Girls and reading this.  A lot of what you see might look familiar because HyperDocs reinforce many best practices like cycles of learning and backwards design. 

I really love the concept of a tight package where all of the tasks, links, and instructions my students need are organized within our school’s “6Es” project learning framework and put into an intuitive workflow. I can easily transition between content acquisition, skills work, and assessment.  In some of the sections there might be a menu of options students can choose from, which gives them a voice in determining how they will learn material or demonstrate their understanding.  They don’t need me to tell them what to do next or when they are done.  It’s all right there. They document their progress and can see their knowledge and critical thinking skills grow.   

There are a lot of downloadable templates available for both Google and Microsoft apps. You can also make your own and play around with what works for your class.  Both documents and slides are great platforms depending on your visual preferences.  Hyperdocs work for any subject.  This folder contains a set I made for 7th grade Humanities students on World War 1 and World War 2 and a set that I made for 6th grade Math students to kick off our Algebra Unit.  It is really easy to link resources like Khan Academy, Scholastic, or Newsela.  It is also easy to integrate other digital tools like Padlet, Kahoot, and Flipgrid.

Hyperdocs are helping me design and deliver assignments in a way that supports my students’ organization, independence, and motivation.  This in turn increases the likelihood that there will be good academic outcomes even though they have to do more on their own.  So far I see students with a wide range of abilities navigating our studies with confidence and self-sufficiency.  I hope this comes as a relief to their overburdened families. 

There is nothing easy about teaching and learning in a crisis.  But we can make it easier.  Hyperdocs are working for me and maybe the silver lining is becoming that teacher after all. 

Teaching Hope in a Climate Crisis

Today I was on the Kojo Nnamdi show! Live radio is an exhilarating and terrifying experience – not least because now everything is recorded for the podcast and sent out via Twitter.  Check out the show here. The topic was teaching about climate change and justice as a strategy for giving young people hope in the current climate crisis.  Since joining Whittle School and Studios, I have received incredible support for incorporating this topic into our curriculum and it came together beautifully for our 7^th graders this past fall.   

It is known that the Thursday before winter break is NOT the time to be ambitious.  If there is ever time for a movie or a pajama party, the days leading up to a two-week vacation are it.  But at Whittle, we are constantly trying to defy conventional educational wisdom, so of course, the Thursday before break we were being ambitious. 

Our 7^th graders had been working hard towards their culminating project:  a simulation of an Indigenous climate summit where they would represent the perspectives of Indigenous people from around the world.  The goal was to prepare a set of resolutions to “send” to the UN outlining the climate challenges global indigenous groups were facing and the solutions needed to mitigate those challenges.  

This project brought together a STEM study of deep time and extinction level events with the examination of early American history through an Indigenous lens that we did in humanities.  We always try to incorporate arts education practices and the performative nature of a simulation added that element.  We also invited the model UN instructors in to conduct workshops on diplomacy, negotiation, and consensus building.  

In groups students researched environmental crises such as desertification, ocean acidification, sea level rise, glacier melt, deforestation, drought, and uranium mining.  They also studied the cultures of the Indigenous groups on the front lines of these problems, people whose ways of life are being threatened and who are also fighting back in myriad of admirable ways.  They learned to care about caribou, coral, and cancer rates.  Now it was time to put all this learning to use.  

The greatest teaching moment of my life came two hours into the simulation.  My 12 and 13 year-old students had been presenting, discussing, and debating vigorously - and they weren’t done yet.  I was prepared to drop it.  The majority of the experience was complete, and I wasn’t sure I could ask for more.  But they weren’t done yet and needed more time.  I offered the free study period scheduled for the next morning. Sure enough, the next day, without prompting, all 19 of them trooped in, arranged their tables, and got back to work.  Winter break was mere hours away.  

What was happening?

I was experiencing the holy grail of teaching – an intrinsically motivated classroom.  Students who were working hard because they were invested in the content and the task at hand.  Because they felt a sense of purpose.  Because what we were doing mattered. I’d come close before, but that day I saw the real deal. 

To whom do I owe this career defining experience?

Certainly, my students, who are some of the most talented young people I have had the privilege to work with.  I recently asked them what they remembered and what they learned:

That many people are now turning to Indigenous People for help and inspiration when it comes to helping the world and having more sustainable goals.    ~Chiara

I think preparing for the climate change summit gave a whole lot more information about topics regarding climate and preparing and researching these topics gave me a lot of insight into Indigenous perspectives. I had to study solutions for the Inuit Arctic people's climate problems, so I really also had to research what their problems were as well.   ~Logan

I am also truly inspired by the education model we are building together at Whittle School and Studios.  Our mission is to reimagine education through interdisciplinary, experiential, project-based learning.  Not everyone believes this will work.  After that day, I know it does.

Additionally, I am so grateful for the support of partnerships with awesome organizations located right here in Washington DC.   Teaching for Change, Rethinking Schools, and the Zinn Education Project have so many awesome teaching materials like the ones that inspired and informed our study.  Local land and water protection groups like Everybody Grows and Anacostia Watershed Society do this work every day and provide hands on access to gardens and rivers.  Smithsonian institutions like the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Natural History are investing in incredible experiences that connect our classrooms to larger conversations and communities.

 

My job as a teacher of history and the humanities is to develop deep empathy which includes the ability to listen.  Throughout our study, my students learned to listen to others who have different and equally valuable stories to tell.  They learned to listen to the past so that they learn from and do not repeat mistakes.  They also learned to listen to marginalized voices who have the skills and knowledge to turn climate change around and make this world more just for all. 

There is nothing more rigorous and worth studying than the problems adults haven’t solved yet.   Climate change is one of those problems.  If you would like to teach about climate action and justice in your classroom or include Indigenous voices here are some more resources I found invaluable:

https://www.zinnedproject.org/campaigns/teach-climate-justice

http://thisiszerohour.org/

https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360

https://www.ienearth.org/

https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/