How to Capture a Student's Game Board and Add Hebrew in Zoom

In response to my previous post, Games for Teaching Hebrew (or any language, really), lsachs wrote: Great ideas. Could you give some details on how to capture the board and add the Hebrew. Thanks. 

When my reply ended up being rather lengthy, I figured it would do better as a separate blog post.

I teach via Zoom, and Zoom has a feature that allows you to share your screen. It is the green

"Share" button in the middle of the tool bar. I open the image, share my screen, and once I am sharing, I am able to use the "Annotate" feature to write Hebrew over it. In this case, I wrote the Hebrew words for right, left, up, up and down so that my students could tell the class in Hebrew

which word they were reading in our Squares game. As the host, you find "Annotate" in the tool bar, which will drop down when you hover over the top of your screen (or wherever you see the green and red bar, notifying you that you are sharing your screen.) You must already be sharing your screen to see the "Annotate" option.

Class Dojo's Portfolio, where students submit their work.

If you are wondering how I got the picture of the board in the first place, you have a few options. I use the free app Class Dojo to receive images from my students and their families. (You can watch a 4-minute video introduction to Class Dojo here.) There is a little bit of set-up involved, but really not much and it is well worth it to have a convenient way to share, collaborate and communicate with students. Anyway, using the app, they are able to take a photo of their work and send it to me. I receive their work in real-time and can then share it on my screen.

Another option is to ask parents (or able students) to take a photo of their work with a smartphone and email the picture to you. The negative is that this can be hard to coordinate during class and often has to be done as homework.

If you don't want your students or their parents to deal with yet another technology, you can take a screenshot (a.k.a. print to screen) of your students holding their work up to the video camera. They DEFINITELY should write with dark-colored markers to make sure the letters are visible, and they need to be very steady. You will want to set your Zoom view to "speaker view" so that you see one student at a time in full screen. (Whoever is talking will show up, so you may need to mute the other students so that you aren't dealing with different students flashing on the screen while trying to take a screenshot.)

If you are unsure how to print to screen and you have a PC, watch this 45 second video: How to take a screenshot.
If you have a MAC, hold down these three keys: Shift + Command + 3 
The image should save to your desktop.

Games for Teaching Hebrew (or any language, really)

Recently I gave crash course workshops to Hebrew and religious school teachers in order to help prepare them for teaching online. The discussions inspired me to come up with new games and activities for my students. I researched popular board games, specifically looking for games that are sufficiently engaging, but not so strategically-focused that the students would spend the whole class period on strategy instead of reading Hebrew.
Here are games I already play with my students:

• Snakes and Ladders: I bought a simple Snakes and Ladders stock graphic (though you can find free versions online) and have my students read Hebrew words before they role the die and take their turns. Judaics teachers could ask students to answer quick Judaic questions in order to take their turns.
• Guess Who: Students use simple modern Hebrew phrases and clothing / body vocabulary to identify the chosen character.
• Tic-Tac-Toe: Students have to read the word written in the Tic-Tac-Toe cell before putting their mark. It's even better if you get the students to create the boards. (Tip: If they are creating the boards by hand, ask them to use markers to write so that the writing is bold enough to be seen when they submit a photo.)
• Bingo: Someone calls out a word and the students have to check their boards for that word; it's silent reading, but reading nonetheless. There are added benefits if they create their own boards, and it's even better if you let them take turns choosing the words so that they practice reading out loud as well. 



A Game of Squares

• Squares: We play this a lot, especially when students are supposed to make Tic-Tac-Toe or Bingo boards for homework and some students forget. This happens almost every time, so we usually end up postponing our game and playing Squares for a week or two first. The goal is to claim the most squares by putting your mark into them. The way to accomplish this is by being the person to "close" the square by adding the fourth side. In each turn, the student identifies where she wants to draw a single line. Then she reads the word on either side of the line. If she reads correctly, she can put down her line. Eventually, students run out of options for drawing lines, and they are forced to draw the third side of a square, opening up the opportunity for others to close the square. If you close a square, you get an additional turn, and there is no limit to the number of additional turns. A student can get a streak that could earn him ten or more closed squares before the next student gets her turn.
• Clue: You can find templates for digital Clue boards for free online. I have a lot of lessons learned associated with this game, so I think I'll write a separate blog just about this one... mainly because the lessons learned would help guide any other ambitious teacher who may want to turn their favorite board games into teaching tools.

The first game I created as a result of my research was Connect 4. I actually created this game on Sunday and tried it out yesterday for the first time with my 5th and 6th grade classes. Huge success!! The goal is to get four tokens in a row. Imagine there is gravity in this virtual game, so before you could place a token in the top row, all the lower spaces in that column need to be filled with tokens. I just found a template for the board online and added Hebrew words to each opening. I created two separate boards for my 5th and 6th graders, using the words from the prayers we are studying. (I created another board for my mixed-level Hebrew classes at other schools. This versatile board includes one letter and one simple word in each opening so that students can choose to read one or the other depending on their reading levels.) I divided the students into two teams. Students from each team took turns reading, and the others kids on the team confirmed (in Hebrew) whether they agreed with the pronunciation. If they didn't, they were allowed to advise the reader to adjust her pronunciation, but ultimately, it was the reader's decision that counts. If her final decision was incorrect, she did not get to place her token. 30 minutes was not long enough for my 5th graders to finish their game, so I started earlier with my 6th graders, and they were able to finish it up in about 40-45 minutes.

Tune in for more game ideas and lessons learned in the coming weeks.

Questions from The Online Hebrew Educator's Lab (OHEL)

I just finished teaching a yearlong course on how to teach Jewish Supplementary School online. In reviewing the videos and discussions, I realized that there were lots of helpful nuggets that may be beneficial to share in a public forum.

This series of short blog articles addresses many of the questions, answers, and ideas shared in the course. This first mini-blog answers a few basic questions posed at the very beginning of OHEL when online learning was still a new idea to the majority of students. These questions are in reference to a presentation entitled, "The Pillars of Success."

Is "Synchronous Learning" the same as real-time learning?

Yes.

You mentioned that when kids get home from school, they often need to "get out the jitters" before they are ready to learn some more. What do you mean by "get out the jitters"?

Kids are anxious to do something other than sit and learn after they get home from eight hours of sitting and learning. They need the opportunity to play, move, express themselves, etc. Otherwise, it is hard for them to focus. There are many creative ways to bring this kinesthetic experience to online students, and it is often an essential ingredient when you are teaching children in an online learning environment.

What is "Formative Assessment Value"?

When teaching online or in the classroom, the class activities should align with your summative assessments by providing the students with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the assessments. Your activities should also serve as formative assessments so you can tell if your students are on track with their learning and are on their way to achieving the outcomes. Without formative assessments, you won't know if the students have reached the benchmarks you have set out before them. Therefore, some of your activities need to have "formative assessment value".

If you have questions about this presentation or would like permission to use it, please contact Stephanie Burak at Stephanie@LearnJewishly.com

Bonding Across Ages

One of my most fulfilling moments while teaching Hebrew online was the first time I saw a 4^th grade girl and 6^th grade boy bonding through the chat. I believe they were talking about school or sports… I can’t quite remember the details. But it was meaningful for me because their conversation was unlikely to occur at their Beit Sefer or even at their secular elementary schools.

In the field of online education, we learn that the apex of online learning is when a student experiences opportunities and engagement that couldn't take place in a face-to-face classroom (either because they are not possible or not as effective in a live setting.) I didn't plan for or anticipate this beautiful student connection, but it is a reality of online learning.

Our online classes are live and in real-time. Everyone can be seen and heard via webcam, and they can chat through an instant messenger service that comes with the virtual meeting platform. Overall, nothing replaces the face-to-face experience. However, for children who would otherwise miss school regularly, learning in a live virtual classroom is a close 2^nd. We sometimes don't realize how much we gain from the community aspect of Jewish learning. And in an environment like this, we have the ability to bring together Jewish students who otherwise may never connect.

About this blog

Shalom and welcome! שלום וברוכים הבאים

My name is Stephanie and I have been teaching Hebrew and Judaic students since I was 14. For the past 3 years I have been teaching Hebrew online for Beth Emet, The Free Synagogue.

I've been an educator for my entire adult life, but for the past 5 years my day-job has been focused on training college instructors on the design and facilitation of successful online courses. The skills I developed to guide my instructors, combined with my passion for teaching Jewish youth, have helped me design and deliver fun, engaging and purposeful online Hebrew learning experiences. I feel very lucky that I have been able to bring together my love of Jewish education and my online teaching skills to create something meaningful and important.

I am inspired to write this blog because of my experience at the iCenter conference this week. After meeting many other passionate Jewish educators, I learned that the need for quality online Jewish education and online teacher training is immediate and widespread. So, I decided to start this blog to share my strategies, ideas and lessons learned. I hope they help! And if there is anything specific you would like to know, please leave a message and I will do my best to answer your questions.