In the end-of-year teacher survey, you wanted a way to streamline communications with your students. Communicating with students is multi-faceted and we are working over the summer on a comprehensive recommendation. In the meantime, I wanted to share an idea that Elizabeth Lockwood shared with me. It's called the Bitmoji classroom and it's something you can incorporate into almost any scenario you might employ in the coming school year. The idea is to create a virtual classroom using Google Slides that links to materials you want to share with students. What I like about it is: it's visual, fun, and can be personalized. Here is one I created as an example of me visiting the Kindergarten room:
You can add anything you can link, so your imagination is your limit. Here are examples from otherteachers that are way more creative than I am. If you get bit by the Bitmoji Virtual Classroom bug, you can join 156,000+ other educators on the "Bitmoji Craze for Educators Facebook Group". In my example i have linked a great deal of information into one Google Slide (Note, many of the links are placeholders. It is meant to serve only as an example.)
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You can share your Bitmoji Virtual Classroom link with students through Google Classroom, Seesaw, Bobcat Den, email, etc. For quick access, I would highly recommend that Lower school students add the link to their iPad Home Screen (I can push it out to the iPads for you), Middle school students and parents can bookmark the page in their browser. Teachers are able to update the shared slide at any time and students will have immediate access to the new information.
There are tons of YouTube videos describing how to create Bitmoji Classroom, so I am not going to create another one. I encourage you to go to YouTube and use the search term "Bitmoji Classroom Tutorial" and find one that speaks to you. Instead, I am going to list some tips & tricks I think you might find helpful:
- Once you create and share your Google Slide with students, continue to use the same one. Don't make a new one. If you do make a new one, then you'll have to share another link. If you want a history of past classrooms (and links), then make a copy before you change it and name it something meaningful (e.g. Bitmoji Virtual Classroom 14Sept20).
- In the same vein, do the same thing with any documents that you link to that you will be updating. For example if you publish a weekly newsletter, then use the same Google Doc Newsletter from week-to-week. Just update it with the new information. That way you don't have to update the link. Make sure your documents such as the Newsletter are shared as "read only". If it is meant for parents, then make sure the permissions are set, so it can be read by "anyone", not just people within the school domain.
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- When you hyperlink a box with text in it (e.g. Weekly Newsletter), make sure you hyperlink both the box and the text. This will make it easier for people to get to the linked information. Note, after you hyperlink the text, the text will change colors and it will be underlined. You can change the color of the text and remove the underline using the standard text formatting tools.
- To get rid of annoying YouTube ads and suggested videos, you can use QuietTube or ViewPure. With both, you enter a YouTube video address and it gives you a new URL of the YouTube with a cleaned up interface. QuietTube is easier to use and presents the student with the least amount of distractions. ViewPure has more features and lets you set a start and end time and add passwords.
- There are lots of bitmoji classroom backgrounds, both free and paid. The easiest way to find objects (e.g. couch, white board, easel, etc) is to add the search term "clipart".
- You can add fun animated "gif" images at GIFFY. Put the search term "transparent" if you want a transparent background. To insert the gif image into Google Slides use the "URL address of the image" (right click on the image and click on copy image address).
- You can share your contact information with students such as Zoom link and email address. To link your email, just type your email address where the URL usually goes.
- You can share links from the Bobcat Den, Google Classroom, Seesaw, etc. The person accessing the link will have to have permission to access the systems.
- Click here to learn how you can create your own Bitmoji.
You've probably figured out by now that Bitmoji is only a small piece of this. The idea is to create a document where students and parents can easily get to shared information. You can do this however you like. If you're no-nonsense, you can simply share a Google Doc with hyperlinks. Maybe you're like me and you have a class website or you really like to create ThingLinks. It all works!
And it doesn't have to be a classroom. Here's one that Jenn Street made to share information with Lower School teachers:
And as always, let me know if you have questions. I'm happy to help.