Khan Academy Best Practices for ELA

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- Hey, everyone, this is Jeremy
Schifeling at Khan Academy.

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Thanks so much for joining
our session on Best Practices

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for using Khan Academy with ELA.

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To that end, we are very
lucky to have Madelyn,

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one of our superstar
ambassadors on the line today

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to talk about that very topic.

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How she uses Khan Academy's ELA
content in her own classroom

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and how you can use it

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in our new remote learning environment.

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As a quick refresher, if
you're new to these webinars,

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feel free to ask questions at any time

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using the questions feature.

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After Madelyn lays out
the key points she wants

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to share with you about using Khan Academy

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in your classroom, she'll
take your questions live.

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So share and view the questions
format and here we go.

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So Madelyn, welcome, thank you so much

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for joining us today.

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- Absolutely, thank you so much.

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- We're super excited to have you here.

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And just to give folks a sense
of where you're coming from,

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tell us about your own
journey as an educator.

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- Absolutely, so this is
my eighth year of teaching

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and I've been really lucky

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to have very different
teaching experiences.

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I have taught in two different
states, in five districts.

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I've taught in rural,
suburban, urban settings

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and I've taught middle
school and elementary.

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Currently, I teach third grade.

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- Very cool, and how
long have you been using

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Khan Academy for and what
do you typically use it for

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in your classroom?

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- So I've used it for a
little over two years.

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And I use it for a lot.

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So I got started mainly using it for math

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and that's how I do my
math homework actually

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is through Khan Academy.

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But over time as I've gotten
more comfortable with it,

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I use so much on it now.

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I use grammar, I use the ELA beta

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that just came out recently,
I use the computer programming

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and I also use history.

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- Very cool, okay,

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it sounds like you're a
Khan Academy super user.

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So that's perfect.

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That's what we need.

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And so for those who wanna
aspire for super user status

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that are just getting
started today, especially

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in this difficult environment
we find ourselves in,

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any beginner tips for just
getting started with Khan Academy

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especially as it pertains to ELA?

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- You know, I think that
some of the easiest ways

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to get started...

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Well, if you're elementary,
I really recommend

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adding multiple courses to your classroom,

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so adding math, grammar and the beta ELA

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and then just explore
what those have to offer.

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I think the ELA beta is really
awesome to be able to use

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more complete units of study
and then the grammar is nice

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for those little check-ins to
reinforce skills you've taught

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in the classroom.

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- Very cool, let's actually
just pull up some of that

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so folks can see it on their screen.

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So basically we just added a new class.

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And out of curiosity, 'cause
I know this always comes up,

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how do you get your students enrolled?

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I know it's especially a challenge
with elementary students.

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- Yeah, so if you're
middle or high school,

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I say don't enroll them yourself.

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Share it, push it out
via Google Classroom.

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It's really easy on Khan
Academy to do it that way.

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But if you're elementary,
especially right now,

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I would just go ahead

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and create your student's
accounts for them.

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I know that so many
parents are overwhelmed.

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And so that's just one
thing that you can do.

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All you have to do is
type in the student's name

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and then a username and
password will be created,

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then you can just email it out to families

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and it's really easy.

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Just download the CSV for sure.

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Some people skip that, which
is really interesting to me.

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Don't skip it, download it
so that you would have that

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on your computer.

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I mean, you can access it other ways,

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but that's gonna be the easiest.

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- Great, and so once someone
has created their class

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and they've applied all
those different courses

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that you were talking about,
how would you even get started?

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How would you get a student
using ELA on Khan Academy

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for the first time?

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- So what you're gonna wanna
do is first you're gonna wanna

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assign something so that
when the students get

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into Khan Academy there is
something for them to do.

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And so I teach third grade.

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So I would go into the third grade beta

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and then just click on a unit.

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So right now, I've been doing a lot

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of actually the vocabulary
because we've done so much

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of that work in the classroom,

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I think it's nice during
this time to first start off

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with something you have already
covered with them in person.

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'Cause if this is new to them,

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they're gonna feel more comfortable if,

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oh, okay, I know what context clues are,

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okay, and then they can do an assignment

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that feels a little bit more familiar,

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even if it's a new website.

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So that's what I started with.

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We've been doing so much context clues,

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so I assigned them something on there,

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even though my students
are comfortable with it.

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- And here's an example

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of what some of those questions look like.

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Now, imagine that someone is
going to start Khan Academy

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for the first time not
having that prior experience

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in the classroom with it.

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Would you recommend rolling this out

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over a Zoom conversation
or a Google Meeting,

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or how would you even
give students a sense

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of what they're supposed to be doing

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and what an assignment looks like?

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- Yeah, so I would definitely
do some sort of live meeting

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and get them excited about it.

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Explain why you're gonna be using it.

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Maybe you want to share.

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If you're not familiar with Khan Academy,

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they get mastery points and
they get to create avatars

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for themselves and things like that.

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And so if you're working
with younger kids like I am,

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or even some of the older kids,
they get excited about that.

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So walking them through
it, through a share screen

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so that they can see what it looks like.

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The first time I did Khan Academy,

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or the first time I do
Khan Academy with my class

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at the beginning of the year,

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we always do an assignment together.

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And so you can do that
in your live Hangout.

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You could have each of the
kids write down the answer

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they think is the correct
one and hold it up.

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And then they were doing it together

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and they're getting a
tutorial of how to use it.

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- Very cool, and so when you're
ready to go to prime time

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and say, okay, I wanna make this part

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of my regular classroom fabric

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such as our classrooms exist today,

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how would you?

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How would you make it easy
and regular for your students?

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- So I think that depends on
what your schedule looks like.

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Right now I know that for some teachers,

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they are putting an announcement
every day on Seesaw.

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Well, you can put a link into Seesaw.

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Some people are doing assignments
through Google Classrooms.

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Some people are doing a
live check-in every day.

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So for me, I'm doing
mostly live check-ins.

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And so at the end of my time,
I remind them now is the time

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that you're gonna get onto Khan Academy.

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I want you to do the assignment
that's named such-and-such.

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And so just building it in that
way would be what I suggest.

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- Very cool and I'll just
mention that every piece

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of content on Khan
Academy has a unique URL.

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So if you ever just need
to paste a link to a video

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or to a specific
exercise, you can do that.

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Or into a Seesaw or a
learning management system,

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in addition to the assignment
process that works like this.

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As far as the reporting goes,

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I know we're in a very
different environment right now,

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but how much are you
looking at those reports,

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are you translating it into
grades, does it matter?

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- So I am not doing grades.

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That's not an expectation
at the elementary level.

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However, I am still using those reports.

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So one of the things
that I see as fantastic

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about Khan Academy is
there are great videos

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that are tutorials for
the students to use.

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So I don't have to spend
my time doing that.

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There's great lessons.

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I don't have to spend my time doing that.

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Instead, I can use my time
looking at those reports.

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And so just a quick story
of what happened today.

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I assigned two math
assignments and I was looking

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at the scores from students.

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One of my top math kiddos scored poorly.

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And so then I was able to
look at a different report

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which shows student activity.

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So then it shows me how long
students have spent, not just

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navigating the pages, but
actually on the assignments.

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I mean, he had spend six
minutes on two assignments,

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which is just not enough time
for the type of assignments

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that I had uploaded.

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And so because I had this extra
time, I was able to check in

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with that family and I just said,

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hey, how did the assignments go?

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Oh, it turns out their
wi-fi was in and out

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and he was really stressed about that

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and tried to get both assignments in

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before the wi-fi went out again.

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And so I wouldn't have known that

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if I didn't have those
reports to look back on.

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I could've just been like,

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oh, this was a tough skill
for him and moved on.

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But instead, I got to
build that relationship

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and talk to him about it's totally fine.

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If you have to wait until later
to get it done, that's fine.

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There's no stress to get
this done right away.

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- Very cool,

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so I love how you closed
the feedback loop there.

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I feel like as teachers
in our normal classrooms,

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we're constantly having that
feedback loop all day every day

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where a student does some work,

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we're giving them a response,

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they're getting that needed
feedback versus it's so hard

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in this remote learning environment,

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but you're still closing
that loop using Khan Academy

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to generate the data, super cool.

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So the questions are starting to pour in.

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If you're good Madelyn, I'd
love to bring up a question

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from Don and Herb and Kelly,
which is what is an ELA beta?

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What does that even mean?

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How should we be thinking about that?

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- So basically Khan Academy,

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and you can talk to this
probably much better,

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but they are adding English
language arts as part

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of their lessons and they're
just in beta right now.

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So that means that they're
testing them out, they're seeing

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what's working well, what's
not, getting feedback

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from people so that they can improve them.

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- Absolutely.

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- But so right now,
there's multiple topics

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that you can choose from.

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So there's reading passages.

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There's non-fiction and fiction

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and then there's also just specific skills

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like I talked about with the vocabulary

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like using glossaries and
dictionaries and things like that.

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So I'm super excited about it.

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- Cool, and I just shared
the link with everyone.

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If you wanna use it and give
us feedback, please just use

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that link and let us know
'cause our content developers

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are really eager for
that kind of information,

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speaking of feedback loops.

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Let's see here.

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Okay, so Ramona says I'm a fifth grade ELA

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and social studies
teacher looking for ways

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to integrate Khan Academy

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into my remote learning instruction.

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I already have my students
working through Google Classroom.

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Are there any special tips you would offer

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for Google Classroom users
given that you use it?

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- Awesome, so I use Google
Classroom, too, and there's a lot

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of compatibility between Khan
Academy and Google Classroom,

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which is fantastic.

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And you can actually in
your Khan Academy account

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even sync your Google Classroom
to your Khan Academy class.

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And yeah, perfect.

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- And then explain a little bit more

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about what does syncing look like?

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What does that actually do for the teacher

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or for the students?

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- So then it just makes it...

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I wish that I could...

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- I don't think you have
to share your screen

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'cause I know you've got

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your students' personal
information on there.

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We've got our fabricated data here.

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- Yeah, so then it just
shares the information.

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- Yeah, I thought the
easiest way to explain it is

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if you've already done the
hard work of getting students

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onto Google Classroom and
everyone's all set up there,

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if you have to add a student

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or change a student in Google classroom,

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those changes are automatically populated

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in your Khan Academy class.

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So that way you don't have to double work

00:13:02.020 --> 00:13:03.721
because it's all being fed over.

00:13:03.721 --> 00:13:04.900
- And I know there's been a lot of concern

00:13:04.900 --> 00:13:07.370
about too much information
going out to families.

00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:11.080
And so this is a way that
you can cut down on that.

00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.230
And there's less for
the students to click.

00:13:14.410 --> 00:13:17.130
- Oh, I got a really juicy
question for you from Kathleen.

00:13:17.130 --> 00:13:18.510
I love this question.

00:13:18.510 --> 00:13:20.450
I know it's very tempting
in the middle of this crisis

00:13:20.450 --> 00:13:22.830
to be totally focused on
just getting through the day.

00:13:22.830 --> 00:13:24.980
I am certainly that way most days.

00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:27.300
But if we're already
thinking about next year

00:13:27.300 --> 00:13:29.290
and setting our students up for success,

00:13:29.290 --> 00:13:31.940
if a student starts
Khan Academy this year,

00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:35.240
will their data go with them
to their next year's teacher

00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:37.030
so they can benefit from understanding

00:13:37.030 --> 00:13:38.280
what they've done so far?

00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:41.253
- Oh, that's an awesome question.

00:13:45.180 --> 00:13:50.180
Well, it depends on hopefully
your students are signing up

00:13:50.800 --> 00:13:52.943
with their school email

00:13:59.300 --> 00:14:01.060
or just using the same login,

00:14:01.060 --> 00:14:04.340
then my understanding is that it should.

00:14:04.340 --> 00:14:07.670
I haven't followed the
same group of students

00:14:07.670 --> 00:14:10.360
and I was teaching at an older grade,

00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:13.600
but from what my students
have told me, it follows them.

00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.370
Do you have more on that?

00:14:15.370 --> 00:14:16.680
- Absolutely, no, you nailed it.

00:14:16.680 --> 00:14:18.630
So basically as long as they're logging in

00:14:18.630 --> 00:14:19.463
with their school account

00:14:19.463 --> 00:14:21.300
and that school account stays the same,

00:14:21.300 --> 00:14:23.660
they'll carry all that
good information with them

00:14:23.660 --> 00:14:25.260
and future teachers can benefit.

00:14:26.280 --> 00:14:28.830
Lots of questions from high
school educators like Nancy

00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:31.210
and Jennifer saying, hey,
I love all this stuff

00:14:31.210 --> 00:14:33.200
for third through eighth grade ELA,

00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:34.840
what about us high school teachers?

00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:37.920
Would you recommend that the
vocabulary and grammar lessons

00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:40.685
are relevant for those students as well?

00:14:40.685 --> 00:14:43.050
- I think it really
depends on those students.

00:14:43.050 --> 00:14:45.490
I mean, you are the
experts on your students.

00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:47.090
You're gonna know that the best.

00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.130
I've used the grammar with middle school

00:14:52.130 --> 00:14:54.880
and I'm sure high school
teachers, you would agree

00:14:54.880 --> 00:14:57.370
that there are some holes in grammar.

00:14:57.370 --> 00:15:01.780
And so I would certainly
use it for high school.

00:15:01.780 --> 00:15:04.390
And what you might just wanna
change what that looks like

00:15:04.390 --> 00:15:06.250
and you might want to...

00:15:07.660 --> 00:15:12.660
There's unit tests for each thing.

00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:16.400
So if we go to sentence and
clauses or if we go to nouns,

00:15:16.400 --> 00:15:17.870
then there's gonna be a unit test.

00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:19.590
So it might just look different

00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:21.823
where you would find
that at the beginning.

00:15:23.170 --> 00:15:25.240
And see how they do on
that and then figure out

00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:28.220
what individual skills you wanna go over,

00:15:28.220 --> 00:15:31.283
instead of assigning
every single assignment.

00:15:32.430 --> 00:15:34.900
- I love that and actually
you echoed exactly

00:15:34.900 --> 00:15:36.890
what Tim Vandenberg, your
fellow ambassador had shared

00:15:36.890 --> 00:15:40.130
a couple weeks ago, which is
even for his sixth graders,

00:15:40.130 --> 00:15:43.470
he has them go back and actually
master each of these things

00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:45.810
because if they didn't learn
about nouns in the first grade,

00:15:45.810 --> 00:15:48.110
if they didn't learn about
adverbs in third grade,

00:15:48.110 --> 00:15:49.690
he can actually fill in those gaps

00:15:49.690 --> 00:15:51.410
and make sure they're
ready for sixth grade work

00:15:51.410 --> 00:15:52.970
or even ninth grade work.

00:15:52.970 --> 00:15:56.163
- Yep.
Okay, let's see here.

00:15:58.865 --> 00:16:00.020
Okay, here's an important question.

00:16:00.020 --> 00:16:01.060
I think this really speaks probably

00:16:01.060 --> 00:16:03.890
to the elementary population
that you're most familiar with.

00:16:03.890 --> 00:16:07.630
Marta wants to know if
I've already created

00:16:07.630 --> 00:16:10.040
the students' usernames and
passwords via the process

00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:12.290
that you just outlined, what should I send

00:16:12.290 --> 00:16:14.810
to the parents and the
students themselves?

00:16:14.810 --> 00:16:16.600
Should I just send them
that information directly

00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:18.080
or is there any preferred way

00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:19.630
to go about that communication?

00:16:21.570 --> 00:16:25.169
- So I've never had to do
it with distance learning,

00:16:25.169 --> 00:16:27.137
so that's a great question.

00:16:27.137 --> 00:16:29.140
What I would do is...

00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:33.020
Again, each school looks
different right now.

00:16:33.020 --> 00:16:36.360
We're having to send out
a weekly email to parents

00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:39.093
and so you could input it within that.

00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:45.560
And then so that's
probably what I would do

00:16:45.560 --> 00:16:50.150
is just screenshot the user,

00:16:50.150 --> 00:16:52.850
each individual username
and you could do that.

00:16:52.850 --> 00:16:54.960
Oh, perfect.

00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.470
- Yeah, I was gonna add, I
think you're absolutely right.

00:16:57.470 --> 00:16:59.410
Totally the best way to do
it or whatever's natural

00:16:59.410 --> 00:17:01.800
for your communication
style, if you're using Seesaw

00:17:01.800 --> 00:17:03.610
or screen capture tools.

00:17:03.610 --> 00:17:06.670
Khan Academy does have a
formal letter to parents

00:17:06.670 --> 00:17:08.820
where you can list it that's in a bunch

00:17:08.820 --> 00:17:11.330
of different languages, which
I'll share in the chat here.

00:17:11.330 --> 00:17:12.590
And you can always take advantage of these

00:17:12.590 --> 00:17:15.750
if you just need some
language to get started with.

00:17:15.750 --> 00:17:18.433
But I think that your point
is totally valid, Madelyn.

00:17:19.980 --> 00:17:21.240
Okay, hopefully that
gets you started, Marta.

00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:24.043
I know it's a tough thing to
do midstream, especially given

00:17:24.043 --> 00:17:26.853
that the stream we're wading
in right now is very deep.

00:17:28.470 --> 00:17:29.940
Ooh, here's a really interesting question.

00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:31.760
This is gonna challenge you a little bit.

00:17:31.760 --> 00:17:33.720
But Shelly who's actually
working with students

00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:37.600
that are focused on GED wants
to know if there are parts

00:17:37.600 --> 00:17:40.690
of Khan Academy that are
actually even appropriate

00:17:40.690 --> 00:17:42.920
for self-directed learning.

00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:44.930
So less about assignment,
assignment, assignment,

00:17:44.930 --> 00:17:47.930
more about I'm empowered to go
forth and learn as a student.

00:17:48.990 --> 00:17:52.210
- Yeah, actually I think
that something that

00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:54.410
the more comfortable
you can get any student

00:17:54.410 --> 00:17:57.480
with Khan Academy, the more
that will naturally happen,

00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:01.090
even for an older learner, it's
gonna happen very naturally.

00:18:01.090 --> 00:18:03.453
It can definitely be self-paced.

00:18:04.730 --> 00:18:08.280
Some of my third graders, in
the time that they were waiting

00:18:08.280 --> 00:18:11.210
for me to get up and running
with online education,

00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:15.040
assigned themselves computer
programming and biology

00:18:15.040 --> 00:18:17.220
and started going through those lessons.

00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:20.880
And so absolutely, this would be great

00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:25.090
for self-paced instruction.

00:18:25.090 --> 00:18:28.980
- Very cool and just to
make that really lucid,

00:18:28.980 --> 00:18:31.330
any single user of Khan Academy
whether you're a teacher

00:18:31.330 --> 00:18:33.640
or a student can always
click this courses button

00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:35.270
in the upper left-hand corner

00:18:35.270 --> 00:18:36.330
and really can start digging in

00:18:36.330 --> 00:18:38.290
on whatever they're curious about.

00:18:38.290 --> 00:18:40.940
So if you do have adult
learners, older learners

00:18:40.940 --> 00:18:43.403
who are ready to just dominate
grammar or whatever it is

00:18:43.403 --> 00:18:44.830
that they need to learn,

00:18:44.830 --> 00:18:47.270
they can get started
even without assignments.

00:18:47.270 --> 00:18:48.470
Always available to you.

00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:50.980
Okay, great question, Shelly.

00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:52.180
Great response, Madelyn.

00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:54.780
Ooh, here's a tough one.

00:18:54.780 --> 00:18:57.000
So Krista says when setting this up

00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:59.590
for an autistic eighth grade
girl, what do you think

00:18:59.590 --> 00:19:04.130
is the best approach and
if the student had ADHD,

00:19:04.130 --> 00:19:06.330
would you think about it
differently in terms of engagement?

00:19:06.330 --> 00:19:07.890
So basically just thinking
about all your different kinds

00:19:07.890 --> 00:19:09.943
of learners, I need advice for making sure

00:19:09.943 --> 00:19:11.510
that they're all served really well

00:19:11.510 --> 00:19:13.060
using a tool like Khan Academy.

00:19:14.310 --> 00:19:18.690
- So again it's gonna depend
on your individual student

00:19:18.690 --> 00:19:21.230
and what works best for them.

00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:26.230
So for one of my students who has autism,

00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:31.740
she actually really prefers
the videos on Khan Academy

00:19:32.170 --> 00:19:33.524
to anything else.

00:19:33.524 --> 00:19:38.524
The use of color is really
calming to her and she loves it.

00:19:40.340 --> 00:19:43.893
And so when I posted a video
of my online instruction,

00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:46.620
her mom emailed me and said,

00:19:46.620 --> 00:19:48.980
is there actually a Khan Academy version?

00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:52.390
So for her, it worked really
well and so much better.

00:19:52.390 --> 00:19:55.590
For another one of my students,
this student has autism,

00:19:55.590 --> 00:19:58.900
he did not like the Khan Academy videos,

00:19:58.900 --> 00:20:03.550
but he loved the activity and
doing the assignment on there.

00:20:03.550 --> 00:20:06.170
He just prefers getting
the instruction from me.

00:20:06.170 --> 00:20:09.950
So there's gonna be give and take

00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:15.640
and just I guess having
that conversation with them

00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.792
about what's working
with us and what's not

00:20:18.792 --> 00:20:21.950
and teachers were really flexible.

00:20:21.950 --> 00:20:26.000
So just keeping that
flexibility with this as well.

00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.920
- Very cool, great feedback.

00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:30.820
Actually very similar,
Caesar wants to know

00:20:30.820 --> 00:20:33.570
do you have any students who
are English language learners

00:20:33.570 --> 00:20:35.050
and if so, how do you address that

00:20:35.050 --> 00:20:37.193
given that so much of this is text based?

00:20:39.030 --> 00:20:44.030
- So I do have some students

00:20:44.060 --> 00:20:45.560
that are English language learners.

00:20:45.560 --> 00:20:50.560
So you can actually turn on captions.

00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:55.350
And so I will do that with the videos

00:20:56.810 --> 00:20:59.020
because sometimes they'll miss something

00:20:59.020 --> 00:21:04.020
or they will think that two words is one

00:21:04.570 --> 00:21:06.393
and so it just helps with clarity.

00:21:07.670 --> 00:21:12.670
So far, it has not been a huge issue

00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:15.693
for my students to navigate it.

00:21:17.340 --> 00:21:20.500
But there have been times
where with some of the ELA,

00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:24.010
I've been moving down
to some second grade,

00:21:24.010 --> 00:21:26.510
not because they aren't
able to do the academics,

00:21:26.510 --> 00:21:29.030
but I can't put the same supports in

00:21:30.130 --> 00:21:31.420
with this distance learning.

00:21:31.420 --> 00:21:33.750
Or at least I haven't
figured out a perfect way

00:21:33.750 --> 00:21:34.830
to do that yet.

00:21:34.830 --> 00:21:36.510
And so there are sometimes

00:21:36.510 --> 00:21:41.310
where I might use just a
little bit simpler level

00:21:41.310 --> 00:21:43.910
so that they can access it easier.

00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:45.160
- Great advice, Madelyn.

00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.170
That leads to a bigger question.

00:21:47.170 --> 00:21:49.450
Can you speak to the
idea of differentiation

00:21:49.450 --> 00:21:51.270
on Khan Academy a bit more broadly?

00:21:51.270 --> 00:21:53.800
When we did our initial
demo, we were mostly talking

00:21:53.800 --> 00:21:56.590
about lock step, everyone
gets the same assignment.

00:21:56.590 --> 00:21:58.790
If you wanted to serve each
student where they are,

00:21:58.790 --> 00:22:01.000
how would you go about doing that?

00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:03.200
- There's so many
different ways to do that.

00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:06.110
And it might even
actually be easier for you

00:22:06.110 --> 00:22:08.660
because you've been working
with your students in person

00:22:08.660 --> 00:22:11.180
up to this point, so you
probably have a pretty good idea

00:22:11.180 --> 00:22:14.980
of where they're at, so
you can assign from there.

00:22:14.980 --> 00:22:18.620
If you don't, if it's a new concept,

00:22:18.620 --> 00:22:22.810
then you can see how they're
doing on the assignments

00:22:22.810 --> 00:22:24.810
and then you can scale back.

00:22:24.810 --> 00:22:28.660
There's actually if you're doing math,

00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:32.910
there's very clear cut
if you need remediation

00:22:32.910 --> 00:22:34.280
in third grade, click here,

00:22:34.280 --> 00:22:39.053
if you need supports for this, click here.

00:22:40.510 --> 00:22:45.510
And then with ELA, it's not
there yet because it's in beta,

00:22:47.260 --> 00:22:52.260
but you can just yourself look
through the different levels

00:22:52.350 --> 00:22:54.100
and you can make it more challenging

00:22:54.100 --> 00:22:55.540
for your students that need that.

00:22:55.540 --> 00:22:58.270
Assign them a fourth
grade or a fifth grade

00:22:58.270 --> 00:23:01.270
or go the other way.

00:23:01.270 --> 00:23:03.800
- Cool, and just to operationalize that,

00:23:03.800 --> 00:23:05.830
anywhere you can make
assignments on the site,

00:23:05.830 --> 00:23:07.300
whether it's on the lesson itself

00:23:07.300 --> 00:23:09.790
or in the teacher classroom,
you always have the chance

00:23:09.790 --> 00:23:12.410
to do all students or
just some of the students.

00:23:12.410 --> 00:23:13.330
So you can really make sure

00:23:13.330 --> 00:23:15.430
that every student is
getting what they need,

00:23:15.430 --> 00:23:18.210
not just whatever the class is getting.

00:23:18.210 --> 00:23:20.060
Speaking of getting what you need,

00:23:20.060 --> 00:23:23.350
Nathan, a parent, actually asks
a really important question,

00:23:23.350 --> 00:23:27.470
which is I'm a parent of a
second grader and I'm trying

00:23:27.470 --> 00:23:29.230
to make sure that my
daughter has what she needs

00:23:29.230 --> 00:23:32.820
to get ready for third grade,
but I don't wanna just skip

00:23:32.820 --> 00:23:36.380
to third grade and start
her on that ELA beta.

00:23:36.380 --> 00:23:38.090
Do you recommend anything to get started

00:23:38.090 --> 00:23:39.440
at that second grade level?

00:23:42.770 --> 00:23:46.390
- Well, so I would suggest doing some

00:23:46.390 --> 00:23:48.243
of the grammar lessons.

00:23:49.610 --> 00:23:53.060
That would be really good.

00:23:53.060 --> 00:23:58.033
There's some pretty basic
things in there like nouns,

00:23:59.280 --> 00:24:02.453
singular nouns, things like that.

00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:07.910
So I would do that I would think.

00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:10.210
And then I don't think there's any harm

00:24:10.210 --> 00:24:13.400
with doing what beta is
available for second grade

00:24:14.690 --> 00:24:17.200
and fill in the time with that for now.

00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.040
- Yeah, have you ever used Khan Kids

00:24:20.040 --> 00:24:22.760
with your students at all, Madelyn?

00:24:22.760 --> 00:24:27.760
- Well, not with my students,
but I have two little ones

00:24:29.223 --> 00:24:33.470
and with my three-year-old,
he uses Khan Academy.

00:24:33.470 --> 00:24:35.750
He's not going to preschool anymore

00:24:35.750 --> 00:24:38.660
which was pretty devastating for him

00:24:38.660 --> 00:24:43.023
and so he uses Khan Academy
Kids and he loves it.

00:24:45.080 --> 00:24:49.030
And he was really excited
because that is continuing

00:24:49.030 --> 00:24:52.100
to develop and so recently
there was assignments

00:24:52.100 --> 00:24:55.690
for first grade that came up

00:24:55.690 --> 00:25:00.160
and he was so excited about new videos.

00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.363
So it's a great tool.

00:25:02.520 --> 00:25:05.770
It's an app that it'll
go through short lessons

00:25:05.770 --> 00:25:10.610
and you can either select
the lessons yourself

00:25:10.610 --> 00:25:13.700
or you can just press play

00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:17.290
and it will lead you through lessons.

00:25:17.290 --> 00:25:19.870
- Absolutely, as all three,
all along the bottom,

00:25:19.870 --> 00:25:22.040
these app stores as you
can see on the screen.

00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:24.240
And in some ways, it's easier
to get started with especially

00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:26.440
in this remote learning
environment, 'cause like you said,

00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:28.671
Madelyn, you just start
it and it just goes

00:25:28.671 --> 00:25:30.090
and you don't have to worry
about all these assignments

00:25:30.090 --> 00:25:30.923
and everything else.

00:25:30.923 --> 00:25:31.756
So could be a nice way

00:25:31.756 --> 00:25:33.730
for the early elementary
educators out there

00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:35.526
to get their students started.

00:25:35.526 --> 00:25:37.800
- And you can still get reports.

00:25:37.800 --> 00:25:42.800
- Right, Sara from Guilford
County, North Carolina asks

00:25:43.470 --> 00:25:45.100
and this is a very important question,

00:25:45.100 --> 00:25:47.360
can you actually preview
the lesson and videos

00:25:47.360 --> 00:25:48.660
before you assign them

00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:49.970
or are you basically
just shooting in the dark

00:25:49.970 --> 00:25:51.500
and hoping for the best?

00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:53.860
- No, you can absolutely preview anything.

00:25:53.860 --> 00:25:57.650
I typically do the assignment myself.

00:25:57.650 --> 00:26:01.610
Now, there's sometimes with
some of the assignments,

00:26:01.610 --> 00:26:03.670
there's lots of different
possible questions

00:26:03.670 --> 00:26:05.080
that could be asked

00:26:05.080 --> 00:26:08.650
and I'll just run through one possibility,

00:26:08.650 --> 00:26:10.080
but just so I have a good idea

00:26:10.080 --> 00:26:12.780
of what I'm actually
asking students to do.

00:26:12.780 --> 00:26:16.880
So yes, you can preview
everything, which is really nice.

00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.680
You can preview because the students

00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:23.130
when they're doing the assignment
can have access to hints.

00:26:23.130 --> 00:26:25.850
And so I like to see what
those are going to look like

00:26:25.850 --> 00:26:27.480
for the students.

00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:30.430
- Very cool, and a little pro
tip just to go along with that

00:26:30.430 --> 00:26:31.570
is if you're ever curious

00:26:31.570 --> 00:26:34.320
what your students are
experiencing, I'm sure you are,

00:26:34.320 --> 00:26:36.870
add yourself as a student
to your own classroom.

00:26:36.870 --> 00:26:38.360
And that way, you
actually have the ability

00:26:38.360 --> 00:26:41.360
to see every email, every
notification, everything

00:26:41.360 --> 00:26:42.600
that your students are about to get.

00:26:42.600 --> 00:26:44.320
And all you have to do is come in here

00:26:44.320 --> 00:26:48.250
to your classroom dashboard,
go to the class code

00:26:48.250 --> 00:26:51.580
in the upper right-hand corner
and then under your name,

00:26:51.580 --> 00:26:53.470
go to learner home.

00:26:53.470 --> 00:26:56.820
And from there, you can actually
add yourself as a student

00:26:56.820 --> 00:26:59.730
and see everything that the
student sees through their eyes.

00:26:59.730 --> 00:27:00.660
Have you ever done that, Madelyn?

00:27:00.660 --> 00:27:02.230
Has that ever--
- Mm-hmm.

00:27:02.230 --> 00:27:03.063
Okay, cool, cool.

00:27:03.063 --> 00:27:07.810
- And then also I just add
courses that I'm interested in.

00:27:07.810 --> 00:27:10.317
So I think I have astronomy
in there right now.

00:27:10.317 --> 00:27:14.420
And so I show the kids this is
something I'm excited about,

00:27:14.420 --> 00:27:15.660
I'm gonna be learning.

00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:18.150
And so then they feel like
you're using this, too.

00:27:18.150 --> 00:27:21.840
You're a learner, too and it
builds that connection, too.

00:27:21.840 --> 00:27:22.820
- I love that.

00:27:22.820 --> 00:27:26.080
Any tips, speaking of that,
about just growth mindset,

00:27:26.080 --> 00:27:28.980
especially this moment when
we feel like so deflated

00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:31.830
and we're like I don't even
wanna think about tomorrow.

00:27:31.830 --> 00:27:33.820
How do you keep your students
feeling really strong

00:27:33.820 --> 00:27:35.070
and persistent right now?

00:27:36.560 --> 00:27:39.100
- That's a good question.

00:27:39.100 --> 00:27:40.763
Just keeping things light.

00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:44.590
At the beginning of each academic year,

00:27:44.590 --> 00:27:48.073
I do gross mindset lessons
with them through Khan Academy,

00:27:49.820 --> 00:27:52.760
a course that they have
available that's nice

00:27:52.760 --> 00:27:54.510
to help kids get into that mindset.

00:27:55.820 --> 00:27:59.320
But I think just continuing
the connection with your kids

00:27:59.320 --> 00:28:03.637
is so important in whatever way you can.

00:28:03.637 --> 00:28:06.390
- Very cool, and then two
final questions for you.

00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:09.390
Number one, where do you
typically go to get support

00:28:09.390 --> 00:28:11.070
if you run into challenges
with Khan Academy

00:28:11.070 --> 00:28:13.120
or just wanna learn from other educators?

00:28:14.210 --> 00:28:16.190
- So there are some Facebook groups

00:28:16.190 --> 00:28:19.920
for Khan Academy educators
and that's really nice

00:28:20.840 --> 00:28:25.713
because you get feedback really quickly.

00:28:26.710 --> 00:28:29.120
You can just type in your question,

00:28:29.120 --> 00:28:31.710
hey, who's run into this?

00:28:31.710 --> 00:28:34.680
Or hey, I'm running into this issue,

00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:36.650
how have you motivated students?

00:28:36.650 --> 00:28:38.933
And you get responses really quickly.

00:28:40.550 --> 00:28:42.870
So I highly recommend joining that.

00:28:42.870 --> 00:28:46.843
It is a private group, so
just have to ask for access.

00:28:48.423 --> 00:28:50.750
- Very cool, and then lastly,

00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:53.180
as we face the tough month ahead of us

00:28:53.180 --> 00:28:56.010
and maybe even a little
more, any words of wisdom

00:28:56.010 --> 00:28:58.210
that you wanna share with
ELA educators out there

00:28:58.210 --> 00:29:00.930
just as far as how to
stay strong in this moment

00:29:00.930 --> 00:29:03.480
and how to serve their
students the best way possible?

00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:08.070
- I think take a deep
breath and less is more.

00:29:08.070 --> 00:29:11.460
You're doing the best that
you can for your students

00:29:11.460 --> 00:29:14.210
just by being there and by trying

00:29:14.210 --> 00:29:16.930
and it's just gonna be
a steep learning curve.

00:29:16.930 --> 00:29:19.230
So try to have as much
fun with it as you can.

00:29:20.230 --> 00:29:22.640
- Cool, I think those are
great words to end on.

00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:25.320
So Madelyn, thank you so
much for being with us today.

00:29:25.320 --> 00:29:27.610
You learn from your own
children, your own students

00:29:27.610 --> 00:29:29.490
to serve other educators.

00:29:29.490 --> 00:29:32.450
And thank you all for joining
us and we wish you well

00:29:32.450 --> 00:29:34.850
on your journey in the
next couple months ahead.

00:29:35.770 --> 00:29:38.503
- Absolutely, thank you
so much for having me.

00:29:38.503 --> 00:29:39.703
- Have a great day, all.