Turn on your camera.
Your students come to class to see you! Having your camera on increases the sense of connection and relationship between teachers and students. Encourage students to turn on their cameras too, when possible.
Greet students as they log in – students can often feel “invisible” in online classes, so by greeting students as they log in, by name, you help them feel welcomed and seen. You can also use this as an opportunity to note who is in attendance.
Make sure that everyone can hear you. When you begin sharing your screen, check the option to share computer sound so that students will be able to hear any audio you would like to play in the lesson.
Check to make sure students can see what you have shared.

Introduce your students to the important tools of the platform you are using, such as mute and unmute, video on and off, and chat.
For a warm-up, ask students to answer a simple, fun question that gives them a chance to try out participating in a low-stakes way.

Consider the amount of time you have with students. You may want to choose to focus on just a few activities for your virtual lesson.
Keep your first sessions simple. If there is too much background noise, use the mute all feature to mute the students.
Allow students to unmute themselves to answer a question.
Incorporate a variety of ways to interact: For example, teachers can call on students to read questions and to suggest answers.
Students can write answers on their paper at home and then share their ideas. Teachers can assign different questions or tasks to students. Students can also use the chat feature.
Pause to give students time to respond to a question. If too many students are talking at once, ask students to use the raise hand feature or to physically raise their hands-on camera.
You will notice that you have flexibility in how you choose to teach your virtual lessons, but the lesson plans are mainly structured for you to share worksheets and present the topic first to students online. Then, you can choose to allow them to work in breakout groups during the virtual lesson and then assign them the rest of the activities for their independent completion.
You will assign the activities to students using Kami in iCivics. You can access the details in the Teach Hub. You can also learn more about Kami in your Resources for Teachers section in Canvas.

Wrapping Up

Take time to model the assignments that you would like the students to complete.
End the class by assigning students independent work.
Remind students how to log into iCivics and find their assignments or activities that you have assigned in Kami.

Check in often with students via their preferred mode of contact.
Ask students about any questions they may have and about their progress with their independent work.
Remind students to engage in the weekly reflection discussion boards. These discussion boards are a way for them to reflect on work they might be struggling with.
Make sure to review your Q&A Discussion Board to see if students are asking common questions. This can give you guidance on topics that might need to be revisited in a virtual in class lesson.