I am a huge fan of classroom transformations. When we’re learning in-person, I do one every Monday. I like to call them “Monday Fundays” because my class knows that I always have something planned for them to start off each week together! Digital room transformations can be just as great as the ones you do in your physical classroom! Here’s the top 5 reasons you should do a digital room transformation!
Reason #1
You save time, energy, and money on printing everything out! Everything is assigned via Google Classroom so there’s less to physically prepare. There’s no running to the copy machine to make sure you have enough copies, no printer running out of ink before you’re finished, and no worrying about using too much paper!
Reason #2
You ALSO save time on setting up your classroom! I try to keep my classroom transformations fairly minimal (only spending 30 minutes to 1 hour setting up before school) but I’ve seen some teachers spend 7-8 hours setting up a room transformation. No more need for ANY room prep when you’re teaching virtually. Grab a virtual background from a site like SnapCam and you’re ready to begin your digital classroom transformation (watch me use SnapCam for digital classroom transformations HERE!).
Reason #3
There are no lost papers or no-name papers when you do a digital room transformation! I did a happy dance just typing that! I can’t begin to tell you how many papers my students have turned in without names or they have lost completely over the years. Digital learning means students aren’t able to lose their work because it’s assigned right in Google Classroom. And if you’re using Google Slides for classroom transformations digitally, their work is automatically saved every few seconds. Win-win!!
Reason #4
When I’m doing a classroom transformation in my physical classroom, students have to wait to be helped. Sometimes, a line may form to wait to chat with me or to have me check their paper. With digital classroom transformations, these students can move onto the next slide if they’re struggling with something. They can also ask a partner to help them collaborate digitally (see how to do that HERE!) or send me a feedback/comment asking for me for help. We can also hop on a Google Meet to go over any questions they may have.
Reason #5
Parents get to see in real-time what their children are working on! When we do classroom transformations in the classroom, I normally send home all of their work on Fridays. If we do the activity Monday, and the work doesn’t get sent home till Friday, some papers get lost, students have lost some interest, and parents don’t get to hear all of the amazing things we did throughout the day. When students complete the work virtually, parents are able to see what their child is working on right away. I can email parents the work to show off student perseverance, point out mistakes, parents can see my feedback, and better understand what their child may be struggling with.
There are SO many great benefits to doing a room transformation…and in this day in age, we’re able to do them in-person and digitally! If you’re doing an in-person or digital room transformation soon, I’d love to hear from you! Let me know what you’re doing in the comments below!
You may also like to read Collaborating During Digital Classroom Transformations, Top Ten Easiest Classroom Transformation Ideas, or download my freebie on Classroom Transformation Tips and Tricks.
Looking for even more ideas? I’ve got you covered right here with my Classroom Transformation Decoration Lists!
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