Jessica Edwards, Alesia Kuratnick, and Kristen Sellitto, 4th and 5th grade teachers from Bell Elemenatary shared how they are using hyperdocs in their classrooms as an innovative instructional approach to increase their students’ engagement. The trio presented at the 4th Annual Southern Tier Math Conference on Wednesday.
Hyperdocs are a way for students to access a lesson that contains instructions, links, tasks, and many clever ways to get them thinking and showing what they know. This allows students to practice the progressions of learning in a more engaging and impactful way. Teachers from several districts attended this session to learn more about how hyperdocs can be an engaging instructional tool in any classroom.
Edwards, Kuratnick, and Sellitto highlighted the variety of online tools that can be used within hyperdocs to make learning more engaging and purposeful while students work through content at their own pace. Flipgrid, Padlet, Edpuzzle, Plickers, interactive slides, and content-based games are just a few of the resources the team incorporates in hyperdocs to support student learning.
“This was an amazing opportunity to share professional knowledge and growth," said Kuratnick.
Edwards, a consultant teacher, said she is excited to share tools that have worked for the team’s students, across grade levels and for students with varied learning needs.
“By having the opportunity to share what strategies we’re seeing success with, we have been able to provide others with resources and ideas to adopt or adapt that directly impact student success,” said Edwards.
“The feedback from attendees has inspired us to continue on the journey to our own professional development,” said Sellitto. “Our doors are always open, and visitors from neighboring districts have spent time in our classrooms getting a feel for how our students are utilizing technology in a way that benefits both students and teachers. Data that is collected from a single learning session with a hyperdoc is used to immediately adjust instruction, allowing for true differentiation within our guided math groups.”
Not only are other teachers interested in these tools, students are enjoying the use of hyperdocs in the classroom as well, according to the team. Members feel that using interactive tools like hyperdocs are directly increasing student engagement and therefore improving student learning, something they say has been voiced by several students.
“Our model constantly brings us back to the same idea; whatever we are doing in the classroom, we want to make sure it’s what’s best for kids. At the end of the day, students being engaged and successful in their learning is our goal.”