Teams Guide for Teachers

Teams Guide For Teachers Highlights:

  • What is Microsoft Teams?
  • Why use Teams?
  • Using OneNote with Class Notebook add-in
  • Creating Assignments in Teams
  • Reviewing Assignments and Providing Feedback in Teams
  • Tabs and Channels within Teams
  • Embedding external content like Microsoft Forms, Planner and Flipgrid

What is Microsoft Teams and Why Use It?

EduMEE uses Microsoft Teams as a support for the Minecraft World. The Minecraft World is the classroom. Teachers welcome students using Teams and review and introduce learning objectives, guidelines, and questions that are necessary for effectively using Minecraft for the lesson. We do not want to be a “Zoom” meeting or typical online classroom. The bulk of your class time should always be in Minecraft, assessments should focus more on observation, using the book and quill for reflection, and other PBL assessment techniques. Students should be kept in Teams no longer than 20 min at the star and 10 min for wrap up if possible. Teachers will also use Flipgrid to take a quick survey of how much fun or happy students are after the class.

Microsoft Teams is a digital hub for users of all ages. It provides a space for all of the information you communicate with a colleague, student, teacher, or classmate to appear in one place. All of your conversations, media, content, apps and assignments live in one spot in Teams. In education, Teams can support the development and facilitation of collaborative classrooms that connect students with their peers and teacher. Teams can also connect in professional learning communities and provide a communication channel for school faculty.

Here is a short introductory video from Microsoft on What is Teams? (3.5 minutes) Module 1: Getting Started with Microsoft Teams

 Creating a Team

EduMEE will create the Teacher Teams and different Channels for Students, but just to give you more insight, here is what goes into creating a Team.

The Different Types of Teams

As a Classroom Teacher, you will automatically have a PLC Teams for personal use and a Classes Team for each of your courses. There are four types of Teams in total: Classes, PLCs, Staff Members and Anyone. EduMEE uses the PLC and Class Teams, and will create these for you. This document provides detailed information on each type of team.

  Classes

  • If you are a Classroom Teacher, you will be using the Classes team for all your classes. All your students will already be synched to your Teams.
  • If you are an elementary teacher, you will have one team for courses (Class) and one just for teachers (PLC). If you do not wish to see all these Teams in your list, “Remove Favorite” the Team by clicking on the 3 dots next to your Team. This will not delete the Team, but will hide it from view.

PLCs

  • Use this team if you are collaborating with other team members as a Professional Learning Community. This type of team includes a shared OneNote Notebook as well as an individual OneNote Notebook for each member of the team.

Staff Members

  • Use this team if you are collaborating with other team members or administration on projects. This type of team also includes a shared OneNote Notebook as well as an individual OneNote Notebook for each member of the team.

Anyone

  • Use this team if you are collaborating with other team members or administration on projects. You can also add students to this team. This type of team can be used for anything. The biggest difference between this team and the PLC and Staff Member teams is that there is no OneNote Notebook included and the individual members of the team do not have a OneNote Notebook either. You can add a shared Notebook if you wish.

Conversations, Chats and Meetings

Conversations

While you are in the Minecraft World, Teams will be minimized and only used for audio. There is a chat feature in Minecraft.

The Conversation tab in Microsoft Teams appears in the General channel, as well as any additional channels you create. All class members can view and add to conversations in the General channel. In other channels, use the @Mention to invite certain students or staff to participate in a conversation.

Conversations are different from chats because they are visible to everyone in a channel and not private. You can also “mute” one or all students if you do not wish to have them conversing during specific times in class. Conversations can also be deleted. Documents shared in a conversation automatically become part of the Files tab in that file. Here is a great document detailing Conversations in Teams.

Channels are a great way to provide everyone on your Team with information at the same time. Rather than creating and sending out an email to a group, now you can simply post a message in the Conversations and everyone on your Team will receive a notification that there is a message waiting for them. You can attach documents, links, pictures, polls using Microsoft Forms, etc. all in the Conversations tab.

When you want to get the attention of a person(s), you use the @[their name] in the Conversation box. This message will NOT be private but will alert the individual(s) that you are speaking to them specifically.

NOTE: The default setting in Teams allows members to “delete” messages in Conversations. This has already been an issue at some sites with students posting undesirable remarks and then immediately going in and deleting their comment pretending it never happened. To resolve this, you must “uncheck” the box in the section, under and .

Chats

Chats are NOT enabled for Students. However, this is a great way for you to “instant message” colleagues on your Team. Chats are private between you and the individual you are chatting with. Note: If you are chatting with an individual and then decide to add another individual to that chat, the added individual will only see the “chat” from the time they were invited to that chat. They will not see anything prior in the chat section. To loop more people into a private conversation, just click Add people to team button in the top right corner of your screen. Then, type the names of the people you’d like to add, select how much of the chat history to include, and click Add. Note: Currently, you can include chat history only when adding someone to a group chat (not a one-on-one chat).

Click the New Chat icon to start a New Chat. You can privately share files within a chat and even have a video chat that is similar to Skype but within Teams.

Meetings

Meetings in Teams can be either Audio meetings or Video meetings. The Meetings in Teams works in conjunction with your Outlook calendar as well. When you open up your Meetings icon, you’ll see anything you already have scheduled in Outlook will show up in your Meetings calendar as well. Click the “New Meeting icon to schedule a new meeting. You can also have your meetings recorded, transcribed, and time-stamped.

Explore the following resources to understand how Meetings in Teams can work for you. Students can also “meet” in Teams as well. This could be a great way to have your students collaborate on projects.

Optional resource: Here is a tutorial from Microsoft about Meetings in Teams (51 minutes).

Assignments and Feedback in Teams

Creating assignments for your students in Microsoft Teams is simple. You can manage due dates, instructions, add resources, rubrics, and more. Choose some of the following tutorials and videos on Assignments and Feedback in Teams to explore. Remember that we are focusing on Minecraft and the time we spend there.

Remember, Teams should just be a support. Assignments would be where students can upload what they record with the book and quill., but teachers do not need to come up with assignments for outside of class.Of course, use what you need to cover the standards well, but always try to do as much as you can inside Minecraft EE.

Teacher Feedback in Microsoft Teams

– The new rubric feature in Teams is just one way to give feedback to students. By establishing open lines of communication, teachers can provide feedback that is timely, relevant and actionable. Feedback should move learning forward. Check out this link for more information on effective feedback from Dylan Wiliam.

Using Rubrics in Microsoft Teams

A rubric is a powerful classroom tool, and now Teams gives educators the ability to create, store, and apply rubrics to assignments. This feature makes it easier than ever to provide actionable, timely, and relevant feedback to students.

Right within Teams, you can now access rubric criteria and skills-based grading for all of your assignments. This means your grading will be more transparent while giving students the information they need to reflect and move forward. Since the rubrics live within Teams students can view expectations before they get started with a new task.

Creating Quizzes in Teams

Teachers will do most assessments during the class time in the form of observation and asking questions, sometimes quizzes may be necessary. Here are more resources on Assessments using Project-based learning

As an educator, you can use Microsoft Forms to quickly assess student progress and get real-time feedback through the use of quizzes that you design and share with your class.

You can create a quiz with questions that are required to be completed, display question hints, and even display students’ points and feedback after they complete the quiz, which make for a more interactive learning experience for your students. Explore the following resources for creating Quizzes with Microsoft Forms within Teams. See more about Forms in the Advanced Section.

When you access the Assignments section of Teams, select Create and you have the option of creating an Assignment or a New Quiz!

Channels and Tabs

 Channels

Each Team has a General channel as a default. This is where all your “whole-team” conversations take place, etc. You can add other channels, however, if you would like to create differentiated groups, separate topics, or keep other things organized. Some teachers have created channels for different groups of students within their classroom, other teachers have created channels for different projects that students are working on.

Tabs

  • With every new channel, two tabs are provisioned by default, Conversations and Files.
  • With every private chat, four tabs are provisioned by default, Conversations, Files, Organization, and Activity.
  • Owners and team members can add more tabs to a channel or chat by clicking Add a tab at the top of the channel or chat

Tabs You Want to Know!

There are three Tabs that you will absolutely LOVE! Microsoft Forms, Planner and Flipgrid! Check out the Advanced Section at the bottom of this module for more information!

 Using OneNote Class Notebook within Teams

Again, Classes do not need to focus on what can be done in Teams, but what you do while playing Minecraft! OneNote is there as a great resource if needed, and it can help you organize what your class has discovered and accomplished.

Every class team comes with its own linked OneNote Class Notebook. Your Class Notebook is a digital notebook for the whole class to store text, images, handwritten notes, attachments, links, voice, video, and more.

Teams delivers these essential components of the OneNote Class Notebook experience:

  • Student Notebooks — a private space shared between the teacher and each individual student. Teachers can access every student notebook, while students can only see their own.
  • Content Library — a read-only space where teachers can share handouts with students.
  • Collaboration Space — a space where everyone in your class can share, organize, and collaborate.

Explore the following resources for Using a OneNote Class Notebook within

Teams:

Accessibility Features in Teams, OneNote and Word

There are a variety of ways to create more accessibility when using Teams as well as OneNote, Word, etc. within Teams. It is imperative that we give our learners the tools they need to have full access to the academic content. Explore the following resources:

Using Flipgrid Within Teams

Flipgrid adds video discussion, elevating personal engagement and shared community. Integrate the two platforms with Flipgrid’s Teams integration! EduMEE Teachers will use Flipgrid to simply take feedback after every class. Students will be given the opportunity to share if the class was fun or not. Simple create an invite using the Flipgrid App in Teams and share with your students. They will create an image and send back whether they were happy with the class or not. This should be very quick and easy and not take up much of their time.

  • Create a Flipgrid Tab – Your Grids, Topics and Responses appear as tabs in any of your Microsoft Teams channels, placing student discussion alongside all other class resources.
  • Record Within Teams App – Amplify student voice and strengthen classroom community by including Flipgrid in your Microsoft Teams courses. Students watch and record from within the Teams app.

Choose some of the resources below to explore on using Flipgrid with Microsoft Teams in the classroom:

Webinar – Introducing Microsoft Teams – Education Sector – 14 August 2018

The Different Types of Teams

As a Classroom Teacher, you will automatically have a Classes Team. There are four types of Teams in total: Classes, PLCs, Staff Members and Anyone. With Microsoft Teams, you can create as many teams as you’d like, so it is important to know the differences between the four types of teams. This document provides detailed information on each type of team.

Classes

If you are a Classroom Teacher, you will be using the Classes team for all your classes. All your students will already be synched to your Teams.

  •  If you are an elementary teacher, you will have one team for each section of Infinite Campus within the team. For instance, you will see a team for AM and PM Attendance, Computers, Art, Music, ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies. If you do not wish to see all these Teams in your list, “Remove Favorite” the Team by clicking on the 3 dots next to your Team. This will not delete the Team, but will hide it from view. If you delete the Team, because Infinite Campus syncs every night, that Team will simply show up again the next day.
  •  If you are a middle or high school teacher, you will have one class for each period you teach in the team.

 PLCs

Use this team if you are collaborating with other team members as a Professional Learning Community. This type of team includes a shared OneNote Notebook as well as an individual OneNote Notebook for each member of the team.

Staff Members

  •  Use this team if you are collaborating with other team members or administration on projects. This type of team also includes a shared OneNote Notebook as well as an individual OneNote Notebook for each member of the team.

Anyone

  •  Use this team if you are collaborating with other team members or administration on projects. You can also add students to this team. This type of team can be used for anything. The biggest difference between this team and the PLC and Staff Member teams is that there is no OneNote Notebook included and the individual members of the team do not have a OneNote Notebook either. You can add a shared Notebook if you wish.

Ready – Set – Go!

Here are 2 guides to help you have a successful start. Remember EduMEE will set up your Teams channels for you and your class, so just use these as a reference. 

  •  Setting up Microsoft Teams
  • Microsoft Teams Getting Started Guide for Educators
  • Re-Use an Existing Team: You can reuse an existing team as a template. When you create a new team, you can use the same set up for channels, apps, and more. Channels and tabs can be copied over but not content. Content and files would need to be manually copied in order to be reused.
  •  Archiving a Team: Have a Team that you don’t use anymore? You can archive it in read-only mode, so it’s ready for you to reference in a new school year.

Conversations, Chats and Meetings Conversations

The Conversation tab in Microsoft Teams appears in the General channel, as well as any additional channels you create. All class members can view and add to conversations in the General channel. In other channels, use the @Mention to invite certain students or staff to participate in a conversation.

Conversations are different from chats because they are visible to everyone in a channel and not private. You can also “mute” one or all students if you do not wish to have them conversing during specific times in class. Conversations can also be deleted. Documents shared in a conversation automatically become part of the Files tab in that file. Here is a great document detailing Conversations in Teams.

Channels are a great way to provide everyone on your Team with information at the same time. Rather than creating and sending out an email to a group, now you can simply post a message in the Conversations and everyone on your Team will receive a notification that there is a message waiting for them. You can attach documents, links, pictures, polls using Microsoft Forms, etc. all in the Conversations tab.

When you want to get the attention of a person(s), you use the @[their name] in the Conversation box. This message will NOT be private but will alert the individual(s) that you are speaking to them specifically.

NOTE: The default setting in Teams allows members to “delete” messages in Conversations. This has already been an issue at some sites with students posting undesirable remarks and then immediately going in and deleting their comment pretending it never happened. To resolve this, you must “uncheck” the box in the section, under and .

Chats

Chats are NOT enabled for Students. However, this is a great way for you to “instant message” colleagues on your Team. Chats are private between you and the individual you are chatting with. Note: If you are chatting with an individual and then decide to add another individual to that chat, the added individual will only see the “chat” from the time they were invited to that chat. They will not see anything prior in the chat section. To loop more people into a private conversation, just click Add people to team button in the top right corner of your screen. Then, type the names of the people you’d like to add, select how much of the chat history to include, and click Add. Note: Currently, you can include chat history only when adding someone to a group chat (not a one-on-one chat).

Click the New Chat icon to start a New Chat. You can privately share files within a chat and even have a video chat that is similar to Skype but within Teams.

Meetings

Meetings in Teams can be either Audio meetings or Video meetings. The Meetings in Teams works in conjunction with your Outlook calendar as well. When you open up your Meetings icon, you’ll see anything you already have scheduled in Outlook will show up in your Meetings calendar as well. Click the “New Meeting icon to schedule a new meeting. You can also have your meetings recorded, transcribed, and time-stamped.

Explore the following resources to understand how Meetings in Teams can work for you. Students can also “meet” in Teams as well. This could be a great way to have your students collaborate on projects.

Optional resource: Here is a tutorial from Microsoft about Meetings in Teams (51 minutes).

Assignments and Feedback in Teams

Creating assignments for your students in Microsoft Teams is simple. You can manage due dates, instructions, add resources, rubrics, and more. Choose some of the following tutorials and videos on Assignments and Feedback in Teams to explore.

Teacher Feedback in Microsoft Teams –

The new rubric feature in Teams is just one way to give feedback to students. By establishing open lines of communication, teachers can provide feedback that is timely, relevant and actionable. Feedback should move learning forward. Check out this link for more information on effective feedback from Dylan Wiliam.

Using Rubrics in Microsoft Teams

A rubric is a powerful classroom tool, and now Teams gives educators the ability to create, store, and apply rubrics to assignments. This feature makes it easier than ever to provide actionable, timely, and relevant feedback to students.

Right within Teams, you can now access rubric criteria and skills-based grading for all of your assignments. This means your grading will be more transparent while giving students the information they need to reflect and move forward. Since the rubrics live within Teams students can view expectations before they get started with a new task.

 Creating Quizzes in Teams

As an educator, you can use Microsoft Forms to quickly assess student progress and get real-time feedback through the use of quizzes that you design and share with your class.

You can create a quiz with questions that are required to be completed, display question hints, and even display students’ points and feedback after they complete the quiz, which make for a more interactive learning experience for your students. Explore the following resources for creating Quizzes with Microsoft Forms within Teams. See more about Forms in the Advanced Section.

When you access the Assignments section of Teams, select Create and you have the option of creating an Assignment or a New Quiz!

Channels and Tabs

Channels

Each Team has a General channel as a default. This is where all your “whole-team” conversations take place, etc. You can add other channels, however, if you would like to create differentiated groups, separate topics, or keep other things organized. Some teachers have created channels for different groups of students within their classroom, other teachers have created channels for different projects that students are working on.

Tabs

  •  With every new channel, two tabs are provisioned by default, Conversations and Files.
  • With every private chat, four tabs are provisioned by default, Conversations, Files, Organization, and Activity.
  •  Owners and team members can add more tabs to a channel or chat by clicking Add a tab at the top of the channel or chat
  •  Watch this video to see more about Adding Tabs in Teams (2.53 minutes)
  •  This video discusses how to include both Office 365 programs like Word and
  • PowerPoint in your Team as well as outside content such as PDFs, Flipgrid, etc.

Episode 3: Embedding External Content and the MEC (2 minutes)

Tabs You Want to Know!

There are three Tabs that you will absolutely LOVE! Microsoft Forms, Planner and Flipgrid! Check out the Advanced Section at the bottom of this module for more information!

Using OneNote Class Notebook within Teams

Every class team comes with its own linked OneNote Class Notebook. Your Class Notebook is a digital notebook for the whole class to store text, images, handwritten notes, attachments, links, voice, video, and more.

Teams delivers these essential components of the OneNote Class Notebook experience:

  •  Student Notebooks — a private space shared between the teacher and each individual student. Teachers can access every student notebook, while students can only see their own.
  • Content Library — a read-only space where teachers can share handouts with students.
  • Collaboration Space — a space where everyone in your class can share, organize, and collaborate.

Explore the following resources for Using a OneNote Class Notebook within

Teams:

Accessibility Features in Teams, OneNote and Word

 There are a variety of ways to create more accessibility when using Teams as well as OneNote, Word, etc. within Teams. It is imperative that we give our learners the tools they need to have full access to the academic content. Explore the following resources:

Using Flipgrid Within Teams

Flipgrid adds video discussion, elevating personal engagement and shared community. Integrate the two platforms with Flipgrid’s Teams integration!

  • Create a Flipgrid Tab – Your Grids, Topics and Responses appear as tabs in any of your Microsoft Teams channels, placing student discussion alongside all other class resources.
  • Record Within Teams App – Amplify student voice and strengthen classroom community by including Flipgrid in your Microsoft Teams courses. Students watch and record from within the Teams app.
  •  Teams Notifications – Everyone on your Team is alerted of any new videos or new topics added to the Grid!

Choose some of the resources below to explore on using Flipgrid with Microsoft Teams in the classroom:

Webinar – Introducing Microsoft Teams – Education Sector – 14 August 2018

Additional short Video Resources from Microsoft:

  •  Find your way around – Work together with your students or work alone on private files.
  • What are teams and channels? – Customize class spaces to support learning outcomes.
  • Engage with class conversations – Collaborate in discussions, manage student messages, and post class announcements.
  • Create assignments – Create personalized assignments and navigate your work across every class.
  • Get to know the feedback loop – Grade, return student work, and ask for revisions
  • Save and share files – Find files, drop them into conversations, and work on lessons to share later
  • Use apps – Work on Office 365 files or add your favorite classroom apps.
  • Meet now or meet later – Turn any conversation into a meeting with students or colleagues

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