With the emergence and sweeping spread of the new Omicron variant, schools are suddenly shifting to virtual or hybrid teaching in an effort to slow the contamination. Teaching hybrid music class is one of the most challenging situations for music teachers to navigate. You are juggling your in-person students who will need the same attention as a regular teaching day. Then you have your virtual students who sometimes require MORE attention and energy to navigate a video meet such as Zoom and/or Google Meet, clicking on links, copying and pasting, logging into virtual platforms and so many other technical skills.

After teaching hybrid in music class on and off for about 6 months, I have come up with several tips and ideas to make your life easier and save you some frustration if you find yourself in this challenging scenario of teaching your music class – hybrid style.

Have A Reliable Device

If everything else about teaching your music class hybrid is overwhelming you, focus on this. Your school district may issue a device to its teachers but I’ve seen other teachers rely on things such as tablets or even their cellphones. Whatever you’re going to use should be fully charged and up-to-date. I use a Chromebook to teach music. Our devices need to be shut down periodically to update. Therefore, I recommend you do this at least once a week so that your technology is quick and available.

Quality Speakers

Okay, so I’ll be the first to admit that I stopped using my school-issued Jabra speaker after about 3 days. The sound quality was poor and beneath my needs for teaching elementary music. I decided to switch to using a sound bar and it has worked much better for teaching my music class hybrid. Make sure you like the sound quality of whatever you’re using to teach the students.

Organize Your Links in Advance

Finding links during hybrid music class is difficult (especially for K & 1 students). I usually create a master spreadsheet of ALL 39 of my video call links and Google Classrooms and share the spreadsheet with classroom teachers at the beginning of the year. This allows the CLASSROOM TEACHER to distribute the links and avoids younger students hunting around to find your Google Classroom for music. Here is a FREE template you can use for organizing your hybrid music Google Classroom and video call links whether through Zoom or Google Meet.

Consider Scheduling Your Google Classroom Posts

Did you know you can schedule posts on Google Classroom? I like setting up my posts on Sunday night to auto-post welcome messages for my virtual students.

Familiarize Yourself With Video Call Features

Here are some important features you should know about (and look for!) when teaching music hybrid on Google Meet and/or Zoom…

	GOOGLE MEET	ZOOM
Host Controls	Click the security shield on the right-hand side of the meet to open your host controls. This will allow you to manage what your virtual students can and cannot do such as using the chat, sharing their screen or unmuting their microphone.	Look for the security shield in the middle left-hand bar. Click on the shield to open a menu which will allow you to manage things such as sharing their screen, chatting, renaming themselves and more.
See/Invite Participants	Click on the participants (people) icon on the bottom right-hand side of the meet to see everyone currently in the Google Meet. Missing a student? Click on the ‘ADD PEOPLE’ button and type the students’ name to send an instant email reminder!	Click on the participants icon on the bottom right-hand side beside the chat box. Click the participants button to see a list of active students. After that, click the small carrot/arrow next to the participants button to send an invite for students to join the video meeting.
Unmute Microphone	Look on the bottom left-hand side of the meet to toggle your microphone on/off. Depending on your device you may need to “grant Google permission” to access your microphone. Additionally, here is a simple extension you can use in Chrome to unmute your microphone using the space bar instead of clicking around.	When you first join the meeting, look for the ‘Join Audio’ button on the bottom left of the meeting. You’ll also see an option to automatically join audio in future meetings. Check this if you want to skip this step in the future.
Turn Camera On/Off	This button can be found right next to the microphone button right at the bottom of the Meet.	When you first join the meeting you should be prompted to turn your camera on/off. To toggle the video settings on/off, look on the bottom left hand side of the Zoom meeting.
Mute All	Click on the people icon. Click ‘MUTE ALL’ to mute the microphones of your entire class!	There is no ‘Mute All’ button on Zoom. Instead, you can choose to remove participant permission to unmute. You can find this setting under the the security shield (bottom of meet). Please note you cannot unmute participants without their consent but there IS an ‘Ask All To Unmute’ feature. To read more about this, click here.
Share Screen/Present	Look for the square in the center of the screen with the ↑. Choose to share your entire screen, a window or a tab. I usually choose to share a tab.	Click on the middle green button ‘Share Screen’. Doing so will bring up a pop-up with several options. Basic options include windows and tabs you currently have open. Additionally, you can also share a PowerPoint as a virtual background, a portion of the screen, computer audio/video or content from a second camera. To do this, click ‘Advanced’. You can also click on ‘Files’ to share files directly from your Google Drive, Dropbox and Sharepoint! To adjust screen sharing options for host and participants, click on the carrot arrow in the corner.
Chat	Look on the bottom right hand side of the Google Meet for the speech bubble. Click on it to open the chat on the right-hand side. Additionally, the chat function can be toggled on/off using the following switch…	Clicking on the chat speech bubble will open the chat on the right-hand side. From there you can type a message and choose the recipient (default is everyone). To DISABLE chatting amongst your students during class, you can open the host controls under the security shield and uncheck ‘Chat’. To close the chat window, click on the carrot in the upper right-hand corner and click ‘Close’.
Change Layout/Full Screen Mode	Click on the 3 dots (bottom right hand side) and select ‘Change Layout’ and choose the layout that best suits your needs. My two favorites are tiled and spotlight 🙂 To access full screen mode click on the 3 dots (bottom right hand side) and select ‘Full Screen’. This will allow your students to see the class and/or presentation at the largest possible size.	You have to hunt a bit but if you look closely you’ll find a button that says ‘View’ in the upper right-hand corner of the Zoom meeting! Click on this to find the layout that works best for your class! You can also click this to make the Zoom meeting full screen which will allow your in-person students to view your class and any presentations shared through your screen at the largest possible size.
Other Interesting Features	Look for the SHAPES icon located on the bottom right hand side of the screen. From there you will be able to poll your participants, open breakout rooms, run a Q&A, record your meet and more!	Click the ‘Record’ button to record your class – be sure to get consent! Click ‘Reactions’ to raise your hand or react to a statement with a fun emoji. Click ‘Apps’ and choose ‘Discover’ to find apps that will enhance your Zoom classes! **Right-Click on the screen to add a profile picture, change your video background or add a filter!

• Remember, YOUR HOST CONTROLS (muting, chat, etc…) will be on your DEVICE when you use this method.
• If you are presenting audio or video MUTE YOUR MICROPHONE for the best sound quality for your virtual students.
• It will be easier to present from your device when you are teaching (remember, you control the entire class through your device).
• If you are teaching in your own music classroom or using your own projector, you can skip steps 3 & 4 (you don’t need to open the incognito window on your own SmartBoard).

Try Splitting Your Screen!

• Chomebooks – Alt + [ ]
• Windows – Either restore the window size and drag to desired size OR press the windows button + L/R directional keys
• Mac – The procedure depends on if your Mac supports split view. Read more here.

Use MP3’s for Audio

Playing audio from your stereo system with an unmuted microphone won’t result in good audio quality for your virtual students. Instead, convert your CD’s into MP3’s by using Windows Media Player, iTunes or YouTube to MP3. Then, make sure you share the screen or tab containing the audio you want to present to your students! Mute your microphone during the presentation for best possible audio quality while your are teaching hybrid music class.

Take Advantage of Bookmarks & Google Classroom

Every moment counts – especially when you are teaching music hybrid! To save yourself time opening tabs, website links and other resources – try bookmarking! For Chrome press CTRL + D to bookmark a page. To bookmark in Safari, click the ‘Share’ button on the toolbar and choose ‘Add Bookmark’. Furthermore, you can organize your bookmark folders by grade levels, classes, or whatever you want!

Comparatively, you can also post materials directly onto your Google Classroom for use during your lesson. Go to the ‘Classwork’ section, click ‘Create’ and choose ‘Material’ to upload Google Slides, YouTube videos, audio, or whatever resources you need for your upcoming lesson. This will keep your resources in one convenient place for your upcoming lesson! Choose ‘Save As Draft’ if you do not want your students to see your lesson resources. Choosing ‘Publish’ will make the materials visible to you and your students immediately.

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