As an education consultant, I have the privilege of working with and learning from educators around the country. Normally, my work is focused on logistics, edtech and teacher training, support and development.
Of course, nothing is currently normal. So for the past month, I’ve been working with educators to rapidly make the shift to remote learning in a pandemic.
As we’ve started executing, something I realized right away is that general remote teaching best practices won’t cut it right now… we’re in a pandemic! The traditional tenets of remote/distance/virtual learning can’t be used verbatim.
After sifting through countless online resources and many 1:1 conversations with educators, I believe there are three big buckets teachers should prioritize during this pandemic: providing stability, sustaining relationships and innovating to support students.
These priorities generally follow Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Students (and humans!) need stability before they can do anything else. Then, they need strong relationships before they can access content. Finally, they need teachers and schools to make innovative choices to meet their needs given the vast barriers they’re facing.
Providing stability starts with internet and device access, but it doesn’t end there. Providing stability falls into four general buckets: basic needs, an organized learning space, consistent routines & expectations and accurate information.
While this may seem obvious, it bears repeating: if students and families don’t have access to basic needs, they can’t focus on learning. Basic needs include things like information about housing, food and internet access.
After access to basic needs, students need an organized online learning space.
For instance, you can use a tool like Hāpara Workspace to build organized, online units. Think about how students will access work, where and when– just like you would for traditional content.
No matter what, keeping it simple and organized—especially to start—is vital. Considering how stressful of a time this is, I’m a big proponent of starting small and working up students’ stamina.
Hand-in-hand with creating an organized learning space is creating consistent routines and expectations.
I’ve been telling teachers to treat this like the beginning of the school year. You need to set clear, feasible expectations, and consistently communicate them to students and families. For example, if you want students to check in with you weekly, make sure this is clearly shared, along with how students can reach out to you.
A few ways you can share routines and expectations include:
The last aspect of providing stability is offering accurate information to students. Given the amount of misinformation about COVID, it’s vital that we share timely, accurate and accessible information about COVID to students and families.
Guiding questions for providing stability:
Teachers have been working with students for most of the school year, so they already have relationships with most students. Now is the time to continue to build these relationships using a variety of mediums.
It’s more important than ever to stay connected with students, and thanks to technology there are lots of ways to do that. Some ideas include:
Guiding questions for sustaining relationships:
Right now, the status quo won’t work. You need to innovate your teaching strategies to support students. For instance,
Asynchronous learning generally means there is no set live meeting schedule. In my opinion, remote learning needs to be mostly asynchronous, especially for older students) because it:
In the same vein, remote learning requires an overhaul around the traditional concept of attendance. Instead of being focused on seat time (how many hours students are working), we should be focused on outcomes (what students are accomplishing).
For example, you might replace daily attendance with a daily check-in on student work using a tool like Hāpara Dashboard. If students aren’t on pace to finish all assigned work, you can send them an email or leave a comment on their work. This places the focus on what students are accomplishing.
I’ve heard teachers share valid concerns about students cheating on assessments. This is a real fear. But I also wonder, if you’re giving students an assessment they can easily Google the answers to… was it a high-quality assessment to begin with?
Instead of prioritizing high-stakes standardized assessments, now is a great time to check students’ progress as they master skills via formative assessment. With Hāpara Dashboard, you can easily check students’ work and provide meaningful feedback via the commenting and suggesting features of Google Drive. As a teacher, I can’t think of a time where I had so much time to give students authentic, personalized feedback.
Finally, it needs repeating that this is our first pandemic (unless you were around in 1918!). We need to be gentle with ourselves. Do a facial, go for a walk, grab a snack… you deserve it! You shouldn’t be expecting perfection when it comes to a skill you’ve never had the opportunity to practice!
