RESOURCE: Distance Learning from a Student Perspective

You’re working your butt off: rewriting curriculum, making videos, hosting zoom lessons, calling home, answering emails from students at all hours of the day and night. Distance teaching isn’t for the faint of the heart. But it isn’t easy for those tasked with doing the distance learning, either. If you’re finding that your students are struggling or are hard to keep in touch with, this PD exercise may help by inviting you to spend time in your online classrooms from the perspective of a student.

This activity is best done in a fairly large group (at Gateway, it was an all-faculty meeting), and will take a little bit of advance preparation: you’ll need to set up several dummy accounts on Google Classroom (or whatever learning platform your school is using) and “enroll” them in a standard course load. Small teams of teachers will then “shadow” the student – surveying a day or week as a student would to get a sense of what works well and what is confusing. 

We’ve uploaded everything you need at Gateway Impact: customizable slides to guide your staff through the activity, and two versions of a note-taking document: one for regular teaching staff that focuses on designing easily accessible Google classrooms and materials, and one for special education and support staff that focuses on how we can help different kind of learners best access their education. At Gateway this led to insights of how we can better consolidate information, process steps, and distribute assignments to simplify what is being asked of students without sacrificing rigor, and you may be surprised at what you discover in your own exploration of a typical online school day. 

VIDEO: How to Use Google Classroom for Parents

And while we’re thinking about the student perspective, it’s worth spending some time considering that of their parents, as well. Many of these brave souls are understandably feeling like they’ve been thrown into the deep end of the education pool, attempting to support their children while adjusting to new professional demands or caring for other family members. Our Ed Tech expert Sam Kary has made video floatie wings for any parent puzzling out how to keep up with their child’s distance learning in a new video demonstrating all of the Google Classroom features parents can use. 

Parents will learn how to optimize the settings of Google Classroom to best suit the needs of their family, how students can join classes, how students can look up what assignments they still need to complete, as well as what assignments have already been graded. They’ll also learn how to use the calendar function to support students’ time management skills, how students can ask public and private questions, as well as how to receive email notifications about missing and upcoming work directly to their inbox. Take a look and pass this video on to your parent community! 

Do you know of another great resource parents can lean on as they navigate their new roles in distance learning? Let us know and we’ll feature it in a future article!

LINK: Educator AND Family Resources from Common Sense Education

Common Sense Education has pulled out all the stops to support teachers and families while school campuses are closed, and the results are impressive. If you haven’t checked out their offerings yet, get excited: you’ll find a ton of fun and engaging activities and more for both your students and any kids you’re taking care of at home. 

The centerpiece of this effort is the Wide Open School site. Tell the site whether you’re a parent or educator and what age group you’re working with, and you’ll be presented with a wealth of expert designed and vetted lessons, videos, games, resources and more. Some of the more unique highlights include sample daily schedules for kids that build in chores, physical activity, and plenty of offline activities; sections on connecting families with affordable internet and technology and how teachers can support students with learning differences during this time; a daily rundown of live events sorted by content area; and strategies for optimizing your online classroom. 

In addition, the Common Sense Education site features tools and strategies for leading distance learning, parent support, digital citizenship and well-being resources, and a new video series about distance learning airing every Friday. Start exploring and if you find a resource you really love, let us know!

Inspiration: Alix Spivack’s "ES9 Corner"

Looking for a way to connect with your students and reignite their enthusiasm for your content area? Consider taking a page from Gateway High School Environmental Science Teacher Alix Spivack and host your very own virtual guest speaker series!

Each week, Alix invites her students to an optional Zoom meeting where they have the chance to hear a brief talk from a guest scientist and then participate in a moderated Q&A. Students are prepped in advance with a brief agenda and introduction to the speaker, subject, and learning goals for the talk. The first guest was a Smithsonian Institute marine biologist who studies climate change in Antarctica; the second was GHS Bio Teacher Mary Plant-Thomas discussing her favorite animal, the sea otter. The rest of the series will be a mix of Gateway faculty discussing some area of scientific expertise they don’t get to explore during the normal school year, and community experts from organizations like the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This is a great, low-pressure way for students to interact with you, each other, and fields they might not be exposed to otherwise. Your colleagues and friends almost certainly have hobbies, interesting careers or experiences they’d love to chat about, and our schedules have never been more flexible. With a little planning and forethought, you can connect students with the world that is still out there even as we are all stuck inside.

IDEA: Harry Potter Audio Book Club with Your Students

This tip comes from Gateway Middle School Science Teacher Mackenzie Day: Spotify has just begun a read-aloud series of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, featuring celebrity readers for each chapter (chapter one is read by the Boy Who Lived himself, Daniel Radcliffe!). Students can access the episodes for free, and the audio format is great for kids who struggle reading independently (or who could use some practice with their listening skills). Whether you and your students are devoted fans or new to the franchise, this is a new and novel way of engaging with the text – a fun spring read and totally book club-worthy!

LINK: Prioritizing Self-Care While Teaching from Home

It seems weird to feel exhausted when you stay home all day, but the reality is we’re all juggling dramatic pivots in both our professional and personal lives. Take a few tips from John McCarthy, a longtime online educator, about establishing the boundaries and routines that make teaching from home as manageable as possible:

“Tending to our personal health seems important but also really difficult in situations like the current pandemic, when our time feels consumed with urgent work issues. We may feel that if we don’t get a task done, our students will suffer or programs will fail. However, if we become mentally exhausted, overtired, or drained of energy, we risk a complete shutdown mentally or physically—and at that point, no tasks will get done.”

Read the entire piece here.