Positive phone calls and texts to students’ families are powerful, writes principal and NBCT Rita Platt. Parents and caregivers enjoy hearing good things and will be more responsive when you get in touch with less happy news. Rita includes several starter scripts and scheduling ideas.
Kids need the opportunity to make choices about what they learn and how they learn it, writes Alex Valencic. This doesn’t mean education becomes a free-for-all. It’s a call to action for us to know our students and help spark a love of learning that will last a lifetime.
Media Literacy is a new elective course at Jeremy Hyler’s middle school this year, and he’s excited to be teaching it. “Could there be a more urgent time?” Hyler shares some of his 7th grade course design, includes his key resources, and reports on the first five weeks.
Class Apps / Teaching during Pandemic
by Curtis Chandler · Published 09/29/2020 · Last modified 01/31/2024
With the stressors of COVID-19 teaching likely to be around for some time to come, educator Curtis Chandler suggests ways he and others can use research-based strategies to reduce teaching stress, hold pandemic angst at bay and bolster our capacity to serve kids well.
The Caring Teacher asks educators to reexamine how and why they teach the way they do, to record reflections, questions and thoughts toward the goal of reducing bias and increasing student success. Linda Biondi believes every moment spent in reflection will be worth it.
The more we try to exert control in the online classroom, the more stressful it can be for us and for students, writes author and literacy expert Jennifer Serravallo. Six shifts will give learners more ownership and flexibility, increase engagement, and boost learning.
How do teachers’ behaviors reflect our expectations in a remote classroom? For example, teachers tend to probe students more if they have high expectations of the students, writes Barbara Blackburn. She suggests strategies to challenge all students, even at a distance.
After a spring of Zooming with established classes, Sarah Cooper finds new challenges using virtual breakout rooms this fall. Having to sort groups of unfamiliar students really makes a difference. She shares which breakout strategies still work and what needs extra care.
In a school year when frustration, fatigue and uncertainty make teaching and learning an unprecedented challenge, principal Rita Platt is leading her staff to focus on two top priorities: (1) limit instruction to essential standards, and (2) build personal connections with EVERY student.
Distance learning is uncharted territory for most teachers, but Covid-19 has forced it upon us, says Tan Huynh. The advice in Fisher, Frey & Hattie’s Distance Learning Playbook can help create a virtual environment that looks and feels more like the physical one we’re used to.
