In a time of great uncertainty and ambiguity school leaders are often left to grapple with the impact of decisions made elsewhere and to support teachers and staff in every circumstance. Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer strategies to maximize those efforts.
Browse our 15 most-read articles of 2020 and see what you missed! Some (no surprise) speak to the unique teaching and learning circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other top reads include some how-to (and “don’t-do”) stories that teachers rediscover year after year.
There are too many demands on instructional time in the Covid era to waste very much of it teaching at the lowest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. ELA/ENL teacher Dina Strasser recommends taking a fine-tooth comb to those sometimes necessary TPT plans and removing the fluff.
For years teachers have used the gradual release model to shift ownership and responsibility by degrees from themselves to students. In a remote setting, gradual release is often even more important, as students need structure to learn. Barbara R. Blackburn shows how.
Rigor in the Remote Learning Classroom is a valuable guide that will help teachers and schools reframe the conversation about remote teaching. The book’s tips and strategies can make a remote approach both robust and rigorous, writes middle school head Michael McLaughlin.
Amid pandemic learning, we must address virtual PD experiences for teachers, write experts Barbara Blackburn and Ron Williamson. By considering our purpose, the content, and the appropriate platforms to engage teachers, leaders can assure effective professional learning.
Articles / Questioning / remote learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 11/02/2020 · Last modified 11/29/2020
Effective questioning during remote learning doesn’t require new strategies. Consultant Barbara Blackburn suggests building questions with higher order thinking models; including questioning stems; adding cubing for student choice; and having students source their answers.
As teachers work to offer SEL support during remote learning, they can also adapt assignments to provide students with academic challenges that engage them in higher order thinking and teamwork. Barbara Blackburn and her colleagues share examples across content areas.
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.
Issues students wrestle with in the traditional classroom may be magnified during online learning. To address them, we need to adapt our regular classroom strategies to help students succeed. Teaching expert Barbara Blackburn looks at six common issues.
