Tips for Distance Learning
There are so many unknowns leading into the fall. Personally I live in Massachusetts, our COVID cases are going down and things are reopening without a huge jump in numbers. Also, we go back to school later than a lot of the country, allowing our officials more time to figure this out. But we still don’t know for sure if we are going to go back to school, in person, online, or a combination of the two. The thought of going back to school with distance learning is scary, but so isn’t the thought of going back in person.
Because of this, I also have to mentally prepare for both scenarios. But, if we do go back to school virtually in the fall, here are some tips.
Distance Learning Can’t Replicate Face to Face
Just like the rest of you, when schools closed in the spring (winter), I spent long stretches of time determined to figure out a way to replicate the classroom online. This is impossible. There are definitely things that you can duplicate, you can have face to face communications using Zoom or Google Meet, but there is no way to duplicate it the way you would like.
Show yourself some grace, do what you can, and research ways to adapt the activities that you can’t.
I have spent a lot of time learning how to use Google Classroom. I had used it for communication purposes in the past, but never to the extent that I had to use it this year.
Set Working Hours
When all of your teaching is online, it is really easy to be working on your classroom overnight and on weekends. Your mental health is important too. Give yourself “school hours” do you like to sleep in? Maybe your school hours are 10-6 instead of the normal 7-3. Whenever you decide your work day hours end, turn off the computer.
I am the type of teacher that does have my work email on my phone, but when I need to separate myself, I will turn that email off.
If you have a family, or other people in your personal life that need your time, they will appreciate you “turning work off” at the end of the day so that you can focus on them.
Obviously there are exceptions to every rule. Show yourself some grace if you break your rule, but try to turn school off for the day to give yourself some calm.
Connect With Your Students
When schools closed in March, we were two-thirds of the way through the school year. We already knew our students, and their parents. We knew who was most likely going to complete all of their work, and who we were going to have to keep contacting.
Most of us are getting a whole new group of kiddos in the fall. If we are going back to school in a distance learning setting, it is going to be challenging to build those relationships via video chat.
Take the time to get to know your students, send out a parent survey and/or a student survey where they can tell you about themselves.
Maybe even take 10 minutes to meet with each student (if you have 150 this would be tough and maybe not for you) via video chat so you can chat with them.
This is going to be a tricky task, if you have something that works for you, let me know!
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