(This is the final post in a two-part series. You can see Part One here.)
The question-of-the-week is:
What have you learned from distance learning that you think will alter your practice in some way when you return to pre-COVID-19 teaching?
In Part One, Kayla Solinsky, Sarah Said, Pamela Mesta, Olga Reber, and Jason Anderson share their ideas today. Kayla, Sarah, Pamela, and Olga were also guests on my You can find a list of, and links to,
I published that previous post in late January of this year.
As we near the end of this school year鈥攁nd, if you鈥檙e like me, it 肠补苍鈥檛 end soon enough鈥擨 wanted to revisit the question. I always take time in May/June to take stock of the year while things are fresh in my mind and think about what changes I want to make during the following year. If I don鈥檛, I鈥檓 sure my addled brain will forget some important points. And, this year in particular, I鈥檇 definitely like to clear my mind for awhile after the last day of school!
Here is my answer to the question:
In Part One, I briefly shared about how forming in each of my classes has had such a dramatically positive impact on my classes this year. Members are responsible for leading small groups, mentoring other leaders, answering questions in the chat, and 鈥渄ebriefing鈥� after classes where we evaluate how it鈥檚 going and what changes need to be made. I feel like I鈥檝e always generally valued 鈥渟tudent voice,鈥� but this pandemic year challenged me to make it much more integral to my practice. I鈥檒l certainly be carrying over this idea next year and in future years.
Though I鈥檝e always had students do one or two 鈥済et-to-know-you鈥� activities at the beginning of the school year, I spent a full month on them during this year of mostly remote teaching鈥攁nd it paid off big time! Though I don鈥檛 think I鈥檒l repeat that amount of time, it鈥檚 clearly worth spending the first three weeks on community-building activities, many from Facing History鈥檚 , which are equally usable during 鈥渘ormal鈥� times.
I鈥檝e never been a big user of textbooks, most of which , much less accessible than they should be, and overladen with extraneous content. Nevertheless, I鈥檝e used them more than I like because sometimes it鈥檚 just 鈥� easier. Since the online versions of many of these textbooks have been even worse, I鈥檝e been forced to identify shorter and more accessible materials this year. Having students engage in creative ways with this kind of content has proven to be much more productive, so I expect to continue using short texts in this way and use textbooks even less than I鈥檝e done in the past.
is an essential element in developing conditions for promoting intrinsic motivation. Now that every student has a laptop, I anticipate offering them the choice of how they want to do any kind of writing鈥攂y hand on paper or online. I鈥檇 like to be able to offer a similar choice in reading materials鈥攁s long as it means I can print out copies on my printer. I want to provide choice, but I just 肠补苍鈥檛 go back to spending hours in the school鈥檚 copy room.
Though I always made a priority of regularly checking in with students 惫别谤产补濒濒测鈥攁苍诲 sometimes in writing鈥攁bout their well-being, doing using Google Forms this year have been invaluable. Surveys are useful, of course, unless you don鈥檛 act on the information you gain from them, and the follow-up I鈥檝e been able to do on these weekly results has had a huge, positive impact on my relationships with students. I鈥檒l certainly be continuing this online activity.
All of us teachers use in some way or other. This year, since we haven鈥檛 had daily classes, it became clear that making it more of a priority was necessary in order to make some learned content 鈥渟tick.鈥� One simple routine I used was having one of the questions students had to answer in writing during each 鈥淲arm-Up鈥� at the beginning of class was, 鈥淲hat was the most interesting or important thing you learned in our last class, and why do you think it interesting or important?鈥� 69传媒 then shared their responses in small groups, and a few contributed to the entire class. Not only did they have to 鈥渞etrieve鈥� the content, they also retaught each other. This practice will continue to have a place in my classroom next year.
I discussed community-building activities earlier. Though I鈥檒l be emphasizing them during the first few weeks of school鈥攁s I did this year鈥攖hey have to continue during the entire year to truly build a . A simple way I did that this year, and will continue in the future, was by adding a more personal question to the Warm-up, along with the one on retrieval practice. Questions like, 鈥淐an you describe one member of your family?鈥� or 鈥淲hat was your proudest moment鈥� helped continue to strengthen personal connections.
I used a ritual I learned from to also strengthen a sense of classroom community and I鈥檒l be continuing it in the future. dedicating that day of learning to someone who inspires them.
A student can go an entire class day without hearing their name said by a teacher, and that experience definitely does not help create a . This year, I鈥檝e made a point of greeting each student by name as they enter Zoom (and elbow bumps for the few students who come in person since we reopened), and there is no reason why I 肠补苍鈥檛 continue to make that a priority in the fall. In past years, I鈥檝e tried to do that kind of recognition. This year鈥檚 experience has taught me, as , 鈥淒o. Or do not. There is no try.鈥�
Though I鈥檝e used the tool off and on over the years to communicate with students or parents, it鈥檚 been essential this year. I鈥檓 able to easily send group texts to entire classes (lots of students don鈥檛 pay attention to Google Classroom email notifications), and individual text to students complimenting them on something they鈥檝e done (which they can easily show their parents) or checking in with students about their well-being if they鈥檝e missed class. It鈥檚 easy to have students sign up for a class list and it will be something students will be doing the first week of school. There are also plenty of alternatives to Remind.
That鈥檚 my list. What鈥檚 yours?
Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it鈥檚 selected or if you鈥檇 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.
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Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It鈥檚 titled .
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I am also creating a .
