Ready or not, the start of the new school year is HERE. On Thursday and Friday of this week, I will report for Teacher Institute. My district changed from its original plans to teach full-time in-person to remote learning full-time. While I am so relieved by this decision, my mind has been filled with how I am going to teach remotely at the start of a new school year. I mean, how on earth am I supposed to get my second grade up and running with their technology, teach live lessons, meet with groups via Zoom, and do everything else!?! To say that it is overwhelming is an understatement.
When I began to think about how I was going to plan for e-learning, I decided to start with the basics. Literally just starting with the first few days. However, the basics just look a little bit differently with remote learning.
Day 1-2: Teach Expectations/Rules for Online Learning
After last spring, I learned that this step is mandatory. My students logged onto Zoom while in bed and under the covers, while eating breakfast, without wearing a shirt, etc. To be fair, they were new to this mode of teaching and learning and I did not have the time or opportunity to teach about what is appropriate etiquette when online. In order to get a successful start to this online learning adventure, I must teach about the rules and expectations of online learning.
You can check out my printable (or online, digital version) of online learning expectations here: Distance Learning Rules and Expectations
Days 3-5: Once my students have a solid understanding of the expectations for Zoom and/or Google Classroom, then I will start to build my classroom community, just like I would if I were teaching in person!
Zoom class meeting: A great book to use for a first read-aloud is The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson or All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. After reading this story, each student will introduce themselves and state how they are feeling about the school year.
After a few read alouds and class discussions, all while getting familiar with the computer, how it works, and following the expectations we created for our online learning community, then we are ready to dive into instruction!
My district requires daily synchronous (instruction with the teacher) and asynchronous (students working independently) instruction for math and reading. (We will learn more about what this looks like and specific expectations during our Institute Days this week and next.)
Speaking of diving into instruction…this is an email I received from a teacher a few weeks ago:
Teacher Question:
I am STRUGGLING with reader’s workshop this year. I will be teaching third-grade in-person social distancing. Basically it is remote learning at school. I will have 12 students in my classroom, some students at home for remote learning, and the rest will be in an overflow classroom. YIKES! Oh, and I am told that I have to live stream all day. The thought makes me want to run and hide.
My team is going to share the workload. I will be responsible for reading so I’d like to keep the reader’s workshop model. I own your unit 1 for third grade but I’m struggling with how to make it work for distance learning. I know I can videotape a mini-lesson, but the rest gets tricky for me. How do I have students share when we are all wearing masks and sitting 6 feet apart? How do students share when they are at home and in an overflow classroom? Plus, making worksheets and responses digital?
My district does have a reading program, Journeys. At this point, I’m wondering if I should throw in the towel and just follow the teacher’s guide instead of trying to create a more meaningful approach to reading. I guess I’m wondering how you are going to approach this in a way that is simple for a teacher, students, and parents as well as make it sustainable.
My Thoughts:
I hear you. I had to sit on this email for a few days, as I am also preparing for a school year like no other.
What really complicates things for this teacher is that she is not only teaching students in her classroom in person, but she is also will have students at home for remote learning.
We are teaching in a time where we are struggling with teaching using best practices and focusing on teaching a love for learning and reading, versus teaching using a variety of different formats- virtual, in-person, hybrid model, due to a pandemic.
If I were this teacher, I would definitely spend time teaching some management based lessons- such as finding just-right books, how/where to store books, and building reading stamina, finding a just-right spot to read. In my district, (as of right now) we were told not to have students share materials or supplies. So, all of the management lessons that I would teach to build up to the grand opening of the classroom library would have to be scrapped. (sadly!)
Instead, I would teach my students how to find just right books on their Chromebooks using GetEpic (an awesome website!), versus how to find just right books in the classroom library. If you are not using hard copies of books, then you most likely will need to teach lessons about how to keep and organized book nook, since they won’t have books to keep inside there.
Other mini-lessons that I would normally teach at the beginning of the year, such as reading with partners or how to check out books from the classroom library, would also be scrapped, as they would not be possible when we are required to maintain social distancing.
So then, what would I teach if there are many lessons that I would NOT teach? Great question! I would just dive right into my content-based lessons. Examples include author’s purpose, thinking about what we are reading, non-fiction text features, etc.
If you are looking for different examples of mini-lessons that you can teach your students, please check out my YouTube Channel. I have dozens of content-based ELA mini-lessons that you can watch and get ideas from. In fact, I had two teachers reach out to me and tell me that they followed the same exact model that I did in my YouTube videos, for their own videos that they recorded for their students. You can check out my YouTube Channel videos here: Inspire Me ASAP YouTube
In regards to this teacher’s question about how do students turn and talk or share their opinions/responses, when sitting 6 feet apart…ahh! Good question! Honestly, I don’t know! This format of teaching with these guidelines are new for all of us, so I don’t really have any advice to give. The only idea I do have is to have your students write their responses on a dry erase board and then show their boards to their partner, who would obviously be the person sitting in the desk next to them, six feet apart.
I know that I didn’t completely answer this teacher’s questions…but to be honest, I just do not have all the answers.
Looking for a social story to help your students understand online learning?Online learning, distance learning, remote learning…this new format for teaching and learning is a lot for little kids to digest! This social story tells a story about a little boy, Logan, who will be learning from home this year, due to Covid-19. This story is one that students of all ages will be able to relate to and connect with. This story has a color and also black/white option for your printing preferences.
You can check out this book here: Logan’s Online Learning Days
Are you teaching remotely this fall? How do you plan to start your first few days or weeks? I would love to hear from you! Please comment below.
