These are crazy, trying times. I know that many of you are scrambling, trying to figure out how to deliver your curriculum to students remotely, so I’ve put together some lessons and strategies for remote learning to share with you. They aren’t specific to any particular text; instead, they are ones that focus on skill building, so you can adapt them if need be.
I’m also planning to give you low-tech ideas, so you don’t have to have anything fancy to use the activities – just Google Docs & Slides.
I’m on March Break right now, but I suspect we will be doing remote learning after that, so many of the things that follow are ones that I will be trying with my own students. Good luck, and feel free to check my Facebook, Instagram, and this blog to get other ideas. I’ll be also be posting 0n my Instagram stories – if I’m doing online learning, I’ll share that; if not, I’ll add in suggestions for those who are.
If you are just looking for activities, you can sign up to have them delivered right now by clicking here. Or, if you’d like more help with planning and organizing your online teaching, read on!
Plan for a way to deliver your instructions for remote learning
If your school uses Google Classroom, you are good to go, and you are already familiar with ways of sharing with your students.
But what if you don’t?
Google will allow you to share documents even if you don’t have Classroom. It will be much easier if all of your students have a gmail account, but even if they don’t, you will be able to share information with them. How? Alice Keeler has lots of directions here.
Delivering a lesson remotely
Now I know we are not truly replaceable, but in a pinch, a video or slideshow will work. There are more high-tech ways you can do this with things like Zoom and Google Hangouts, but I’m going to share one that doesn’t involve you or your students getting on camera – or needing an app or program:
Create a slideshow that you can share with your students. On the slideshow, you will simply type what you would normally say, and your students will click through it. I’ve created one that shows you how I use them. You can click here, and I’ll show you how to teach a lesson using this method.
Here is another example of a slideshow that I used during a storm day last year. The content may not make much sense, but you can see how I addressed the students and got them to work through a complex independent task.
Keeping Track of It All
Remember that we don’t assess everything we do in class. Students pass in some work, but most of it is for learning and skill building. You don’t need to assess everything they do online, either. There is enough stress with this situation, that you shouldn’t add more for you or your students. Here are some suggestions for management and assessment:
- If you use Google Classroom, students can submit at the end of the day (or every few days). This could be an assignment for assessment, or just evidence of their daily work. You can just eyeball this and give them a completion grade.
- If you don’t use Google Classroom, students can share their assignments with you via Google Drive or email. If you want to avoid an overwhelming number of emails, ask your students to put several days’ work on one document. Then, they can send it every few days or at the end of the week.
- Assess what you would normally grade. Give out completion grades; if you aren’t allowed to assign grades for completion, record it as a formative grade only (one that doesn’t count for a grade). That way, if you ever need to have a conversation with a student/parent about their lack of success in the course, you can have evidence that they didn’t complete the work.
Once you have a plan for implementing and assessing, it’s time to get posting work. If you would like some ideas and assignments that you can use, click here and I’ll send them to your inbox!
