COVID-19 has forced teachers to become Zoom Wizards and GoogleMeet Masters…or at least they’re trying. Teaching online, especially with younger students, is no easy feat. If you are nervous and worried about the effectiveness of teaching remotely, know that you are far from alone. 94% of teachers shifted to remote instruction during school closures and 77% of them stated they felt “stressed” by the task. If you fall into either of these two categories, read on for helpful tips.
Use Variety
As opposed to bouncing from room to room to attend their classes, students are clicking from tab to tab in online classrooms. Not only are they redundant, but they often bleed into one another due to the lack of transitions and change in scenery. To grab students’ attention, switch up your class structure. If you typically do lectures, incorporate an activity, demonstration, or video to liven your presentation. If your class is mainly discussion-based, give students time to write on their own. If teaching younger students, engage as many of their senses as possible. Perhaps start with a song and then exciting visuals, followed by a tactile activity they can do from home. By keeping students on their toes, they are far less likely to resign to the abyss of boredom which monotony can easily do.
Carve Out Time to Speak with Students
56% of students have reported heightened stress during the pandemic, and among those surveyed, Latino and Black students are experiencing strain at even higher rates of 63%. Students of all ages have missed out on material, valuable social interaction, extracurricular, and one of the most formative periods of their life. Not to mention that
many have suffered loss all around them, including within their home. It is easy to say this pandemic has hit everyone hard, but students especially have faced difficult obstacles in the last year. Sectioning off just a few minutes of your class time to check in with students may be the only time all week that someone is slowing down to assure they are doing okay. Make sure they are comfortable with the class’s pace, are not overwhelmed by the volume of work, have all the materials they need at home, etc. Not only will your students greatly appreciate you, but this time gives you insight into how well you are conducting your online class. Also give them space and freedom to speak generally about how they are managing, with regards to school or otherwise.
Consider Open-Note Assessments, or Doing Away with Them Altogether
Assuring integrity in online school is extremely difficult. Students have laptops, phones, tablets, and other gadgets that can lead them to nearly any answer. Instead of spending hours crafting the perfect test you believe cannot be cracked even by a computer, perhaps just allow students to use their notes and maybe even online resources. Just be sure to craft questions that require an extra layer of thought and force students to use what they previously learned to build their answers. If this process sounds like a hassle, consider saving your class time and instead assign projects, papers, and problem sets that can replace the testing portion of their grade. Teachers can take all the steps possible to eliminate cheating and make the tests equitable, but the truth of the matter is that the playing field will never be completely equal. Therefore, eliminating testing as a tool in your classroom may be one of the best ways to assure fairness.
Stay Organized
Some love learning online because it allows them to keep all their study materials in one place, on one device. For others, this situation presents a nightmare. The best way to aid all your students in their online learning is by staying organized. Create a classroom page where students can access all documents, sheets, and materials and have them listed chronologically by the date introduced. Be sure to have a calendar with class times, assignment due dates, and exam dates. If you offer office hours (which is a great bonus tip!), make that clear too. We have all frantically searched for a meeting link as our hearts pounded and the clock ticked. Alleviate this issue by having all links easily accessible at the top of your page. Also create an area dedicated to homework where you detail what is expected of them, where they should submit it, and when it is due. Parents will appreciate this level of organization as well because now it is much easier for them to assist with assignments and know that their child is staying on track.
Use All Resources Available to You
This pandemic presents a time to be creative and resourceful even with online learning. If you are lucky enough to have a tablet, consider propping it up and facing it downwards so that students can watch you write on paper. This tip is especially useful if walking students through a math or science problem, or teaching elementary school students to write. If you do not have a tablet, consider purchasing a whiteboard to prop on your wall and write, just as if you were back in the classroom. Lastly, if you cannot access either of these things, use the marker tool available on many video conferencing platforms to draw on your screen. Rely on videos you can find online to demonstrate what you can only show in a classroom. Spend time in an instructional class that teaches you all the features of your video conferencing platform. This will help you become comfortable using the chat box, breakout rooms, etc. Take advantage of the fact that now it is much easier to assist students individually and without distractions due to breakout rooms. Check out websites like this one, which compiles online learning resources for teachers of all grades.
Be sure to emphasize the benefits of online learning. Perhaps now you have to work fewer hours and can go to work in pajama pants. Remember that you can reach students more easily and see all their faces at once. And do not forget how lucky we are to have this technology at all. As much as we all wish to return to in-person learning, let’s not forget that there will likely be aspects of remote instruction that we will miss.
Written by Lucy Reid Lucy Reid
