Transitioning to a remote classroom is something new for many teachers and students.
We’ve put together some basic steps you can take to ensure you maximize the impact of your virtual classroom and create teachable moments from a distance. We hope this helps you through this adjustment so you can continue to do what you do best!
Here are a few things to embrace early on:
- Stay connected: Whether it be by social media pages, email, or phone, regularly checking in on your students to see how they are doing with both the schoolwork and with the circumstances will make them feel supported or comfortable. It will also help you to know what is working and what can be improved on to enhance your remote teaching methods.
- Preparation is key: The transition from classroom to at-home learning is a big adjustment for students so it is critical to fully prepare them. This means clearly stating your expectations, providing time estimates for assignments, resources for extra information, and where they can go for help. Not having a teacher readily available for assistance can be scary for some learners so it is important that they feel prepared and supported during this time.
- Provide your students with a toolbox of resources: Creating a digital classroom can be easy if done with the right tools. At THiNKtech we provide a toolbox of resources that can be adaptable to any subject, grade level, lesson, or unit. Paired with our complimenting apps, digital lessons can be made quickly and easily without compromising the quality of information.
- Take it day by day: There is a lot of uncertainty around these circumstances including the amount of time remote teaching will be necessary so instead of dumping a months-worth of work on your students, try releasing lessons one week at a time. This will help to ease student apprehension, keep them on pace, and also give you time to adequately prepare for what’s next.
We’ll be following up this post with some more advanced techniques around lesson planning and student engagement in a second post.
Make sure to follow us on social @gothinktech for daily tips, tricks, and ideas that can help to get you through this transition period.
