What tip can you share about your distance/digital/virtual learning experience that could be helpful to another parent or educator in this group? Something about your home setup? Organizational advice? Maybe an app or resource that has been super helpful? Something a teacher did that made all the difference?
I’ll add my tip in the thread below, and I’m eager to read all of yours.
Why this thread, Dr. Natasha?
First, I raise my glass to all the educators and administrators across the world who have been working tirelessly on behalf of all children. From daycare owner to college provost, thank you and I see you.
Second, all of us have had an opportunity to experience distance or virtual learning at some point in the last 6 months. There are highs and lows. There is good and bad. It’s not perfect, but I believe we remain in a position of privilege to be able to participate.
Finally, as we head into the winter season, we don’t know what the educational and community landscape will bring. As hopeful as I am for in-person learning to continue, productive preparation for learning at home (again) may lessen our collective anxiety about it all.
Our daughter's first grade teachers posts the lesson plan online. We use different color sticky notes for each day of the week to tag books and worksheets. Then our daughter can quickly find the next item as they transition between subjects. This is especially helpful if she can't hear the instructions or see the page that is shown - she is remote but synchronous with the in person students.
I'm late to the post, but our 4th grader's teacher gave her class (and parents) "permission" to leave confusing assignments on home days unfinished. The expectation is that the student will initiate a conversation when they are back at school (we are in a hybrid model). So many positives: teacher knows what student isn't getting, student learns to advocate for themselves, parents doesn't have the pressure to "teach". Triple win in my book!
Never too late, Jen. Thanks for stopping by! That approach is certainly a triple win. I hope it empowers the kids, allowing them to embrace challenge or difficulty with a more positive attitude. That is such an important life skill. Great share.
First of all, I'm raising my glass to all educators and administrators right there with you Dr. Natasha!! So thankful for all they are doing to help make this fun and stress-free for our kiddos.
For our Kindergartener, we got a little timer for the breaks. When she has a break, she can turn the timer to 15 minutes, go play, and will know when she needs to be back online for class so she is not dependent on us. We also will sometimes have dance parties at breaks and turn up the music and get our wiggles out! It's good for me too! :)
We used the daily classroom schedule roughly and let our child run and play during recess time and P.E times that weren’t zoom controlled. This let her get some energy out and be able to come back and focus on her work better.
I like this a lot. Kids need to move their bodies. It helps every child with focus and attention. I'm hearing more kids being challenged by limited movement even in-person with limited class movement and recess time. I'm investing in good winter jackets for the kids so they can still move outside as much as possible. Thanks for sharing.
Not a tip, but I will say that I have been impressed at the level of problem solving my virtual learners have been able to do on their own when it comes to technology. Kids these days seem to have an innate ability to figure out technology. In fact, a lot of times I get in their way. I have a 2nd, 6th and 8th grader and I have not had to do any tech troubleshooting. They've figured it out all on their own. I guess my tip is to trust them when it comes to technology!
My kids are 5th and 8th grade and both use school-provided Chrome books. Early in the virtual session, I was noticing a natural hunched over posture they were taking to look at the screen and use the track pad. After investing in re-purposed keyboards/mouse and using old TV monitors, we created better work stations where they can easily sit upright and not strain to see. It's made a lot of difference in comfort, which has helped attitude and attention.
Kids aren’t trying to cause a problem, they’re trying to solve a problem. Helps at times to understand behavior.
Refreshing perspective to get though rough days. Thanks for sharing.
Our daughter's first grade teachers posts the lesson plan online. We use different color sticky notes for each day of the week to tag books and worksheets. Then our daughter can quickly find the next item as they transition between subjects. This is especially helpful if she can't hear the instructions or see the page that is shown - she is remote but synchronous with the in person students.
Sticky notes for the win! Great idea.
I'm late to the post, but our 4th grader's teacher gave her class (and parents) "permission" to leave confusing assignments on home days unfinished. The expectation is that the student will initiate a conversation when they are back at school (we are in a hybrid model). So many positives: teacher knows what student isn't getting, student learns to advocate for themselves, parents doesn't have the pressure to "teach". Triple win in my book!
Never too late, Jen. Thanks for stopping by! That approach is certainly a triple win. I hope it empowers the kids, allowing them to embrace challenge or difficulty with a more positive attitude. That is such an important life skill. Great share.
First of all, I'm raising my glass to all educators and administrators right there with you Dr. Natasha!! So thankful for all they are doing to help make this fun and stress-free for our kiddos.
For our Kindergartener, we got a little timer for the breaks. When she has a break, she can turn the timer to 15 minutes, go play, and will know when she needs to be back online for class so she is not dependent on us. We also will sometimes have dance parties at breaks and turn up the music and get our wiggles out! It's good for me too! :)
Timers for the win!! I can see all of you dancing and wiggling with big smiles on your faces. Great tip - thanks for sharing.
We used the daily classroom schedule roughly and let our child run and play during recess time and P.E times that weren’t zoom controlled. This let her get some energy out and be able to come back and focus on her work better.
I like this a lot. Kids need to move their bodies. It helps every child with focus and attention. I'm hearing more kids being challenged by limited movement even in-person with limited class movement and recess time. I'm investing in good winter jackets for the kids so they can still move outside as much as possible. Thanks for sharing.
Not a tip, but I will say that I have been impressed at the level of problem solving my virtual learners have been able to do on their own when it comes to technology. Kids these days seem to have an innate ability to figure out technology. In fact, a lot of times I get in their way. I have a 2nd, 6th and 8th grader and I have not had to do any tech troubleshooting. They've figured it out all on their own. I guess my tip is to trust them when it comes to technology!
That's the truth. My middle schooler is teaching me tech tips as I watch her work, too. We are all learning!
My kids are 5th and 8th grade and both use school-provided Chrome books. Early in the virtual session, I was noticing a natural hunched over posture they were taking to look at the screen and use the track pad. After investing in re-purposed keyboards/mouse and using old TV monitors, we created better work stations where they can easily sit upright and not strain to see. It's made a lot of difference in comfort, which has helped attitude and attention.