On Friday night, my school board voted to go virtual for a week. YIKES! We teachers have only a few days to plan ( and, yes, those days are outside of working hours). Your school may have gone virtual already, and we all may be facing the possibility of off/ on remote this year. I wanted to share how I prepare my units for equitable remote learning, because with a little planning and preparation you can ease a lot of the burden from yourself if and when this happens at your school.
This is also important as we are seeing upticks in the number of absent students who are quarantining or sick. There’s SO much for them to catch up on if they miss a week of instruction. With these steps, you can ensure that every student has what they need to be successful in your class whether they are in class or not.
Ultimately, these tips are crucial as we navigate unpredictable pandemic circumstances, but are good practice to provide consistently to ensure an equitable remote learning environment for ALL of our students, but especially our most vulnerable ones.
1. Get Organized
I know as well as anyone that plans can change and our lessons might take unexpected turns as we move through a unit. However, it’s also important to know that when students are not in class they crave consistency, which is so challenging when we are planning our lessons day by day. Staying organized is also important because it gives students who are absent more than a day or two the best chance at success. Here’s what I mean by staying organized:
- Plan your unit from the end backwards. Know what culminating task students will complete, and develop lessons and other assessments from there.
- Create a tentative calendar that details what will happen on which days, especially quizzes or other big assignments.
- Gather all student- facing materials ( at least for the next few weeks) and place them in the same folder in your digital files. Make sure they are easily adapted to a digital format or submission.
- Consider whether each assignment is truly ESSENTIAL, maybe hold off on requiring completion or turn in of anything that’s not.
I know that this level of organization is sometimes challenging depending on your subject, but it will go a long way to easing the strain for both you and your students.
1. Package Assignments in your LMS
Make sure that each task or assignment is listed in your LMS ( like Canvas or Google), AND that all of the materials are either attached in the assignment or linked. Reducing the number of buttons students need to click goes a LONG way to making sure work will ACTUALLY get done. Here’s what I include in my assignments:
- The Task and Mastery Expectations
- The worksheet or document needed to complete the task
- Link to the text and relevant notes
- HOW to submit work
If you’re looking for more detailed information, Kasey Bell of Shake Up Learning has an amazing post that goes into more detail about packaging assignments.
3. Create a Guide for Students to Follow
I also have a weekly slide deck that I create to provide visuals as I am teaching and help with my pacing. I adapted this for student use too, and upload it into Canvas. I TEACH my students to look at this slide deck if they are absent or need to review something. Here’s an example of what part of my deck looks like:
I include ALL of my notes, links to any lectures students need that I record via Nearpod, links to Canvas assignments, and each date is CLEARLY labeled. My goal is that the lesson progression and all tasks make sense to someone even if they’ve never stepped foot in my class.
4. Consider Options for Equitable Self-paced Remote Learning
I’ve written in-depth about my views on late work but when we are in a remote, hybrid, maybe remote, sometimes absent, etc. learning environment it is CRUCIAL that we do not penalize students for turning in assignments late. Here’s why:
- I honestly can’t keep track of which students do and don’t get how many extra days because of their excused absences.
- Learning and processing time is different for everyone, but it is always LONGER in a remote environment.
- If students are home, it is likely that they are experiencing any of these things:
- Depression from isolation, being in survival mode, or anything else
- Anxiety from overwhelming number of tasks, showing their face online, loud noises in their background, etc.
- Assisting with childcare, chores, etc.
- Sharing a learning space with siblings or parents
- Not having a quiet place to participate or work
- Being sick or caring for sick family members
- Hunger
I decided last year to allow students a certain degree of self- paced learning. They can work when they are able, and turn assignments in when they’ve mastered the skill. This means they can also prioritize their work and environment, which is an important skill for adulthood. I make tentative deadlines at the end of each week ( Friday night). Students’ goal is to get work completed and submitted by Friday, but I’m not going to penalize their grade if it’s late.
Another helpful tool for self- paced environments is unstructured work time. I reserve one class period each week for unstructured work time. I can use this to meet 1:1 or in small groups with students, and students can use the time to get done what they need to get done.
5. Stay Positive and Consistent for Students
No matter how we personally feel about remote learning, absent students, and the decisions made by our districts or schools that are largely out of our control, we are often the temperature gauge for our students. Although I am always an advocate for teachers speaking up when things are not right I also know that for many of my students, I could be the one person helping them hang on through all of this. If I have a negative attitude about a decision, that emotion is going to ripple through my students and ultimately impact their learning and success. I’ll always be real with them, but I also will hesitate to complain about things I can’t change.
Instead, I’ll focus on what I can do in my classroom to ensure an equitable experience for ALL of my students, regardless of the situation this year.
Letters and Ink
What are your best tips for navigating this unpredictable learning and teaching environment? Let me know in the comments!
