6 Things To Consider If You Are Suddenly Teaching Online
Many teachers are being asked or required to teach online while school districts, cities, and states are shutting down normal operations to slow the spread of coronavirus.
A lot of well-meaning companies and teachers are sharing gigantic lists of resources and tools and websites to do this quickly and easily. Facebook groups have launched where teachers are asking each other how to do this and sharing ideas and solutions. I’ve seen questions like, “How do I turn all of my worksheets (with a single click) into a PDF that students can fill out online?” and “How do I give a timed quiz to make sure that students aren’t looking up the answers?” and “My district told me I have until tomorrow to post ten days of lesson plans on the class website. Can anyone help?”
Few people were asking questions about why and whether we should do all of this. It was mostly about how to instantly transform a brick and mortar, face-to-face system of instruction into distance learning.
In short, in the span of one weekend, I saw the entire teaching profession trying to answer all the questions and solve all of the issues that the ed tech community has been wrestling with for at least ten years.
I think before we do anything else, we need to slow down and consider a few more basic principles. Here is my attempt. It is surely flawed, and you may not agree with all of my thoughts. I welcome your feedback and additions. But regardless, let’s take a breath and do some reflection.
Keep things simple. You and your students are dealing with a hundred new things that you’ve never quite had to deal with before. Stick with a few light, simple learning ideas that can keep brains active without asking too much.
Don’t try to replicate the “normal” school experience. Doing live instruction is extremely challenging online. Stick to things you can provide asynchronously, and when in doubt refer to point #1.
Include things that are purely aimed at social and emotional health. Share resources for mindfulness, family games, and fun experiences with no obvious academic goal.
Now is not the time to learn a new tool or website. Use resources you are familiar with, and that students are familiar with. If a tool or website is mandated and you’ve never used it before, allow at least a week (or better, two) of exploration and “getting familiar” activities that do not include new or complex academic content.
Lower your expectations. This is the opposite of our usual approach to learning. But please keep in mind that the home environment is much more variable than school. Some families have one device being shared by everyone (including mom and dad who are also working from home). Some children can only access the Internet on a mobile phone. Some have no access at all. Families will have other urgent things vying for their attention. And at the very least, remember that meaningful learning can only happen when other needs (food, rest, safety, security) are taken care of first. Some families will be struggling to figure those out, especially for the first few weeks.
All schoolwork should be optional right now. Provide ideas and resources for families who want and need it. But let them know that if they ignore them completely and take care of each other in other ways, that’s entirely OK too.