Spiece Blog: COVID-19 - You want me to do what? Teach Online?

The Covid-19 Crisis has given schools the opportunity to quickly dive into online learning. For educators, I know how scary this is for you. In 2014, I transitioned from the classroom to teaching online 100%. It was very overwhelming and challenging but I will never forget how much fun I had. It has been the best decision I have ever made.

So, as you transition, here are some of my thoughts.

Maintaining Student Relationships

This is going to be the key to your success and the very first thing to consider when planning how to approach the weeks to come. Remind yourself that they are going through this too and you are in it together.

Response Time - Online schools across the country have strict rules around response time for a reason. They need to feel teacher presence in the course. A good rule of thumb is 24 hours on messages and 72 hours in grading assignments. Now, this guideline is for students knowing they are going online and not being thrust into it quickly. I recommend being very available in the first week of the transition. Setup a way to get text messages from a student not using your phone number. There are services out there that you can set this up for free.

How to respond - They need to know that you are being authentic in your responses to them. Always respond to a student with a greeting using their name. You could thank them for messaging and/or praise them. This really goes a long way in the relationship. Consider keeping common responses somewhere you can use to copy from.

I cannot stress how important student relationships will get you through this.

Resources

If you haven't done this already, gather ALL of the digital resources you can find from your curriculum. For example, does your textbook come with any digital resources? Does your textbook have a website with links to videos you can utilize?

If you are using a common textbook, this is good. There is a very good chance that another teacher has recorded an explanation for your lesson. Don't recreate the wheel, you simply don't have time.

Lessons

Remember you are already excellent at teaching and you know what your students need to be successful. So, the biggest advice I can give here is that your chunks of content and assessment may need to be smaller.

Here are some quick basics

Hook - Get their attention

Explain - what they need to know

Integrate - have them discuss, send you a thoughtful message, launch a discussion board

Assess - Small quiz, assignment and or project

If you get inspired by this, you can dig deeper into this article - https://catlintucker.com/2020/03/designing-an-online-lesson/?fbclid=IwAR2cu9BMDqTnwaaQBhlJcsicHotDJVVudxG2Vkj4j3q2GGlZyhFFXT_ebTs

Projects

Build-in more checkpoints and have them submit as they go through the project to give you updates. Remember that they will likely have a cell phone with a camera with them. Use this to your advantage to have them document as they go.

Teachers are the best problem solvers in the world and you will get through this. You are amazing and your students will never forget this experience that you get to have with them.

Here are some more great resources as you transition