Day 4 - Virtual Pre-Planning

So yesterday I was in virtual meetings from the time I walked in the building until 2pm.  MS Teams/Turnitin, Department, PLC, and Readiness and standardized assessment training; the last one mentioned gets its own blog tomorrow.  

All of these were pretty much back to back, and many of them not productive.  At 2pm I was absolutely brain dead and exhausted.  I tried to pull some planning together for this morning, but I was far too scattered.  Worse, I did not get to go walking at lunch, so at my desk sedentary all day save for bathroom breaks.

The epiphany here is this is our students new reality everyday virtual classes all day long.  They get a 10 minute break between classes and a 45 minute lunch, but still - pretty brutal.  Now I am not saying that I think we should turn the tide - anyone who read my post yesterday would know I support remote learning for safety reasons.  I have always realized the drawbacks, but yesterday I lived them.

Now after walking through this reality I understand our administration's call for fewer/smaller homework assignments and more work during class periods.  I would not have swayed from the request anyway, but I see it now.  

Some things I think are worth considering as we head into this new platform with our students:

1. Make the beginning of class personable.  Conduct a class poll to check in on students and talk about

    results.  My department chair did this yesterday in our meeting, and it was a great ice-breaker.

2.  Keep direct instructional time as interactive as possible - that was what one meeting leader did to 

     keep me engaged in one meeting yesterday.

3.  Keep direct instructional time short - if you need to instruct more, provide a follow up video for 

     them to view on their own at their own pace.  20 minutes is plenty.  

4.  Provide for plenty of group work with reinforcing activities frequently.  In my classroom normally I

     do a lot of learning checks and board share for class analysis, so that being gone - working together 

     with me popping into channels is needed.  MS Teams is a great platform for this.

5.  Allow for stretch breaks if there is direct instruction.

6.  Talk to students about taking a break between school and any work at night at home.  Some will 

      have sports in between, but many will not.  Encourage them to get outside during lunch if possible. 

      They need to be reminded daily for a while until habits form in this new normal.

7.  Have them post or record their thoughts and/or questions somewhere at the end of class.  Another 

     poll for understanding level would be great at this time.  I intend to use virtual name tents, and I

     have a friend in NC who is using online journals.

8.  Checking in through polls, discussion, group work, etc. will keep them invested, engaged, and 

     realizing that their presence as a member of the class is important, wanted, and needed.  It allows for

     an inclusive environment on a learning platform that is designed to work against us all if we do not

     navigate it in productive ways.

Never have we been more challenged more as teachers AND students than we are now.  We cannot bring old practices to this environment, and some of them need to be left behind anyway.  In rising to this challenge we learn as educators right along with the students and hone our craft.  I already realize that there are many things from teaching virtually that I will want to keep, and there are some things that I did before that I am ready to toss.

It's is and will continue to be hard, exhausting, nerve-racking, but I do believe we can find reward in this process as well.  It will take rolling up our sleeves, willingness to be uncomfortable, and allowing ourselves grace in stumbling and rebooting.   

It will also call for us to have that same grace and patients with our students.  They will be absent, they will have internet issues, they will need understanding for what they have to balance with family obligations - some of those very likely to be sickness in this time period.

Patience, kindness, and understanding are critical for all of us as we navigate this new school year.   Be relatable with students and share your struggles and the fact that you understand their stress as you are experiencing it too.  In doing this you appear real and more tangible to them as well as more approachable for what they may need from you.

We are all in this together, and we must band together to get through it.  

Together we are better!

And finally - 3 positive things as I start my day today:

1.  I have most of the day to get work done for my classes.

2.  I have a hair appointment after school - that is always a treat.

3.  My department chair and I had a good talk yesterday afternoon that left me feeling energized about 

     leading the Algebra 1 team.