Roundup of Distance Learning Resources for Teachers & Parents

As districts struggle trying to take traditional classroom schooling to online learning, you may have to go through different trainings, and processes may change multiple times before the right one is discovered. 

So, it is important to remain flexible with yourself and your students.

With flexibility comes differentiation, so be sure you are aware of how you will be flexible when it comes to what you are assigning to students.

Think about:

• How can you adapt a lesson for it to work online and paper copy?
• How can you adapt a lesson that addresses the needs of students who learn at different levels? 
• How can you be flexible with how students turn in homework?
• How can you be flexible in how you teach students, and how will you keep a healthy balance? (mixture of video recordings, discussions, and self-guided work)
• What will you do for those students who need extra help?

Students are used to seeing their teachers daily, thus it is even more important that they see you in some capacity through video. Not only is this important because it gives students a piece of what they are used to in traditional school, it also allows you to be able to actually teach concepts to help students with their assignments. 

You could also use this to hold group discussions with your students, or even create a lesson where a component is for them to have to submit a recording (such as a speech, read a poem, do a presentation, etc. ). Just be mindful of how you can adapt this for students who do not have internet access. 

You may find yourself having to adjust your lessons to make them more self-guided. What this means is basically creating even more detailed and thorough assignments that students can complete without needing the traditional amount of instruction that would be given in the traditional school. 

Below you will find examples of activities I used with my GT ELA students that were more independent and self-guided. Of course if I were to use these for online purposes, it would still need to be adapted, but it is a great example to see how you could structure an assignment to be more self-guided!

• The Odyssey Reading Guide
• Romeo & Juliet  Reading Guide
• Signposts
• Signpost practice
• Discussion Questions (pay attention to assessment questions on second page)

A great way to build a community with online learning is using discussion boards/forums. This is a great way for students to interact with each other in a meaningful way. It’s also a way for you to gauge their understanding of the material and concepts being taught, depending on how you use the discussion. 

You can either post questions for students to answer or have students create discussion questions for their peers to respond to and vice versa. 

It is even more imperative to have clear expectations for your students in an online learning setting. Those expectations should be the first thing you teach and discuss with your students. 

Consider even doing a eLearning etiquette lesson, so students are aware of your dos and dont’s with anything to they do on the platform.