This is the last post in this series about distance teaching and learning. We have looked at mindset and realistic expectations, setting up a productive workspace, planning and teaching remotely, and continuing to build classroom community. Today’s post is about maintaining communication with students and families.

Here are 21 tips.

1 – I’ve linked my PDF of resources HERE. Consider sharing ONE resource per day with your families. This big ole list is for your reference but it is still overwhelming. Close your eyes and pick one thing to share or try out each day! Often families do want teachers to offer specific options for learning, but they don’t need 50 things in one day. Choose what works best for your students and their families.

2 – Try to communicate with your students and their families daily. This can be in whatever way works for you. I do think it’s most helpful if you can do some kind of brief video of yourself talking to your kids and share that with them frequently (maybe daily, maybe not). “Seeing” you, even virtually, will be reassuring for your students. My fifth graders love seeing pictures of my dog and my daughter’s dog, so I am trying to share pictures frequently.

3 – Consider using some form of an emotional check-in, or a Google Forms check-in with your students.

4 – Watch this brief YouTube clip from Empower Consulting where she shares 3 great tips for new online teachers.

To sum up her tips:
*show your face
*simplify the resource list you are sending home (narrow down to 2-3 resources instead of a huge list of 50 resources, like my resource PDF)
*less is more (assign less)

5 – Consider using Google Voice instead of your personal phone number.

6 – Set up “office hours” and let students and families know when you will be available. This helps keep everyone’s expectations realistic.

7 – For families who are navigating things like Google Classroom for the first time, consider creating screenshots and a simple tutorial to share.

8 – Try to set up a regular time and a consistent way to reach out to students and families. You might do something like sending a Google form as a check-in for students, send a weekly email to families, have get-togethers via Zoom or Google Meet, or make weekly phone calls. Do whatever works best for you and your students.

9 – Maintain a positive attitude and try to offer tips or support to your families as their living situations may be very different from your own.

10 – Make videos and share them with students. You can use Quick Time on a Macbook, Screencastify or Screencastomatic. (There are other tools, but these are very popular and very easy to use.) You can email the videos or upload to Google Classroom. (Tip I learned the hard way: check the volume or sound quality before posting!)

11 – Find fun tips or resources to share with your students. Think about using resources that will be fun and engaging and/or will help them to be active. Share photos or videos of your life with your students. I have shared photos of my dog, my daughter’s dog, me baking cookies, my husband, anything that will be fun and engaging for your particular class. In other words — think more about connecting with your students in social and engaging ways than about “teaching” them something all the time.

12 – Share tips and resources with your families. Parents or caregivers are stressed right now (as are we all). If you find any resources that you think might help support your families, share away. Better to overshare than to be “absent” from them.

13 – Consider using Remind to bulk text messages to families.

14 – Ask your families for feedback on your online lessons. Maybe they need you to provide more examples, talk more slowly, turn up the volume.

15 – Give yourself grace, give your students grace, give your families grace. Understand that you are on a huge learning curve right now and nothing will be as perfect as it would be if you had had months to prepare for this change. Your students may be doing more “work” at home in terms of helping with younger siblings or doing extra chores. And your parents/caregivers are either continuing to work outside the home or they may be working at home and juggling multiple responsibilities. There will be varying levels of commitment to academics right now.

16 – As you communicate with students and/or teach lessons, be as engaging as possible. Show your face (your students need to see you!), use bitmojis and funny memes or gifs.

17 – It’s helpful to write a plan (just notes for yourself) before creating a video lesson. Then, after you write the plan, see if you can simplify it even more. This will be super helpful for your students, but even more for their families!

18 – Use safeyoutube.net for any internet videos you share. This deletes ads and other videos.

19 – Don’t over assign. Consider sharing ONE reading task/assignment per day, ONE math assignment, ONE science assignment, ONE social studies assignment, etc. Extra fun resources can be added as “dessert” or shared with families but not assigned to students.

20 – Encourage your students to develop a daily schedule and share it with you. Consider sharing your own schedule with your students. Show them that you have dedicated work times but that you also include time to play and relax.

21 – Providing extra support:
~send extra reminders to both students and parents (such as a daily email with a “things to do” list);
~show them how to use “tasks” on email desktop or Google Keep
~be flexible with deadlines. Many students will need extra time to complete assignments for a variety of reasons.
~build community among your students. Many students will struggle with isolation. Keeping your community as connected as possible will help with social-emotional learning as well as give them the motivation to complete academic tasks.

I hope you found at least one way to communicate with students and families that will work for your situation. I would love to hear about what is working for you with your class!

In this series of tips, we have discussed setting your own mindset and expectations, setting up a productive workspace, and general planning and instructional ideas for distance teaching. This post will offer suggestions for continuing to build a classroom community but from a distance.

We work so hard to build a community when we are in school and keeping that sense of connection is more important now than ever. It is also one important way that we can look out for our students’ mental health.

Here are 10 tips.

1 – Consider hosting virtual “playdates” or hangouts on Google Meet or Zoom. You might set an “agenda” for the playdate with a game or read aloud or something planned, but it’s also fine to just let kids talk to you and to each other. I have found that shorter, more frequent Google Meet hangouts are best. It’s also helpful to schedule these at different times of day (sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon) to accommodate family schedules.

2 – Use Google Forms to send regular “check-ins” to your students. Jennifer Findley, on her blog Teaching with Jennifer Findley, includes some awesome, editable daily check-in forms HERE.

It’s a good idea to start your check-in with the simple prompt, “Today I feel . . .” and allow kids to fill it in.

Another option is to provide multiple-choice options. After asking “how are you?”, give these choices: I’m great!, I’m meh, I’m not doing so great but I’ve talked to my family about it, I’m struggling and I need you to call me.

3 – If you need to send tasks for your students to do, consider sending them healthy habits reminders too.

Here are some ideas:

~sleep for 8 – 10 hours
~learn to cook/prepare a healthy meal or snack
~play outside, do some yoga, or have a dance party

4 – If you need to help support students with home learning, consider a one-on-one Google Meet or Zoom meeting, making a phone call (or FaceTiming), providing video lessons, or providing a teacher-curated list of learning resources. HERE is my list of free resources.

5 – Continue sending a daily email with some fun information. Here are some ideas:
~send a quote (365 Days of Wonder by R. J. Palacio link or The Ultimate Book of Inspiring Quotes for Kids by Michael Stutman),
~include a joke from Jokes for Kids by Rob Stevens,
~share something from Everyday’s a Holiday calendar or 14,000 Things to Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer.

You can provide some routine and stability for students by emailing within a certain time frame every day, uploading a video within a certain time frame, sending check-in forms on certain days, etc.

6 – Find ways to say hello frequently. Remind kids that you are thinking of them, that you care about them, and that you miss them. A simple daily video would be one way to do this as would a phone call. You might even just send an email with a bitmoji of yourself saying something like “I miss you.”

7 – Using a tool like Padlet is a great way to have a simplified morning meeting. Post a prompt or question and send the Padlet link to students. They can reply on the Padlet wall and even add a photo if they want to.

Some possible prompts:
*share a great book you are reading
*share a picture of a pet or a favorite stuffed animal
*what is one “brag” and one “drag” about online learning?
*what is a “rose” and what is a “thorn” about your week or weekend?
~would you rather . . . ? questions for kids

8 – Suggest that students reach out to each other or to other loved ones by writing letters or making cards and sending them through the mail.

9 -Allow students to express themselves through writing. Encourage students to keep a journal, write stories or poems, or write a first-hand account of their experiences during this time.

10 – Don’t forget the families or caregivers! Consider emailing or calling once a week to check in on how they’re doing. You might even set up a Google Meet or a Zoom meeting for adults only!

As long as we keep the following quote from Dr. Brad Johnson in mind, we’ll be taking care of our students.

In this series, we have focused on building a positive mindset, revamping our expectations, setting up a productive workspace, and planning for instruction in this strange new “world.” Today’s focus is on general instruction tips.

1 – Use the same platform and the same technology tools that your students are already accustomed to. That doesn’t mean you can’t introduce new tools, but try to keep technology tasks as familiar as possible. Note: this is to help save YOUR sanity. Your students will quickly learn any new tool, but you might not have the time or the energy for that right now. If you do learn to use new tools, consider that a bonus but not a requirement!

2 – Re-think your teaching format. Make short (5-15 minute), informal videos. (They don’t have to be perfect! Let go of that.) You can use your phone or use my favorite tool, Screencastify. Link to articles, videos or infographics that are already out there instead of trying to re-invent the wheel.

3 – Change your expectations of what students do to earn “credit” for assignments. Could they post a response on Padlet? Participate in a Google Meet discussion about a book or article? Create something like a Google slides presentation or videos on FlipGrid?

4 – To keep your students motivated and engaged, offer as much choice as possible. Even if you need to require certain assignments to be completed, at least offer choices about when they complete each task.

5 – Other ways to keep your students engaged in your lesson: doodle or sketch during your video, use a toy or prop, suggest some physical activity for your students to do while you are teaching, ask students to post a photo of their work.

6 – Allow your students to create discussion threads or to comment on/evaluate each other’s work. They will probably put more effort into their work if they know that their peers will be giving them feedback!

7 – Stay connected with your students. Make short (3-5 minute) check-in videos to send to your students, updating them on the work expected plus other fun updates like shout-outs to individual students. Schedule class meetings with Google Meet or Zoom so that everyone can see everyone else. Send regular google forms to check-in and see how everyone is doing.

8 – Set up “office hours” when you can be available by email or discussion thread on Google classroom or a Zoom meeting. Offer online video chat or FaceTime calls for students who might need extra help.

9 – Set limits for yourself. Just because you could be available at all hours doesn’t mean you have to be. Follow your district’s guidelines on how soon you should respond to parent emails (usually 24-48 hours). Consider letting your parents and students know when you are “available” for any calls, messages, or emails.

10 – Try to create ways for students to discuss assignments or readings with each other. Zoom and Google Meet are two tools you could use for this. Zoom has breakout rooms feature where you can put students in smaller groups to discuss.

Here are some tried and true student engagement activities from Think CERCA:

~Think-Pair-Share

~Last/Final Word

~Silent Conversation

11 – We all know how important it is to give students feedback. But how do you do that when you can’t be face-to-face with your students? Two ways to do that might be to use a Google doc where you can add comments or use the chat feature. Another way would be to schedule quick 5 – 10 minute conferences with students via Google Meet.

12 – Simplify, simplify, simplify. You will not be able to teach your students in the same way you would if you were in your classroom. Make your peace with that. Just do what you can and let the rest go. Offering your students grace and reassurance during this time is the most impactful thing you can do for them right now.

13 – Priotizie reading over everything else. Make sure your students have access to high-quality texts (both fiction and nonfiction). See the free resources on my PDF HERE. Emphasize to students and families that reading should happen every single day. That is one assignment that everyone can actually do right now. Here is a recent resource I found for reading response choices.

The next three tips for online teaching come from college instructors in the article “Coronavirus Has Led to a Rush of Online Teaching. Here’s Some Advice for Newly Remote Instructors” on EdSurge HERE.

14 – Think Shorter
“If it’s hard to hold students’ attention in person, it’s even harder online,” says Bonni Stachowiak. “You’ll want to think about shortening that experience. The online environment tends to have shorter, more-compact opportunities and then other things to do that are more engaging than just sitting and listening.” Remember that students may be logging on through their smartphones, or watching a recording later instead of tuning in live.

15 – Make Sure to Record Online Sessions For Those Who Can’t Tune in Live
Stachowiak says to be sure you press record on whatever tool you use to offer remote classes. Then share the recording with students just as soon as a session is over, so you won’t forget.

16 – Lighting is Key, and Think About Virtual Eye Contact
“Think about your webcam and having your light source in the room come from in front of you so that the light is shining on your face as opposed to turning you into this shadowy figure that looks a little scary,” says Stachowiak. “You should join the session early so you can look at yourself and ask, where’s the light coming from? Is it the right positioning for that camera? You can simulate eye contact by looking at the camera (for many of us the camera is at the top of our monitor), so put your notes at the top of your screen so you look at the camera more.”

I hope that some of these tips will help you navigate this very stressful and unusual time. Please let me know how these tips work for you and please share your own tips! You are one of the heroes right now. Keep doing what you can do for your students.

So far in this series we have focused on building a positive mindset, revamping our expectations, and setting up a productive workspace. Today’s focus is on planning.

As teachers, we are accustomed to planning. We plan for everything, all. the. time. But this new reality? This requires a very different kind of planning for our teaching and for student learning. Here are 10 tips.

1 – We all have our directives from our school districts or our principals. But even within those constraints, set your priorities. You can’t do everything right now. (That’s actually true all the time, but especially now!) What do you consider to be most important for YOUR students? Remember the saying that “we have to Maslow before Bloom.” Do your students need to hear from you in some way? Do they need to reminded that they are loved and cared for? Do they need food or other resources that your school or district can provide?

If those needs are met, then what do you want them to do? Do you want them to read every day? Write something every day? Solve some math problems? Watch a science or social studies video? Create something? You might also want them to be active in some way or to do things to help out at home. Think about what really matters to YOU, for YOUR students, right now.

2 – Encourage your students to use this time for actually reading. Not doing activities about reading or answering questions about the reading. Just reading. Provide some interesting articles or stories to read and chances to talk about reading. I send my students a new Padlet every week (a sample is HERE) where they tell me what they are reading for fun. Many of them add a sentence or two about the book and almost all of them add a picture of themselves with the book or a picture of the book’s cover.

3 – Don’t worry about grades or due dates. Allow everything to be optional to complete, open book or open note. Encourage your students to communicate and collaborate with you and with other students. Show compassion for yourself AND for your students. Everyone is in a different place in terms of their stress level and what they have going on at home. Unless you are required to assess everything, try to let most (or all) of that go for now.

4 – You don’t have to do this alone. Join Facebook teacher groups, talk to your colleagues, check your favorite blogs (I hope this is one!) and online resources.

5 – Use some sort of platform to post your lessons or assignments. The two most popular and easiest-to-use platforms are SeeSaw and Google Classroom.

6 – Just plan for one week at a time. Don’t try to overhaul your entire curriculum at one time. Just plan one week, check-in with your students and families to see how it went for them, and make adjustments. Learn as you go.

7 – Think about starting off your assignment or lesson with something fun. Maybe a check-in, either by video or by using a Google form. Then you might include something like a virtual field trip or an animal webcam. This could be tied to your curriculum in some way, but it doesn’t have to be. If you want to create a scavenger hunt or some form of questioning activity, fine, but it’s also fine to just have your students share what they learned or what they found interesting.

8 – Then move on to something to read. You might “assign” independent reading (always the first and best activity to improve student reading). If your students were able to take books home from school, remind them to read those books for a certain amount of time. You could include some way for them to tell you about the book they are reading. If your students have finished their books or do not have books at home, consider using a site like RAZ-Kids or Epic. After independent reading, you might assign a reading passage from a website like ReadWorks or NewsELA. See my posts about free resources for COVID-19 for more great sites. I have four posts up so far with more to come! Here’s the first post.

9 – You then might switch to math at this point, then some form of writing, then a content area task. Think about sharing ONE lesson or video or website or assignment in each area per day. Also, think about how long that particular assignment might take and make adjustments. A good goal to aim for is no more than two hours of academic work per day.

10 – And finally – make videos of yourself teaching a brief lesson. Check-in with your students via Zoom or Google Meet. Have digital “office hours”.Your students need to see you and hear you right now. Don’t worry about it not being perfect — no one will care.

As I write this, I realize that these 10 tips make it sound much easier than it is in reality. Do what you can do and do not feel guilty. We are in an unprecedented situation. Take care of yourself, know that you are so valued and appreciated, and just do what you can do.

Today’s tips are about setting up your workspace, taking breaks from that workspace, and being productive!

You may have already set up a space that is working for you. If so, read these tips and see if any of them can help you make your workspace even better. If you’re struggling, I hope these tips will help you figure out a small space that will work for you.

First, as always, take a deep breath. We can make this work.

1 – Try to choose a space where there will be as few distractions as possible, where you have good lighting, a decent internet connection, and where you can be comfortable. This can be super difficult if you live with other people and everyone is crammed into a small space. Currently, I am using a comfortable chair in the corner of my bedroom. I pulled a lamp nearby, made a stack of books and materials I need, and I’m making it work. It’s not ideal, but it will do for now. Nothing is perfect and we’re all just doing the best we can.

Of course, if you’re lucky enough to have a spare bedroom or a room in your home that is not being used as much, that might be an ideal space to use as your workspace.

2 – Every 20 minutes, take a break from the computer by looking away from your screen. Try looking at something that is 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

3 – Every 30 minutes, take a stretch or movement break.

4 – Every hour, take a break to use the restroom (and wash your hands!), get some water (or more coffee), check social media.

5 – Eat your meals and snacks away from the computer. Take a break for yourself.

6 – Along with those tips, keep your workspace dedicated to working. When you are taking those breaks mentioned above, leave your workspace. Then your brain knows that when you sit down at the workspace, you shift into work mode only.

7 – Create a schedule for yourself, even if you don’t follow it to the letter. List the things you want or need to do daily and an approximate time for when you will do them.

Examples: check email, grade or provide feedback, plan lessons for the day/week, create resources, make videos, “office hours”.

I am trying to follow a routine of 60 minutes of work, then take a 15-minute break schedule. I’m not perfect with it, but I’ll keep trying.

You might also include self-care activities for yourself such as when you will take breaks, when you will work out, when you will take a break for some sunshine and fresh air, and when you will break for meals.

A very important part of setting a schedule for yourself: choose a “quitting time.” I don’t know about you, but I am finding myself working WAY MORE at home than I did when I was in school. Even though I usually took work home at night, it was still a task with a definite endpoint (grading math tests, for example). Now it feels like I am responding to emails or looking for one more thing online, right up until bedtime.

So now I’m trying to set a definite “end of the workday” time for myself.

8 – Even though I don’t have to be at school, showered and dressed, at 7 a.m., I still try to have a set time to shower and get dressed for the day. I admit that the time for that is much later than 6 a.m., but it still helps to have a set time!

9 – If you are using Google Meet or Zoom or making videos, pay attention to what is in the camera view. You don’t have to rearrange/redecorate your house or make the background look “school-like”, but you might want to remove anything that is distracting.

THIS is a funny video from Mary Ehrenworth about what to include and what NOT to include!

10 -You may need to set your boundaries with your own family. And this is a hard one.

If your own children are at home with you, set up “work time” for both of you and structure activities so that your children can be (mostly) independent. Here are some ideas:
~find resources or activities that your children can do independently (or with limited assistance);
~create a (flexible) schedule for your children that aligns with your own work schedule;
~have designated workspaces for yourself and for your children. If you have younger children, they might need to be nearby. If they’re teenagers, you might want them far away from you!

Sometimes it helps if your children know they will get a set time with you later. Try to make this time of working from home time for you and your children to do things you might not ordinarily have time to do (cooking or baking together, crafts, outside time, board games, puzzles, coloring books, reading, yoga, meditation, watching movies, cleaning out closets, etc.). This will ease your own stress as well!

Katie Workman at The Mom 100 has a great website with recipes you can make with your kids.

11 – If you need to make a video, let everyone know so that you won’t be interrupted.

12 – Internet access or speed is an issue for many of us, with so many people online at the exact same time. You might need to set up times for different people in your family to do their work, stream Netflix, or use social media.

13 – Try to work on your most essential tasks in the morning. Or — if you are not so much of a morning person — work on your most essential tasks at your most productive time of day.

14 – Plan your day the night before. Make a list of what you need to do so that you can jump right into it in the morning. This has really been helping me. I used to do this when I was teaching at school (remember those days?!), but stopped doing that once work shifted to home. I just thought, “oh, I can make my list in the morning before I get started.” But I noticed a big difference in my own productivity when I made my list the night before instead of in the morning. Try it and see which works best for you.

15 – Consider using some kind of background noise, white noise, or calming instrumental music while you are working. Or if there is a lot of noise in your home, consider using headphones or earbuds.

I hope you found something useful here. The next post will be about planning for instruction!