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Surreal. That is the only word I can think of that best defines the current situation. On March 20, 2020, distance learning began in our district and in my home state. Connections with anyone not in our immediate households are virtual, rather than real. That includes school for us and for our students. Here in Connecticut, the coronavirus is not supposed to peak until May 2020. As I write this in early April, I am fearful of what that will look like. I often tell my students “no good decisions are based on fear”. So, I have a secondary worry about what that fear is doing to me, to my commitment to equity, and my learning. I am using this article to remind myself and others about how and why we are uniquely poised to work together to reinvent and more importantly, why this is urgent for ourselves and our students. I will not talk about district-level challenges such as getting food to students, delivering laptops to students, and how to educate a system about these changes. Instead, I will focus on teacher-specific challenges and some possible solutions. I will try to make this general enough that you might be able to apply it to any system. Where possible I will share links to tools that I have found helpful.
Challenge 1: You are struggling to balance the needs of yourself, your family members, and your work.
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You have to structure that time. Make a schedule and stick to it.
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If you are finding yourself balancing a lot of online meetings consider using Calendly which integrates with the Google Suite of Tools, allowing students and/or parents to see when you are free and email you with a time they would like to meet.
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Another great tool that also integrates with Google Calendar is Doodle which allows you to poll multiple people to find a time that works for the majority.
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Be sure you are not leaving yourself out of your schedule. Take time to exercise, do crafts, whatever healthy habits that bring you sanity and peace of mind. Be mindful of habits that are not healthy and do not allow them to take your time and energy. Consider using an app on your phone to meditate, journal, etc. Many, such as Headspace, are making their features free for teachers.
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“Touch paper once” – if you read an email, respond to it immediately as often as you can. This way you do not need to reprocess that email again. If you start considering planning work, finish that thought as much as is possible. If you are interrupted, jot a few notes so you can save processing time later.
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Say no – it is okay to turn down ideas for new projects and focus on yourself and your family.
Challenge 2: You need to work out the logistics of how best to connect to students.
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Our district is using Google Hangouts to manage office hours. Some teachers also use Zoom.
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Google Hangouts Meet is a good basic tool. They have improved the interface so students can no longer mute each other and when you leave, students cannot stay in the room.
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Zoom is also a good tool. One feature I use quite often is the Breakout Room. This allows you to move your students into smaller subgroups to discuss a question and then bring their group discussion back to the main “room”.
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Discord also comes highly recommended by teachers and students.
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Consistency is crucial. If your district can set your schedule that is ideal.
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We have eight periods that meet each day so on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Friday mornings we offer office hours in half-hour blocks for all classes. Each class meets twice each week. Mondays and Thursdays are periods 1-4 and Tuesdays and Fridays are periods 5-8. Here is a link to our district-level plan and schedule.
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On Wednesdays, we meet with peers to plan and students if they need more support.
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On Fridays, by 4 p.m., it is expected that the following week’s lessons are released to students.
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If you are on your own, build time to plan each day. I find that I need about three hours per day to plan for student needs.
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At a minimum, have something due from each student each week so you can make sure that they are doing okay and so that you have an opportunity to interact with them in some way on a weekly basis.
Challenge 3: Your district leadership team seems inconsistent or unsure or each week, so approaches change.
Challenge 4: You want to do what you can to create interesting and engaging experiences for classes when they are online with you.
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If you are allowed to use Zoom, use Breakout Rooms. Ask a question that helps students integrate their learning. This would be the same type of question you might use as an opening question to start your class in a conversation.
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Each room should have no more than four students. One student is responsible for sharing what happened in each group.
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You should pop into these rooms randomly to take a pulse of the conversations and gauge if your question is working and if students are engaged.
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If students are not engaged, you can use the communication feature to rephrase your expectations before the end of the time students are given.
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Use online whiteboards and make student participation a grade. Here are a few you might try:
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Scrumblr is an online whiteboard where people can add sticky notes to share group thoughts.
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Google Jamboard is a Google Suite tool where you can add sketches, images, or sticky notes to one common place.
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Have students create or contribute to a Wakelet in real-time to showcase their learning from the prior week or to show what they are excited to learn for the next week.
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Have themed days such as “bring your pet to class day”, “PJ day”, or “sunglasses day”.
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Create an online-based game to start your class. For example, toss a coin – heads or tails? Then, toss the coin. If students do not get it correct, then they toggle their video to off, and so on, until the “winner” is determined.
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Start with a poll on Google Classroom and let student opinion drive the direction of your class. The easiest way to “poll” on Classroom is “the create a question” option and then showcase student responses.
Challenge 5: Many people in your district see you as their resource for how they can learn to use computing tools. This is taking a considerable amount of your time.
Challenge 6: Even though you are only seeing students virtually, you want to use Culturally Responsive Practices to improve student experiences and learning in your computer science class.
Challenge 7: You want to grade students but you want to be sure those grading practices are fair.
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Projects: Ask students deep questions that require 1-3 weeks for them to fully produce a product. Support them with timing by having key pieces due ahead of the final product.
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Check-Ups: Consider using Google Forms or another online test tool (here is a resource with many ideas) and have the forms provide feedback so they know what they learned and what they still need to practice. Some tools will automatically create different forms and provide immediate feedback.
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Participation: Encourage participation in blogs or online chat environments.