Here we go! Most of us have started school or are starting this week! Technology may or may not work. Kids may or may not stay focused. They may or may not get resources. They may or may not have help at home. It may or may not work. But we will persevere – parents, teachers, students, and administrators.
Before we dive into some things to keep in mind, here is your FREE resource: 60 Activities for Thinking and Learning at Home! Be sure to log in by Friday, Aug 21st!
I’d like to just throw out a few suggestions while we are visiting:
- Remember your attention span on a virtual training or meeting, and then cut that into 4ths! Give brain breaks! 🙂
- Stretch breaks
- Play music (and have dance breaks)
- Deep Breathing Breaks (take 10 deep breaths and hold the last one for 3 seconds)
- Yoga breaks
2. Remember some basic strategies that can still work virtually (especially for your English Learners and struggling students): repetition, visuals, Total Physical Response, and wait time. We’ll dive into these on a later blog.
Repetion: Facilitate your students repeating key facts 3-4 times. Assume they aren’t listening. “Class, what is a triangle with a 90 degree angle? Right Triangle. Good! What type of triange? Right triangle. One more time! Altogether! Right triangle!” Even if it is pre-recorded, give the direction and time for them to respond. You will set a precedence for repetition for when they return to your class.
Visuals: You may have to get creative, but have a ‘word wall’ set up behind you, show visuals and videos, and use realia (real objects) when possible! Have students find realia when possible as well!
Total Physical Response: Total phyisical response (TPR) is when you teach a hand motion with a meaning, and then when you have the students and you repeat that hand motion every time the vocabulary is shared. No matter what age you teach, this is a very powerful, brain based strategy for memory, especially for your English Learners and your strugglers!
Wait Time: Don’t forget about wait time! Using the “Nobody talks, nobody writes, everyone thinks” phrase, posting a question and then allowing the students 20-30 seconds to think will increase engagement and participation.
3. Confusion causes frustration. Frustration causes shut down. Put as much as you can in writing. It can be very difficult for students to listen to multi-step directions on unfamiliar platorms (click here, go to this, click here, scroll down…etc.). Teach students to be independent learners and lower the affective filter with clear, written directions. It will make your life easier, I promise. 🙂
And we are here to help. Until Friday, we are offering 60 Activities for Thinking and Learning at Home for FREE! Simply click on the link and sign in before Friday! Then the course is yours! This course offers hands on activities that will keep your students engaged and thinking at home!
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