As educators across the nation prepare and enter another school year, a unique challenge emerges. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, education has looked and felt much different than before. Whether your school is beginning virtually or through some sort of blended learning model, suffice it to say teaching and learning with technology will be a part of the landscape of education for years to come even after COVID-19 eventually subsides.
However as one prepares for this new model of teaching, hereafter referred as ‘blended learning’ for the sake of this post’s purposes, there are some basics one should keep in mind to ensure high quality instruction no matter the context:
- Incorporate videos of your instruction and modelling practices. This is such a useful tool and practice that students can refer to long after the lesson has completed. Students who are auditory learners or else just need to see your facial expressions and demonstrations of key concepts, providing videos is the way to go. You can use online tools like Screencastify, Screen-o-matic, Loom or your own smartphone to record content for your classes. It is important that students “see” you as much as possible whether this is shown asynchronously or synchronously and it allows you extra time to conference with students who struggle so students can view the video and follow up.
- Simplify your lessons. With such an overwhelming amount of resources and content to divulge, it is easy to want to accomplish everything. However, you must keep in mind your students and their present needs and circumstances. Depending on the age level of your student population, optimal learning and teaching time is critical. For example it is a good rule of thumb to keep teaching content to roughly 15 minutes for middle school aged children and 20 minutes for high school aged students, anything more than this might overwhelm or otherwise disengage the learner which you don’t want. In the blended classroom, this should be scaled down given the other content areas students have and other factors such as sitting and screen time. Trust, your students and pedagogy would benefit greatly by scaling back and focusing on the absolute necessity of the skill and concept.
- Minimize the number of applications you require of your students. This almost goes hand-in-hand with the previous suggestion but goes a long way in trying to keep students as engaged as possible. Again, you want to devote as much of your instructional time on the actual content as opposed to also teaching your students a million other programs and apps. You will eventually see which apps are worthwhile and which only add unnecessary or trivial benefits. To start, maybe commit to using Google Classroom as your centralized hub for lessons, assignments, discussions, resources, rubrics and the like. Upload your lessons as Google Slides presentations or through Nearpod which can actually track engagement and how your students progressed through the material. Then, the actual means of content delivery and reinforcement whether it be through an article, answering questions posed by your already incorporated video or if you’re live-streaming, then through breakout rooms for group work or the like and that’s it! At most, maybe 3-4 different venues for technology integration is solid for a quality lesson.
- Solidify relationships with students and their families. This is crucial! Relationships always matter but now through the blended learning landscape, somehow the needs of this are just amplified. Students need that connection to stay motivated and invested, and families more often than not welcome opportunities to support if they can. You want to establish a routine of checking in frequently to ensure this is strong year-round. You might consider keeping open lines of communication with parents by signing them up for the app Remind, where you can send quick texts/e-mails to update parents of major assignments, praise for student progress or inquire about concerns. In terms of building relationships with students, you might wish to include stretch breaks, have a few minutes each week to talk about non-academic interests like sports or music or TV shows, take students on virtual field trips or online scavenger hunts, or else even integrate personal anecdotes related to concepts you are trying to teach in class. There are so many possibilities for deepening these connections that can be enhanced during this period of blended learning if you take the time to check them out!
These are just some tips of many that could be implemented as the transition to blended learning occurs but are among the most important, I feel. I hope you are able to try out one of these suggestions as the school year goes into effect very soon! What are your tips for successful blended learning? What has worked well for you, your students and/or your family during this time? Until next time and know that though this school year is unprecedented, we will all get through it together!
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I really appreciate every single tip in the post. Simplifying is one of the best ever practices that allows students to learn more easily.
Thank you! Yes, especially now, simplicity is just good practice.
It’s great to know about the basics,thanks for sharing !
Thanks for reading!
Having videos added to your lesson plans can be a very effective way to learn. Making the lessons easy to grasp where it isn’t an overwhelming amount of info being presented to the student can be very helpful within helping them gain more knowledge too. Simple lessons are always better.
I totally agree!
This is so good to know! It’s difficult for kids to learn online. Blended learning helps a lot.
So long as everyone is invested, we can all make it work!
I’mr eally apprehensive about this blended learning. I don’t know how I feel about it.
I know it may not be the ideal environment for some but is a reality we must come to grips with and make the best of our situation. I like to look at it as an opportunity to learn and enhance instruction!
Glad you shared a valuable information with us…found it so helpful and useful one…great work though…You have mentioned such very amazing and interesting one ideas and tips with us..
Thank you for reading!
I like the idea of combining both digital and physical classrooms, makes full sense to me especially with the current circumstances.
It appears to be the way of the future!
We were already homeschooling so the shift has not been very detrimental to our home. We don’t get out as much for the needed social interaction and events. But I can’t imagine being thrown into homeschool with no preparation or ability to adjust over time. And teachers can’t possibly make it work for everybody right now. They have to be so frustrated with this new teaching world. Their already hard job is so much harder.
These are unprecedented times but I am sure we will adapt as our profession demands we do so. I’m glad it seems that you are faring well all considering!
Sharing this with my readers, I know so many who are struggling right now with making sure their kids are learning.
Thank you for the share! I hope others can find some usefulness from these tips!
As the world is coping up with the current situation we’re having, this is definitely essential for our kids learning and very logical to do. Thanks for sharing such article, it’s very informative and very detail as well.
Thank you. I’m sure many educators are looking forward and welcoming further collaboration and support from all stakeholders as we navigate these times!
Teaching is really hard to do! Much more kudos for all teachers!
Thank you! Kudos to the families as well for their help and grace during these times.
I give any home school mom or teacher so much credit! Teaching is not something I could ever do!!!!
It has been a challenging time for many families, I know. We will get through this together though and need to continue to support one another until our new normal.