PD this week is all about how to make distance learning not only work for our students (and us), but how to EMBRACE it and make it into something really good.
Now, personally, I have worked with 1:1 schools and done online lessons in the past. However, this is a new ballgame even for me, a relatively tech-savvy teacher.
So, I have been working to make some of my go-to classroom management resources distance-learning compatible. Certain items, like my agenda slides, were easy. I have been making my agendas online for over a year now, using timers and visuals to guide my students.
Now, I can share those agendas right to Google Classroom. This way, my students at home can stay on track on the days they’re not in the building with me.
The next big change I made was making my record book digital. I’m a pen and paper type of person (maybe it’s the English teacher in me?). We’ve been using online gradebooks for a while now to post grades, but I still kept my own records and then would put the grades in after I had done all of my grading. I am aware this was an extra and unnecessary step, but it’s my life.
So, I will continue to do that extra step but online. As I reread Harry and Rosemary Wong’s The First Days of School again (an annual tradition), I focused in on the idea of a three line record book. A line for attendance, a line for individual assignment grades, and an overall progress line.
A lightbulb went off. Of course! This is the best way to see growth (and the connection with attendance, homework, and overall performance!).
So as I continue to make my teaching life all digital (remember my no paper goal this year!), I will continue to add resources to my TpT. Some will be free and others will be a small amount for the amount of work I’m putting in for them. Either way, I hope you are able to find something you can use for years to come.
As always, I hope you find something good in today.
