Moving to a virtual classroom has been a challenge. It takes a shift in the mindset of a teacher on what education is and how we can best meet the needs of all our students. Every district, school and teacher have been attacking this challenge in a different way: a way that meets their specific group of students.
My Classroom
I teach in a first grade classroom in an urban low-income school district in the heart of Grand Rapids, MI.
My school district is sending home packet work to families as well as getting technology and internet into the hands of all families. This decision to do packet work was made because even after providing all the families with internet and Chromebooks many of the families we serve have a difficult time using the technology. Limited access to technology means they haven't built the technology skills necessary to use technology to it fullest extent. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had trying to walk parents through logging into the Chromebook, accessing the internet and navigating to our schools optional online assignments.
In order to monitor progress on the packet work and to stay in contact with our students and our families, our school has chosen to do weekly phone calls home. I have 20 scheduled phone calls throughout the week where I review the packet work that students have completed and set goals with students for the upcoming week.
Along with the weekly individual phone calls, I host a weekly Zoom meeting for my class. This has been a great way for students to connect to one another, show off their toys or home and feel like they are still a part of our classroom community! However, these Zoom meetings are very rarely productive learning opportunities. It is infrequent when I am able to find a time that works for all of my students to have a Zoom meeting and even if I am able to find a time when it works for everyone to virtually meet, the students are WAY to excited to see each other to get anything productive done. I don't mind though, I see these meetings as a great social and emotional check in for my students and as an opportunity to connect as a class. In these uncertain times, it is so important that we check in with our littles, see how they are doing and be that source of normalcy.
How Can We Use This Pandemic to Change Education for the Better?
When we return to school next year, there are many ways we can adapt our teaching so our families and students are better prepared to move to a virtual classroom again. This starts with getting technology and internet access into the hands of ALL families and educating them on how to use that technology. From there, school districts should select a platform for online work (Seesaw, Google Classroom, ect) and require some kind of work to be completed and submitted weekly. This ensures that parents are familiar with the technology and know how to operate it if another shutdown of schools were to happen in the future.
In my own classroom, I plan on making the online work a fun supplement to what we are learning in class.
-Help your parent make a grocery list
-Find words you know in a magazine
-Practicing writing sight words in the dirt using a stick
-Find objects around the house to complete this math problem 4+6=
-Using objects from home, build a tower at least 3 feet high
-Find 5 objects and sort them from longest to shortest
All these assignments are meaningful real-life experiences that can be easily uploaded as a photo 📸
Digital learning also presents a great opportunity for choice! I LOVE to use choice boards with my students. I have several choice boards available for FREE on TPT. Check it out!
This pandemic has presented a HUGE challenge to educators in adapting to the virtual world of teaching. Additionally, it has given educators the time to take a step back and think about what is really important in teaching and how can we change education for the better.
What change would you like to see in education?
