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Trevor Muir's Tips for Educators teaching during 2020-2021 SY

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Trevor Muir's Tips for Educators teaching during 2020-2021 SY

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Many people are viewing teaching during a pandemic like a car that is trying to drive with the emergency brake on. It's as if there are teachers and students doing what they normally do, but it is covered in a malaise that keeps it from being fully effective. "Students can't fully engage virtually, and social distancing keeps in-classroom learning from being entirely effective. Teaching during a pandemic is about preventing an academic slide until we can return to normal."

And this attitude makes sense; teaching and learning looks very different for most teachers right now. New technologies are being used, new protocols and processes, and many of the best practices to teach students are having to be revised during this time. However, just because school looks different does not mean it has to be ineffective.

I am speaking (virtually) for a conference this fall made up of thousands of schools across the Middle East. The organizers recently interviewed me about Pandemic Teaching, so I thought I'd share my responses.

What tips do you have for teachers educating students in-person & those learning from home?

The biggest tip I have for teachers right now, whether they are educating students in-person or from home, is to have lots and lots of grace for themselves and others. So much of teaching looks different and we are travelling through the unknown. So of course there will be mistakes along the way! Why wouldn't there be? I get the opportunity to connect with thousands of educators all over the world, and I have yet to encounter a single teacher who has this all figured out. And so when a lesson fails, students don't show up for a virtual meeting, or you're feeling a lack of connection in the classroom because everyone is hidden behind a mask, don't beat yourself up about it. Instead, remind yourself that you are teaching during a pandemic, and figure out what you can do to revise to improve the learning experience.

I think the two best ways to improve your teaching is by giving yourself dedicated time to reflect and to solicit feedback from your students. For reflection, build in intentional time every single day to think about what is going well and what is not. It doesn't have to be a long, drawn out activity. Just spend 15 minutes not listening to music, not on your phone, but just processing your thoughts and maybe writing them down. This will help bring you calm, and discover new ways to approach your work.

Another great way to improve is to solicit feedback from your students on their experience in your classroom. Ask them what is working for them and what is not. What would they like to see from you and what do they want to continue to see from you? This isn't to say that students have all the answers or that all of their feedback will be correct or helpful. But your students have a first person perspective of your teaching, and their feedback is valuable. Also, by asking students for it, you are empowering them, which almost always leads to higher student engagement.

How would you update your book 'The Collaborative Classroom' to fit the current blended learning environment?

When I wrote The Collaborative Classroom, I admittedly wrote it for in-person teaching. I didn't know we would be hit by a global pandemic two months after its release! And so a lot of the methods and examples I give in the book were written with students and teachers who are together full-time in a physical space. Luckily, what we have come to find is that collaboration can work in a virtual and blended learning environment as well. Of course it may look different at times and there are some barriers that have to be traversed to do it well, but most of what I wrote about in my book can be applied to the current state that we are in.

At its core, collaboration is about a group of people who have a shared goal and work together to achieve it. And with the advent of technologies like Zoom and Skype, students are able to do exactly that. Remember, collaboration doesn't mean everyone is working together at all times. It's about figuring out who needs to do what, dividing up individual tasks, and then accomplishing them. Only now when working individually, students have others who they can reach out to for support. So really, any updates to my book would use more specific examples of how the processes and ideas that I write about would apply in a virtual/blended learning space.

How can they ensure each student receives the right care?

In a virtual or blended learning classroom right now, it is not the teacher's job to get 100% participation out of their students. The teacher's job is to continue to provide opportunities for their students to succeed. Too many teachers feel this burden to get all of their students to show up for every virtual meeting or have perfect assignment submissions in their classrooms right now. Part of this pressure can come from their administration, but also from the pressures teachers often put on themselves.

However, there are just too many factors that are influencing student performance right now. From students having to care for younger siblings, having sick family members, unemployed parents, or a host of other reasons, not every student is going to be able to participate the way we want them to. And so teachers need to relieve themselves of that pressure and just continue to show up for their students. Keep holding those virtual meetings. Keep designing activities that are personal and engaging to students. Essentially, keep being passionate about your work and hope that many of your students will be positively affected by it.

What would you say to those students who are overwhelmed by Covid19? How can they grow academically through tough times?

I would tell those students that in life it is in tough times that we actually grow the most. I read a really interesting piece of research from Yale University that shows that when we leave our comfort zones and enter the unknown, our brains develop dramatically more than when everything is comfortable. Essentially, being comfortable is like a shutoff switch for the learning centers of our brains. And so while of course this time is challenging and I wouldn't wish this kind of crisis on anyone, it is still an opportunity to grow in ways like never before.

Find time to unplug and disconnect. Develop routines and a sense of normalcy in the midst of the chaos. And when it's time to work and learn, give everything you've got to it and remember that it's through challenges that we grow the most.

How can schools around the world make sure that education is more authentic?

I view the word authentic as meaning "this actually matters." So I think the challenge for every school, everywhere, should be to ask if what they are teaching to students and having them do actually matters. "How can this content be used to solve real problems?" "How can I communicate to students that what they are learning and the skills that they are developing will be used in their lives someday?"

When students work on real problems that actually matter to them and their communities, student engagement dramatically increases. And so instead of schoolwork being centered on grades or simply moving to the next level, it should be about empowering students to solve authentic problems so that they will have the skills and knowledge to solve other problems in their futures.

For more on teaching during a pandemic and not only surviving this time as a teacher, but actually thriving during it, check out my new online course.

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Successfully Teaching in a Blended Learning Environment - Trevor Muir

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Many people are viewing teaching during a pandemic like a car that is trying to drive with the emergency brake on. It's as if there are teachers and students doing what they normally do, but it is covered in a malaise that keeps it from being fully effective.

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Link to an editable template to check in with your students.

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4 Ideas for Building Relationships During Remote Learning  

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4 Ideas for Building Relationships During Remote Learning  

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4 Ideas for Building Relationships During Remote Learning

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Developing the Innovator's Mindset Through Remote, Face-to-Face, and Blended Learning," I discuss the importance of building relationships in any environment, whether it is online or offline, and provide some strategies on how we can do so. I wanted to create this additional resource and compile some ideas that you might find beneficial for the start of the school year.

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50 Back to School Activities for the Remote Learning Environment 

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50 Back to School Activities for the Remote Learning Environment 

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Never before have I seen so much uncertainty and anxiety surrounding heading back to school...whether that be remote, face to face, or some combination of both. And...that is completley understandable. These are unprecendented times. But, one thing is certain: Teachers are always on the lookout for…

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Article: Check-In with Students: Emotions, Wellbeing ... 

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Article: Check-In with Students: Emotions, Wellbeing ... 

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Check-in with Students: Emotions, Wellbeing, and Remote Learning

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Check-in with students by asking, "How are you feeling?" This Microsoft Forms template helps you check-in with each of your students and provides a digital space where they can practice reflection and self-expression. It's a way to understand wellbeing and to include some social-emotional learning (SEL).

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Sponsored by World101 and Listenwise

Disclaimer 1: This post was written in the Spring of 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, so a lot of the information here is discussed through the lens of distance learning launched by a global pandemic. I have attempted to broaden the lens beyond our current situation to take other distance-learning situations into account.

Disclaimer 2: I recommend quite a few tech tools in this post. Before you proceed with them, please check with your district to make sure the tools comply with your specific use policies for age, privacy, etc.

If you've found yourself teaching in a distance-learning situation, especially if it's been foisted upon you by circumstance, you'll discover pretty quickly that distance learning offers different challenges from face-to-face instruction. And if you look online, you'll find tons of ideas and resources that can help you tackle those challenges, so much that it's easy to get paralyzed at the volume of it all. This is especially true if you're expected to hit the ground running with very little notice.

To help you, I'm going to take my best shot at sharing clear, carefully curated information on distance learning. We'll do this in four parts:

In Part 1 I'll address your head and your heart, the very real, valid emotional and psychological factors that may be preventing you from doing a decent job with online learning.

In Part 2 we'll get into the nuts and bolts of distance learning, options for content delivery, different ways students can demonstrate learning, and some of the tech that can make it all work.

In Part 3 I'll share some general tips and advice I've gathered from teachers in the field.

And in Part 4 we'll talk about troubleshooting, solving some of the more specific problems that come up often when we talk about online learning.

PART 1: START WITH YOUR HEAD AND YOUR HEART

None of the practical stuff is going to do any of us much good if we're in a distracted, panicked headspace and haven't tended to the ways our current situation has impacted our emotions. Here are three things you can do to get your head and heart in a better place.

Get Perspective

There will likely be times when the people in charge of you start to expect too much, or you expect too much of yourself. If you're in a situation like the one we happen to be in right now, in the spring of 2020, you may need to regularly step back from what's right in front of you and remember that we're dealing with life and death circumstances right now. None of this is normal, and there really is no precedent to follow. Most people are doing the best they can on any given day, and that means things will not go smoothly. And by "people," I mean everyone: students, parents, your colleagues, your administration, your family members, and you. YOU. Giving yourself plenty of grace is key at times like this.

If you need something to help you regain perspective and cut yourself some slack, read Carolyn Todd's editorial, Is Anyone Else Just Barely Functioning Right Now?

Now if you personally have a cool, level head at the moment, but someone else is pressuring you to do more, keep in mind that they are feeling their own unique pressure to perform, and they're passing that on to you. It may be an opportunity to validate their feelings, or it may be time to push back on expectations that are simply unreasonable.

Get Physical

When things start to feel like too much, start moving. Decades of research has pointed to the link between physical activity and brain function, but most of us don't need research to know that some of our best ideas come to us when we change things up and go for a walk, a run, or a bike ride. This is especially important during times when we are more likely to be cooped up in our homes, such as, say, a quarantine imposed by a global pandemic.

Get with Other People

One of the things that has really overwhelmed me in the process of putting this post together is knowing that everyone's situation is a little different and not having the tools to address each situation.

One way to alleviate this is to get in touch with others who are more familiar with your specific needs. Apart from collaborating with your colleagues, a great way to share ideas is to find and join online groups. Two I'm recommending here are on Facebook. If you're not on Facebook, I strongly suggest you set up an account just for the purpose of collaborating with others.

Dealing with Educational Inequities in Distance/Online Learning: This group was created "in response to the growing list of resources and practices during the COVID-19 shutdown that further increase the educational divide as it relates to accessibility; race; socio-economic status; gender; and other marginalized communities. We want to demonstrate real solutions in distance/online learning that can provide solutions for all learners."

PART 2: THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF ONLINE LEARNING

Online learning has so many components to it; each one could honestly get its own whole blog post. Since I can't go too in-depth all at once, I'll just do an overview of all the pieces and link out to a few resources that can help you learn more about each one.

1. CONNECTING AND COMMUNICATING WITH STUDENTS

It's essential that you have clear, consistent, accessible channels for communicating with your students. Different pathways for communication will need to be established. The first two are essential and asynchronous, meaning participants can access the conversation whenever it's convenient; they don't need to be present at the same time. The third pathway is optional and is usually synchronous, meaning participants must "attend" the conversation at the same time.

Must Have: Outgoing Communication asynchronous On this pathway, you give instructions, post announcements, and generally inform your students about what's going on and what's expected of them. Some teachers are creating daily or weekly videos for this purpose, while others are writing out instructions in places like Google Docs, and others are doubling up-pairing short videos with written instructions so students get the information through different modes.

It seems like one of the most important considerations with outgoing communication is that you keep it consistent: Pick one place to deliver and store outgoing messages and stick with that, so students know where to look, nothing gets lost in the mix, and no one gets overwhelmed with information overload.

Must Have: Incoming Communication asynchronous This pathway is for students and parents to reach out to you with questions, feedback, and updates on their ability to complete required work.

Nice to Have: Two-Way Communication
synchronous OR asynchronous On this pathway, you and your students can communicate back and forth in a more open dialogue, where you broadcast yourself live and students attend as participants in one-on-one, small-group, or whole-class sessions.

Video conferencing: For this pathway, many teachers are using video conferencing tools like Zoom, Google Hangouts Meet, and Microsoft Teams. These can be great for community-building and giving students a sense of connectedness with you and each other.

It's important to note that these platforms also have their pitfalls, one of which is that they may directly violate your school's privacy policies, so be sure to check with the people in your district who are in charge of compliance with those policies to make sure you're ok. This article from Edsurge does a good job of explaining the potential problems with video conferencing; it focuses specifically on Zoom, but the concepts would apply to any video conferencing tool.

This infographic, created by the Celina High School SWAT Team in Celina, TX, and their advisor, Tisha Poncio, offers tips for students when participating in video conferences:

Alternatives to Video Conferencing: If you've decided not to go the video conferencing route for now, you can still set up text-based discussions that can get students interacting:

Discussion boards: Many platforms, like Google Classroom, Blackboard, Edmodo, and Microsoft Teams, give you the option to set up ongoing, text-based discussions on individual topics. You can make these optional, open for students to ask questions on their work, or make participation a required part of students' grades.

Backchannel discussion: If you'd like something that feels more dynamic and "live," try a backchannel discussion, which can happen at a set time (synchronous) or stay open for a longer period of time to allow students to participate when it's convenient for them (asynchronous). You can open up a text-based chat room in YoTeach (which is very similar to the now-defunct TodaysMeet). If your students are 13 years or older, you could also set them up on Voxer, which allows them to use voice or text to carry on discussions.

2. KEEPING EVERYTHING ORGANIZED

Ideally, you and your colleagues will have chosen a single platform for storing and delivering assignments, collecting student work, posting announcements, and so on. Many schools are already set up on a learning management system (LMS) like Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, or Edmodo. If you don't already have something in place, and you don't have time to learn a new platform, it's probably not a good idea to jump into anything new.

But creating a central hub should be a priority. What parents and students are saying most often is that it's incredibly stressful to have to keep up with multiple platforms and multiple streams of information, with some pieces coming through email, others through Remind, others through an LMS, and so on. With more than one child at home and more than one teacher per child, things can get out of hand very fast. It's perfectly fine to use different tools as part of your instruction-you might assign Quizlet flashcards, Edpuzzle lessons, Newsela articles-but for communication, keep things as streamlined as possible.

One simple approach taken by some schools is to maintain a single document (usually a Google Doc) for the whole school. In that document are links to individual documents for each teacher.

This type of document-which is just a really simple hyperdoc -creates a central hub where parents and students can start every single time, then click over to the places where they can find updated information for their classes. Even if you don't use this specific model, setting up something like it will make your whole school run more smoothly.

Individual teachers can then replicate this type of hub for their own classes, creating a central folder or file where students can find daily or weekly assignments and other communications.

3. LESSON DESIGN

Entire degree programs have been created to show teachers how to design lessons for online learning, and I wasn't able to delve into this enough for this post. What I did find are two resources that you might find helpful without getting another master's degree:

One principle that I've seen in several discussions of online learning is the idea that it works better when you give students some choices, choices in how they take information in and choices in how they demonstrate learning. The next two sections will share some possibilities for both of those.

4. OPTIONS FOR DELIVERING CONTENT

One of the main things you need to do when setting up online instruction is figuring out how students are actually going to take in the content. You have a few options, and it's a good idea to not just stick to one avenue, since you ideally want to give students multiple modes of intake.

Readings

Google Docs or Microsoft Word Files: As long as you remember to manage the security settings on these so they can't be edited, these kinds of files are perfectly fine to use as reading materials.

Regular PDFs: One advantage of using PDFs is that you generally don't have to worry about them being altered by the student, and things like fonts and other design elements will be preserved no matter what device a student is using.

PDFs with Annotation Tools: Several tools like Edji and Kami allow users to annotate PDFs, which would make a great close-reading assignment.

Websites: There's a ton of outstanding free content online that would make excellent reading material for class assignments. On CommonLit, Newsela, and Actively Learn, you can find good reading material for many grade levels and subject areas. NewseumED offers fantastic primary sources for history and social studies.

Websites with Customized, Added Layers: With any website at all, you can use Insert Learning to layer on your own instructional content, such as notes, discussion questions, quizzes, and other embedded content.

Videos

Video is a very popular way to deliver content online, because it has the potential to restore the voice and visuals that are lost when we move away from face-to-face instruction. Once you have a good video, you can share it directly with a link or use a tool like Edpuzzle or PlayPosit to build a complete lesson around that video.

You have two options for sourcing your content: use videos that were created by someone else, or create the videos yourself.

Created by Someone Else
Obviously, the internet is absolutely loaded with videos, and using them means you don't have to make them yourself. What's challenging is finding videos that (a) are appropriate for student viewing, and (b) accurately represent the content you want to deliver, in a way that's succinct and maybe even entertaining. Finding videos that meet these criteria can be really time-consuming if you don't know where to look.

To save time, it helps to go to sources that have already proven themselves as creators of high-quality educational videos.

Khan Academy offers a massive library of videos on math, science, and arts & humanities, including history and government, so that would be a great place to start.

Look for YouTube channels created by organizations that already have a strong reputation for good content, like National Geographic, the History Channel, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As with anything else, your colleagues are going to be one of your best sources for finding good stuff, so ask around at school, or find a group on Twitter that can recommend something for you.

Created by You The good thing about creating your own videos is that you have total control over the content. Probably the easiest way to create instructional videos is with screencasting software, which simply records whatever is on your screen while you narrate into a microphone. So you could, for example, create a PowerPoint-based lecture, then just deliver that lecture on your screen and use screencasting software to record it.

Here are two affordable, popular options for screencasting:

Screencastify
screencastify.com
This recorder is built right into Google Chrome, which makes it an incredibly convenient tool for creating on-the-spot screencasts. As of right now, the editing tools are still kind of rudimentary, which means you're not likely to end up with a very polished end product. Still, for many purposes, this tool gets the job done quickly and easily. Watch this video to learn how to use it.

Screencast-o-Matic
screencast-o-matic.com
This popular recorder is one that you download onto your computer, which is slightly less convenient than one that's built into a browser, but the editing features available with the paid plans might make it worth it for you. This video gives you an overview of how it works.

Static Slide Presentation

Slideshows that combine text with appealing visuals can be a nice alternative to text readings. They're also much quicker and easier to create than videos, and viewing them requires a lot less internet bandwidth.

These kinds of slideshows, which students would click through on their own, should ideally be designed with that independent experience in mind. Unlike a presentation that you give live, these would not be simply a support for a speaker; they'd need to stand completely alone, with all the necessary text on the slides, rather than in the speaker notes.

Rather than sharing these as a file, which would require you to adjust editing permissions and would likely result in the student looking at it in editing mode, you can share it in presentation mode so the slides take up the full screen and it feels more like an experience, like in this sample presentation. Learn how to set this up with a Google Slides presentation in the video below:

Audio

Content can also be delivered via audio, which can be a nice change of pace for students who are used to text or videos only, and because audio files are much smaller than video files, they're less likely to strain home internet capabilities.

Listenwise houses a fantastic library of curated, standards-aligned podcasts.

You can find lots of other podcasts on pretty much any topic imaginable. Here are some good ones that are produced specifically for student audiences.

Recording your own audio instructions, reflections, or lectures is simple and quick. You can use a voice recording app on a smartphone or a web-based tool like Online Voice Recorder to create MP3 files, which are just audio files, then upload those files right into whatever platform you're using to distribute information to students. In many cases, students will be able to play them right on that platform.

Interactive Learning Experiences

Some tools have come along in recent years that allow you to create interactive online learning modules, where students click through various instructional components, play games, take interactive quizzes, and so on. Although some activities may not justify the time it takes to put these interactives together, they can offer something different and more fun than the standard fare. You can find these on sites like GoConqr, Deck.Toys, BookWidgets, and Wizer. The one platform that seems to have the most robust collection of options is Genially. Take a look:

5. OPTIONS FOR DEMONSTRATING LEARNING

Just as there are many different ways to get the content into students' heads, you can also offer choices for how students demonstrate their learning. Probably the quickest, most traditional way to measure whether students learned the material is to give them some kind of test or quiz, but that may not be the best way to get students to experience the content in a deep way. Sticking only to tests also favors students who work well in that mode, rather than allowing other students to shine in areas they might be stronger in. Beyond all that, it's not much fun.

On Twitter, I asked teachers for some fresh ideas for "end products," and got tons of ideas back. Below I've listed some really good ones. Before you jump on these, be mindful that these end products still need to align with your instructional goals and are not what we call Grecian Urn assignments, creative-looking projects that don't ultimately have much instructional value.

Book: Students create a children's book, mini-textbook, handbook, comic, or other kind of book. These can be done on paper or created with apps like Book Creator.

Google Tour: Using Google Tour Builder, students can create customized tours that combine photos, text, and targeted locations on Google Earth. These could be used to create tours that explore current events, historical periods or phenomena, science or geography topics, global research topics, students' personal histories or future plans, or completely fictionalized stories that take place in various locations around the world.

Infographic: On paper or using a tool like Piktochart, have students create an infographic to represent or teach about an idea or set of data.

Lesson: Have students write their own lesson on a chunk of your content. Provide them with the basic structure of a lesson to follow, including objectives, direct instruction, guided practice, and some sort of assessment to measure their success.

Model: Students can create a physical model representing some aspect of your curriculum, then photograph it from various angles or create a video tour of the model with their own narration.

Museum or Multimedia Collection: Have students curate a collection of artifacts representing a curricular concept, along with their own written captions, in a Google Slides presentation. Two fantastic resources for gathering these artifacts are the Smithsonian Learning Lab and the Google Arts & Culture website.

Podcast: Have students use the recording tools mentioned in the "Audio" section above or an app like Anchor to record a podcast where they express an opinion, tell a story, or teach about a content-related topic. If students have a lot of material, they can break their podcast into multiple episodes and do a series instead.

Scavenger Hunt: Have students participate in a content-based scavenger hunt and take photos to record their findings. An app like GooseChase can make this even more fun.

Sketchnote: Have students create a sketchnote to represent a content-related topic using paper or with a drawing app like Sketchpad.

Video: Students can create their own videos as creative, informative, persuasive, or reflective pieces. These can be public service announcements, commercials, mini-documentaries, instructional videos, short feature films or animations, or TED-style talks. Tools for creating these can range from quick response platforms like Flipgrid, to screencasting tools listed in the previous section, a tool that creates stop motion videos like Stop Motion Studio, or simple online video creators like Adobe Creative Cloud Express.

Website: Using tools like Weebly, Wix, or Google Sites, have students develop a website to document a long-term project or teach about a particular idea.

PART 3: GENERAL TIPS AND ADVICE FROM TEACHERS

Begin again.

If distance learning has been introduced suddenly, where it takes the place of face-to-face learning rather than being the standard from the start, treat the beginning of the shift the same way you'd treat the beginning of a school year, by establishing routines and protocols before digging deeply into content, and giving extra energy to rekindling culture and relationships on the new platform even if they were already established in the face-to-face setting.

Keep home responsibilities in mind.

When schools are closed district-wide, all children are out of school and under one roof. This means older kids may be shouldering some responsibility for caring for their younger siblings, and that could impact how well they are able to keep up with deadlines, log in for synchronous events, or respond to communication in a timely manner. Letting students know up front that you get this, and maintaining flexibility with deadlines, can go a long way toward keeping lines of communication open and avoiding misunderstandings.

Make social interaction a priority.

When we are kept apart from one another for whatever reason, our need for human interaction increases. So if you're teaching a distance learning course that was set up that way to begin with, it's important to build in structures to keep students interacting with each other and with you.

This principle is even more vital in situations where distance learning is coupled with large-scale social isolation.

Some of the tools and systems I mentioned earlier, like video conferencing and discussion boards, can meet this need; even your own outgoing video, audio, and written communication can be used for more "human connection" reasons. A good general rule to keep in mind is that you don't need to use 100% of your time for instructional purposes; allowing space for regular conversation, venting, and laughter can be incredibly important.

Keep messaging to a minimum.

I mentioned this earlier, but it's important so I'm repeating it. If kids and parents are receiving multiple messages from multiple teachers every day, and families have multiple kids, they can become overwhelmed really quickly, and things will start slipping through the cracks.

Try to limit the number of platforms you and your school are using for distributing information. Ideally, you'll have one clear channel for sending out announcements and messages, and those will be limited in number. Parents and students will have one place to look for all important information, and that "place" will be clean, simple, easy to navigate, and updated regularly so that all users can count on the information being current. The closer you can get to this ideal, the more smoothly things will go.

PART 4: TROUBLESHOOTING

Two specific problems tend to come up more often than any others when it comes to distance learning. Although neither one is completely solvable, here are some of the ways schools are addressing them:

1. Students Who Do Not Have Home Access to Tech

The whole notion of distance learning becomes a problem if some of your students don't have devices or reliable internet access. Here are some ways to address this problem:

Get more students connected. In a 2017 post, When Your School is Short on Tech, I showcased some ways that schools are getting unconnected families online, including information on how some schools partner with organizations like Kajeet to loan WiFi hotspots out to families. Although some of the solutions may not be relevant to a distance-learning situation, you may find some resources that can be helpful in your community, even if they can't be implemented right away.

Offer non-digital options. Some districts are working around the problem by offering paper resources for pick-up and drop-off. This is how we did distance learning in all the years before the internet, so it's certainly possible to do it again.

Use the phone. If you've tried other avenues and still can't get a hold of some families, a regular phone call might be your best option. If you want to keep your number private, you can set up a Google Voice account, which allows you to call, text, or message another phone without sharing your personal number, or use some of these phone settings to block your regular number. If you are reaching out to families that don't speak your language, try the free TalkingPoints app, which allows you to communicate with them in their language.

Use the mail. Although not ideal or cheap, it may be possible to mail materials back and forth (if you have office staff still going to school each day, they may be able to help with this). Even if instruction isn't possible this way, consider the impact it would make if you took ten minutes to mail a hand-written letter to an otherwise unconnected student, just to let them know you're thinking about them.

Consider home visits as a last resort. This isn't out of the question. And if you're deeply concerned about reaching students who can't be reached in any other way, it may be possible to just drive to their neighborhoods and, maintaining all precautionary measures and social distancing, check in with them. One visit might be all that's needed to at least establish a phone connection that you can maintain from that point on.

2. Meeting Special Education, RTI, and Language Learning Needs

So many of our students have individual needs that we have figured out how to meet in a school setting. When school moves to a distance-learning model, both teachers and parents are often at a loss for how to continue working with students with IEPs, those who receive RTI support, English learners, and other students who get one-on-one time with educators specifically trained to meet their needs.

Since this one is really far out of my wheelhouse, I reached out on Twitter for help. Really, your best bet is to read the replies to see what might work for you. You'll not only get some good ideas, you're likely to connect with people you can reach out to for even more good ideas.

Apart from that, I have a two more resources to share:

Microsoft has a growing suite of tools made specifically to make online learning more accessible for all learners. One or more of these may make it easier for you to meet more students' needs from a distance.

The TalkingPoints app enables teachers to communicate with parents in the parents' native language, and it even works if parents only have text-based phones.

As I neared completion on this post, I opened up my inbox and found five other resources that had been sent to me for possible inclusion in this post. Looking through them made me realize I had missed gobs and gobs of information here. I felt completely deflated and overwhelmed all over again, but then, as I have often had to do in the past couple of weeks, I took a deep breath, closed up the things that were distracting and upsetting me, and said to myself, "Today you have done enough."

I hope this has helped you in some way. If not, tomorrow is another day.

Come back for more.
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Distance Learning: A Gently Curated Collection of Resources for Teachers

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An overview of the nuts and bolts of distance learning, including general tips, advice on tech, and troubleshooting some common problems.

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Article: Support students outside the classroom with social and emotional learning

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Article: Support students outside the classroom with social and emotional learning

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As schools, educators, and students transition to remote learning, the right tools, training, and resources can help you continue to support the wellbeing of your students even when they're not within the classroom.

Connections that matter

Remote learning is built on connections that matter. The connection between student and teacher is as essential as ever. Keep your class engaged with free tools and resources.

Prepare students with the right tools for social and emotional learning

Help students develop future-ready skills like self and social awareness, self-management, and responsible decision making with powerful technology from Microsoft.

Minecraft: Education Edition

Find out how you can help your students take a breath in Minecraft: Education Edition - Mindful Knight lesson, in this episode of You Can in :90.

Connect all your learners with Flipgrid

In less than 2 minutes, learn how you can foster creative discussion and engage all your learners using Flipgrid. Help your students express themselves and their emotions through video, in an engaging social environment.

You can in :90 with Microsoft Teams

Get started with Microsoft Teams in less than two minutes with these easy-to-follow videos. Learn how to connect, collaborate, communicate, and engage students- from anywhere and on any device.

Watch more "You Can in :90" videos from Microsoft Education

This video series features 90 second "How To" videos based on your top requested tips and tricks using Microsoft Education's technology in education.

Connect to the Microsoft Education resources and support you need

Promote social and emotional learning with resources and tools created just for educators.

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Social Emotional Learning Activities & Curriculum | Microsoft Education

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As schools, educators, and students transition to remote learning, the right tools, training, and resources can help you continue to support the wellbeing of your students even when they're not within the classroom. Remote learning is built on connections that matter. The connection between student and teacher is as essential as ever.

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Article: Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

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Article: Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

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Dear educators,

There was life before COVID-19, and there will be life after.

We didn't choose to have our schools and colleges closed; our carefully constructed routines halted in their tracks; our field trips, concerts, sporting events, fundraisers and finals all canceled. We didn't expect this and had little warning.

We weren't ready for this either. Or were we?

At this very moment, there are so many questions swirling through our own heads and the education ecosystem across the globe. What impact will this have on student learning, on families, on the economy-now and in the long-term? How will we support students who rely on school for meals or the stability that their classroom provides? How will our students without access to computers or technology continue to learn? What will this do to our school and campus communities? How will this impact our school's funding, our careers?

And then there's the uncertainty around when teachers and students will be allowed to return to school-and what school will be like when we do.

As psychologists, we at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence are concerned about everyone's emotional state. How will students and educators cope with life being turned upside down so quickly?

Right now our media feeds are being inundated with anecdotes of our nation's parents jumping on the homeschooling and digital learning bandwagons. They are at the mercy of the information available to them and the technological tools their children and households may have access to. Districts and colleges across the nation are requiring educators to provide plans and digital resources, despite their varied levels of knowledge about and support for which instructional technologies are most effective for whom, how and under what conditions. All of this is rapidly evolving with a finish line that gets pushed back daily.

This is not a snow day. It's not a holiday break. It's a crisis.

So what can we do to support ourselves and our students in getting through these difficult times? We need to look to social and emotional learning (SEL) for evidence-based practices to help us now and to support us when we eventually return to school.

SEL is for everyone. It's especially critical for students with the greatest needs-the ones who will be severely impacted by the psychosocial and fiscal effects of this pandemic. But it's also for teachers and students in the most well-resourced districts and institutions.

The crisis around COVID-19 is leaving an indelible footprint on the hearts and minds of multiple generations of children and adults-even our youngest ones who are not yet old enough to realize it. The impact and ripple effects across our collective livelihoods is likely too vast to comprehend.

It's scary. But it's not hopeless.

Now is when we need to apply everything we've learned about SEL. Recognizing your emotions and leveraging the science of SEL is more important now than ever. SEL skills are real skills that can support us in managing the roller coaster of emotions we will be having over the coming days and months. For many of us it's dealing with daily uncertainty and new ways of interacting socially.

Be Cognizant of Stress and Its Effects

Fear manifests in our actions, including well-intentioned, research-based mandates to engage in social distancing with our world and all the people in it, including our own families. In times of high stress, negative emotions like fear, anxiety and panic diminish our mental resources and ability to think clearly, make healthy decisions and behave prosocially and productively.

Stress, in moderate doses, is healthy. It's our body's way of responding to events that threaten or challenge us. But chronic stress impairs our ability to function well and impacts the quality of our relationships. Navigating uncontrollable, unpredictable, ambiguous situations like the new coronavirus, in addition to being confronted with many new demands, is challenging and for many of us amounts to chronic stress.

As educators, practicing social distancing during a pandemic while implementing digital learning with your students-in some cases, for the first time-is overwhelming in itself. Then add juggling your own family and their evolving physical, social and emotional demands while bracing for the unknown, and it becomes exhausting, if not impossible.

These intense and seemingly insurmountable demands can make us feel insecure and inadequate. In school, safety is both physical and psychological. Clorox wipes, toilet paper and social distancing are only going to get you so far in the promotion of your safety. We must also ensure psychological safety for ourselves, for our students and for our families. SEL can support us here, too.

The RULER Approach

Briefly, SEL is the teaching of an interrelated set of cognitive, affective and behavioral competencies that underscore our capacity to learn, develop and maintain mutually supportive relationships, and be both physically and psychologically healthy. The field of SEL is replete with programs and approaches, which support schools in embedding five large dimensions into teaching and learning. These include self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.

At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, we use the power of emotions to create a healthier, more equitable, productive and compassionate society, today and for future generations. Our approach to SEL, the RULER Approach, provides tools and resources grounded in the theory of emotional intelligence to promote the psychosocial health and well-being of educators and their students and parents.

RULER is an acronym for the components and process of emotional intelligence, including:

Recognizing emotions in self and others,

Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions,

Labeling emotions accurately,

Expressing emotions appropriately, and

Regulating emotions effectively.

These skills can help us navigate this uncharted territory in our socially-distanced world and do our part to control the imprint it leaves on the mental health and well-being of our students and school communities. You can find additional resources here from our center to specifically support your well-being and manage your anxiety during this sensitive time.

Routine Reminders and Checks

You can make choices every day to support yourself, your students and your families. First, check in with how you are feeling a few times per day. Avoid judging your own and others' emotions. From an emotional intelligence perspective, all emotions are information. Accept them all. They are information to be attended to, not denied.

Be kind to yourself and flexible (as permitted) with your schedule. Look for easy and small ways to bring yourself and your loved ones joy. Make breakfast a different way. Take creative pictures from different angles. Find a new way to organize your closet. Call old friends and family members to check-in. Try a new exercise routine at home.

There also are things you can monitor carefully, including your media consumption. Digital platforms are pretty incredible at enabling us to connect with people in a socially distant world. We have perhaps never been more prepared to practice social distancing as we are today. But keep in mind there are over two decades of research correlating social media usage with loneliness, depression and unhealthy behaviors including addiction. After using technology, ask yourself this question: Is this helping me feel greater well-being and connection, or is it making me feel more isolated? Find the "tech" routine that works for you and your family. And leverage resources and expertise across networks for support.

If the thought of being home for a couple of weeks or months-or returning back to school-is overwhelming, take a meta-moment. Try to imagine your best self-visualize a positive image of yourself, who you want to be and how you want to be seen and experienced by your family and students. And in each of your interactions, whether face-to-face at home or when connecting with others through technology, try to be that person for your students, for your families, for your community.

While the world is turned on its head, we have the opportunity to leverage the power of emotional intelligence to keep our feet on the ground and our minds directed toward building the future that we want for our students and ourselves. We can't control what has happened, but we can control how we respond to what is happening. Give yourself and everyone around you the permission to feel all emotions. It starts and ends with self- and social-compassion. Lean into SEL.
Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., Ed.M., is the Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and a research scientist at the Child Study Center at Yale University. Follow her on Twitter @drchriscip.
Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is the Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. He's also on the board of directors for CASEL and the author of the new book Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive.

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Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis - EdSurge News

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Dear educators, There was life before COVID-19, and there will be life after. We didn't choose to have our schools and colleges closed; our carefully constructed routines halted in their tracks; our field trips, concerts, sporting events, fundraisers and finals all canceled. We didn't expect this and had little warning.

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Emotional Well-Being Activities - Grades 9-12

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Emotional Well-Being Activities - Grades 9-12

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Emotional Well-Being activities for Grades 9-12

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Find resources for balance and well-being. Learn skills like self-control, perseverance, empathy, and teamwork. This collection of videos, games, books, and activities will help kids build inner strength, navigate difficult feelings and get support when needed.

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High school teacher Erin Castillo designed a chart that enables students to discretely indicate how they're feeling and if they'd like a check-in about their mental health.

Castillo told INSIDER that she wanted students to have a nonverbal way of seeking support and see that they're not alone if they're struggling.

The Facebook page Suicide Awareness/Prevention shared a photo of the mental health check-in chart for students that's going viral.

In kindergarten classrooms around the US, students can choose what greeting they would like to receive when they arrive by pointing to different symbols affixed to a wall. Some like getting hugs or handshakes. Others prefer a wave or verbal "hello."

A Bay Area high school teacher came up with an innovative way to incorporate a similar concept in her classroom to check in with her students about their mental health.

English special education teacher Erin Castillo (@makingastatementinsped on Instagram) created a chart concept with sections ranging from "I'm great" and "I'm okay" to "I'm having a hard time and wouldn't mind a check-in" and "I'm in a really dark place."

Students can write their name on the back of a sticky note and place it in whatever section that best describes how they're feeling without their names being visible

Castillo told INSIDER that in the past five years of teaching high school, she's had a number of students who have attempted suicide. She designed the chart to give students a nonverbal, anonymous way to seek support. She also wanted them to be able to see in the placement of the notes that they're not the only ones in any particular category.

"So many people think they're the only ones struggling," she said. "Kids need to hear that they're not alone and what that support looks like."

When she saw how well the chart was working in her classroom, she created a free digital resource for other teachers to incorporate the chart and talking points about it into their classrooms on Teachers Pay Teachers.

The concept went viral on Facebook when a page called Suicide Awareness/Prevention with over 600,000 followers shared a photo of a mental health check-in chart that another teacher had created inspired by Castillo's resource. The photo was shared 162,000 times and sparked a discussion with 14,000 comments.

The photo featured in the Facebook post was from a teacher named Jessie Cayton, who identified Castillo as the original source of inspiration for the chart.

Other teachers began using the chart in their classrooms and sharing photos on Instagram

The check-in chart is a crucial resource at a time when more and more students are showing signs of mental health challenges

More than one in three college freshmen - about 35% - have a history of at least one mental disorder, according to a study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Researchers have described perfectionism as an"epidemic" among millennials that is taking a toll on their mental health. And graphic depictions of suicide in media may increase teen suicide risk.

Castillo was moved to see her creation going viral, inspiring other teachers to post versions of her check-in chart in their classrooms and talk to their students about mental health.

"I just started crying," she said. "My husband asked me why I was crying, and I said 'Because kids are being saved everywhere.'"

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations.

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A high school teacher came up with a brilliant way to talk to her students about mental health, and it's going viral

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High school teacher Erin Castillo designed a chart that enables students to discretely indicate how they're feeling and if they'd like a check-in about their mental health. Castillo told INSIDER that she wanted students to have a nonverbal way of seeking support and see that they're not alone if they're struggling.