Lets the students know the schedule for the day or class.  Forewarn them when transitions are coming. In fact you can share the schedule onscreen and show your students the exactly how their day/lesson is planned!

An attention signal is key for classroom management. You need a clear way to get your students’ attention. This is helpful for providing announcements, clarifying directions, freezing out of control behavior, or ending the transition. Here are some easy ideas or attention signals:

When you play Beat the Timer you allow a set amount of time for cleaning up or transitioning and encourage students to beat that time. Some ideas include:

This provides students a visual or auditory cue to help understand how much time is left. It helps them better pace their transition – and allows a clear cut end to the transition.

Studies have shown that the use of short video clips allows for more efficient processing and memory recall. The visual and auditory nature of videos appeals to a wide audience and allows each user to process information in a way that’s natural to them. In a nutshell, videos are good teachers.

(For online classes, make sure the student has eliminated distractions, such as TV, toys, cell phone. Ask them to ask their sibling to leave the room if it's a problem.)

Watching the class I really couldn’t see much room for improvement.  A relaxing mindful breathing exercise at the start could also be useful for calming emotions, reducing stress, allowing the body to relax and enhancing the students focus.  

Perhaps the use of music of a chant to assist with transitions would also be helpful.  I found the class a little quiet.  More physical activity would have been good, but I’m not sure it would have been suitable for this type of lesson.

Incorporating some VR apps such as google expeditions, YouTube VR and Google VR to take a look at some of the geographical locations she was teaching could be great.  Apps such as Duolingo, Memrise, Cram and talk English could also be incorporated into their homework to help with their english.

Overall, I think she did an okay job.  I’d suggest maybe that she dressed more appropriately, (I think a T-shirt isn’t the best look for a teacher) and perhaps had better posture while sitting, after all even though she is still at home, it’s a good idea to set a good example for the students.  Again it would be beneficial to start the class with a breathing exercise, to reduce stress and help focus.  The scribbling game at activity at the start had no focus and was the equivalent of tossing the kids some scrap paper in a classroom.

I thought some of the games were a little dull.  Judging by the kids' faces, they did too.  They often looked bored and uninterested.  I thought the quizlet she prepared was okay, but the images she used weren’t really age appropriate. Kahoots would provide more fun, having them play against each other and trying to beat a clock would be much more engaging. 

There were lots of interesting noises during the class, I think one kid was actually eating.  I would not have allowed that, and would have talked to the child either privately or after class..  There were various tapping sounds throughout.  I think she should have muted their mics, she appeared to at the start of the lesson but it seems the rules weren't enforced.  I also thought that she was a little too preoccupied with the books and highlighting things that she lost focus of the actual students and what they were doing.  An example of this was when Kevin decided to have a bit of a lie down.  I don’t think she dealt with this very well and he seemed constantly distracted and uninterested throughout the lesson.

There are a number of different things she could try. A subject-specific Scavenger Hunt, where kids have to find things around the house that relate to what they are learning.  Giving them a chance to get out of their seats and have a small adventure in their own house could be so much fun.  Digital choice boards would be great, where teachers can combine online and offline activities, integrate the home environment, and mix various subjects on their boards. Teachers could also challenge students to explain a process in a quick ‘FlipGrid’ or ‘Seesaw video’. 

Finally, I would have liked to see some physical activity during the class.  Perhaps a dance or kids workout routine that could be grabbed from YouTube.  I’m sure it would have livened up the lesson and engaged the kids more.  

The homework she set was a little old fashioned considering the tech she had at her disposal.  The “I want you to think about…. and draw a picture was a little 1970’s for me. Again, using something like ‘Flipgrid’ to record their thoughts and various drawing apps where they could submit something truly special such as ‘Doodle buddy’ or ‘Animate It’ would be terrific for younger learners.  Using apps such as Duolingo for homework would also be great for enhancing their english!

Creating a daily routine and maintaining structure is essential to keeping staff and students organized. Planning student activities and creating visual schedules can help students with special needs adapt to the daily flow of the school day.

Greeting students with a smile and making personal connections sets the tone for the first day of school. If you aren’t able to greet each student as they enter the classroom, make sure to walk around the room and spend a few minutes welcoming your students back to school.

These are just a few tips to help you prepare your classroom and ease transitions for students with special needs returning to school.

It’s not easy to find the positive right now. The first time some of my students came back to the building for in-person tutoring, I struggled. I wanted to hug them. I wanted to sit on the carpet and share. I wanted to lay in the classroom library and dust off the books. I knew this wasn’t going to be a reality and so did my kids. They all walked in, sat at their 6-feet apart desks, and checked their masks. I didn’t know if I should circulate the room or if I was isolating myself or what I should do.

My students immediately broke the ice. Their faces were beams of happiness and they wanted to do work. They yearned for our first novel study or language board. I had a decision to make. I could either operate in a place of confusion or just embrace the flow. I chose to let things be what they will be, and look for the positive in each interaction. It was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be, too!

I celebrated students for anything and everything. You remembered your computer charger today, great job! You tried your best on our quick write, I am so proud of you! The fact is we all need a cheerleader right now. And we know that celebrations are the best way to remind our students what they should be doing. And it works! My students now always remember to get hand sanitizer when they walk in or out of the room because we chose to celebrate that action. The key is that you celebrate them honestly. If you are truly excited for them, they will recognize it and repeat the action.

As educators, we aren’t always in a position to make the decisions, but we are in a prime position to ensure that wherever our classroom is, whether virtual, in a school building, or both, we are making these transitions as smooth as possible for our students.