Well, where do I even begin…I guess with how things went the last three months of school while I was teaching and the kids were learning at home. Over all, I felt I had a good system in place and a good turn-out in terms of students engaging and completing work. But, truthfully, it wasn’t perfect and I didn’t have 100% engagement. With that in mind, and no plan in place for our school district as of yet, I’m trying to prepare for all kinds of learning and teaching methods.

The Gist

• Preparing for both online and in-class teaching since our district hasn’t announced a plan yet
• Keeping the tech simple enough for parents and students to feel comfortable
• Researching ways to get closer to 100% engagement of students
• Realizing I need to be super flexible and not commit 100% to anything just yet

Without a district plan in place, it’s really hard to decide how best to spend my prep time; do I focus on what I’d normally do the first few weeks of school if the kids are in the classroom? Or, do I make sure everything is accessible online? How would I do both while teaching in the classroom if our district goes to a hybrid model? I don’t want to waste countless hours preparing for something that just won’t happen, so instead I decided to think of ways to simplify my online technology options. Basically, anything I post for the students to do online needs to be self-graded so I don’t spend countless hours prepping and grading online work on top of teaching and grading in-class work.

I also want to make sure parents and students aren’t overwhelmed by the quantity of usernames and passwords, website links, and so forth. I’ve decided I like four platforms the best, besides Zoom for face-to-face time, (three of them will grade material for me):

• Seesaw – I used this last semester and loved it. It was super easy for students and parents to use and has all kinds of UDL (universal design for learning) features for every student. It was also easy to post PDF files for students to write on top of. However, I had to go through every single work submission and grade the material. This will not be possible if we go to a hybrid model. I do intend to use it as a “home base” for my students and link to other sites through this interface.
• Nearpod – I only just started using it before the end of the school year and really like that I can teach a complete lesson, include all kinds of materials, as well as quizzes that can be auto-graded. This is definitely something I’ll be using throughout the school year. It’s a bit time-consuming to create the lessons, but there are some free and paid ones already available.
• Boom Cards – I just came across this website and am excited to use it. Basically, it’s online task cards that are auto-graded. I love task cards, but sometimes don’t have time to grade the work. This is perfect for review. I can add free Boom Cards to my library or buy them through Teachers Pay Teachers. I don’t have to create all the material myself, which is great. Though, I probably will convert some of my current task cards to Boom Cards.
• Edpuzzle – I also just had started researching Edpuzzle as the end of the year. Basically, I can post videos and questions that students answer, which are graded. The only drawback to this platform is finding the right video content that matches the curriculum I’m teaching. I also have to create the quizzes myself if I add my own video content.

Our district uses a platform, Schoology, which I really haven’t used with my students. We were able to use whatever we wanted this past semester, but rumors are swirling we will have to incorporate Schoology this coming year. I will probably just place links to the other sites if that’s the case to keep it simple for students and parents. I really like using Seesaw as my “home base”, but if I have to use our district platform, Seesaw may not be used as much.

The more difficult question is how do I get 100% engagement if we go to a distance learning model? There are so many things that are not in my control in this model; do the students have a quiet place to work? Can they get online? Will they do their work without the help or supervision of an adult? Obviously, in a classroom, I have more control over how I can go about motivating kids, making sure they are on task, and helping them with tech issues. Not so much from my home computer. I know our district hasn’t announced a plan specifically because of this reason; engagement. They are waiting to see what happens with the Covid-19 cases in our area, if any progress is made on a treatment or vaccine, or if new scientific evidence comes out about how it is spread. I think they also don’t want lawsuits if students and/or adults get sick and/or die due to this illness.

At this point, everything is really up in the air, so I have to be patient and wait before spending too much time planning. I pretty much have a rough first week plan that I can alter to a Zoom meeting and work posted online if we begin with distance learning.

For now, I’m going to enjoy the next few weeks of summer and begin planning online and in-person content at the end of the month. Hopefully that will give our district time to formulate a plan that gives teachers enough time to prepare for the school year.