7 Things To Think About If You Go Distance.

Some teachers will be back in the classroom while others will be teaching via some form of distance.  I know that many school districts have not yet decided which way to go, making it hard to plan ahead.  I'm still looking at ways to make the year more interesting should the semester start using online.  

I've looked at general information on distance teaching which can be easily used in the math classroom.  These tips should help one prepare lessons for distance learning.  When you have to teach via distance, the students do not have the chance to communicate with each other so they can't work together in the same manner. 

1.  Simplify instruction because everyone is not longer in the same room.  Students are unable to work with each other or ask for help as needed.  Now distance teaching has had to incorporate activities that require a much higher degree of self direction.  There should only be one or two activities associated with a class period and the activities need to have clear directions. Furthermore, there should only be one or two resources associated with each lesson and the resources should be easily accessible to a student when they want to use it.  Resources can include pdf's or slides, or even a video.

This would be a perfect time to use chunking.  Chunking is when the material is broken up into units or chunks which are much easier to learn and uses short term memory more efficiently.  In addition, chunking helps students "see" the connections between all the "steps". 

2. Make sure you have a home base set up for your digital classroom.  Rather than a classroom, use a digital place such as Google classroom or Canvas, to check up on the most up-to-date information.  All the information should be in one place so students don't have to jump around various programs and possibly miss important information.

In addition, it is important to set up clear instructions with checkpoints so the teacher can see what is happening and to help students continue progressing through the course.  Since distance requires more self direction, many high school students still have difficulty with that so they need the checkpoints to help them.

3.  Planning classes is going to take longer because you have to plan everything in detail.  If students are not engaged, you cannot suddenly change direction when doing a distance class.  It is better to plan longer assignments that are student driven so you have time to plan future units. Try to make the units so they are more student directed with check points so students keep on pace and arrange sections so students can discuss it with parents or other students via the phone.  In addition, set up choice boards or perhaps a choice of problems so they have a certain amount of engagement and ownership.  

4.  The thing that gets lost in distance education is the personal interaction.  The part where you say hello in the hallway, or ask a student about their last basketball game, or how their weekend was.  It is important to create points in the lesson for personalized interactions which can be done by e-mail, video messages, messages through Google, or phone calls but whatever method you choose, stick to it.  Cultivating those personal moments is going to take more energy than when in the classroom but it is worth it. 

5.  When the class first begins, take time to set your expectations.  Let the students know about the different types of activities they'll have, the amount of work you expect them to complete and deadlines along with checkpoints, how they will be assessed, and behavior guidelines including what will happen if cyber bullying occurs.

6. Make sure every resource you need for the lesson is on line and working.  Check the links to make sure they work as there is nothing worse than expecting students to watch a video and the link is broken.  It's not like being in a building where you can pop out and make extra copies or make new copies for a change to the lesson.  

7.  If you decide to make your own videos to go with your lessons, you need to keep it relatively short, in the four to five minute range.  Don't worry about making it look like a Hollywood movie, just make sure it covers the points that need to be covered.  Be sure to practice the lesson before you record it so it does not have a lot of pauses or Umsss.  In addition, if you aren't sure about managing the explanation while being recorded, there are several prompter apps available to use so you don't forget anything.

If you are going to be starting the year doing distance learning, these are some things you can think about as you prepare the class.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  I'll be exploring this a bit more on Friday.  Have a great weekend.