Abruptly, one day you’re teaching your students face to face and the next you’re faced with the daunting challenge of teaching your students online.
Where do you begin? How do you even start to think about teaching online? We have some tips and tricks for you as you are facing this new reality.
Teaching and interacting online with your students is a major shift BUT you can do it! If you are a teacher, you are already a problem solver, a creative and a life-long learner.
The objectives of this video are:
- Gain some realistic perspectives and expectations about teaching online
- Differentiate between synchronous & asynchronous learning, and how to use both for your students’ benefit.
- Share with you tips, tech & flow of synchronous & and asynchronous online teaching
- Share some helpful resources with you for teaching online
****1 Major oversight I forgot to include in the video – probably the brightest silver lining ever to this transition****
I had a quick back and forth over email with one of the teachers at my kids’ school and I mentioned to him take a 2 birds with 1 stone approach. Let me explain:
If your teaching experience is like mine at all, every class is different. Some advance quicker than others, and there are always a class or two that don’t have time for that cool project that your other classes really liked.
If there are topics or projects that sometimes you don’t class time for, maybe your asynchronous creation these next few weeks could be prioritized on lessons that you can repurpose in future years as homework? If you can reduce some of your didactic time in class in the years to come, then you free up class time to do the fun things. Just a thought take it for what it’s worth.
One more tip…
Your lessons do not have to be perfect. Let that expectation go. Progress over perfection. We are all human, make mistakes, and are on this learning journey together. You got this!
I am teaching student teachers at Capital University this fall and would like to use this in my online course. May I download your video?
Hey Sandra, we’d love for you to use the video. I don’t think you can download it, but here is the link on YouTube for you to share: https://youtu.be/Gy7lY1ximlw Best,
Hey Katie, thanks for the note! Glad you found the information useful and great work pushing through the craziness of this school year! Be well,
Hi Rorie,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this informational video about online learning. I am emailing you at the end of our online learning experience (because I have a tad more time) but wanted to be sure that I told you how helpful this video is and has been to me as we jumped onboard with “virtual” learning. You answered so many of my questions and put it in a format that was easy to understand and very relevant. Thank you again. Katie Moore, Arizona
Hello,
Thank you so much for the review. I really needed the basics. I also appreciate the approach of your can do attitude. I just want to be clear on one thing: My students will have chromebooks, I believe. Does this mean that Breakout Rooms are simply not possible for them? Is Zoom still a better platform without the Breakout Rooms?
Thank you for your time and effort. I now need to get over the fact that I have to be on camera! Ugh.
Hey Katherine, you’re soooo very welcome. We’re glad to support with what we can :). So, yes you’re right that your students on Chromebooks won’t be able to participate in the breakout rooms. It’s a functionality that chromebooks don’t support. We’ve used both zoom and hangouts over the years and still prefer zoom even w/o breakout rooms. It has been easier to access for the bulk of our students. But maybe it’s easier for yours if they all have google classroom anyway?
And being on camera is nerve-racking at first. But just remember that your students normally watch you all day long in class and will be very used to seeing you :). So, they’ll just be glad to be in touch with you from home. Onward and upward! Cheers,
Thank you so much! I am printing your notes and sharing it with my fellow Spanish teachers!
Mrs Steckert, Polk co. Florida
Great Sonia, feel free to post further questions, comments & tips here. We can get a conversation going.