Teaching from a distance during a pandemic is something that no one has ever prepared for. As a first year teacher, I had to quickly become familiar with using asynchronous and synchronous online learning tools to provide instruction and support.

I taught my students from a distance from August to November of 2020. With the use of technology, I began to organize my instruction in daily learning boards, face-to-face Zoom video calls, and by emailing parents and posting the daily lesson plans on Google Classroom every morning. The day was broken down into 3 separate Zoom calls where students would meet with me in a whole group or small group, or work independently.

In early November, we were able to return back to school with strict and safe social distancing and sanitizing protocols put in place. Most of my students returned to in-person learning while about one-third of the class remained on Zoom. Since I was unable to work with both in-person and at-home students at the same time, I designated block times so that I could work synchronously with one group while the other group worked asynchronously. This allowed me to meaningfully meet with in-person learners while also dedicating special time to meet with at-home learners to receive the same instruction.

• The use of Google Classroom for turning in online assignments

• Google Suite applications

• Parent/teacher weekly newsletters and ClassDojo communication application

• Zoom parent/teacher check-ins and conferences