Construction

Best Practices for distance learning.                                                                                               Another Five. 

At the beginning of distance learning it was common to overextend the amount of assigned work for the students. After realizing that the student's perceived this time as an extension of their spring break, and after briefings from administration, some best practices were developed. Here is a short list of 5 that transpired. 

1. Strive for daily communication with all students. Be consistent with both task and time of communication. A daily question sent at the same time everyday provided a routine which formed a habit. 

2. Learn what technology the students utilize and adjust to them. Google classroom was something the students were used to in their home school, so I learned it. The Remind app is a great tool to send and track receipts of messages. It is also good for communicating with parents which is a Best Practice. Do not go on Instagram or give out your personal number, unless extremely necessary and approved by administration. 

3. Clearly define objectives and instructions for assignments along with the points assigned. Keep it simple. 

4. Add some fun and social time with a Zoom, Google meets, or Microsoft Team scheduled weekly meeting. This should be held on the same day, at the same time, to build a routine and give the students something that they can look forward to and rely on. Remember it is a time to socialize. Relax. 

5. One thing that I would have done better is to have a weekly creative project that aligned with a lesson. For example, an engineering project of building a birdhouse with natural materials. There are many designs to discover and it is simple, cheap, effective and fun. 

Working with Stakeholders.   

CTSO. The spring season comes with CTSO contests and lots of excitement and focus. Unfortunately, these events were surrounded with uncertainty, then disappointment, especially for the state qualifiers. After good results at the Great Big Home and Garden Show contest this year, we were all looking forward to success at the Skills USA and FCCLA competitions. It was time for a life lesson of how to handle disappointment. These events are worth the extra effort. 

Advisory Committee. We were also getting close to some more time with the advisory committee which didn’t take place. What did work out though was a few opportunities for students to take advantage of internships.  Some of these were with an essential company and turned into jobs during the distance learning. 

Habitat for Humanity. is a connection that was just developing, and they were having their annual fundraiser in a few weeks. My class was building some models to display and renderings of their designs to show.  Neither of these occurred but we look forward to hopefully working closely together next year.  

Other CTE Programs. One additional stakeholder to consider investing time with is the other programs and teachers in the career center. We are fortunate to work with the construction class in building an actual house. We have also worked on projects with the electrical class and other programs. We share back and forth with many programs especially when it comes to the CTSO projects.