Structure With Flexibility

TK-12

Required Activities

Review at least 5 of the resources listed below.

Complete this module's assignment.

Optional Activities

Discuss questions on this topic with your colleagues on this Padlet.

Live discussion sessions at 10:00 and 2:00; Bring your questions and thoughts.

Promoting Executive Functioning

Self-Regulation in Online Learning (Article from eLearning Industry, March 2020)

Best 7 Strategies to Increase Student Motivation Online (Blog post from BookWidgets). Are you struggling to involve your online students and motivate them? Here are some workable strategies to get everyone engaged.

Executive Functioning in Online Environments (CAST). This article from UDL on Campus gives examples of strategies to support students' executive functioning in online classes. The article is written in the context of higher education, but is also applicable to K-12.

13 Time Management Tips for students taking an online course. (Article from eLearning Industry)

Blending Real-time with Flex-time

Sample Weekly Schedule for Elementary Students

Three sample weekly schedules for a secondary class.

How to Structure a Week of Reading Routines in Distance Learning (Student Achievement Partners, Achieve the Core)

Blog post on when and how to use synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (flex-time) teaching, pros and cons of each, and how to strike a balance. (Top Hat blog, March 2020)

Creating a screencast with students in mind. (3-minute segment of Dee-Ann Crouch's Spring Summit session on using Screencastify.).

Why Middle Schoolers Thrive in a Self-Paced Classroom, by Demi Lager and Emily Culp, in EdSurge, June 2020. (The middle schoolers in this article are in sixth grade.)

Read this blog post from Jen Roberts, ELA teacher at Point Loma High School, on her preferred terminology for distance learning. (April 2020)

Listen to Glenn Giokaris, principal of Virtual Academy, discuss the importance of both structure and flexibility in distance learning. (4-minute audio).

Module Assignment

Complete one of the options below. When finished, copy your work into your portfolio for submission. (Here is how to create a portfolio.)

Option 1: Design a potential weekly schedule for your own class. Include a balance of real-time and flex-time activities. Make sure you provide students with checkpoints so they know whether or not they are on track to complete the week's work.

Option 2: Consider how you would organize and share a week of lessons within your Google Classroom (create one if you don’t have one already), using any of the models and materials from this module as a basis. In your portfolio, explain how you structured the week as well as your rationale for doing so. Also, add your classroom code or screenshots of your organization into your portfolio.

Option 3: What lesson or activity idea might you use to help your students develop aspects of their executive functioning? The activity should be possible to deliver online (borrow one or write one). It does not have to be fully developed in every aspect.

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