Although there are areas which help to better serve students, there are also areas of challenge for students in a virtual platform. These include:
Equity and access - teachers need to ensure students are able to access the content that is on the virtual platform (for P-CCS, Canvas). See the section on Accessibility for more information.
Need for some services face-to-face - there may be some areas that need to be conducted face-to-face, such as physical therapy. Ideas to build connection virtually.
Focus: Support student engagement by giving students multiple ways to engage (orally, in the chat, in breakouts, on paper and shared) Reach out to students who are not engaging. This should occur, at least, on a weekly basis.
Carefully structure how content is delivered. Lecturing is not an effective form of instruction. Direct instruction should be limited to no more than 10 minutes before students are actively engaged with a task, breakout room, visible thinking strategy, etc.
It will be crucial for classroom teachers to partner with the Special Education support staff in order to develop a comprehensive plan for all students. To best provide structure for students with IEPs and 504s please incorporate the following:
Asynchronous videos - students will need to be able to rewatch direct instruction lessons (Check out EdPuzzle, TED-Ed or Screencastify to get started)
Accept all completed work - this could mean pictures of completed work or work that is past your deadline
Movement breaks - some students will not be able to maneuver online learning without built-in breaks.