Tips for Digital Resources

As we embark upon this unique time in life and education, we understand that this is new territory for many of you. Nevertheless, our Technology Integration and Professional Development teams have been working together to put together a number of tips to help you as we begin to navigate through digital learning. Don't forget that if you need additional assistance, you can click on the Technical Assistance link and join our Google Classroom where someone from our team help you along this journey.

Recommended Platforms for Daily Use:

• K-2 can use Google Classroom for their daily learning engagements and parent interactions.

• 3-5 can use Google Classroom for their daily learning engagements and can enable the guardian access to Google Classroom.

• 6-12 can use Google Classroom for their daily learning engagements and can enable the guardian access to Google Classroom.

• All General Ed. teachers will use Google Meets to provide one daily video conference opportunity.

• Email and Google Chat Meet can be used for communications between staff.

• Email, Remind, Bloomz and other applicable teacher methods can be used to communicate formally with parents.

These platforms should already be familiar to students. Students will continue to use these platforms for all daily lessons. Consider these platforms to be the home base for students.

You may also be interested in reviewing the following document: The First 20 Days on Virtual Learning

VIDEO!!!

Your presence as a teacher and trusted adult in students’ lives is important to the daily routine. Your students miss you! You know your students are accustomed to your way of instructing, it helps them construct meaning. Your voice and presence is important for your students. They need to see and hear you every day. This does not mean a video conference with them every day. It means you record yourself saying, “Good Morning,” every day and recording video instructions every day. Keep it short, light, and cheery. No one needs a fifteen minute lecture video. Screencastify, Flipgrid, and even your iPhone screen recorder will work for this.

Additional Recommendations:

Monitor the morale of your class and the workload of the students carefully. You have the latitude to make good decisions for the well being of your students.

General Ed. teachers please create a weekly schedule of when you will offer Google MEET sessions for your students. Send your weekly schedule home in your weekly email and publish your schedule with your Google Meet link on Google Classroom. Students will not be penalized for not participating.

Use a Checklist! Post a checklist every day to help students make sure they do all of their work for the day. In a long feed of posts, it is easy for students to lose track and become unsure of what they’ve accomplished and have yet to accomplish. Checklists can look different depending on the platform.

Students need routine and structure during this time. Their way of learning has been changed; their environment has been changed, their routine has been changed, do NOT introduce new tech tools, and expect students to use them for learning during the first month of Online Learning. You can have new content or new tech, not both. Go for the content at this difficult time in students’ lives.

Please report student concerns. If needed, discuss these concerns with admin. or the counselor. Remember to lead with understanding and an open mind.

Please maintain a healthy work/life balance. Keep lines of communication open between all departments and consult your admin. if you are having any difficulty in this new frontier of learning. We are here to support you!