by Jolanta Maria Nitoslawska-Romer, M.Ed.
International Director of Academic Affairs, BE+Live
Yes, I know! We are all worried. We don’t know when school will start: we suspect it will all be remote learning, for some time, as least. We know that kids have been cooped up at home and are fed up. Many of us were not too happy with our distance learning classes in March, April, May, and June. We all did the best we could, but we are worried!
I have been in contact with many English teachers, coordinators, and principals listening to their frustrations but also to their success stories. I heard about the amount of time and effort they were all putting in, trying to make classes more relevant, significant, and interesting. They had to figure out how to keep students engaged in a foreign language, which is no easy task. Plus, they had to figure out whether their students had really learned and acquired the communication skills they were supposed to have.
In this blog, I would like to share some of the learnings gleaned from English teachers from many places in Latin America. Some of them are using the BE+Live English Program. Some are using other systems. Others are interested in all the resources that BE+Live has to offer for remote learning situations. We all want to become the virtual teacher that our students need and want!
Quite a few teachers told me that they were familiar with Howard Gardners’ work on multiple intelligence. While still in their classrooms, they varied their instruction and teaching strategies, and they saw how this benefited their students. Others shared how looking at growth vs. fixed mindsets, and the work of Dr. Carol Dweck made a positive difference in their classes. Some figured out the kinds of engagements that allowed students to stay focused on what needed to be mastered. They often saw the type of “flow” that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi recognized as a focused mental state conducive to productivity. These teachers were quite familiar with best practices and usually did short mini-lessons before students rotated through learning centers in small groups. Working in groups allowed these teachers to differentiate as needed to break down a concept or a skill. They also knew how best to use Learning Management Systems, such as BE+Live or other platforms such as Google classroom, which allowed them to post additional resources, add homework assignments, and keep parents informed.
But then everything changed for these wonderful teachers! In a way, they thought they were ahead of the game! They had an LMS platform like BE+Live; they and their students were very familiar with digital resources and interactive whiteboards. But things did not work out this way. Frequently, students did not show up for Zoom or Google Meets. Students did not turn in assignments, nor were they interested or engaged. These teachers had to figure out how to capture students’ interest and pull them into lessons, at a distance, on a screen.
In one school, some of these teachers got together to share their experiences and to read up on how students learn best. So it stopped being about teaching and became more about developing a growth mindset, and independence, and stamina. They thought about how they could get their students to want to make that extra effort and work towards their goals and not give up if at first, they did not succeed. This really meant that these teachers needed to engage their students virtually! So how did they do that?
They all knew that they needed to be the voice their students heard and the face they saw. They also knew students needed the encouragement of their teachers. So they set up daily virtual class times using Google Meets or Zoom for their English classes, but they also set aside additional “Teacher Time” for students to come, ask questions and have something reviewed or cleared up, or simply hang out with their teacher.
Another critical issue they discovered was the imperative need to engage their students’ parents, guardians, or caregivers. Not an easy task as many of these adults did not speak English or maybe only a little. Nonetheless, these teachers quickly realized that virtual classes became so much better with the support of an adult partner at the child’s end—someone to help the teacher ensure a sustained learning experience.
With this in mind, these teachers reshaped their “teaching.” They planned their classes using three components: student knowledge, ability/skill, and concept.
“Stay tuned!” In our next blog, we shall tell you exactly what these teachers did and what conclusions they reached about becoming great virtual teachers.
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