by Jolanta Maria Nitoslawska-Romer, M.Ed.
International Director of Academic Affairs, BE+Live
We had mentioned how 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 and how this was not easy.
Teachers had to reshape their “teaching.” (even though the focus was not on teaching, but rather on student learning or students reaching their learning goals.) Planning focused on three components: student knowledge, ability/skill, and concept.
First, they met “live” with students to provide direct modeling and shared practice. This was done with their whole class at least once a week, but also in smaller groups that were shaped and reshaped depending on the needs of their students. They all agreed that it was extremely important to clearly share the expected learning outcomes, not only for a specific class but for a longer time period. Everyone then knew where they were heading, and expectations were clear for all.
These teachers also created PowerPoint or Google slides to explain things. Then they taped personal commentaries to create 6-minute videos and posted them online. Students could now watch them over and over again. Why 6-minutes? Many of these teachers told me that they used to do in-person 10-minute mini-lessons in class, before their students would break out into centers or small workgroups, and that this worked for them. So why 6 minutes now? These teachers noticed that for virtual sessions, after about 6 minutes, the students would zone out and not finish watching, so 6 minutes seemed just right. It also forced the teachers to be much more concrete and direct.
Teachers told me that their students and many parents felt they thrived during the class Zooms or Google Meets and used the resources that had been created and recorded. They said that many students showed evidence of learning and shared that they watched some videos more than once, gaining a better understanding each time.
The teachers realized that they were offering the opportunity for self-paced instruction through their videos. Parents reached out to many of them and expressed how much they learned during this time as “part of the class”.
The teachers recognized that clear learning outcomes, a mix of short whole class sessions with small group personal meetings, plus short explicit videos, gave the best results in this uncertain and often stressful period.
Perhaps more importantly they also recognized that having a growth mindset is not only for kids and that we can all be resilient when faced with new challenges. So much about teaching and learning is yet to be explored and expanded upon for the better – even in uncertain times.
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