I really hope you use this distance/remote learning experience to reimagine school.
Begin by letting students and families know you are here to help, teach, encourage, and love them. You’re here to support and move kids forward just like you always have.
Don’t plan for students to be working from home from 8am-3pm. That’s not possible for most kids. Some kids may not do any work on Mondays, but might do everything on Tuesdays. Great!
Instead of focusing on task completion and standards-based tests, focus on getting students excited about creating. When students create, learning results. Begin with a project, a creation, or a culminating presentation in mind and think backwards from that. What knowledge, skills, and understandings will students need to be creative?
Give students voice and choice. Be flexible. Allow them to explore and investigate their world. Stop thinking you’re preparing them for the future; help them learn and apply their learning now—not later.
Don’t let distance learning smother your investment in your students. Use this experience to reignite that fire that made you want to teach in the first place.
You are the motivation. You are the fire. You are the love. You are the teacher. You are the difference-maker.
Make it happen!
This post originally appeared on Travis Marcum’s blog, MyKillerBlog.