Guidance for TNCS Teachers
The transition to distance learning will not be simple or easy. Teachers will need to think differently about how to communicate, give instruction, and provide feedback; how to design lessons and assignments that are authentic and meaningful; and how to ensure students continue to collaborate and communicate with others. The eight guidelines provided below are intended to help teachers across all divisions reflect on challenges they’ll confront in shifting to distance learning.
Walk the Talk of Health & Safety, Learning, and Respect
TNCS’s commitment is to Health & Safety, Learning, and Respect. Your students may be stressed or worried. Before diving into curriculum, take the time to assess your students’ mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. How are they doing? How are their families? Advisors continue regular check-ins with their parents through as long as this DLP is in place.
Evaluate your students’ conditions for distance learning
While most students will have reliable online access at home and the necessary devices to shift to distance learning, others will not. Teachers should remember that each family’s circumstances will vary. Ask your students and/or their parents to confirm whether their online access is reliable.
Stick with the familiar
Especially in the first weeks after moving to this DLP, teachers should continue using existing communication channels and learning management systems, which are described on page 3. In other words, stick with what’s familiar to your students. Teachers should remember that while many students will thrive with distance learning, others will struggle.
Seize the moment; embrace new opportunities and possibilities for your students
Years or decades from now, how will your students remember the emergency that resulted in school closure? While distance learning should attempt to bring some normalcy and routine to students’ lives, teachers shouldn’t ignore the opportunities resulting from school closure either. Teachers might require students to keep a daily journal or diary for the duration of the crisis. Personal journaling and/or other creative writing assignments can help students process their thoughts, worries, and emotions, particularly in times of crisis. Students might use other media as well, including video, drawing, painting, and music. Moreover, the crisis might also provide other real-life opportunities to study scientific phenomena associated with the crisis, how the media is reporting the incident, how governments are responding, and many other opportunities to seize the moment and design new learning transdisciplinary experiences for our students.
Designers of experience; facilitators of learning
In shifting to distance learning, it is especially important for teachers to think of themselves as designers of experiences and facilitators of learning (as opposed to distributors of knowledge). Distance learning places a premium on a teacher’s ability to think more deeply about how to introduce content, design experiences, and coach students with thoughtful, specific feedback. Teachers need to establish conditions where students have a clear sense of purpose, opportunities to express themselves, and experiences that allow them to work toward mastery. This will help students stay motivated and engaged in learning, even when they are not physically at school.
Design asynchronous learning experiences
When school is closed and students are spread across the region, teachers can still connect with them asynchronously. For example, teachers can use familiar discussion forums or tools like Flipgrid and Padlet to allow for student responses and dialogue during a set time period, knowing that students might not all be online at the same exact time.
Design synchronous learning experiences
When it comes to student engagement and learning, relationships matter as much online as they do in person. If the TNCS campus is closed, students will be able to gather for synchronous learning times via Zoom video chat. Collaboration remains important and there are many ways teachers can foster it through synchronous learning.
Think differently about assessment
Assessment is one of the most challenging adjustments for teachers new to distance learning. Distance learning should be seen as an opportunity for students, individually or collaboratively, to complete writing assignments, design infographics, make video presentations, or complete oral assessments via video chat. Teachers are encouraged to think differently about the end goal to performance instead of forcing a traditional assessment method that doesn’t fit distance learning. Thinking differently about assessment will positively influence the experience for students, leverage the strengths of distance learning, and prevent frustration on the teacher’s part when traditional methods do not work.