Five Suggestions for Teachers in 2021
Features of my classroom that my students feel are creating a productive learning environment in an atypical school year.
Features of my classroom that my students feel are creating a productive learning environment in an atypical school year.
Looking Toward Fall 2020 and Spring 2021
Most schools in the United States are not functioning as they normally would. This means that students are either exclusively online, meeting in a hybrid structure with alternating in person and remote learning days, or some blend of the previous two environments.
Having reflected on some takeaways from last year in my last piece entitled, Five Ways School Closures Could Cause a Productive Change in Learning, I decided to take my own advice and consider how to change my classroom procedures to facilitate learning through differentiation, asynchronous learning (when appropriate), and positive classroom culture.
Most teachers in US classrooms underwent some type of formal training and certification before stepping into the classroom. This means that we did technically all learn to teach. However, we learned to teach IN a classroom.
We were not taught how to teach online or to facilitate a hybrid class model. We need to be open and willing to learn new strategies to help students learn both INSIDE and OUTSDIE the classroom.
While “homework” is not a new idea that could be employed here. It is essential that we reconsider the type of work we expect students to complete at home, given that for some, ALL or HALF of their year this will require school to happen outside of a classroom.
Suggestion #1: Use a Learning Management System
Streamlining communication is paramount in a classroom where the attributes of the learning environment may suddenly change. While there are quite a few choices, if your school is currently not using a Learning Management System (LMS), I would suggest using whichever application that is most closely integrated with your school’s current email system.
For me, this is Google Classroom, but there are also other options such as Schoology or Canvas. I would NOT suggest using a class website because most systems do not allow for third party app integration or digital workflow systems.
Each LMS has different features, but the key elements I would look for and use the most are:
1. Calendar Integration — for planning and organization of assignments
2. Digital Workflow — for ONE location to submit and return work
3. Communication Options (public and private) — for ease of use to disseminate information, answer questions, and provide feedback.
Each of these features create digital options that mirror typical in-class procedures so that expectations can be maintained outside the classroom.
The reason an LMS should be used across all learning environments is because it becomes the ONE place for in-class or remote learning where students can look for resources, submit work, or document communication with their peers and the teacher.
As far as the appropriate use, the depth of integration for an LMS ultimately aligns with what you are teaching and how you assess students. For the simplest use, you can post resources for review. This helps students know that all of their resources can be found in one place. In the event remote learning occurs, the use may change, but at the very least you will have all previously covered material in one location.
If you were to use the digital workflow (submission of assignments) from the beginning of your course, the move to a remote learning environment becomes seamless as students are already prepared to submit assignments digitally and receive feedback via the same process. This consistent process is valuable as when a significant amount of variables change, such as individual, class or school, isolation, the process for submitting work remains the same.
The main goal of this suggestion is to mitigate the amount of change that occurs in the event teachers need to transition between learning in class and learning from home or some combination of the two.
Suggestion #2: Harness the Power of Technology for Feedback
The integration of technology into a completely remote, blended, or hybrid learning environment has the potential to streamline or even optimize different elements of your classroom. The goal would be to help give you more time to focus on providing quality instruction and support to students.
While there is a myriad of different ways that technology can be used, the most productive integration is the automation of grading and feedback for common mistakes. This is not to say that the use of technology should replace all or even most of your feedback, but for predictable or common mistakes, the use of technology can allow you to address those ideas without consuming a lot of time.
My tool of choice is Google Forms. Typically used as an assessment tool, there are features built in that allow for feedback to be provided for individual questions and also overall feedback on a task. Feedback can be added for each answer choice for each question that provides feedback on why the answer is correct or what error was made to get the incorrect answer. This single feature allows students to get that individualized feedback immediately after their attempt. I could go on for quite some time regarding my love of this tool, but the main attribute of this technology is the speed and accuracy of the feedback that can be built into the activity.
In conjunction with the Learning Management System, these two tools help students become more independent in their learning as they can become more autonomous in correcting misconceptions through the use of provided feedback and revision opportunities.
Suggestion #3: Increase Formative Assessment Opportunities
One challenge that I, and inevitably any teacher, encounters is the discrepancy between what we “teach” is not always immediately “learned.” This misconception is often not something that is reflective of instruction, but is due to the complexity of meeting each individual student’s ability to learn.
As teachers, we are well aware of how to address these concerns during in-class instruction, but “raising a hand” is not as easy to replicate in remote learning, especially in asynchronous learning. This is where data collection via formative assessments becomes critical for making sure students are meeting learning objectives and also receiving the support that they need.
My experience with remote learning during the spring semester of 2020 reinforced the need for using formative assessment to determine times for enrichment and remediation.
The amount of time I invested in instruction vs. feedback changed drastically. Instead of trying to address every challenge up front via instruction, I used data from formative assessment to provide individualized attention after the students attempted to apply their learning.
With the shift of using flipped instruction as a core content introduction practice, I sought to optimize the time students were introduced to information via video and then provide more time and opportunities for practice, feedback, and individualize support to master the content.
This did a few things for my teaching:
Allowed students who were able to demonstrate mastery more quickly could engage in enrichment opportunities or invest their time in other subjects (as time management was a challenge for students).
Allowed me to know, based on data from the formative assessments, which element of the content each student was struggling to master. This helped me provide more effective targeted interventions and feedback.
Reduced the number of students that needed my direct attention. Using the data from the formative assessment, I was able to determine who needed additional practice versus who needed personalized attention.
The shift toward a greater emphasis on feedback and support allowed more students to reach proficiency and mastery as they received personalized support through my response to their formative assessment performance. Instead of focusing my effort on the “one size fits all instruction,” my effort on meeting each student where they were yielded better comprehension and also fostered the opportunity for students to see the growth they could achieve.
Suggestion #4: Utilize Individual Student Meetings
We can all admit that the change of not being able to see our students on a daily basis changed the dynamic of our learning environments. I spend a significant amount of time at the beginning of the year creating a culture that encourages peer support, openness with the teacher, and an environment that values iteration and growth.
Most of these elements are fostered by face to face interactions and collaborative experience, both of which were mostly taken away during remote learning. This only motivated me to consider how can I increase the amount of face-to-face time with my students whether we are in school or engaging in remote learning.
Ultimately, creating the opportunities is the challenge, which I sought to solve by using formative assessment data to drive the need for a meeting. Some students will be forthcoming and ask for help, but often others, who desperately need the support, are hesitant to reach out. Through the use of the formative assessment data, it gave me a reason to touch base with those learners that can even more easily (in remote learning) not receive the feedback and support they need.
In consideration of how to utilize a similar idea this year, I encourage everyone to use intervention opportunities from formative assessments as ONE way to make sure you are reaching students that need your support, whether or not they seek you out. However, we need to make sure we are still taking time to meet with those students that may not come up on your formative assessment data reports.
In a few of my classes, I was able to ensure that I met with each student individually AT LEAST once per week. These meetings were sometimes very short, but helped me ensure that EVERY STUDENT knew I was there for support and that I acknowledge and appreciated their hard work, whether or not they needed my help. In my current hybrid learning model, I use the time in-person with the students to have these meetings and provide the individualized support that is needed.
These meetings dp just as much for my classroom environment as the time spent at the beginning of the year developing the class culture. It reminded students that this initial investment in the class remained alive throughout the course and that our established values of collaboration and support toward growth was still at the forefront of the experience and fostered by everyone.
Suggestion #5: Implement Flexible Submission Deadlines
Executive functioning and time management are challenges for students regardless of grade and age. I received an email requesting a deadline extension by one of my students. This provided me the opportunity to really reflect on the student experience and that even though the “course work” was the same in the remote learning environment, the learning process and timeline surely changed for some students.
I granted this deadline extension and then silently rolled out flexible deadlines for all of my assignments. I didn’t want to give the impression that my work was less important than those with hard deadlines, but more to emphasize that I realized the change in dynamic was a challenge for many and that learning the information isn’t finite or contingent on a date.
That being said, students still need “deadlines” or “due dates” as they have established these as ways to organize their time and determine which assignments take priority. I assigned suggested due dates for my students and added a layer of support that I would email them at the due date that they had not submitted this assignment and that if extenuating circumstances were occurring, to reach out to me so that I could help them with a plan to make sure they were able to complete assignments in a manner that would prevent them from “falling behind.”
A few takeaways were:
This forced me to review my grading timelines for things, but combined with automated formative assessment feedback, I was able to focus my time on summative assessments, which were fewer for the course.
The number of students that utilized these flexible due dates were more than I expected and based on reflection data, it was because other teachers had rigid deadlines and “something had to give.”
Many students did not ever require additional worktime, but openly indicated their appreciation of the opportunity if needed.
I saw better products by students that would normally submit subpar or abbreviated work. Based on feedback, this was because they weren’t just focused on getting it done before the deadline and could focus on doing a better job with the extra time.
Overall, the flexible deadlines didn’t change much of the dynamic of the course. If I started grading the summative assessments, but the time I got half way through, most, if not all were submitted, even if it was a day late. Rarely did I have to wait for a summative assignment to be submitted before grading. This leads me to believe that nothing was lost by adding some flexibility and if anything, I gained respect from my students in acknowledging that while due dates are important, sometimes learning could use the extra time.
Summative Thoughts
The Spring 2020 semester forced many of us out of our comfort zones. Some things we did were wonderful and others, just got us through the year. This article summarizes some of the items I took away from that experience as being productive modifications to my courses. It is my hope that you were able to do the same, but it is okay if that just wasn’t in the cards for you!
These ideas are intended to be food for thought. It something feels like it would work for you, great; try it out! Regardless, I wish the best for all teachers this year as we continue to do our best to provide our students with valuable learning opportunities, either in person or remotely.
Either way, what we do matters. Please never forget that.