October 26th, 2020

Distance Learning Playbook K-12 Series

By Jef Fugita
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​Welcome to the second blog post in The Distance Learning Playbook K-12 series.  We are sharing tips and tricks around teaching for engagement and impact in any setting.  The ideas shared in their blog series will come from the Fisher, Frey and Hattie book.

John Hattie explains that while distance learning has an effect size of .14, the setting of the learning is not a deciding factor, rather the methods of teaching are more important. 
 
Hattie & Zierer believe positive student-teacher relationships are the heart of learning.  During distance learning, we are no longer able to “see” all our students  and are lacking the face-to face interaction.  Module 3 in The Distance Learning Playbook K-12 goes deeper into strategies for forming and maintaining teacher-student relationships.  One of the strategies is having a system for calling on students and keeping track of who has not participated.  A positive outcome of having a system is providing teachers with a way to assess the level of understanding at a moment in time.  There are many different methods of calling on students.  In a distance learning classroom, the strategies are the same.  For example, announcing the students name and making sure you have their attention before you pose the question.   This method contributes to a positive relationship through respectful interactions.   Additional methods include keeping tally marks on class roster or student names on cards.   These are not new strategies; however, it is helpful to hear from education experts about their effectiveness in remote learning and remembering to trust our professional judgement in using highly effective teaching strategies that work whether in-person, hybrid or remote learning. 
 
Here are some additional participation strategies from Edutopia:  https://www.edutopia.org/article/8-strategies-improve-participation-your-virtual-classroom   

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