Routines: How do they translate in the online classroom?

Well, in the scramble to transition all our classrooms to distance learning, routines may have fallen off the radar. Or, maybe you need some fresh ideas for starting class and wrapping up, checking for understanding. We talk through a few of our favorite strategies, what's totally normal (ahem... being ignored?), and tips to take attendance quickly and easily. 

What does the beginning and end of your class look like? 

Ah yes. Another day of talking to yourself and looking at a classroom of black squares on your screen! We're breaking down the reasons students keep their cameras off and how you can create a space where students engage... and maybe even flip their cameras on once in a while! Tune in this week for 4 strategies that will help make Zoom teaching more tolerable. 

Hey... is anybody there? 

If you feel like you're just talking to a bunch of squares on Zoom, and you're not sure if your students are sleeping, learning, or even in front of their computers, it's all good. We'll go through some strategies to keep students engaged (maybe even excited?!) about synchronous online teaching. Let's dig into some tried-and-true methods! 

The majority of parents are probably lovely - they know you're doing the best you can and they're grateful for the education you provide to their kiddos. But if we get really real, you know that every parent isn't a walk in the park.

In this episode, we give you 4 action items when parents don't respect the boundaries you've set whether your teaching in person or online. We've got your back. 

How do you set boundaries with parents when you teach online? What about parents who want to attend your class? How do you get parents on your side and still keep your boundaries? 

Teachers deserve time off, and most parents want to honor that. Let's talk more about how you can set boundaries from the rip, make "boundaries" less negative, and set expectations for successful parent-teacher relationships. 

P.S. My peanut butter sandwich was great. 

We think asynchronous learning is amazing - but it's tough to get started. How do you keep control? What does formative assessment look like when you're not face-to-face? How do you keep students from cheating? Spoiler alert: We have some opinions about cheating. 

Tune in to this episode to push yourself to rethink asynchronous teaching and get a few actionable strategies to bring back to your distance ed classroom. 

Hey - not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but distance learning rocks. There are definitely some things which are complicated, that you have to think through differently, and you might feel like you're back at your first year of teaching. But what if we flip the negatives on their heads? What makes distance ed so great? 

We've been in distance education for several years. Here's why it's awesome! Don't worry, we'll gripe with you in an upcoming episode. :)

Hi! We're Amber and Shannon - we're online educators, creative thinkers, planners, and student advocates. We both started as art teachers but have taken non-linear paths out of the classroom and into teacher education. 

So now, we teach teachers. About teaching. 

This episode is a quick introduction to Amber and Shannon and what we have coming for Season 1 - all about distance education.