Supporting Children in the Classroom

We are starting to hear more and more schools will be going online this fall.  Working parents feel the stress of work and helping their children who are trying to learn at home.  Asynchronous teaching means that a teacher teaches all of the students at one time.  The hardest part of asynchronous learning is evaluating a student's understanding.  We need to move our Zoom classrooms to instruction. Students are able to work in small groups called, BreakOut Rooms.  I am including tools that help teachers see a child's progress and thinking on platforms such a Zoom. Education is changing.  A learning community is flexible and ever-changing. Our children might be introducing new technology to the teachers this year.  

Did you know that a cell phone can be turned into a document camera?  A document camera allows the teacher to see a student's paper.  Here is a video. 

Did you know that a laptop can be turned into a whiteboard?

Daily Individual Responsibilities vs. Family Jobs

COVID-19 has forced us to look at education in new ways.  I see educators across the nation who demonstrate creativity and innovation in the virtual classroom.  This is inspiring! Many school districts are finding that students who have a broad set of soft skills are very successful in an online environment. Soft skills do not appear overnight;; they are developed over time.  Our Zoom meetings are evolving and becoming lessons that help students; organize assignments, study strategies, and how to communicate with adults for extra support (virtual office hours, small group instruction, and more).

This summer, we are taking the time to look at individual responsibilities vs. family jobs.  Individual job responsibilities often appear on a job chart (teeth care, showering, cleaning a bedroom, etc.).  How do we help our children see that they are needed and belong to a community?  Asking our children to consider a family job each day may help with this process (just a start).  A family works together to accomplish good for the whole (making a meal, garden work, mowing the lawn, dusting, etc.)  Vacuuming our car is a "family job."  Our car is continuously used to transport athletes and musicians to all of our community.  Family jobs are done in a group.  Each person helps to accomplish the "family job" to ease the workload.

Taking Responsibility Activity: