Behind the Scenes of My Virtual Classroom
I don’t know about you but I have windows of time when I feel absolutely overwhelmed and the next moment I am flooded with ideas. Ideas for right now, some for the weeks that follow, and even ones for next year. I thought it would be helpful to share with other educators what’s on my heart right now. I have a new fire lit inside of me. I love a new challenge, especially one surrounding teaching. I have a million ideas. I follow some amazing educators online and I am like a sponge, absorbing but also igniting my need to share my own ideas as well. I do my best work when I have others to share it with. I find it easiest to write things down when I am feeling stressed. Sometimes it’s paper and pencil, other times it’s an online journal. Currently, I have 5 different chrome webpages open. Within those webpages, there are multiple pinned pages and partly finished items I’ve been looking at. I keep moving the links and pages around to try and sort everything. Now it’s to the point that I need to start saving my ideas and closing ones that I wrote down and decided to keep. In order to do that, I like to have it all in one place.
Connect with others
I connected with my teaching partner, who isn’t really my official partner, but that’s what I call her and who she is to me. She teaches across the hall from me, in a Grade 2 English classroom. She started on partway through the year and has helped me endlessly by asking questions and asking for clarifications with everything we do together.
Open a google slides doc so that we could collaborate and share ideas – and most importantly split the workload. Just like I do when making year-long plans, we started with the big picture – based on the second phase of Learn at Home expectations for students and teachers in Ontario. That means having a focus on Language and Math. And for me, French. In my programming, french also include Science and Social Studies which is my favourite and my forte.
I thought of everything I had left to teach in every subject: I thrive on organizing how I could simplify and outline a learning pathway for my students. So I got right to work. Using sticky notes and sharpies, I created a mind map to list the remaining curriculum strands. Then I thought about the projects I usually do and the new ideas I had for this year. This was my favourite part but also the most emotional part for me because I know that I won’t be able to do them quite how I had planned in my head. Instead of focusing on that loss, I turned that into a new creative challenge for me and my teaching partner. I got her on the phone and the ideas were literally endless – we didn’t even go through the thousands of files I currently have in my filing cabinet.
We created grids: I drew 4 grids on paper. My brain cannot be creative and use computers at the same time. LOL. My brain gets stressed making things on the computer, I always have to write it down first. We made 3×3 squares with a freebie square in the middle to write Math, English, Science/Social Studies, and French in the middle. *Update: we have reduced this to 2×2 squares, with a freebie square in the middle.*
Now Get Creative: First, we chose a Math strand we had left to teach, reviewed the Ontario curriculum document, and thought of ways this could be taught, learned, and mastered while at home. We considered: paper-pencil activities, hands-on home tools, online platforms, websites, and the posters we use in the classroom. Next, for English, we added the different strands into the corners – reading, writing, oral and listening. We filled in the boxes with ideas. Finally, we tackled the third grid, my favourite, with Social Studies in the corners, and Science in the remaining squares. We reviewed what we were doing in both subjects, prior to March Break, and made up a few fun things for students to think about to start us off.
Let all of your ideas flow: While doing this practice, tons of ideas were whirling around in my mind. The biggest, and most important though, was how do I streamline these ideas, to not only make it easier on myself for the following weeks but also create a routine and in return, set expectations for my students and families. That’s the goal. What will make this easiest and the most fun for all involved? That’s the key. That’s what makes my heart happy. Teaching. Learning. Having Fun. Sharing. Laughing. And doing it all over again.
Organize and streamline your ideas: I find it therapeutic and obvious to make things easier for myself. Sometimes the process is a lot to manage and explain to others but the thoughts are natural to me. So, the next step was to streamline and organize all of this on the computer. I wanted to get a solid month’s worth of ideas and activities written down in as little time as possible. The ideas needed to create a routine for students and for parents. I needed to be able to “repeat” ideas using different themes or topics.
Google Slides: I made them aesthetically pleasing and beautiful first and then I created the templates before adding my teaching partner. Now we have a master document to copy and paste from. We use this to fill in our teaching plan for each week, alongside a brainstorming document. A week at a glance for the first week was the last thing we did. I know, I’m totally backwards, but it works for me!
Microsoft Teams: Our school introduced the staff to Microsoft Teams, which I was hesitant towards because I am a Google fan, but we really love it. Since then we have done daily conferencing calls, where I can share my screen to show my partner what I’m doing, and in return teach her how to do it as well. Showing her how my brain organizes ideas on paper and also, how to prepare my space so that I am open for creativity. This is my forte – organization, and creativity.
Take a step back to reflect
I quickly realized that I can overwhelm people, especially families when I get too excited and have too many ideas. So we have dialed back. Instead of introducing new concepts, we created a grid of math review, language review, and science/social studies review. And then, after time away to think everything through, I realized we had to dial back even more. Just like I have to do for the first day of school. All of the curriculum and classroom planning is done, but what’s most important, is community and connection with our students. So I began brainstorming ideas for staying connected with my students. This meant that once students are comfortable and more confident in their ability to use Seesaw and they have a firm understanding of the basics (logging in, posting a picture, recording voice, and the drawing tool) then we will be all set for deeper levels of thinking and reflecting on our learning.
This is Virtual Classroom Teaching
I recognized and reflected on the fact that we are in a crisis. We, families, and I (and yourself) are all in different emotional states at any given time. These emotional states change rapidly based on our environment and our daily circumstances. I can be excited to start teaching because that brings me joy, but I have to be cognizant and aware of those who are not feeling the same way as I am. That my students are most likely in new routines and experiencing different emotional stresses or struggling with self-regulation – just as we are as adults. They have had three weeks of no school, and for some, they may not have the ability to be involved through my teaching platform at this time. And that.is.okay. It’s more than okay, children need love, stability, and safety right now. I truly believe that is what we all need. This is going to be a new transition for students and parents. It’s going to take time. There will be students that cannot access, parents who are confused, and students who are just not interested in the activities. And that.is.okay. This is also an opportunity for teachers to learn about SO MANY online teaching platforms and educate yourselves, if, and only if, you have the time and interest in doing so. This idea is not meant to overwhelm or cause you to feel inadequate or shame in any way. If anything, save all of this programming later and consider this process for your classroom next year.
