We will get through this together!!!
Parents
What if I told you that teachers are just as frustrated as you are. Please bear with teachers as we figure all this out. I can tell you that I have personally seen teachers leaving work in tears, stressed, and depressed behind the expectations of all that we have to do due to COVID. My greatest advice to parents is to make sure your child is attending class as it is scheduled, they are up out the bed, at their learning space, and in-class the ENTIRE time. COVID or not, the learning must continue. All state and district assessments, at least in my school, are still required this year. The first step in surviving this school year is making sure students are on time and present for virtual learning.
Be an advocate for your child. If something is unclear or if your child needs additional help, don't hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher. Communication is key.
Students
Show up and show out!!!! Come to class ready to learn and while you are learning make sure to participate. The more active and engaged you are in your learning process the better you will be at understanding the material and retaining the information.
Teachers
If you fail to plan then you plan to fail. I cannot stress enough, preparation. Take the time out to figure out your system for your students and technology. I am currently using two monitors. One monitor to teach from (for virtual students) and a second monitor to view students on Zoom if I am sharing my screen on my first monitor. The second monitor is also great for taking attendance and monitoring students' computers on Go Guardian as I am working from my main computer. Crazy? I know… I think this is the year every teacher perfected multitasking or at least attempted to. The school district I currently teach in does not allow in-person students to be on zoom so I do a lot of teaching using the projector ( for in-person students) and screen sharing for virtual students. It took me about 2 hours to figure out this “simple” setup. Just trying to figure out how I wanted it set up. I changed monitors, had to move cords around, put some plugs in the wrong places, tried to extend my screen display, etc. It was a mess, but I finally figured it all out and I like my current system. The best advice I can give you is to teach all your students like they are virtual. My expectations for my in-person students and virtual students are the same. I need everyone on time, present the whole day, and actively engaged. Nearpod and Teachermade have become my new best friends.
SELF CARE DAYS ARE IMPORTANT AND NEEDED!
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