Advice For Online Learning From My 9 And 11-Year-Old Daughters
With three weeks under their belts, my 9 and 11-year-old daughters are becoming well versed in the life of online schooling. I’ve been impressed with their school’s ability to pivot so quickly. I’m appreciative of the massive effort being put in by teachers, administrators, and staff to make online schooling the best possible experience. I’m also thankful that their school is taking the time to get student feedback via a weekly Friday survey.
As adults, we have an abundance of opinions about the pros and cons of online schooling – and I’ve seen many articles about such opinions. But I think the view of students is important too, which is why I selected this topic for my blog post. While my daughters are not sharing their school survey answers with me, I was able to ‘interview’ them to get their opinions about online schooling. Here are tips that I have pieced together based on their comments (some tips apply to educators, some to students, and some to both):
If you are using an online video conference solution, provide two ways to access the meeting – a link and as a back-up the conference ID number and password. Sometimes links don’t work well so it is nice to have another way to enter the meeting.
Minimize distractions during meetings: suggest that students close all other browser tabs; instruct students to view the meeting in full screen; and even disable student chats during important presentations.
Limit online meetings to 30 minutes – it is hard to pay attention more than that.
Also limit the number of ‘entire class’ group meetings that kids must attend each day – one of my daughters suggested 3 meetings max while the other suggested 4 meetings max.
If possible, host meetings with smaller groups of kids – both suggested 5 or 6 students as the max for those. They feel it is easier to listen and exchange ideas in that size of a group.
If possible, have one-on-one meetings with a teacher and a student. Both of my daughters have valued their dedicated meetings with their homeroom teachers. Such meetings or calls don’t have to be long to be highly impactful for the students.
Check your calendar each morning and set alarms for each meeting. Set the alarms for a few minutes before the meeting start time so you can gather all of the supplies you need.
Also check all of the places that list assignments (every Google classroom, calendar, email, and planner). Make a list of what assignments need to get done that day.
Allow for break times so kids can play, go outside, and get exercise.
Only send students email on important topics and keep those emails short.
Having each ‘specials’ class once a week is awesome. Science is especially important to my oldest daughter while visual arts is key for my youngest daughter.
Connection and fun are super important to include in the week. Some of my daughters’ favorite theme days were crazy hat day, beach day, and pajama day. While their favorite games to play during class meetings have been Pictionary and ‘Guess Who’.
Outside of class, virtual tours or experiences are fun. Some favorites include – Fiske Planetarium Dome to Home, Harry Potter At Home, and Couragion Career Exploration (of course they are biased).
As an aside, here are two random things said by my daughters during the interview. I thought the statements were funny and perhaps they will make you smile too…
From my 5th grader – “If you can’t get into a meeting, it is probably because the teacher’s internet went down and NOT because the teacher forgot about the meeting.”
From my 4th grader – “If you have a hands-on project and don’t have all of the right materials available, just improvise and use what you have. Also, if you have it, be sure to use a TON of hot glue for every project.”
I realize that not all schools are implementing remote learning in the same manner. But for those who are relying upon online learning, I hope my daughters’ feedback will be helpful. An important tip I would add for educators is to check out mindSpark Learning’s (mSL) online toolkit. This toolkit provides amazing resources to support educators with remote teaching/learning. mSL is even offering free one-on-one sessions if you want to brainstorm ideas or get professional learning support from them.
What tips would you add based on your own experiences or the feedback of your students and/or children? Please share your ideas with us on Twitter.
Remote Learning Lesson - Pajama Day Style!