Dear NQT… My Top 10 Tips for Teaching Online
Dear NQT,
Teaching online again! Can you believe it? It feels like a déjà vu! On Thursday 12th March, I was more than midway through my NQT year, as we were landed with the sporadic news that schools in Ireland would be closing that day because of Covid-19. Panic set in instantly as every teacher all over Ireland, whether they were 40 years teaching or 4 months teaching, began scrambling to send their classes home with materials and books to work with for a two week closure, unsure of what this new distanced learning model was to look like. We thought a three week closure was what it may entail, five weeks if we included the Easter holidays, however, this kept being prolonged further and further into the summer months, until a full closure for the remainder of the year was imminent.
I was devastated! I loved teaching my very first class and had so many plans of things I wanted to do, but alas, teaching online was what it had come to. We all pulled together and began teaching online using Seesaw, a fantastic learning platform. Thankfully, it has been what I have used since and am now used to it.
In saying all of this, I am here with this blog post today to let you in on my top 10 tips for teaching online, and I really hope it helps!
Set a Timetable & Schedule
Last year, I made a bad habit from the start of being available on our learning platform all day, all evening and all night. I used to respond to emails when they came in. I was so worn out and so stressed that I knew, this year, I could not do this as it isn’t a good work-life balance.
A really important thing to do from the start is to communicate your timetable or working hours to the parents in an email or notice. This way parents know when they can expect you to be online and giving feedback. They know when they can expect a reply to emails or their queries.
I aim to wake up at 7.30 and do some exercise, be that yoga, cardio or a workout.
My activities are already scheduled ahead of time on Seesaw so they automatically appear for the children which is also another great tip (work smarter not harder!). I then sit at my laptop from 9-11, take a small coffee break, work until 1, take lunch, and then work until 3. During this working time I am engaging with the pupils, doing live Zoom’s if there are any scheduled, giving feedback, sending emails, engaging with my colleagues, and preparing lessons for that week. Most days after 3pm, because I also have work on Múinteoir N, I spend my evening checking in on some Seesaw corrections, or doing lessons.
It is important that in setting your timetable that you write it out every morning and timetable in everything, be that your breaks, a walk, reading time.
A timetable of your week’s activities is a good idea too, for both you and the pupils. On a Monday, I give an overview of the lessons we will be doing every day or activities with resources needed beside each one. If there is a specific requirement, especially for art, even if it is just to have toilet rolls collected, giving notice for this is a good idea. This also helps pupils get their own week timetabled and planned out and parents can work around this too.
Here is a sample schedule you could create to send to parents:
Have a Designated Workspace
A designed working space is key for a prolonged period of working from home. For me, a designated space to work helps me to focus on the work, minimise distractions (i.e. the fridge/ kettle!!!) and also helps me switch off when the work is complete.
It takes a bit of time setting up, especially if there are kids at home or another adult working from home, however I do think it is vital for us all. Even if it is just in a corner of a room, a designated workspace is going to be of benefit for you. Before I leave my workspace every day, I like to glance at my plan and timetable and create a new timetable for the following day, glancing over appointments or meetings I may have scheduled so I remember them. This helps me feel prepared for the following day, allowing me to switch off for the evening.
Aim for 1 Bit of Fun a Day!
Something I have established from teaching online, is that engagement is high when it comes to fun activities or a fun challenge. Challenges do not have to be academic, they can be fitness challenges, or skills challenges. Challenges that involve the family but are not tedious to do are super too and make the online learning environment fun and engaging for both you, the pupils and their families. It keeps the space lighthearted and keeps the suspense there every day for pupils, wanting to check in to see what their challenge is for today!
Here is an example of a fun outdoor challenge I gave to my class last year and this year.
Create & Share Multi-Purpose Resources
There are so many fantastic online lessons and activities out there so make sure to reach out and try to avail of them as much as you can. Last year I put a lot of effort into online lessons that would never be used again so bare this in mind. Set up a system in your school or among teacher friends whereby you can all gather PowerPoints, links to videos, templates lessons in one place to share.
Also, if possible, try to make your lessons in a way that you can reuse the same content in the classroom in the future. Perhaps you are covering comprehension strategies or activities on a specific novel, or an art lesson. Create the powerpoints so that you can store them on a drive to use again.
Rahoo have set up a private Facebook group for teachers who would like to share resources. Check it out HERE.
Mix Up Assessments!
Particularly for older pupils, self-assessment is an excellent skill for them to learn early on. It teaches pupils to give their work a second glance before submitting it, and encourages them to look at the process of editing and redrafting or redoing. Provide self-assessment rubrics or guides for your pupils where possible. This will alleviate the need in many cases for work having to be sent back multiple times to students.
Last year with an older class for their homework in maths, I put up a screengrab of the maths homework answers. I then ‘posted student work’ on Seesaw as a question note asking the pupils to write below any questions they got wrong in their maths. If another pupil was able to help explain to their friend what they needed to do, they could leave a voice note. It was a space where pupils were encouraged to help each other. I listened and corrected where necessary, but it gave the pupils autonomy over their learning and that they could scaffold each other online as they would in class. I had to review the comments and approve so I could listen to the voice note before it was posted.
Audio Feedback
As mentioned above, I think audio recordings are an efficient and personalised form of giving feedback to your pupils. It saves you typing everything you want to say which is time consuming. Also, students with an SEN or with EAL my benefit from this too more so than typed feedback.
Consider this the other way around too for students, especially when considering your differentiation. Perhaps pupils could record a video presentation for a project, or describe a picture or tell their news by voice note instead of writing it down.
If you need to give typed feedback or rather this approach, consider the voice typing feature that can be found on Google Docs.
Pick 5 Key Digital Tools
There is no denying the amount of fantastic online tools, websites and resources that are out there, and it can all become very overwhelming. There was a time where I felt I had to be using Loom, and my iphone camera/ video, Screencastify and Screencast O’Matic because they were all being talked about. However, you have to choose around 5 key tools that you will use to support your teaching online. My 5 favourite tools that I use are, Loom, Survey Monkey (for parents feedback or communication), Kahoot (quizzes), Twinkl for supporting worksheets and flashcards that can be easily adapted, and the application ‘InShot’ on my iPhone for editing videos.
Keyboard Hacks
The four most efficient hacks I have learned on the keyboard for preparing lessons and teaching online are the snipping tool, copy, paste and find. Ctrl and f is a really handy way to search for a specific word on a page or in a document.
Realistic Expectations
I think as teachers we set very high expectations naturally, and because we put in so much work preparing lessons, discussing and meeting with colleagues, trawling the internet for engaging and fun ideas and activities and putting our heart and soul into live or prerecorded videos, we expect the engagement or completed work to be at a very high standard. However, we do have to set realistic expectations. That really fun activity you made on Seesaw where you can move the words to put them in the correct boxes, or moving blocks for a Minecraft maths task, may not be feasible for pupils to do on their own without their parents. It may either be done but not the way you envisioned, or not done because it was difficult for the pupils to access.
I believe our expectations have to be realistic for the situation we are all in. Parents may be at home with multiple children all doing online learning, or may have to work and may be helping their children with their schoolwork in a hurry on their breaks. You may be in a situation where your realistic expectations may meet those mentioned above, therefore it is on an individual by individual basis. The best solution is to ask your parents, perhaps by email or a survey, how they are finding the online learning, whether you could be doing anything differently, assigning work differently, or supporting their children better. This way, your expectations can be more informed.
You Do You!
No matter what advice you read or no matter how many fantastic ideas you come across, everyone’s classes are different and everyone works differently.
My timetable will be completely different to yours for many factors. It is so important to navigate teaching online in a way that best suits you, and to find things that work for you. Sometimes the most amazing and jam packed lessons are not the most effective and sometimes jam packed, complex lessons work excellently for a specific group of pupils. Gauge how your class is finding things, and like becoming a new teacher all over again, every teacher will need to try out different tools, ideas and lessons to see what ones work best for your pupils.
Make sure, no matter what, that you mute the What’s App. groups and work related notifications after your working time is over and at the weekend. Take time for yourself and trust that this is your personal best and that is all you can do.
I hope these tips help you with teaching online!
Talk soon,
Nadine
P.S. If you are using Lockdown 3.0 to do some online courses with us at Rahoo, please use Nadine’s discount code NADINE20 for 20% off course prices!
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