super in progress–like everything here. Here are some notes that may or may not help. Comments are welcome!
Like you, I’m not sure what is ahead but teaching is why we are here and that will continue.
I have spent way too much of my time involved with on-line learning to not feel securely knowledgeable in it. While I am not an authority, I don’t know anyone with more understanding on it than I have.
The first step is knowing you will be wrong a lot. Things will be messy and they will not be under your control. The space on the screen is now the extent of your classroom.
For those who are the most worried, you will have an easier time if you trust the culture you developed earlier in the year. Use those mantras and things that signal to the students that you are there. They hear your voice in the words. We all know that nothing is more academically vital than building literacy skills, by reading and writing with your students, you make those skills the vital supports for the class. If that is all you are able to do and it is only one student you can help, then I pray that the worst is past for you, but it is more than enough.
LMS’s
Learning management systems. These are the one of a hatful of sites we use to do school work. There are differences and I have one my favorites but you need to pick one asap. Google classroom will do everything you need and is in google land so it all works well together.
I can’t recall how many different gradebooks I have used but they are apt to be your best communication system to the most involved parties. They also usually have a bunch of functions you never knew about because who pays attention to that presenter anyway. That’s a hard gig. If you like to keep a disciplined order to your class, this could be all you need with strong communication and documentation.
Super Important
The course almost never looks the same to you and the student and they do not respond to it how you think they will. It’s like those instructions you know to give now because you see the same mistake on repeat. The more linear you make the work, the fewer places to get lost.
If you can do shared time, the key part is not you explaining standards but coming to an understanding on how to set up and navigate the system.
As always, this depends on yourself and your class. Now may be a very good time to consider what drives you to teach. Learning and helping people learn was my initial draw. I decided when I came into education more formally, that I really was called to teach problem solving. My expertise in the matter comes from making every mistake possible as I slip in the mud.
If you have a curriculum that you teach and you have made that what you do, stick with that. Try just filling in all of the boxes and attachments on your gradebook. Communicate with students you can reach so y’all can figure out what parts you add show up where on their end and visa versa. This would be a really excellent exercise to review all the documents, resources, questions, and etc. that you usually use.
Class page or class feed?
In general, your established online classes look like a page and have different parts you can go to but the order is static. These take time to create unless you get a general course which are mostly blah. You need something to do. This does not have to be anywhere near completed at the start. It needs to first task but you need to have a good outline of how it will look.
Others, which will be a great number now, look like a blog feed. They are messy and cumbersome to rework but they do work. You post something. The students respond. Repeat. If you get your class that far, you can do a job that you can be proud of. Just teach.
