Embrace 'Distance Learning' On Your Terms

This is the fourth week for Distance Learning and I want to encourage you to embrace it on your terms. 

No one expected this to happen and very few of us have any experience with Distance Learning.  There was no training for Distance Learning prior to us having to do it.  What we were all doing was getting ready to go on Spring Break after one more week of teaching.  And then were going to sprint to CAASPP with some engaging activities after the high stakes test that we all like to do as the year draws to a close.

Embrace Distance Learning On Your Terms

Here is a recap of my journey (remember, I teach 7th grade math, 8th grade math, and IM I):

My first week of Distance Learning was just trying to figure out how I was going to stay connected with my students - as teachers that is one of the main reasons we stay in this profession - and what was I going to do with the students.  I decided to go with what I had been doing in my classroom since the beginning of the year - Khan Academy and Edulastic for that first week.  Students were accustomed to the routine and it would get the students through that first week.  For some reason, I also decided to try Edpuzzle - it was a website mentioned in passing at my site and I had never used it before but it had videos on math topics that I could easily find.

Embrace Distance Learning On Your Terms

As Spring Break came and went it was obvious that this Distance Learning was going to be longer than expected.  Teachers were being asked to connect with students and engage them in learning.  All kinds of websites were offering free opportunities for teachers - in fact, to numerous to list them all here - and in fact it all could be very overwhelming.  It was at this point I decided that I would embrace Distant Learning on my terms.  Some of us have little ones at home, some of us have other responsibilities that must be taken care of, some of us have challenges that are to tough to put into words, some of us are at a loss of where to go, some of us are emotionally drained from the news, etc. - each of us has our own life story and for that reason alone -

Embrace Distance Learning On Your Terms

No one could say I would be doing it wrong, no one could say I was not doing enough, no one could say I was doing to much, no one could say that this is what must be done.


So with that mindset, I allowed myself to make mistakes, learn from them, and set personal goals that I hope will continue into next year.  I wanted to connect with my students visually - so I set up Zoom meetings every day at 12:00 pm for my students lasting 15 minutes.  Mondays and Fridays are open to all students with the other days specific for one content area.  While attendance has been minimal (today there was only one student who attended) and other days up to 15 students, it has been learning about this resource that has made it worth it.  Besides the basics that were taught by our District TOAs on their webinars, the two things I have taught myself so far, that I hope will improve my teaching next year, are being able to use my computer's white board to solve problems in real time and recording myself doing daily lessons with a virtual background (click here for a sample - I do not re-record myself when it is not perfect - students get my first take - how hard can it be to say, "quadrilateral" or see the last 20 seconds as I struggle with getting into the right spot).  While these two major learnings for me may be nothing for others who use Zoom regularly, it reinforces my belief during these times to . . .

Embrace Distance Learning On Your Terms

Where am I going . . .

Well, Edpuzzle has been my go to for delivering personal lessons.  I started out knowing nothing and just copying someone else's video that was already uploaded on Edpuzzle and using their questions that were embedded in the video.  To now, where I record a lesson every day for each of my three classes, upload it to Edpuzzle, embed my own questions into it, (see this link for an example) and have the students leave their personal feedback about the lesson.  I use Zoom to record my lessons by creating my own personal meeting.  As I have gotten much more comfortable talking to my students this way, I started to wonder if I could make my sub plans next year better by making my own videos and uploading them to Edpuzzle?  I started to wonder how 'cool' it would be to create a video library for my students of important skills that they need to know so that they could access it on their own terms (for absent students, for students who need to hear the lesson more than just one time in the classroom, for students who need to rewind, rewind, and rewind, before getting it)?  I started to wonder how much more impactful it would be for the projects I do in each unit to have a video made by me so that it is more personal?

But at the end of the day, before I could think about the possibilities for tomorrow and beyond, I had to . . .

Embrace Distance Learning On My (Your) Terms

Teaching and still loving it,

       Kevin Stott                         

De Anza Middle School