Teacher Takeaways from Distance Teaching

 There aren't many words to describe the year that was 2020. As educators, we learned and grew so much! If you didn't know about Google Classroom, Nearpod, Bitmojis, Screencastomatic or Zoom (just to name a few) before March of 2020, you definitely climbed that learning curve! I have been so proud of my fellow teachers in all that they have learned, never skipping a beat. When the rest of the world was shut down, here we were learning how to teach and do what was best in our circumstances for our students. Wow.

So where do we go from there? Many schools are returning back in person, I have been back in person since October 2020, with all my students being in person. I know many teachers who are continuing to expand their bag of tricks with teaching both in person students, as well as online learners (at the same time). Some fellow educators are teaching a hybrid A-B schedule, and some of my friends are also still teaching from home with their students being all online. 

So now that I am back in person, have I mentally blocked everything I experienced and learned in the past year? Well some things LOL, but definitely not those great teaching practices that have helped me to enhance engagement and my teaching within the classroom. Here are some things I found really have been lifesavers while returning back to in person learning after COVID.

First and foremost, Google Classroom. Posting assignments within Google classroom has been a sanity saver, especially for students who are absent or missing work. I also love being able to post links to websites or articles that students can access without having to print everything. I have my Google Classroom set up by days of the week, then after the week is over I will create a new topic (that week's date, for example 'Week of March 1st') and then I will move assignments from the M, Tu, W, Th, Fr topics down to that 'Week of' topic. Google Classroom is super user friendly, and absolutely my top pick for what I've continued to use within my classroom, even with all my students face to face. 

My Bitmoji classrooms are another favorite, and not just a favorite of mine, but also my students. I love how you can use the Bitmoji classrooms for a variety of uses. What we used to do around the room SCOOT, with task cards posted, and a recording sheet, students can now do a SCOOT within the Bitmoji classroom. I also have independent reading and reflecting centers, for students to listen to a book being read, and then respond to it--- this is a crowd favorite among my students. I've created new Bitmoji classrooms each month, and they enjoy listening to the books and different themes featured each month. Another use for the Bitmoji classrooms is if you have a class website within Google Sites. Kids enjoy and take pride in their class website.

I have to say I was not on the Nearpod bandwagon when I first learned about it a few years ago. Probably because I thought I didn't have the time to learn this new stuff!! I learned about Nearpod the beginning of last school year, before COVID hit and I'm so glad I did. Not only does Nearpod have a library of already created lessons, but you are also able to create lessons within Nearpod, this is so cool!! My kids love to compete, so they love the time to climb lessons, and beg me to make more every time we play!

What have you found that are your favorite tools that you are using, or plan to use when you return back to in person teaching?! I'd love to hear about it!