- For additional resources and video from our ELT webinars on blended and hybrid remote learning, visit www.nysut.org/hybrid.
Kathleen Young
National Board Certified physical education teacher
Newburgh Enlarged City School District
“Especially at the secondary level, we’re making assumptions (in this period of digital learning) that kids know how to do certain things and that might not be such a great thing,” says NYSUT ELT instructor Kathleen Young.
Making Instruction Helpful and Available:
- Help students learn tasks that will help them learn easier.
- Post instructional videos that provide reminders and extra help.
- Make videos easy to find on your page.
‘Scaffolding' Your Instruction:
- Keep it small — Break it down in chunks. Taking small, single steps allows for more immediate feedback and allows you to catch mistakes earlier.
- Provide students examples of what you expect and how to perform the work.
- Connect lessons with students’ current knowledge — Build on what they know.
- Organize thoughts with graphic organizers and class discussion — Rethink how you would like students to participate in ways that fit in with their levels of comfort.
Assessing Student Performance:
- Use formative assessment as you go — Keep them short and small; a quick Google form with one or two questions on it can provide a lot of information quickly.
- Align assessments to outcomes — Make sure feedback helps students move forward and enables them to see where they might be struggling.
- Provide different ways for students to tackle learning objectives rather than always using the written word.
Reflection
We should be reflecting on our work as teachers, asking:
- What did you do well? How do you know?
- What are your challenges?
- What can we do better?
“We want to make sure that our students are getting the most from us.”
About the Webinars
One of the many challenges facing educators over the past year has been how to adjust instruction for first completely remote and then for hybrid learning environments. The reality is that nobody was an expert at this before the pandemic. It forced teachers to radically rethink how to approach teaching and how to promote effective learning environments, no matter how their students are learning. We conducted a series of webinars for NYSUT members featuring some of our instructors from NYSUT Education and Learning Trust. We asked them how they are balancing it all and what tips and tools they have learned and implemented to help them make the most of hybrid learning. In this series, we break down their top tips for you.
For additional resources and video on blended and hybrid remote learning, visit www.nysut.org/hybrid.