It has been three weeks of teaching Hybrid here in Ontario and I am November-level exhausted! The model here in Ontario doesn’t feel sustainable and I have spent most of the weekend so far, trying to rest and rejuvenate but I wanted to put a few ideas down so I have them later.
Some of the things I struggled with is how to help students at home feel included and this has not been an easy task. The truth is you are going to give kids in front of you the most of your energy and you only have so much energy to give. What worked very well in my Orientation sessions was to mix my online and offline students into one group because I was not able to effectively address the students at home as much as I could. Moving forward, using a breakout room to mix in person and at home kids will be useful so that I don’t have to share my attention.
Another thing I struggled with is hearing the kids at home. I extended my screen, started to use a voice amplifier, and use my airpods but I haven’t gotten this to work for me as well as I want. Would love to hear what is working for you on this front!
Here are a couple of ideas that I will continue to use:
-Use of videos (I use Screencastify) which can not only save your voice, but will allow all students to access important content on a level playing field for everyone (similar to the Flipped classroom model).
-Use of choice boards, hyperdocs, and design thinking frameworks so that the focus is the work
-Spend some time on relationship-building at the beginning of each class
-Continue to use Flipgrid so kids can respond to one another (relationships) and/or provide peer feedback (I am actually presenting a session for OECM which you can watch LIVE on September 27th and will be available after the fact as an archive. Details here)
I was honoured to be a panelist on the OnEdMentors Podcast this past week called, Tips and Tricks for Hybrid Teaching and Learning and I learned so much from my co-panelists.
A few take aways from the panel:
-Fewer is better in terms of tech tools (@VinceBusta)
-Find a Professional Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter or (@TeachFromRidge & all of us!!) for alternative perspectives and ideas
-You need to relinquish control to your students (@henneld_edu)
-Reach out to your tech coaches, instructional coaches and teacher-librarians for support (@henneld_edu)
-We should not “return to normal” but rather determine what we need to de-implement (@VinceBusta)
This is an image shared by @VinceBusta during the conversation which highlights that whether we are in person or online, our purpose is what will drive our teaching, learning, and assessment.
Check out the OnEdMentor episode (which was soooo good) here and follow Noa, Nate, David, and Vince on Twitter if you don’t already!
One thing that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about was when Noa Daniel said, “I want to be the teacher I am”. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this and wish that as one of my final thoughts I shared this: I too want to be the teacher I know I am but after 3 weeks, I have also learned that I need to give myself grace. I need to be ok with not being the teacher I know I am and just do the best I can without negatively impacting my own mental health & well-being.
PS. I am not sure when I will be blogging next because n the next couple of weeks I will be a keynote speaker at the Regina Teacher Conference, presenting for OECM, and engaging parents in the Orchard Park community with my Raising Digital Leaders talk. I am also hosting the #CrazyPLN chat on Saturday morning. Learn more about my speaking topics and book me here.
Stay well.