April 3, 2020

What Teachers in China Have Learned in the Past Month

Since February 17, I’ve been teaching 11th-grade humanities writing to students who are self-quarantined in China. Our teachers were in the same position several weeks ago that U.S. teachers are in now—we were expecting to teach in classrooms in Beijing. Now we’re teaching virtual classes remotely from our homes in China and countries around the world. We had about half a week to prepare for online school, including setting up a digital platform that none of us had ever used before.

For the first few weeks, we needed to be very flexible and patient. Everything we would have done in person took longer virtually as we learned to navigate online learning. But we’ve worked out many kinks and are now engaging our students in high-quality learning experiences online.

Here is some of what we’ve learned so far about teaching students who must stay home. Start by continuing to use lessons that are clear and simple, and don’t introduce new programs for teachers and students to learn if you can help it.

ASYNCHRONOUS TEACHING

Our international teachers are on four continents across eight time zones, so most of our classes are asynchronous, meaning our teachers post assignments and recorded lessons and students complete work at different times. Teachers respond using a rubric, comments, and sometimes recorded video or audio feedback through our online learning platform.

Most of our teachers have at least three live classes each week in addition to the asynchronous classes. This helps build community in the class, engages students, and makes the learning more interactive. Some teachers have found it more effective to teach live classes daily.

Videos: A first-grade class recently had a homework assignment where students needed to describe a pet. One boy’s mother video recorded him while he used descriptive language to introduce the audience to his two cats. Students can also write and perform plays, or create and cook recipes and conduct interviews, and submit these assignments through video.

Workbooks and drawing: Having students complete some assignments on paper, taking a picture of their completed work, and uploading the photo to submit the task. Similarly, our art classes are continuing to have students work on drawing, and they are taking pictures of their work to submit it to their teacher and share with the class.

INVOLVE FAMILIES

Between having to find childcare and supervise squirmy young learners, remote learning can be a very stressful experience for parents. Proactively and regularly communicate with them in mediums and languages that you know they’ll actively check and understand. Give them clear directions and resources. Solicit, listen to, and act on their feedback.

And, as you would with regular school, make sure to reach out to parents with news of great work their children did. Specific work-related praise goes a long way to strengthening relationships with both families and students.

FSUSD's Technology Support Services (TSS) Department has established locations and times where devices that need repair can be dropped off. Please refer to the following document for instructions - https://bit.ly/2w8KYSQ 

If you are using your phone to make phone calls to parents- we are encouraging our teachers to use google voice.  You can create a google account if you don't currently have or want to use your current gmail account.  Our FSUSD gmail account do not have Google voice available, but if you have or create your own gmail account, the service is free to use.

Here is a link if you would like to create a google account Link to setup a new Gmail account

Here is a link for you to create a google voice phone number, you MUST be logged in with your new account because google voice is not a service with FSUSD Google voice for personal accounts