Returning to school for the first time since March was a daunting prospect. My students no longer had to be socially distanced within the classroom, but they had to be 2 metres away from adults at all times.
How was this going to be possible when I have up to 33 teenagers in a room?
Wandering around the classroom is one of the main weapons in my behaviour management arsenal. And how can I help a student who is stuck if I have to keep my distance? How can I correct their work over their shoulder? It doesn’t feel like an overreaction to say that I felt like everything I knew about teaching had changed.
Coronavirus: Tips for teaching from a distance
I’m now a couple of weeks into this brave new teaching world, and I can say it is certainly different. Here are some lessons I have learned since our return to school:
1. You need to level up your organisation
Organisation is key. When I was a student teacher, my mentor had a favourite phrase: “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.” Never has this been more relevant.
Resources need to be thought through properly. Textbooks, dictionaries, calculators and other equipment can no longer be shared among students, so think of ways around this. Can online tools be used? If so, how will your students access them? If not, how can you provide help without simply giving them the answers?
2. Get digitally literate
Speaking of online tools, get to know some. And prepare to be more relaxed about students using their own devices in class if they do not have access to school-provided technology.
I have become an expert at using Microsoft Teams and, within that, OneNote’s class notebook. Students can take pictures of their work or type directly into their notebook - it is essentially an online jotter - and I can mark it there and then, with instant feedback.
Another benefit of using digital tools like this is you can also see their work in real time and prod them in the right direction as they write/type.
And it isn’t just helpful pedagogically. These tools have so many advantages for students with additional needs, from something as simple as changing the background colour in a document to an integrated reader for those who need that extra support.
3. Visualisers will save you
For the uninitiated, a visualiser is a small camera that projects an image straight to your interactive whiteboard or projector. They can be fixed or portable. They are brilliant.
I would say every teacher needs to become best friends with a visualiser. If you haven’t been using them before lockdown, find out if you have any in your department to use.
It’s a good idea to give them a spin before you get in front of a class because they’re all different, but they will save you so much time. It will be worth it.
4. Say their names
Because you have lost the power to go circulating around the room in person, instead you should try and “circulate” using just your voice.
This might be harder at the start of the year when names are unfamiliar, but teaching with your seating plan in hand and trying to use the name of every student in your class goes some way to replicating the actual moving around the room you would usually be doing.
5. Everyone get busy
There will be times when you will need the whole class to focus so you can address a problem with a student directly. These sorts of tasks are also useful to start a class off if they are staying put and the teacher is moving around.
Having a set of “snappy starters” up your sleeve that do not require equipment/projection really helps during these times. This will give your students something to work on while you speak to a single student, or get yourself organised and logged in to the computer and complete any admin tasks.
6. Give yourself a break
Finally, remember that you are only human. Mistakes happen - we have bad lessons as well as good. It will take a while to get used to teaching in this different way, and it’s OK if you find it strange at first.
Tensions are running high, and it’s easy to make a mountain out of a molehill. Be kind to yourself and to the young people in front of you.
Deborah Main is a principal teacher of modern languages at Elgin High School in Moray
