Great, you are operational! By now, your school’s courses and schedules have been created, and students have begun grappling with work. You are now prepared to… keep building the plane as you fly it.

There is nothing quite as daunting for a veteran teacher as the first few days of digital instruction. Most of us were not trained for this, and none of us were trained to make the transition this fast.

To prepare themselves for this cosmic shift, the most important thing teachers and school leaders can do is accept that this is going to be an experience in trial and error, and happy failure.

Leaders: make an effort to build a course yourself to model best practices for your teachers.

Teachers: start with curriculum material you already have and build from there It is easier to modify these objectives, activities, and assessments for asynchronous and distance learning than to add new creation to your plate of things to do early.

• At first, develop only what you believe is appropriate for one week’s worth of work. See how students are progressing, and iterate as needed before burdening yourself with more course creation.
• Put the cognitive lift on students early:
  1. Ask them to review a syllabus and ask questions, or respond to a welcoming video.
  2. Use a survey to make space for reflecting on the current moment.
  3. Encourage reading by providing leveled texts; writing by creating digital journals; and STEM work by connecting to synced platforms, etc.
  4. Get regular feedback from students and parents about what is working and what could be improved.
• When students are active in the classroom, use task analysis to determine which activities are high-engagement and high-impact. Use similar activities as often as possible in future lessons.
• Strike a balance of online and off-screen learning. Oftentimes families are sharing devices, and many districts are recommending only 50% of a traditional school day be dedicated to screen-time learning.

Your initial schedule should be heavy on all-staff meetings to lay the groundwork for distance learning. Later, your school can slowly transition back to the traditional engines of learning and continuity.

• Instructional Teams should find new, but familiar ways to foster cultures of learning: use digital communication to provide feedback on lessons and units of study; and review student work.
• Support Staff Teams will want to refine the best practices they are learning in their new roles of engaging students in meaningful work.
• Leadership Teams should meet frequently to review progress, and to steer the course in what will be an ever-changing environment.
• Leaders will shift more of their time to coaching at this point.

In the first few weeks, use team meetings to replace some of the time that was dedicated to professional learning. But beyond that, free up as much time as possible for: a) teachers to create and refine curriculum, and b) support staff to continue student outreach, with a sharper focus on academic progress.

Distance highlights the utility of Coaching and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Courses on a digital learning platform like Kiddom benefit the most from feedback, revision, and decision-making informed by data analysis. Like all courses.

Leaders and teachers should start by signing in to courses as students, and as collaborators. Review these courses with a lens of how students will access the content and learn the skills; as well as how the teacher is sequencing their learning activities. Take note of the following:

• Is context for the course given upfront? As a student, would you know where you are headed and why? Do you know how to find out “what to do next”? As a collaborator, can you predict the flow and provide advice on aligned activities and supplementary resources?
• What will teachers need to do to enable asynchronous instruction? What can they anticipate handling via in-app chat versus office hour phone calls? How often is direct instruction necessary? What supports are (or need to be) provided with direct instruction, activities, and assessments for students with disabilities?
• Where would it be appropriate to add synchronous learning opportunities?
• Which activities are students most responsive to? Once you get this feedback, tinker with your plans and replicate activities that elicit the best learning outcomes.

Coaching sessions can carry on as usual. Use the time for feedback, or better yet to collaboratively design instruction.

Within an education platform like Kiddom, teachers and leaders can work on a course simultaneously. As a teacher, ask for feedback on the following:

• How do I know my students are progressing at the pace they should be? What can I do to track this better?
• Where am I missing opportunities to connect to synced resources?
• What can we lift up from my course/curriculum to share with others?
• Which peer should I look to for exemplars of…?

PLCs, on the other hand, will likely look a little different. Before diving into Looking at Student Work (LASW) protocols—which will be possible in time—ample space should be given to reflect on what is working with curriculum design and instruction, and what is not translating smoothly.

Use video conferencing tools to share your screen and to lift up examples of model lessons or units, and ask teachers to discuss why it works for distance learning. Don’t shy away from talking about why it might not work as well in a traditional classroom. Defining these differences will help not hinder all parties’ understanding of the unique nature of distance learning curriculum design.

We hope you have found this guide helpful in your efforts to set up distance learning initiatives with Kiddom and Open Up Resources.

From now until August 1, 2020, Open Up Resources is offering free access to high-quality digital curricula and enrichment materials, through the Kiddom Educational Platform. When you begin managing curriculum and instruction through Kiddom, key instructional materials and data will follow you back to your traditional classroom. Schools and districts can pick up right where they left off with fully scoped and sequenced courses for math (Grades 6-8).

If there is other information you need from our team, please reach out to us.

There are ongoing professional learning communities for educators working with the Open Up Resources curriculum. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we will continue share additional resources and strategies. We respect the work you are doing, and are here to support you!

April 29 — Using OUR Curriculum in Kiddom for Distance Learning

May 12 — How to Assemble Your Distance Learning Toolkit

May 20 — How to Maintain High-Quality Instruction in a Digital Environment

Sign up here.

This section concludes our guide. Did you find this guide useful? If so, please share it! If you have anything to add or suggested edits, please send an email to info@kiddom.co detailing what we could do better. We want to make this guide as helpful as possible and will always listen to your feedback.

As you consider online options in response to COVID-19, here’s a helpful list of distance learning resources from our Chief Academic Officer, Abbas Manjee.

In light of COVID-19, teacher and engagement director Geoffrey Schmidt offers some hope and advice for those transitioning to digital classrooms.