remote learning

How to Create an Engaging Virtual Classroom

September 14, 2020

Excitement and anticipation comes with the beginning of any new school year no matter whether you are a teacher, parent, or student. That is certainly true even more so now. In fact, with all that is going on in education as a response to the pandemic, we could give these emotions more honest monikers like anxiety, worry, trepidation, fear, and discomfort. We have all had our comfort zones completely demolished. As teachers, we are normally expected to plan and be ready to pivot in case the unexpected happens, which it always does. This is usually something that, as we gain in experience, we are able to do with greater fluidity.

As a planner, I write out my plans for everything, school, home, and family. You name it and I probably have a set of “To Do’s” for it. As a teacher, normally by this time in the summer I will have mapped out my plans for at least the first month of school. This includes all of the labs and hands-on activities that are so vital in Chemistry for grabbing my student’s attention and building the necessary relationships from teacher to student and from student to student. However, this year we are tasked with planning for the ultimate unknown. We do not know who will be in our class or how many of them will attend. Will they be in-person or remote? How will we reach out to them and connect to build relationships? What will work best to reach them if they aren’t communicating? How much support will they receive from their homes? What struggles have they experienced during this time? Do they have connectivity? Do they have to watch their siblings? When will we get to meet them in person? This doesn’t even include any of the content that we have to cover on a pretty tight schedule.

Building relationships with my virtual students seems to be the first and largest stumbling block. To solve this problem I started paying much closer attention to my email inbox where I found several articles on engaging students remotely and creating a powerful remote learning experience. It was overwhelming, to say the least, and there are so many resources, tips, and techniques that you can use.

I started down a rabbit hole and jumped from one resource to another. I was going nowhere fast and getting frustrated with all of the options promising solutions to my challenge of how to engage my students from day one. I finally decided that I needed to start with my virtual classroom and was inspired by WeAreTeachers. I know that many have jumped on the Bitmoji Classroom train and this is not a new idea or original idea, but this looked like fun and I really wanted to try something new. The old back-to-school get to know your stuff was really no longer relevant and I wasn’t going to be able to do a Mad Scientist Demonstration or the Re-Enactment of Laboratory Eye Safety that I have always used.

How to Create a Bitmoji Classroom

To get started I did what my students do, I consulted the all-knowing internet! I found and used the Youtube channel for Thomas Blakemore who teaches in Dubai which helped me be able to get started. My first step was to make myself a Bitmoji. To do this, I had to use my cell phone to download the Bitmoji App. When I opened the app, I was directed to take a picture of myself which, amazingly, turned me into a cartoon character!! I am constantly surprised and have that feeling of, “Well would you look at that! What will they think of next?!!!” I know I am not ahead of the times and this app has been around for a while, but it was new to me!

The videos I have watched of the very insanely talented teachers who use their own virtual classrooms to teach their online students strongly recommended that you should make the classroom look as close as possible to your real classroom. This way when they do get to come back to the classroom, it will seem at least a little familiar. The first step was to create the base of my virtual classroom. To do this, I created a new Google Slides Presentation and selected “insert” from the top menu, “image”, and then “search the web”. I searched for “wall and floor”, which brought up several options to choose from.

From here, I started building my virtual classroom with inserted images that mirror the furniture, posters, whiteboards, etc. that fill my real classroom. I learned that using the term “transparent” after any term helps you find the type of pictures needed to design your room more realistically. Once you have all of your elements, you can customize everything to fit in your room.

I do want to emphasize that I am in no way am I an expert at this. In fact, this process of designing my virtual classroom took me the better part of a day and I’m still refining and adding things.

The purpose I had for this virtual classroom was for it to be a spot where students could look for references, tools, and information. To accomplish this, I began inserting the links that I wanted my students to be able to find and use. Linked to the corkboard in the upper left of the classroom is a Padlet app that will act as our class’ virtual bulletin board. As a part of their first-day assignment, I will have my students post a picture of themselves in their workspace at home. I hope it not only shows me what they look like but gives me just a little glimpse into their environment. In the future, I will continue to use this space to celebrate awesome student work and facilitate relationship building.

If you click on my Bitmoji, you will get a link to a video I created in Screencastify of the real me introducing myself. Other links include chemistry safety rules behind the Minion, our classroom management system, Canvas, an interactive periodic table, the log-in for our online textbook, and our class syllabus.

My plan is to have my students take the time to investigate all that my virtual classroom has to offer and then see if they can answer the questions found in the virtual scavenger hunt I will post in a quiz format. I really want them to interact with it enough so that we can build engagement and I hope it works. My plan is to modify this classroom once a week and add in things that are relevant to the learning for that week, the whiteboard will have a new announcement, and my picture will have a different video for further directions. My virtual classroom is nowhere near as awesome as some of the teachers’ I have seen and I could second guess myself into doing nothing new or different, but what if it works? Or what if it opens the door to learning for just a few more kids? Then my efforts are well worth it. If you have any good ideas for how you are going to build engagement in your virtual classroom, I’d love to hear about it please share in the comments below!

Jennifer Schero

How to Effectively Coach in a Blended and Remote Learning Environment

September 9, 2020

The rapidly changing nature of the world is having a dramatic impact on society, the workforce, and ultimately education. Just a few months ago, educators across the country were asked to uproot everything they knew about teaching and learning to transition to a new form of teaching amid a global pandemic. Though the dust has not yet settled, educators are becoming increasingly more equipped to handle teaching in this new environment. As instructional coaches, it is our obligation to support our teachers through this difficult time and ensure that students are still getting the education they deserve. As teacher’s roles have, and will continue, to change, so will the role of the instructional coach.

While some districts may be fortunate to return to face-to-face learning come fall, even those environments will likely be vastly different from what has been the norm for decades. Some districts are offering a blended model of learning, and still, others are opting for complete remote instruction. Regardless of which circumstance you find yourself in, there are instructional coaching strategies applicable in all settings.

Here are five tips for navigating blended and remote instructional coaching.

Tip #1: Relationships Still Matter

Whether you are coaching face-to-face, in a blended model, or completely online, there is one thing that will never change – relationships matter! Regardless of the context, it is important as an instructional coach to establish a relationship with each of the teachers you are coaching. While remote coaching may make this opportunity a little more difficult, it is imperative to find a way to speak with each teacher live. You can set up a Zoom meeting, socially distance at school, or connect on the phone if all else fails, but it is important to start with that human connection.

Once that initial connection is established, the relationship needs to continue to build throughout the coaching cycle. Now, more than ever, teachers are feeling anxious about returning to school. Teachers are scared for their health and the health of their family. Teachers are worried about their students and the learning they will be able to provide them. Teachers feel isolated and alone in their feelings and often cope in silence. As an instructional coach, I have often joked that a significant element of my job is providing therapy to teachers and allowing them to vent their feelings and frustrations – but that is no longer a joke, it has become a job requirement.

As you coach teachers throughout the school year, and especially this fall, it is important to not only provide technical and instructional support, but moral support as well. Check in with your teachers often, ask about how they are doing, and how things are going at home. Offer to counsel and support them in any way possible. Just as teachers often worry about their students beyond the school day, you will find yourself as a coach worrying about your teachers.

Whether you are coaching face-to-face, in a blended model, or remotely – a trusting relationship is going to be essential. Things may not go smoothly, things may fail miserably, and things may not work the first time. It is important to be available to support teachers when things go awry, it is important to have troubleshooting resources available for teachers, and it is important to be someone your teachers feel comfortable reaching out to.

While relationship building is important in traditional coaching environments, it is imperative in blended and remote coaching models. Without a relationship, it is highly unlikely teachers will prioritize coaching – especially in the context of this pandemic. Building relationships will not only help teachers be successful, but it will help prioritize coaching.

Tip #2: Include Both Synchronous and Asynchronous Support

While many schools are offering both virtual and face-to-face learning options, instructional coaches need to follow suit. One of the good things that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic – if you can find any good things – is the integration of both synchronous and asynchronous learning. Teachers have been saying for years that learning does not just occur in a classroom, and now is our chance to really prove that. In addition to broadening the scope of learning, teachers and schools are becoming more accepting of students learning at their own pace, on their own time.

It is no secret that teachers do not have much downtime throughout the course of a school day – that’s usually one of the reasons they avoid being coached at all costs. However, if coaches could provide both synchronous and asynchronous support to teachers, coaching not only becomes more accessible, but it also allows the coach to accommodate each teacher’s different needs. As an instructional coach, I encourage you to develop tutorials, handouts, or a collection of general tips that you can share with teachers. These instructional pieces should be easy for the teacher to understand and follow on their own, in addition to being accessible at any time.

In addition to offering support to teachers asynchronously, teachers can request help from coaches asynchronously as well. While some teachers may be teaching face-to-face, it might not be safe or comfortable to have additional bodies in the room for classroom visits. In this case, the teacher can record themselves facilitating a lesson and send that video to the coach to receive feedback. The coach can analyze the video and make notes or suggestions based on what they see, which would provide some talking points for the next coaching meeting.

Tip #3: Develop a Cadence

While flexibility will be the name of the game in 2020, it is still important for an instructional coach to develop a cadence for coaching. Typically coaching takes place in cycles and each cycle has a cadence for meetings and classroom visits. While meetings and classroom visits may look a little different this year, it is still important to develop some kind of coaching rhythm to keep yourself on track.

The first thing you should decide is whether or not you want to establish coaching cycles, how many, and for how long. Some coaches may want to stick to 8-week cycles, some may want to adapt them to 6 or 9 week grading periods, while others may want to rotate teachers by month. Once the length of the cycle has been determined, it must then be decided how many teachers will be coached. My word of advice – just because more teachers will need help during this time, that does not mean you have to serve them all at once. Decide what load is manageable for you, and enlist the help of some rockstar teachers when needed. Some teachers just need help setting up their Google Classroom, while others need more in-depth assistance. Determine what your teachers need and prioritize who gets your support.

Once you have determined how many teachers you will coach and for how long, the next step in the cadence is determining how to structure your weeks and your days. Depending on whether students are remote learning or face-to-face learning will have a significant impact on what you decide. Maybe one day a week is video conferencing with all of your teachers being coached, while another day is spent researching best practices and putting together resources. What is important is that you as a coach find and develop a cadence that works for you, and you stick to it!

Don’t be afraid to schedule things on your calendar to keep yourself accountable. In these uncertain times and unfamiliar environments, it is easy to get sidetracked and distracted from your goals.

Tip #4: Don’t Forget Pedagogy

While many teachers are celebrating digital learning opportunities, others are less than thrilled. As evidenced by the remote learning transition in the spring, many teachers went into survival mode and began posting worksheets online for students to complete at home. While this type of instruction was appropriate for initial crisis management, it has become increasingly important for teachers to rethink and redefine the ways they are approaching remote learning. As an instructional coach, it will be critical for you to keep pedagogy at the forefront. Many teachers will want to just post worksheets in Google Docs or have the students watch a YouTube video and answer some questions about it, but in these contexts that may not be the best facilitation of instruction.

As the environment changes, the instruction must change with it. It is important for teachers to engage their students just as they would in the classroom, despite the difficulties presented by distance. Some teachers will look for the latest and greatest tech gadget, and their students will end up playing with toys instead of learning the content. As the instructional coach, it is important to ensure that teachers are not throwing pedagogy out the window, especially in remote settings. Good teaching strategies will always remain good teaching strategies, and there is almost always a way to facilitate those same strategies remotely – you just might have to get creative.

At the end of the day, schools are asking students to return to learning because it has been deemed important, so we need to make sure we are providing a quality education for our kids. Don’t be afraid to hold teachers accountable and let them know when the pedagogy has been neglected, just be sure to have some suggestions prepared to provide support. Now, more than ever, your PLN (professional learning network) is going to be a great resource for new ideas, support, and growth.

Tip #5: Be Prepared for Anything

As previously mentioned, flexibility is the name of the game for 2020 and you must be prepared for ANYTHING! It is easy for me to sit here and prescribe suggestions or resources, but those may become obsolete in seconds depending on what happens with COVID-19 and government regulations. Teachers need to be prepared for face-to-face instruction, remote instruction, blended instruction, and for those environments to change at the drop of a hat. As instructional coaches, we need to be ready to support teachers in each of those environments as well as help them make the transitions between the platforms.

In addition to being ready for supporting teachers in all settings, you must also be prepared to perform job duties that are both new and familiar to you. Even though our job title is ‘instructional coach’ we all know that teachers are often asked to take on “other duties as assigned.” Do not be surprised if you get additional duties added to your plate, depending on your role in your school or district. These are uncertain times for everyone and school leaders are doing their best to provide the type of education students deserve. Teachers will be asked to wear many hats this year, and as coaches, we likely will too. No matter what gets thrown at you, it is important to be flexible, work to the best of your ability, and always keep a stash of chocolate around for emergencies.

Megan Purcell is a Digital Learning Specialist and Certified Dynamic Learning Project coach in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD located in Carrollton, TX. She enjoys working with teachers to help them elevate their teaching through the use of impactful technology tools and strategies. Megan holds a masters degree in Educational Technology, which she earned overseas at the National University of Ireland in Galway, in addition to being a certified Microsoft Innovative Educator and Apple Teacher. She is a former high school English teacher who loves learning, technology, and helping make life easier for her teachers. She believes that every student should have access to current technology in order to develop 21st century skills necessary for participating in a global society.

How to Choose Your LMS: Canvas vs. Google Classroom

July 30, 2020

So here we are, in the midst of a pandemic, adapting as teachers do. In the last six months, everything around us has changed, and we must now redefine what it means to be a teacher. We’re overwhelmed. We’re stressed. A million questions are running through our heads. Where do you even start? Well, my gut says we should start by picking an LMS. You’re going to have to choose some kind of learning management system before you move forward, and most of your decisions from there are going to depend on the choice you make regarding your LMS, anyhow. So, why not start there?

In this article, I’ve done my best to layout for you the two main choices for secondary LMS, since I myself am a secondary teacher. We’ll talk about some of my favorite features of Canvas and Google Classroom, and the benefits that they bring to the table. Moreover, we’ll discuss the learning management system that I prefer, and the benefits of it that help me to be a more effective and unique teacher, even when teaching remotely.

Pros and Cons of Google Classroom

Google Classroom has been around since August of 2014 and has been well-loved by educators throughout its lifetime – as it should be. There are a lot of really great reasons to choose Google classroom, especially for teachers who are not experienced with technology. The LMS comes with an extremely simple set up, requiring only a course name and then you can easily select a premade theme that “customizes” your course to be different from other courses. There are also some things that make Google Classroom incredible, like the class-shared resources in Google Drive and a shared Google Calendar for all members of the course to mark due dates and important upcoming events. The LMS is also rather easy for students to navigate and understand, and when used across the board by all of their teachers it becomes even easier, as all google classrooms look the same and operate in the same way. The mandatory course home is a stream of activity where the teacher can reference work, post announcements, or even allow students to ask questions. When you switch to the classwork tab, you find that work can be very easily separated into modules and ordered exactly the way you want it to look. Google Classroom also sort-of interacts with popular LTIs (learning tool interoperability) like EdPuzzle, Kami, and Quizizz. Finally, there is also an app that both teachers and students can download on iOS or Google Play that allows the students to access the Google Classroom and turn in work, and allows the teacher to assign and grade work.

Like all things, Google Classroom has its downsides and limitations, primarily in the customization of the classroom itself. All Google Classrooms look exactly the same, and teachers aren’t able to do much other than add a picture and change the color settings to make it their own. The inability to customize is like the inability to decorate your room and express yourself as a teacher, and I find that to be a huge drawback, especially as this new school year starts and I will not have the ability to meet some of my students in person first. One complaint you may frequently see about Google Classroom too is that the assignments NEVER CLOSE. I had experience first hand with this over this summer as I was teaching online summer school, where a student didn’t realize that I was using a different LMS (because he didn’t check his email) and he completed two weeks worth of massively late work in his previous teacher’s classroom rather than completing the appropriate assignments for summer school. This can be frustrating because no one wants to get work 3 weeks late, let alone in the middle of summer. Also, many school districts have policies about late work and not letting students turn things in after a certain amount of time. My final downside was never really a problem before the pandemic, but now that we are where we are, it’s important to note that Google Classroom doesn’t log student activity or interactions within the course, something that is about to be incredibly important for attendance purposes.

Honestly, in short, I would say that Google Classroom could work for any subject, grade level, or student group. Most importantly: Google Classroom is extremely user friendly, making it ideal for young kids, basic clubs/groups/courses, or the not-so-technologically-advanced students and teachers as it doesn’t require much maintenance, upkeep, or training to get started. Personally – I use Google Classroom for clubs that I host or academic groups on campus because the stream is incredible for student officers to communicate with their peers, and I can assign permission slips, different things I’d like to give to the whole group before the next meeting, etc via the classwork tab. Google Classroom is also perfect for a blended learning environment, as a supplement to an in person classroom, where you have all the students in a single room and can teach them and communicate with them directly in person, and have students submit work online.

Pros and Cons for Canvas

I would wager to say that Canvas is like the older brother of Google Classroom. First launched in 2011, Canvas has grown and become one of the most widely used Learning Management Systems in the US. Since Canvas was used by my campus when I was working on my master’s program, I have had experience with both sides of the Canvas Classroom (Student and Teacher) and I still adore the program.

In perks, Canvas can do JUST ABOUT anything that Google can. You can create assignments, organize modules, have a class calendar, even create “Google Cloud assignments” which is just like creating an assignment on Google Classroom. Canvas, however, takes everything a step further. One of the things that I love about Canvas is the PAGES. You (and your students, if you let them) have the ability to create pages with content or information and can add these pages into individual modules. So if I wanted to tell a bunch of students about myself, I could create an “About the Instructor” page, referencing my biography and some interesting facts about me with my picture, contact information, and office hours for students. Essentially, a content page is whatever you want it to be, and I love that. Canvas also allows teachers to have their courses be completely unique. Other than some of the links being the same, teachers can edit the entire structure of the course, choosing if students can see only modules and announcements, or allowing the students to see and interact with other parts of the online system. A teacher can combine these two wonderful features to create their own homepage for their ‘website’, and tag it as the first thing students see when they enter the course. Canvas also has the ability to cross-list sections into one giant ‘shell’, so that you have all of your “Algebra 2” students in one course, and can have a separate course ‘shell’ for your “Algebra 2 Honors” students. Canvas also gives interaction and access reports to teachers, allowing you to see when students were last online and what they accessed while they were there – essential data as we are to move forward with online learning. If that wasn’t exciting enough, Canvas allows users to directly embed LTIs like EdPuzzle, FlipGrid, and countless other learning tools. Also, via either iOS or Google Play, there are different apps performing three different functions for canvas – Student, Parent, and Teacher allowing anyone to submit assignments, message, or view course content with their mobile device. The different apps allow the experience to be unique to the obviously completely different roles in the course, which is nice. I could go on and on and on about all of the amazon features of canvas, and WILL in future posts – I promise!

Unfortunately, I must reference the Peter Parker Principle (yep, Spiderman), and state that with great power comes great responsibility. Canvas takes a lot of effort to set up to be exactly what you want, and a high level of understanding of technology to be able to operate it at its fullest potential. You have to be patient with yourself as you move forward, and understand that you’re probably going to be tweaking things frequently as you move forward and updates for new features come out. Students also sometimes need an overview and explanation of the course structure, as it can vary so much from course to course. I usually do this with a quick screencast & EdPuzzles combo (more to come on that SOON!) to show students how to navigate the course, submit assignments, and check their grades. Canvas also lacks attention in the physical drive and storage capabilities. I really enjoy the fact that Google Classroom has a classroom Google Drive, where all students’ assignments are submitted and updated live, providing options for the use of other tools like Slip-N-Slide, which require other solutions if operated solely with Canvas.

Canvas is hard to set up, and it can be difficult to learn the ins-and-outs, but with the right support, Canvas is an appropriate tool for any grade level and any subject. I would say however, that I would not choose to use a Canvas course for a small group of students like a club or organization because of the high levels of maintenance and setup that the LMS requires. When used across the board by all teachers and students with the appropriate comprehensive training, Canvas can change the way that we all perceive remote learning.

My Recommendation

I’ve gotten to choose, and I’ve had the decision made for me by my district. Both times – the decision for my classroom was Canvas. I understand technology enough to be able to develop and maintain a pretty extravagant Canvas course, and I like the extra tools and settings that it provides me. For instance – I can message students directly to talk about their missing assignments or anything else I might need to chat with them about, without the need for a secondary app or email. Students and Parent observers can also message me directly about assignments, and I get the notification on my phone through the Canvas App so I can reply quickly and easily, almost like a text message! I also love to embed different activities and provide a wide variety of assignment options, and Canvas, with all its LTIs, allows me to do that. Going forward, my district has mandated that all courses will use Canvas as their structural LMS and as a supplement to in-person courses because of the settings and features that it provides.

All-in-all, your choice for LMS will likely depend on your district, what you need as a teacher, and what you want your course to look like. Both options are incredible, and either way, you are doing the very best you can to put forth an engaging and interesting learning experience for your students. You’ve gone above and beyond just by reading this article, and I respect you for that.

Keep your eyes open and blog notifications on as I can hardly wait for the next post in our Survival Toolkit Series, breaking down how to set up your courses to be effective, efficient, and to help you express yourself regardless of your LMS! In the meantime – Take that first step! What LMS are you going to use in the upcoming school year?

How to Prep for the Next School Year [5 Actionable Strategies for Instructional Coaches]

July 21, 2020

Educators nationwide are holding their breath waiting for information about what school will look like in the fall. Some districts are offering both face-to-face and remote learning options, other districts are hopeful that school will be able to resume as normal, and even more are planning for complete distance learning. Regardless of what the physical educational environment looks like in the coming days, here are some tips for educational coaches to prepare for a new school year that apply in both face-to-face and remote learning environments.

Strategy #1: Develop Your Goals and Vision

Each year, school administrators typically develop a shared goal and vision for the campus to adhere to that year. As an instructional coach, it is important to develop your own goals and vision for working with the teachers you serve. It is important that coaches support campus initiatives and have a clear direction as to how they want to best support staff. Perhaps this year you will focus on integrating one tech tool into each classroom. Maybe you want to get the entire English department using Google Classroom. Your goal may even be to serve a certain percentage of teachers or to coach at least one teacher in every department.

Whatever your goal may be, it is important that you be clear and precise and develop actionable steps for reaching that goal. Maybe you need to plan out your cycles ahead of time to ensure you can serve everyone. Maybe you need to prepare some learning materials or handouts for teachers to keep on hand as they facilitate lessons. Maybe you need to develop instructional videos for your campus so teachers can refer back to them after PD. Whatever this goal may be, this is a great time to look ahead and plan so you’re ready for whatever the fall may bring. Coaches can also use this time to conduct their own research or study topics that interested them from the past year, that they never got around to looking into. Now is a great time to play with different digital tools, read about different instructional strategies and really fill up that toolkit. With your toolkit full, you’ll be ready to tackle any issue regardless of the physical learning environment.

Strategy #2: Target Your Teachers

The start of the school year is a great time for coaches to begin recruiting teachers for instructional coaching. Unfortunately, many teachers are often resistant to participate in coaching at the start of the year because they are trying to get their classrooms up and running themselves and just see coaching as a burden or hindrance to that. Try connecting with some of those new teachers and offer to partner with them at the beginning of the year in order to make their transition to the school year more seamless. To get these teachers on board, it is important that you have developed your hook – or reason to encourage teachers to be coached. You might consider contacting these teachers even before the year starts and sharing with them the services you offer and the benefits you can provide them through a partnership. Many new teachers may feel less overwhelmed at the start of the year if they know there is someone there to help them with whatever challenges they may face.

Ready to get prepared now to support your teachers in blended, remote, and face-to-face learning?>>>

Strategy #3: Develop Universal Resources

Because no one knows what school may look like in the fall, it is important to develop tools and resources that can work in both face-to-face and remote settings. Preparing handouts, one-pagers, screencasts and other professional development resources that are asynchronous are always a good idea. If you have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with teachers on campus, you will already have these resources ready to go, but if you are working in a remote setting, it is easy for you to share your research for teachers to go through on their own.

This is also a good time to explore different tools that may help you achieve your coaching goals, whether that’s using video conferencing tools, collective documents or some other means of communication.

Strategy #4: Determine Teacher’s Needs

As this pandemic swept the globe, teachers were asked to make a lot of adjustments very quickly and with little resources. As an instructional coach, you have the opportunity to support teachers through these difficult times. At the beginning of the school year, it might be beneficial to conduct a needs assessment for your teachers to determine how to best serve them in the coming year. If you don’t want to wait, reach out to your teachers or your PLN and ask them what they anticipate their needs to be in the fall. That way, you can be prepared before students begin learning again and are ready to help with whatever is necessary.

Strategy #5: Be Flexible and Take Care of Yourself

Though last school year didn’t have a clean end like the years usually do, it is important that as you begin to think about next year, you take time to have a break. Yes, there continues to be anxiety over what decisions lawmakers will make about the return to school, but you need to take time away from the worry. Make time to unplug for the summer and not think about school. Take a vacation or stay-cation to unwind and relax. Clear your mind with your activity of choice and set yourself up to come back to the school year refreshed. There is no doubt the fall will require flexibility and it is easier to be flexible when your mind and body have been nourished.

As I have often told my technology reluctant teachers during coaching – good teaching is good teaching, regardless of the tools. Instructional coaching is no different. Good coaching is good coaching, regardless of the educational situation. Whether schools decide to resume face-to-face instruction or continue with remote learning, your position as a coach remains the same – to provide guidance and support to teachers.

Permission to go Rogue – How to Adapt your Coaching Cycle

May 19, 2020

If you’re anything like me, you’re a rule follower. I can’t help it, that’s just the way I was programmed. One of the things I love about being a Dynamic Learning Project Coach is I have a clear direction to follow in the ways in which I schedule coaching cycles and conduct coaching meetings. While some of you have been able to do this on your own, I wanted to address the rule followers in the room. You hereby have my permission as a fellow instructional coach, to go rogue. Now, if my credentials are not enough for you to feel comfortable throwing the Dynamic Learning Project coaching cycle out the window, I assure you I was given permission from Heather Dowd herself to let you know you may go rogue.

Though having a structure is a great benefit to being a Dynamic Learning Project coach, the other benefit of being part of this program is the network of support. Nearly all the leaders that have designed the Dynamic Learning Project and mentor coaches within the program have, or continue to be, classroom educators themselves. These leaders have been in your shoes so they understand the enormous amount of stress you are under. These leaders understand that, just as teachers do, we are sometimes forced to change our approach.

One of the greatest skills a teacher can possess is the ability to be flexible – we don’t lose that ability when we become instructional coaches. Coaches, like teachers, need to remain flexible and adapt their practices to suit the needs of their learners. In the case of COVID-19, flexibility will continue to be the greatest asset you can possess. Though I have two teachers request that I keep their cycle intact as much as possible, most of my teachers feel too overwhelmed for traditional coaching at this time. Some teachers will have different needs and requests, and as a coach you need to be able to be flexible and adapt along with them.

Now that you have permission to go rogue – seriously, please do – I wanted to share some adaptations you can make to your coaching cycle to better suit the needs of teachers during this time.

Tip #1: Host Webinars or Professional Development Trainings

Just because you aren’t meeting with teachers face-to-face anymore, doesn’t mean you can’t continue to help them grow. I am sure many of you have already taken advantage of video conferencing platforms to increase communication across your campus or district. You can use these video platforms to host webinars or professional development training for your teachers, and show them tools or tips that will help them engage in remote learning.

My district has hosted several webinars centered around the three main learning management systems available in our district. We had training for brand new users to help them get started, as well as training for high flyers in which we could show them the latest updates or hidden features. The purpose of these training sessions was to help teachers get up and running with remote learning and establish some level of continuity across the campuses and the district.

Hosting these webinars was another great way to connect with teachers and uncover issues or questions that may not have otherwise been addressed. You can discuss best practices for the tools you are using and troubleshoot any issues a teacher may have. It is also not uncommon for teachers to reach out to you at a later date asking for more tips and tricks that you may have, which is a great way to continue building relationships with your staff during this time.

Tip #3: Demo Slam

As instructional coaches, we all have our favorite tools that help make our lives easier. If you are unable to, or uncomfortable with hosting a training webinar, you can start small with a demo slam. Pick your favorite trick or tool and screencast yourself explaining or demonstrating why you love it so much. You can send that screencast to your staff letting them know that if they have questions about the tool or would like more training, they can set that up with you. Some teachers will be able to take your ideas and run with them on their own, but there may be some that need a little more support. Demo slams are a great way to show teachers the tools available to them, and allow them to continue adding tools to their own toolbox.

Tip #4: Check-In via Email

This one may seem like a duh, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time these days in my email. Email is the text message of the professional world. What I love about doing email check-ins is that I can send emails and respond to emails at my leisure. This is great for teachers as well. We know that many have additional responsibilities while at home, so email is a good way to leave a quick note for a teacher and let them respond when they have a moment.

Now, what I don’t want you to do is send an email to everyone on your campus at once and get flooded by 500 replies. Every week I reach out to a handful of teachers – literally a handful – and just let them know I am checking in to see how they are doing. I ask if they are healthy and if there is anything I can assist them with at this time. Short and sweet is best. Even if the teacher’s don’t need any support at this time, keeping the lines of communication open will go a long way in maintaining the relationships you have already developed with your staff.

I also wanted to add a note about email for my type-A coaches out there – it is okay to walk away from your inbox with unread messages. Just because you have an email, that does not mean you need to respond to it at that exact moment. Remember, email is a great tool because it allows you to respond when convenient – it’s like that answer message when you call the doctor’s office. Make an appointment when you are available and call 911 for emergencies. If a teacher has an emergency, they need to contact their campus principal or your district help resource. Emails can wait.

Tip #5: Celebrate on Social Media

One thing people need during a time of crisis is to be reminded of all the good happening in the world. If you are like me, remembering to celebrate your teachers was something you struggled to find time to do while we were on campus. Take all of those celebrations you saved up and use this time to post them to social media. You can highlight awesome things teachers have done, or are currently doing to support their students. These celebrations don’t have to be just about instructional practices or technology tools teachers are using, you can celebrate your teachers with a shoutout of kind words. Many of you have worked with a teacher previously this year and you just want to remind them how awesome they are – share that with the world. Teachers, now more than ever, need to feel appreciated and supported. During this time we have the opportunity to share with the world how amazing and valuable our teachers are.

Tip #6: Start Planning for Next Year

Another way you can adapt your current coaching cycle during COVID-19 is to use this time to plan for next year. I have had a few teachers already reach out to me and say something along the lines of, “Now that I know how to do _____, maybe next year you can help me with ______.” As teachers continue to grow and learn new things during this time, it might spark an interest in seeking out future coaching opportunities. Maybe there are teachers who were reluctant to coaching the first time around, but after this situation have recognized a need for it in the future. Maybe this crisis has illuminated some gaps in teacher’s knowledge and understanding of key instructional tools, which you can leverage as areas to focus on with the campus once classes resume.

Personally, my district was supposed to have been using a learning management system for the last couple of years. Naturally, not everyone was and that was okay at the time, but COVID-19 quickly changed that. I have often joked that when I facilitate training next year I’m going to refer back to COVID for the importance of staying ahead of the curve – or at least staying within the ballpark. My goal is for my teachers to not feel as unprepared as they did when schools closed. I know that’s a pipe dream, but I think it’s possible.

Even though COVID-19 has disrupted our ability to adhere to the Dynamic Learning Project coaching cycle as it was originally designed, it does not stop us from using pieces of it to continue supporting professional growth. Take this time to go rogue, to adapt to your needs, and to support teachers in the way that is best for them. If you have the opportunity to go back to the coaching cycle structure, that is great, but if you can’t that is perfectly fine as well.