In-Person Teaching Tips During a Pandemic

We are nearly a year into teaching through a pandemic and while I am sad about what this illness has done to some people, I can honestly say I have seen a lot of POSITIVE change in the education world because of it.

The pandemic did not BRING on new problems within the education system but merely HIGHLIGHTED the existing problems that had not yet been dealt with. Our world is evolving and changing, yet education in rural areas is stuck in the 20th century. Everything is paper, pencil, brick and mortar, in person experiences while the world around us accepts and adapts to technology and all it has to offer.

When we sheltered in place in 2020, some teachers had 48 hours to convert entire courses to an online format. For teachers that have 3, 4 or even 5 preps, this was quite a daunting task! Students needed instruction by Monday and we had NOTHING prepared. Frankly, I'm glad we got thrown in the deep end and were expected to transition quickly. It seems as though this might have been the only way to take the plunge into technology based education. I'm not saying everything needs to move online or that it will move online, but I am saying that we needed to catch up with the world around us in both the online world and in-person setting.

Having been through this (and now snowmageddon2021) and coming out the other side, I want to share some helpful tips for other teachers out there experiencing similar struggles.

1. Be flexible - if you're struggling, you can guarantee that your students are struggling too. If you aren't normally flexible, now is the time to stretch a little and get flexible. We are dealing with real people and real problems. Pray about each situation and ask for wisdom about when to be flexible and when to discipline.

2. Be available - I don't get too crazy with this but I do offer students in-person office hours and zoom office hours. If the hours I offer don't work for them, I give the option to set up a time to meet via zoom outside my normal hours. They rarely need this, but when they do, I want to be there for them. I also make sure they know that I check my email regularly and respond promptly (except Sunday). Although, I will admit that my brain isn't as sharp after 7 pm, so I usually will read the email, mark as unread (so I don't miss it), and respond the next morning. Students repeatedly express their gratitude over me answering emails quickly. Trust me, it makes a difference in their education to have someone answer when they are stressed.

3. Grant grace - I live by grace in my everyday life so this is something I enjoy doing even if there's not a pandemic. You should absolutely set boundaries and not violate those but at the same time when a student needs a little grace, extend that to him/her. It's hard to know when a student is trying to manipulate your or not so it's within your right to tell the student you'll think about it and get back to them. When I do this, I go to my office, pray, and ask God what I should do. He always answers me with an inspired idea that I feel confident about sharing with the student. The student always seems grateful and often eager to take me up on whatever I offer. What's the worst that can happen? You give the student an extra chance and they don't take it? Big deal...they weren't going to do it either way. You lost nothing. What's the best that can happen? The student takes the offer and has an additional opportunity to learn? That's not too shabby. One of the things I started offering all students is allowing late work with a penalty. So all assignments remain open all semester but students get docked points for turning in late. My students love having this option as they juggle very busy lives.

4. GET ORGANIZED - Make sure your course is organized and easy to navigate! The instructions, videos, and assignments need to be as easy to find as possible. I set up "folders" in Blackboard by week and in each folder students find every lesson, video, homework, and quiz they need. Then, each week I post an announcement about WHAT WEEK we are currently in and what I expect of them. Name links with obvious descriptors and be clear about what you want from students. When in doubt, over explain everything. When students are quarantined, they need to be able to access everything easily and quickly without having to ask a lot of questions. If they're asking a lot of questions about where to find material, then you need to rearrange your content.

5. Make videos - Students respond to video. Most students and young adults are more likely to watch a video than read a long document (like this blog ;) ). Students also prefer videos made by their own instructors over some random person on YouTube. If your options are to post no video or a random person, then post the random person, but if you can, MAKE YOUR OWN VIDEOS. I post videos of every. single. lesson. It has been SO time consuming but they are done and I can reuse them over and over again. If you make shorter videos on each topic, then if you have classes where content overlaps, you can use the videos in both classes. I teach factoring in two of my courses so I broke factoring up into three different videos and I use 2 in one class and 3 in the other. I use these videos for my online students but I make them available to my in-person students in case they have to quarantine or miss class. The ability to see the exact lesson we did in class when they were out allows them to keep up with the content and return to class easily.

• I make my videos in zoom, using screen share from my iPad, with a side-by-side view of the camera on me, record to my computer, upload to YouTube.

6. Post notes - If you pre-write your notes like I do, post them for students to print and use to follow along with your video lessons. A lot of my students have started using an iPad and Goodnotes like I do so they don't have to print notes. They just transfer the PDF file to their Goodnotes app and write directly on it like I do in class. I don't make copies anymore because my students are in college and can use the computer lab to print or use their iPad to write notes. Less copies = saving paper and preventing the spread of germs.

7. Get an iPad Apple Pencil or other tablet and stylus - I have been teaching with my iPad and Apple pencil for about 4 years and am so thankful I had already started doing this when the pandemic hit. It made making videos SO easy and I didn't have to worry about passing out papers and germs. In class, I connect my iPad via zoom or screen share and use Goodnotes to write on and display my notes. It is so simple, clean, efficient, and easy to use. I swear by the iPad and Pencil. I also bought a $6 TI-84 calculator app that I can use to show students steps in using a calculator. Now when I walk to class, all I carry is my iPad, Pencil, charger, and case. All the documents, apps, and information I need is on my iPad.

8. Take attendance with QR codes and Google Forms - Save time in class and stop sending around a sign-in sheet by making a google form for each class day and creating a QR code for each form's website. I export the students' responses to one excel sheet with several tabs and keep track of attendance this way. I will recommend requiring the student's name as one question and the class they are in as another question. There's no need for the date or email as the form gathers that automatically. Once I have my attendance from all my classes I sort the column by class and can see who was there. I'll also ask a specific question so I can gather data that we can use in my Statistics class. :) I got the QR code and google form idea from another teacher...which brings me to my last tip.

9. Collaborate with other teachers - Your fellow teachers are just so clever! Get together with them regularly and share ideas, thoughts, concerns, and solutions. I have gotten so much useful information from meeting with coworkers and teachers from other schools to see how to approach certain complications. I am so thankful to have a group of people around me that love the same things I love and are passionate about perfecting their craft.

I hope these tips help you and encourage you as we figure out the new way of educating young minds. I'm praying for each of you as you change the world one student at a time.