Remote? Hybrid? Making learning meaningful no matter your situation this year.

We are all back to school roundabout now… whether hybrid, remote, in-person, or some combination… whether public, private, or charter. Educators and schools are doing their best to create remote and hybrid programming to accommodate everyone. We are earnestly trying to apply lessons learned in the spring to make the experience a better one for our students.

Whether your school is using Seesaw, Schoology, Google Classroom, or some other LMS that is supposed to make everything okay, students can love learning on Zoom as this recent New York Times article insightfully points out. You can rely on these three principles of excellent teaching, in any context, to make meaningful and powerful learning experiences for your students.

Principle one: set up a puzzle, a mystery, so that there is a gap of knowledge propelling the children forward in their study. Why does the moon change shape and what has it meant to humankind? (Rather than, okay kids, time for our moon unit). How is everything in the rainforest interdependent on every other part of the rainforest? (Instead of, okay kids, it is time for our rainforest unit). Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins would call this identifying the essential question that frames the unit of study. Wise educators everywhere call this igniting curiosity and children’s natural motivation to solve problems!

Principle two: design for active learning, exploration, and as much interaction as possible. Our separation for health and safety reasons doesn’t have to limit children’s learning. We can invite experts in to be interviewed via Zoom, we can organize virtual field trips to museums and zoos around the world, and we can harness technology such as photos and videos to help our students capture their world, their point of view, and their message!

Principle three: real-world connections give students the meaning that ensures motivation. All content we curate (ahem, sorry, all topics we teach… but you know what I meant!), should have true importance in real life that students can identify. Challenge students to come up with it! Ask, why is it important, to us today, that we as a class learn about civil rights? What difference can it make to the world that we study about water conservation? (Hint: if a piece of content literally has no larger reason or importance, you may want to prune this part of the curriculum).

With these three principles as your guide, you can absolutely plan wondrous learning experiences this school year. We may be in and out of in-person instruction, but we as educators can ensure our students are hooked, active, and motivated.

Written by Namita Tolia