Giving successful online lessons - the new normal...

 

Causes and Remedies of Poor Academic Performance and Red Flags to Watch out For

So many students are struggling and not performing at their optimum academic level for so many reasons. Have you as a teacher, noticed signs that show that things are not as they should be with the child? What remedy would you proffer to these identified challenges?

Building strong foundations in children

 

The foundations we help build in children is extremely important. Parents and teachers are accountable for the type of foundations we are laying in each child.

Planning Lessons During this New-Normal Era

If you fail to plan, you definitely plan to fail.

In this era of the ‘new-normal’ everybody has had to learn basic IT skills at the very minimum and to teach in virtual classrooms to an audience of learners that you can only monitor to an extent… you REALLY need to plan.

What exactly will you be teaching? Have you factored in the fact that the learners are at home and not in the physical school?

Who are your learners? What range of ages are they? What are their learning styles, abilities and challenges?

How will you be teaching this topic? On what platform will you be teaching? With what resources? How will the resources be deployed?

How will you know what they know before you start the lesson, as you teach them and after you have finished teaching them?

Planning, planning, planning!!!

 

Continuous Professional Development sessions on Online teaching during this period of Lockdown

Our 'Lockdown-Continuous-Professional-Development) Series (CPD) started with us tackling the question:

'What challenges have you encountered when you started teaching online?' https://m.facebook.com/groups/1791597727771197?view=permalink&id=2549745181956444

Different teachers from different sections of the school spoke out. Then we sought solutions to those challenges.

Next, we talked about 'Focusing attention of our learners during our online learning sessions. How do we do this for the various levels?'

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1791597727771197/permalink/2561226250808337/

This week, our CPD session was on Giving Quality Feedback to our learners in different sections of the school, as we teach online.

There was a tie in the assessment results.. This was one of the 2 best results:

Upper Elementary:

1) Quality feedback should be more specific and less ambiguous.

2) Quality feedback should state what went well (WWW) before stating the correction (EBI - Even better if...).

3) Quality feedback should come in an encouraging tone, so that it doesn't become counter-effective.

Mid-Elementary:

1) When giving quality feedback to a person who needs to improve, specify what exactly and the approach to take.

2) Quality feedback should be personalized. Example, by including the child's name.

3) Quality feedback should be timely. It makes the receiver know that you are actively involved.

Lower Elementary:

1) Quality feedback should be given, bearing in mind the individual needs of students.

2) Use of audio enables more quality as it is more engaging.

3) Hosting a one on one meeting with a child is also a very effective feedback method as it boosts the child's morale and makes him/her feel important.

Purple Team (Preschool):

1) Naming children's efforts and success is a great way to give high quality feedback.

2) Quality feedback should also be given during lessons and questions should be asked.

3) Use of stickers and emojis goes a long way for children. It is a type of high quality feedback.

Orange Team (Toddlers):

1) Quality feedback should be given in good and appropriate choice of descriptive words.

2) Appropriate voice tone also enhances the quality of feedback.

3) Positive reinforcement and acknowledgment of improvements make a more quality feedback.

Additional Support Unit:

Quality feedback should be given in a positive and impactful manner.

Giving feedback in a constructive way makes it more qualitative and effective.

Quality feedback should be immediate and timely.

Still on Assessment but Criterion-Referenced-Assessment this time

"What would the learner have to be able to do, to earn an A, B or C in this topic?" This is what we mean by Criterion Based Assessment.

For example, in a Science lesson where assessment is based on various aspects of the experiment and the teacher has to assess if the observatory skills of the learners have been engaged and to what extent they were able to use what was observed to explain the concept being taught; if they can infer and link the experiment to past knowledge and to the world around them, they attain a high level skill in Science ( Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation - the higher tier of the order of thinking), the following would be termed 'Criterion-referenced-assessment:

'to get an A* you must be able to use Scientific knowledge to explain your observations'

Do you empower them with this level of assessment when you set your objectives, knowing that they should be able to self-assess their performance by the end of the lesson?

Don't just give a general target in your lesson objectives, include criteria.😎

What is your take on Formative Assessment?

Culled from: 

Outstanding Teacher's Trainer series - Attaining beyond the limits in your practice Assessment 2B by Olufunmilayo da-Silva

"Formative assessment focuses on teaching and learning. It involves continuing to check on learners' understanding of what the ongoing work is all about.
Formative assessment is the starting point of any lesson. It entails finding out what a learner already knows, understands and can do. Fresh learning should link with learners' previous learning and take it forward..."

Just how effectively do you use this tool to improve the learning experiences in your class?