Guidance for Remote Learning

 This quote is great guidance for remote learning. So many teachers worry about how they will teach students online. They worry about how they will teach this unit through a computer screen. Teachers are concerned about how student learning will take place when they do not have students physically in front of them. The true worry that teachers should have is if their students are okay socially and emotionally. 

All teachers learn about Maslow's hierarchy of needs in their teacher education program.  Maslow's hierarchy of needs states that in order for any learning to take place, students' basic needs have to be met first. This means they need food, clothes, a bed, etc. The next two tiers are safety and then love. A teacher must provide these needs during school to their students when their parents or guardians are unable to. Teachers make sure that their students have lunch to eat. Teachers make sure that their classroom is safe for learning to take place and take risks. This should always be the case no matter the "distance".

When teachers begin remote learning, they need to take into consideration that the distance from teacher to student is different. Students are in their place of comfort, home. Teachers are in their place of comfort, their home. Teachers are inviting their students into their homes and vice versa. Students have to feel safe enough for their teachers to see the inside of their bedroom or another room from their house where they are streaming from. It is a layer of safety and security that comes away because education is a priority. 

When I started remote learning last school year for my students, I was quickly invited into 10 homes on Mondays and Tuesdays and 10 different homes on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays were the most crucial to my relationship with my students. We all were remote on Wednesdays and I used that time in ways I probably was not supposed to. We would have a morning meeting and play a few rounds of a scavenger hunt. Then, I would not jump right into the curriculum, sh don't tell anyone. I scheduled small groups with my students and would do check-ins with them. I spent more time asking about what was going on at home and new and exciting things in my students' lives. For one student, I was one of the first people to "meet" her baby brother because the family was staying home and isolated for safety. That was a special moment for me and something I will always remember. On another occasion, I stayed on Google Meets for an extra 10 minutes helping calm down a student who was sobbing because they lost their work packet for the week and they were home with a babysitter. These moments were so much more important than teaching how to spell multisyllabic words. The distance between myself and my students were so strong because of the efforts that I made to keep the distance short.