Thread by @Miss_R_Teach

1/ My school has satellite campuses spread over the UK, which means we do a lot of remote/online teaching, especially at KS4 and KS5. Here's [an accidentally enormous] thread of what I've learned over the past 3 years. Hope it helps! #UKEdChat #closetheschoolsuk #Covid_19

2/ First a couple of caveats... This is assuming your students have internet access, and doesn't take into account the vast majority of SEN or other issues that might be specific to your situation.

3/ It's also based on my experience as a secondary History teacher in England - YMMV depending on age/subject/location, and what I say is definitely not going to work for everyone.

4/ Some of these might be preaching to the choir, but I've included everything I can think of in the hopes that at least one thing will help you. Finally, my DMs are open if you have any questions (but please be nice!)

So, without further ado... an enormous thread!

5/ I’ve already seen a lot of people worried that they’ll have to reteach everything the moment schools open again. Yes and no - if your students aren’t used to remote learning, you’re going to go through a lot less content than you would normally.

6/ Give students the basic content to learn, and plan that when you come back to the classroom you’ll then put the content into use. Your HA students will have probably learned content differently to MA and LA students – how can you use this to your advantage?

7/ Video conferencing will change your life. If you can swing it, this is one of the most useful tools to have in your teaching arsenal. We use Zoom, but you can just as easily organise yourself on Google Hangouts or Skype - ideally with students on camera, too.

8/ Set guidelines as a school - safeguarding is a big deal where video is involved. We actually have a whole-school policy that is sent to parents, students, and staff.

9/ Our policy includes the following:

- Cameras must remain on at all times during the lesson
- Students must be in school uniform
- Students must be in a public part of the house (i.e. not in their bedroom), preferably with a plain wall behind them

10/ Depending on your class, it might be easiest to have them on camera (or at least, in the video call) for an entire period, or perhaps you only want them on for part of a taught session. It's up to you.

11/ I’ve found the best lessons are ones where you have a 10-15 minute session, then let them crack on with an activity, before bringing the class back for 10-15 at the end. Again, YMMV and you know your students best.

12/ Some ways in which I use this time:

- Q&A session (sometimes I get them to email me questions beforehand, and sometimes these are optional)
- Introducing a new topic – particularly if you’re not confident that your students will watch a pre-recorded video

13/ - Group work/discussions/debates
- Presentation of work that students have completed earlier
- Talking through an exam skill (e.g. doing an I/We/You for an essay)
- Just to say hi and make sure my students are okay!

14/ Your next very useful digital tool: an online classroom of sorts. Our schools use Canvas already, but if you're setting up something new I've heard good things about Google Classroom or other equivalents.

15/ This is going to be where you set work, and if you're really tech-savvy you can also use it to collect and grade said work as well. If you can’t do this, even having a blog set up with instructions is going to help you out a little.

16/ Make instructions as clear as possible for both the students and their parents/carers. Provide a variety of resources to help them if they get stuck – even scans/photos of textbook pages can help.

17/ You could even add a list of bonus resources for if students want to go deeper – GCSEPod, Heggarty, or whatever else you might use. Speaking of resources...

18/ Think carefully about these! None of us want to super-charge our workload by creating entire new things just because we're not face-to-face with our kids.

19/ You know the drill - YouTube, Khan Academy, Clickview, TES, even Twitter are all going to have some great resources for you.

20/ There are already threads on Twitter from teachers willing to share resources and lesson livestreams (seriously, how amazing are these people!) - make the most of them and make sure your students are aware of them.

21/ Some I'm aware of already are @Primrose_Kitten and @RogersHistory - these are two I saw when I first logged into Twitter today and I'm sure there are millions more! If possible, get in touch with these people and work out how you can embed their resources into your timetable.

22/ Speaking of, stick with a timetable - this is for your own sanity as well as your students! If possible, work out what you’re doing for a week ahead and share that with pupils.

23/ Here’s an example for year 8 (B&W) and year 13 (colour) – you can go as simple or complicated as you like, but it’ll support students who might already be struggling with a break in routine to know exactly what’s coming up and when.

24/ More open-ended tasks can work better in times like these. Give students options for how they want to complete their work – I know we don’t want to go back to those dreaded Nandos-themed homework menus, but what about something like this amazing activity from @KKNTeachLearn?

25/ There are some great websites that will help you with flipped learning. You want the ones that are engaging but that also help you track student involvement. Set up a 'classroom', make sure your students can all log in (either using an email or a username).

26/ Quizlet and Quizizz are AMAZING, particularly if your students are competitive and want to keep themselves on the leaderboard. @Kahoot has their self-paced challenge mode but they're also offering their distance learning tools for free if you're closed because of COVID-19.

27/ Seneca Learning is another great tool that is directly linked to the exam board (if you're not already using it, you should definitely get on it!). 28/ There are also subject-specific sites like Tassomai and Heggarty – some schools may already have access to sites like these.

29/ If you want to play with more digital tools, Western University (@WesternU) has a great list of tools organised by both student and teacher outcomes in their eLearning Toolkit at elearningtoolkit.uwo.ca.

30/ Some kind of tracking system for incoming work is essential. I know on Canvas we have the option to mark all submissions as 'complete/incomplete' just so we can keep track of who is submitting what – what can your equivalent system be? How will you follow up when you reopen?

31/ STUDENT VOICE. Oh my goodness, SV is invaluable when it comes to remote teaching. Depending on how long closures carry on, you're going to find that you need to constantly re-evaluate how you teach - just like you do in the classroom. Make them compulsory.

32/ Ask students to be brutal with their WWW and EBI. Some things you could ask: How confidently could you answer an exam question on this tomorrow? What are your other teachers doing that you want me to start doing? (This one is great for stealing good ideas 😂)

33/ What is/isn't working? Rank your understanding of [insert topics here]. Use the SV to inform your remote teaching - do you need to record a short video to address misconceptions or go deeper into a topic?

34/ If you have the chance, do some reading on flipped learning. While it might not entirely suit your subject, the theory behind it might influence exactly how you go about this remote teaching. I'm happy to share recommendations if you want them!

35/ To be honest, you might find yourself with a bit more free time than expected. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to dig into some of those teaching books I still haven’t managed to open…!

36/ Finally, don’t panic. Just like teaching in a classroom, teaching digitally can have good days and bad days. Some days you’ll think, “Oh man, that was the coolest lesson ever.” Other days, you’ll think, “Wow, I am a Garbage Teacher Who Only Teaches Garbage Lessons.”

37/ You’re going to have some kids return with excellent subject knowledge, and others who are mysteriously a lot better at TikTok dances than they were a few weeks ago. But hopefully this thread has assuaged some concerns and got you thinking about how best to use this time.

38/ Huge shoutout to all the people I tagged in this thread and also anyone else doing amazing stuff to help prep teachers for the potential of school closures - I hope you don't mind me using your names here!

Giant thread, signing off!