It’s Not too Late to Press the Reset Button on At-home Learning: Helping Students, Families and Educators Develop the Motivation to Stay Invested in their Learning While Sheltering at Home

Many of you may have seen a popular post on FaceBook entitled, “Suddenly We Slept in One World and Woke Up in Another”. It was shared on our neighborhood blog. The replies were a wake-up call, as well. Whether an educator, parent/caregiver or student, all are struggling with a variety of common issues due to extended school closure. I observe this with my colleagues, as well as family and friends; thus, the motivation for this post. 

If you’re watching television, you’ve likely heard words of wisdom from a number of psychologists on how to deal with multigenerational households all day, every day, and how to best support children who need to continue their learning. Regarding the research on how children grow and develop academically, socially and emotionally, the research is clear. To be succinct, there are two critical points: First, when kids spend their daytime hours in safe, supportive environments where adults endeavor to develop and maintain caring, nurturing relationships, their behavior is more positive, and they are more engaged learners. This includes the school and the home. (https://www.turnaroundusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Key-Findings-and-Implications-of-the-Science-of-Learning-Development.pdf)  

“Because our neural tissues change in response to our environment, our experiences, and our relationships, a young child who faces persistent adversity at home, for example, will frequently retreat into “fight or flight” mode to protect themselves from violence or abuse. Over time, the brain’s circuitry rewires, favoring aggressive or anxious tendencies at the cost of cognition, reasoning, and memory.” (https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-science-learning-classrooms) Likewise, we know that when schools are safe, supportive places, schools and teachers can serve as a protective buffer against the negative effects of stress and override persistent negative experiences in the home, making

caring, long-lasting relationships between adults and children in schools vital.

 (https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-science-learning-classrooms)

So what? This means it is important schools check in on students’ well-being, in addition to their academic needs during this extended closure period. For families, it means in dealing with the frustration of being sheltered in and trying to teach and learn, you must find strength and inspiration in something in order to stay emotionally healthy. Personally, I find inspiration in mediation, prayer, music, reading and walking. We’re not all alike, so think about where you find inspiration, or as Dr. Daniel Amen says, “where you stay safe in a scary world.” The link to his article below offers excellent advice and seven practical steps to retrain your brain to fight anxiety, negativity and panic: https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/yes-you-can-feel-safe-in-a-scary-world/  

We cannot allow our circumstance to negatively affect those who most matter to us.

Second, psychologists agree kids need a routine. When an effective routine is in place, kids and adults alike are less apt to experience chaos; thus, the consequence is less frustration. Stop and think about how much frustration and stress in your life is created by poor organizational habits and the lack of routines. Our minds don’t function well, and we lose our ability to focus when the chaos around us is too distracting. Taking time to get organized and establish a routine lifts a heavy burden!

Below are some ideas and suggestions to think about when organizing your day for at-home learning.

Ideas for Organizing Routines and Supporting Students at Home

§  Get up, bathe and get dressed. Yes, this means do not stay in your pajamas all day!

§  Identify and share with your child the non-negotiable items that must be done for the day or the week. 

§  Create a daily schedule. 

§  Keep tasks short and easy to accomplish. 

§  Break the day into 20 minute tasks. For younger children, 10 minutes is developmentally appropriate.

§  Do the “heavy” stuff in the morning.

§  Set daily goals with positive consequences.

§  Set a target to accomplish 3-5 positive things a day.

§  Start the day with GO Moments (Gratitude/Optimism)

o   Reflect on: What is something you are grateful for?

o   Reflect on: What am I looking forward to?

§  Beyond the assignments given by the school, have your child focus and practice critical social skills and practical living skills, such as specific manners, writing letters, cooking, exercising, music, arts activities, etc. 

§  Set a time to read for enjoyment! 

§  Create a journal or a learning log. 

§  Know what the most important “thing” (idea, information, concept, problem solving) students are to learn for the day, and at the end of the day, reflect to make certain they understand it!

§  Have a family member be a guest teacher via technology, or in person if safe and following social distance guidelines. 

§  Take breaks for a snack, stretching, perhaps a walk, etc.

§  Remember after lunch our brains tend to take a nap, so plan for something interesting, active and engaging.

§  End the day with reflection on, “What did we do well?”

§  Limit social media and video gaming time. 

§  A tip from Mary Anne: Don’t watch coronavirus 24-7!

We acknowledge as schools and families we have shared goals. Presuming positive intent, we assume each is doing their best in this “new normal”. So how do we design a plan that helps us meet as many of those goals as possible. Communication is key!

Extended Distance Learning: Critical Questions for Families and Schools

(If you are a parent or caregiver, these are questions you need answered by staff at your school. If you are an educator, these are questions you want to make certain you have answered through clear communication via technology when possible, or through phone communication when technology is not available.)

§  What if my child does not have a tablet, laptop or other technology device?

§  Has the school surveyed to discover which students have a tablet, laptop or other technology device? 

§  Has the school surveyed to discover which students have internet?

§  What if we don’t have Wi-Fi at home?

§  If we don’t have Wi-Fi, has the school invested in purchasing hotspots?

§  Will teachers check in with students?

§  How often can parents and caregivers expect follow-up communication from the school regarding instruction? …regarding basic needs?

§  How is classroom instruction presented? Paper Packets? Email? Online?

§  Is my child uploading video or accessing online teaching?

§  If online, where does my child go to locate assignments? Websites? Weblinks? Google Classroom? Zoom?

§  If students are learning online, where can I find online tutorials for students and parents/caregivers?

§  If in middle and high school, and regular classes are being taught online, have students and families received a calendar and specific schedule for learning each day?

§  Has the school presented a timeline with targets and deadlines for assignments?

§  How will learning and student products (assignments) be graded during this time?

§  If my child receives support services (Special Education, English Language Learner services, speech therapy and/or counseling services), will these continue during distance learning?

§  Do I have contact information for the following:

o   Attendance and General Inquiries

o   Technology Issues

o   Mentoring (What if my child needs help? Who is responsible for mentoring and how can I contact him/her?)

o   Meals

§  Who can I contact/call for each of the above?

§  What time of the day is someone available for my questions? Who?

Knowledge is power. Parents and caregivers, you need to be advocates for your children when they have problems and concerns, rather than struggling in isolation. In schools where I observe distance learning being implemented most successfully, all school personnel: teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, certified staff contribute to making the above a reality for families. Let’s make “We’re all in this together” more than a cliché.

Project Based Learning: Helpful Reminders

Most of my writing is inspired by the friends and colleagues I have the privilege to mentor and engage with collaboratively. Upon refection, I realize there is a consistency in the conversations we have around Project-Based Learning (PBL). In actuality, the strategies for success when implementing PBL hold true for other collaborative and long-term tasks. Below are a few reminders to reflect upon as we begin a new school year and start to prepare our students and our classrooms for effective teaching and learning.

Be prepared. 

Be intentional in planning and in everything you do. Have overarching and guiding questions to prompt the assignment/project, which should always be aligned to core standards. Carefully consider and embed applicable skills and concepts across content. I like to always include some degree of writing with my assignments. Make certain there is sufficient time, which often means slowing down to adjust instruction. Likewise, make certain there are additional related tasks for students who finish daily goals early, for instance peer conferencing or extended research through related and relevant reading, technology, the arts and other media.

Set clear expectations and goals.

Students must have clearly defined expectations. It is important students understand what proficient processes and products look like; so, be sure to provide criteria for proficiency at the onset of the project. Set goals for a specific period of time, debrief those goals and set next steps. This will help students accept ownership and hold themselves accountable. Any scoring guides, rubrics and proficiency checklists need to be shared upfront.

Carefully design collaborative groups.

This is not the time for random grouping. Group students intentionally. I want students mixed heterogeneously in as many ways as possible. I think about gender, race, ethnicity, and specific skill sets. For instance, I may need a writer and an artist in every group. I consider leadership qualities and behavioral issues. I want to do everything possible on my end to set the group up for success. It is important to provide a tool to ensure accountability for the group’s process. Appropriate examples might be a process assessment rubric or checklist, a collaboration rubric or checklist, a discussion scoresheet, or a group contract. It is essential students understand group norms and the structures within which to work.

Set goals for small, achievable, focused learning targets.

Often teachers focus projects and learning primarily long-term, with no intentional checkpoints built in. This can create frustration for many students who feel overwhelmed with an assignment because they see no end in sight. They simply need more scaffolding to make clear the steps or path which leads them to completion of the task. When projects are broken down into smaller parts, most students feel more confident the final goal and product can be accomplished. 

I like to have goals completed at small intervals or checkpoints, so students feel a sense of accomplishment. The checkpoints provide opportunities to take stock, check for understanding and provide feedback along the way. Checkpoints are reciprocal because they ultimately inform the teacher, offering evidence regarding content knowledge and process as well as when and how to revise instruction. Equally important, checkpoints are an excellent opportunity to celebrate learning successes and give students affirmation.

Ensure accountability.

Make certain students and groups are held accountable for their time daily. In order to make certain students are engaged in learning the necessary learning standards, content and skills, it is important to use a variety of formative assessments, checking for understanding and assessing the process in a continuous and on-going manner. For example, this can be done through, scoring guides, checklists, anecdotal records, Google Docs, project logs, journals, keeping track tools, peer review, and student self-reflections.

Provide feedback early and often.

This is a Grant Wiggins quote. He also insists the feedback must be timely, specific, understandable to the receiver, and allow for adjustment.Students need to understand their strengths as well as their growth needs or areas for improvement. Grades are not feedback; nor are positive comments such as “good job”. The feedback needs to address specifically the thinking and processes necessary to advance the learning. For example, I recently observed a teacher give the following feedback, “The revision you made in paragraph 2 made it much more descriptive; therefore, it created a significantly stronger visual image. Proficient writers revise. It’s a strategy you want to keep.” Note, the feedback in this instance was about both the thinking and the process. Research tells us the greater the delay in giving feedback, the less likely it is that the feedback will be helpful or used. Let’s face it, it’s too late at the end of the assignment to assist the student’s learning.

Reflection is a must.

Reflection and self-assessment are the final stage of the learning cycle. It’s like pushing save in the brain. During reflection students focus on what they have learned, how they have learned it and what they need to do to next to move forward. Students reflect on which processes contributed to success; thus, they keep those for future learning experiences.  Likewise, students need to learn from processes which were not successful and either reflect on how to improve them or discard them. The ultimate goal of the assessment process is self-evaluation for both students and teachers. 

Every learning experience is an opportunity for assessment. As teachers continually observe and monitor learning through record keeping and analyzing student keeping track tools and products, they can create curriculum and design instruction to best meet the ongoing needs of their students in a relevant classroom

Research: It Does Matter!

I read educational research and literature daily and obsessively! Larry and I collaborate and mentor teachers and administrators, so we always want to combine our expertise and experience with the best, most current research-based theory and practice in order to coach our schools and districts to excellence. However, I question to what degree educators value and benefit from the research in our profession. 

On occasion when I quote research in a professional development setting, as a means to authenticate a position or reinforce use of a particular pedagogy, eyes roll. Actively coaching and implementing new instructional and leadership practices are critical to improving teaching and learning, yet too often they take a back seat to less challenging tasks, and or managerial tasks.

In the United States we have access to excellent research: educational theory, brain-based research and evidence-based pedagogy, yet, somehow, results indicate we don’t seem to be connecting the dots. We have the information, but how are we applying it? Are we applying it? Are we applying our knowledge of research consistently, focusing on student needs and outcomes, or are we jumping from one innovation to another looking for that magic solution? Finally, who is accountable for results? 

Peter Serdyukov, Professor at National Universityin La Jolla, California, presents research finding in his publication, “Innovation in education: what works, what doesn’t, and what to do about it?”indicating the United States education system desperately needs effective innovations that can help produce high-quality learning outcomes across the system. He argues, “theprimary focus of educational innovations should be on teaching and learning theory and practice, as well as on the learner, parents, community, society, and its culture” (Serdyukov 2017).

The United States success has always been driven by innovation and has a unique capacity for growth (Zeihan, 2014). It is quite a paradox when we consider the US produces more research than any other country (Science Watch, 2009),yet we do not see much improvement in the way our students are prepared for life and work. The US has produced great scholars and researchers, such as John Dewey, B.F. Skinner, William Glasser, Abraham Maslow, Howard Gardner, Jerome Bruner, and others who have contributed a great deal to educational theory and practice; yet, fifty years of research, along with innovations like the computer and the internet, have yielded change at a pace too slow to significantly improve the quality and outcome of American education.

While we may be struggling in our schools, districts and universities as to how we might integrate these theories and innovations into our classrooms and schools, other nations are benefiting from the research and innovations of the US and have successfully built world-class education systems. It is ironic that success in the Finland education system relied on educational research from the United States. Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish educator and author of a bestselling book, The Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change In Finland, said in an interview to the Huffington Post, “American scholars and their writings, like Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, have been influential in building the much-admired school system in Finland” (Rubin, 2015); so wrote other authors (Strauss, 2014). Likewise, Singapore, Norway, South Korea, China, and other progressive, forward-thinking countries have learned and benefited from exceptional US educational research and ideas. When Singapore gained independence in 1965, two million of its people were unskilled and illiterate. By 2009, Singapore students place near the top for all tested subjects on the Programme for International Assessments (PISA) Tests: fifth in reading, second in mathematics and fourth in science. (Singapore, Edutopia, 2012)

So why is it we don’t benefit from our own research? Larry and I have a few hypotheses, based on experience and conversations with colleagues:

1.  “I don’t have time.” As educators, it often seems there aren’t enough hours in the day. As Charles Braxton is quoted as saying, “You will never find enough time, for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” Let’s be honest, it’s a matter of priorities. 
2. “It’s too hard.” When this is the response, generally educators do what they have always done; therefore, the result will be the same. It is much easier to do the familiar. The familiar is safe, very likely what has been modeled in traditional settings for years. The world has changed dramatically in our lifetime; therefore, we cannot teach the same way we were taught. I cannot think of another profession where we do not want and expect the most current professional pedagogy to be implemented.
3. There is no accountability for implementation of the specific strategies and innovations, which lead to changing practice. Someone must support teachers and administrators in their efforts to implement research-based best practices, and someone must accept accountability for implementation. Enough said!
4. The focus is on state assessment scores rather than mastery of teaching and learning. An incredible amount of time and energy is spent administering standardized state tests, interim tests and constant test prepping that otherwise could be spent on quality instructional and performance tasks, which focus on higher order thinking.We must have trust that research based best practices will empower students to think and problem solve at high levels, thus, transfer to any assessment. How can we have multiple, developmentally appropriate instructional experiences and assessments to achieve balance? First, we must examine our beliefs about specific research and how it impacts pedagogy. 

So, what some of the major overlapping theoretic understandings driving education at the top of the world?

• Learners learn in collaboration with others. Learners need to be a part of a community of learners that invites dialogue, exchange, and collaboration. Instructional planning and practice are collaborative.  Teachers, teams, and students work together to determine what needs to be learned, effective strategies for supporting this learning, and appropriate ways in which to demonstrate learning.
•  Learners learn through multiple intelligences. Instruction employs a variety of strategies. Teachers recognize and incorporate multiple intelligences and learning styles into their classroom instruction, meeting the needs of more students.
• Learners construct meaning for themselves. Learners learn what matters to them. Teachers understand that the most significant and enduring learning is constructed by the learner, with guidance and assistance provided by many people. (Constructivist Theory)
•  Feedback is critical to learning. Students receive clear and focused feedback about their performance on a regular basis.  Providing continuous performance-based feedback increases the student’s capacity to guide their own learning and holds them more accountable for their own learning.
•  Successful technology integration connects the classroom to the outside world. Technology makes learning relevant. It allows students to access and record data, and it allows learners opportunities for expressing understanding via publication and multimedia.
• Mentoring is a highly valuable resource. Mentoring has a positive impact when serving as a strategic purpose to develop leadership and improve teacher quality.

Comments welcome:  What research-based strategies and innovations are you successfully implementing?