Remote Learning Resources
As educators everywhere tackle the challenges of remote learning, we’re committed to providing them real-world, present-tense support. Below, explore resources from the LEAP Learning Series and beyond, in addition to full recordings of past Remote Learning Seminars.
Connectivity and Community
Amid the rapid switch to remote teaching and learning, connection is the key word for educators—as both a human need and a technological one. Find support here for amplifying both sides of the word—from resources to support you with the logistics of new edtech tools to guidance on structuring lessons and assignments to make sure human relationships remain at the center of learning.
Resources from ClassDojo
A Deep Dive from ClassDojo into learning portfolios and how teachers can make the most out of them through the platform.
A walkthrough for family members of the process for posting to a student’s ClassDojo portfolio.
- Explore ClassDojo’s Online Facebook Community
- Watch ClassDojo Tutorials on the platform’s Youtube channel
Resources from R.H. Lee Elementary
- Access the template for the e-learning agendas that fifth-grade teacher Karina Garcia uses to maintain structure and routine through remote lessons.
Relationships, Routines and Resilience
Pamela Cantor, M.D, Founder and Senior Science Advisor of Turnaround for Children, joined Stacy Stewart, Principal of Chicago’s Belmont-Cragin Elementary School, for a discussion on the different traumas and stresses COVID-19 has introduced and amplified, and ways that educators can help manage them amid these new realities.
Resources from Turnaround for Children
A video rundown from Turnaround for Children Founder and Senior Science Advisor Pamela Cantor, M.D., on adversity's impact on the brain.
Pamela Cantor, M.D., was a guest speaker at a Whiteboard Advisors webinar titled, "COVID-19: Supporting Students’ Emotional Health
- Access a full suite of educator-oriented resources that Turnaround made available for LEAP Learning Series participants (password: science)
Resources from Lurie Children's Hospital (provided by Principal Stacy Stewart)
- Download and print a coloring page for children about wearing masks, available in both English and Spanish
- Access Talking to Kids About COVID-19, a glossary of terms related to the current pandemic with explanations tailored to young people
How to Create a Quality Virtual Lesson Plan for Literacy
How can educators apply the principles of powerful lesson planning to remote contexts? In what ways can they approach and utilize digital tools differently to help them plan? In the first of a pair of partner sessions, we explore strategies for bringing engaging, inspiring literacy lessons to life amid remote teaching and learning.
Resources from Lexia
- Explore a comprehensive, practical guide to using Lexia for remote learning
Resources from CICS Irving Park
- Download the template for at-home learning schedules that CICS Irving Park’s Claire Kreller uses with her second graders
- Access the stickers and sticker charts that Ms. Kreller’s students use to track progress toward their goals
- Watch a video example of how Ms. Kreller uses Loom videos for remote instruction
Resources Highlighted by LEAP
- Three Tips for Remote Learning Instruction from UnboundEd
- Remote Learning Guidance and Activities from EL Education
How to Keep Making Moves with Math
Examples have always been a key pillar of great math learning, and right now, teachers have the ability to make them more real than they’ve been before. Following up on the previous week’s literacy focus, we talk with a panel of teachers and innovators about the different opportunities educators have to plan and execute engaging, passion-driven math lessons.
Resources from Schubert Elementary School
- Access the interactive Bitmoji Virtual Classroom that Mary Carey, special education teacher at Schubert, uses to make sure her students and their parents have all their resources in one place. Watch her video tutorials below to learn how you can make the most of them.
Ms. Carey explains how she uses the Virtual Classroom
Ms. Carey shows how to create a Virtual Classroom
- Explore the template for the edtech assignment project management documents that Ms. Carey uses with her students
- Check out a sample weekly lesson plan that Ms. Carey uses to stay aligned with her students, and watch her video tutorial on how to use them
Resources from Haines Elementary School
- Access the Shoutout Templates that third-grade teacher Wendy Liu uses to recognize and celebrate students’ achievements remotely
- Access templates for Ms. Liu’s Remote Learning Schedules, which she uses to plan students’ lessons for the week
- Leverage this template for fraction strips to encourage interactive math learning using the Google Jamboard, an interactive digital whiteboard
Parents as Partners: A Fresh Look at Parent Engagement
The importance of parents in powering remote learning is vital, and they will only grow more critical as we venture into the summer. But just as it goes with our students, there’s no one-size-fits-all way to engage parents—approaches vary depending on a multitude of factors about the adult, the child and the at-home situation. As we transition into an unprecedented summer of learning, we discuss how educators can create systems of structure, support and parent partnership that set students up for success in the fall.
Resources from Stand for Children
- Explore Stand for Children’s Guide to Preventing a Lost School Year., which provides school leaders with a thoughtful overview of the equity-driven questions we should be addressing both during this unprecedented time and in the future
- Explore, in addition, Stand for Children’s teacher-focused Guide for Conducting a Virtual Home Visit
Resources from PowerMyLearning
- PowerMyLearning is offering free Family Playlists® to schools and districts impacted by COVID-19 through August 2020. Explore how to access them on this webpage
- Framework for Teachers on this webpage, a research-based set of instructional practices for teachers to institute equity-focused, community-connected, whole-child instruction.
- Explore this flier, which gives families guiding questions they can ask to support their children with Family Playlists and other homework
- Explore these sentence starters, which help students talk with their family members about what they are learning
- Access graphic organizer resource, which supports families to start conversations with their children about school learning, and to develop a plan to support learning at home
It’s Year’s End. How Do You Know What Progress Your Students Have Made?
Meeting students where they are means figuring out where they’ve been. When we transition back to school after months of distance learning, the task of assessing students’ progress and needs will pose an unparalleled challenge. This will only amplify the need to think beyond one-size-fits-all grade level structures, instead evaluating progress and setting goals according to students’ individual needs. For this finale of the Remote Learning Seminar Series, we look ahead to the fall and explore how educators can foster rigor and engagement after half a year without testing.
Resources from Great Schools Partnership
- Access this short piece, which provides school leaders with a thoughtful overview of the equity-driven questions we should be addressing both during this unprecedented time and in the future
- Explore this this webpage, which both recognizes educators and advocates for equity across our region and presents current resources GSP staff have developed
- Read a recent piece from Great Schools Partnership that contains ten recommendations (and supporting resources) for schools and districts as they prepare for the eventual return of their students
- Check out this blog by Courtney Jacobs and Dan Liebert (GSP Senior Associates) that describes how competency ensures consistency of rigor, and projects support deeper learning and agency.