Tag: distant learning

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Will Distance Learning Ever Really Go Away?

Digital learning is no stranger to any teacher across the globe. COVID-19 has overtaken so many aspects of our lives, and schools have taken a hard hit as well. 

Google Classrooms

Zoom 

Google Drive with sheets, docs, and more

Prezi 

More Zoom. 

Emails on emails on emails. 

And Zoom. 

All things that majority of teachers are all too familiar with. 

Someday, our lives will go back to normal. Someday, far in the future, we won’t have to wear masks, apply hand sanitizer every three minutes, or tremble in fear when we accidentally cough at the grocery store. Instead of hearing coronavirus in the present tense, it will all be past tense. Someday we will be reading about the toilet paper shortages in history books and recalling memories of quarantine to our kids and grandkids that were too young to remember. 

But when it’s all over, will our schools go back? Will we continue to have our standardized learning that took place before COVID? A teacher using technology as a resource in the classroom. Or, will this pandemic change our teaching? Will Zoom still continue to be a meeting place for teachers, administration, and students? If we didn’t have to spend the gas and time driving to a common location but instead meet from the comfort of our own homes, will we? Or is there an added value of face-to-face communication? 

I’m eager to see how our world changes and adapts to this new-normal, even when the pandemic is over. What are your thoughts? Will everything go back to how it used to be, or are we adapting and changing? 

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A Free EdTech Resource For The Classroom And Distance Learning: Virtual Field Trips

I originally planned to write about virtual field trips in late May after I went to the UCET conference in Provo, Utah. I was pumped up and ready to dive deep into virtual learning/ using technology in education! However, soon after the UCET conference, COVID took over our education systems, forcing us to use technology to learn, socialize, and even grocery shop. By late May, I couldn’t bring myself to write about one more technology use in the classroom because I was burnt out. And I’m not even teaching right now, so I cannot imagine how educators feel!! Instead of writing about my original plan of virtual field trips, my post on slowing down and remembering the simple, one-room schoolhouse came about instead. It felt more appropriate. 

Now that I’ve had a break from writing about the tech world for a little span on time, I feel more ready to write about my original idea. Here it is: virtual field trips.

Did you know virtual field trips were a thing? I did not! Don’t you (especially those social study teachers) wish you could put all of your students on an airplane each year and bring them to Alcatraz or the Eiffel Tower? While there are so many reasons this can’t work out, there is one simple way you can do this with your students. It’s simple. It really, truly is so simple and FREE. 

Do you have a computer? Good. Open Google Maps. Search your desired location. Turn on street view. You’re there. You did it. See, I told you it was simple!

Matt from Ditch That Textbook wrote about it here on his website that gives you a better rundown of exactly how to use it to its full potential. Or if you’re looking for an even easier route, he put links to 20 different field trips for you. All you have to do is click the link and you’re magically walking through Yellowstone National Park.

Matt was our keynote speaker at UCET and where I learned this new trick. His website is packed full of great educational tips and free resources, never once would he link us or send us down a path that costs money, he truly believes educational materials should be free and is doing a wonderful job at accomplishing this.

A screenshot from my computer during a virtual field trip. A cell in Alcatraz.

It may not have the same impact as walking the streets themselves, but I will attest to the fact that it’s more engaging than pictures in a textbook or on a computer. It’s different, it’s interactive, and it’s educational. 

Another screenshot from my Alcatraz field trip.
The White House

I invite you to play with these virtual field trips this summer while school is out so that when your students come back in the fall you can be ready to do this in the classroom with them, or send them home with the assignment to explore a new place during distant learning. When you’re done, come on back here and let me know how it went and share any tips you have for other teachers! 

Cover photo from pexels.com

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COVID-19 Time Capsule For Kids

A mom somewhere out there with kids at home during this global pandemic recognized an opportunity for keeping a record of the history that is being made right now as we speak. She created a FREE printable of a time capsule for kids to fill out. It’s all information that someday they can look back on and serve as a memory for this time in our lives.

Here’s what the time capsule looks like, and how I’m doing it with my 2.5 year old daughter.

This is only four of the 11 included pages full of great information for your child to fill out. And it’s doable with tiny kids that can’t write too! Our time capsule looks a lot of scribbling and random marks with me filling in information that my daughter reiterates to me. I ask her all of the questions and try to fill in exactly what she says.

I pulled out the crayons for her to add some color, but having a pen to use was much more exciting to her, so we went with it! I love that this time capsule is so her right now and that years down the road we can look back and remember her obsession with pens and Doc McStuffins. It’s also easy to do one page, then come back when you’re ready to continue with the rest of the pages. No rush in getting it done fast- the pandemic seems to be taking its sweet time!

The mom who made this has taken over the internet quickly with how popular it became, if you Google “kids COVID time capsule” you can see news article after news article about her and how generous she was in sharing this with the world!

Go ahead and share this fun activity with your kids, your friends, neighbors, and students! They are going to love it just as much as we are. You can find the link to download the time capsule printable here.