Back to Hybrid Virtual Distance School: Resources for Teachers and Families to Maximize Learning

Back in Mid-March when schools began closing their doors due to Covid-19 and attempting to transition to virtual learning, I shared "A Family Survival Guide for Keeping the Learning Going at Home". My goal was to assemble some ideas and resources for parents who suddenly found themselves in all-new roles as their children's main source of instruction. "Mixed results" is probably the kindest way to describe how families and education, in general, handled March, April, May, and June. Some kids and schools thrived while others threw in the towel long before their scheduled last day.

As schools re-open this August and September, there will be a hodgepodge of plans in place. Whether schools are going back all-day-everyday, in some hybrid model, or fully online, most administrators and teachers have spent a huge chunk of their summer creating digital resources, determined to provide far better online learning experiences than in the Spring. Even schools planning on a traditional opening want to be ready for another possible shut-down or want to have quality materials online in case a student has to miss extended periods of time in the coming year. Schools are also committed to placing fewer burdens on parents when it comes to providing instruction. Parents should be supporters of the experience and not feel like they are the ones delivering instruction.

While assembling my own digital tools and lessons for the coming year, I created the following site Resources for Teaching Remotely. Although it may seem like it is just for teachers, there are a lot of tools families will find useful when helping their kids through their online work.