SEL (Social Emotional Learning) provider presented this very informative webinar which you can view here,
or read my very rough notes below.
Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond— Stanford
Linda noted that many special needs kids are doing better with remote. If we can bottle the BEST of what is being done by remote— bottle it and share it to improve education— Social emotional should be the first thrust— including looping and teacher conferring with prior year teacher.
From LD-H: Teachers need to spend the first couple weeks making connections, figuring out what kids have experienced, understanding who they need, addressing other resources to those families, model caring, build caring and trust. BEFORE THE academic learning. Much less testing!!— Teachers need to have time to confer with teacher from prior year on each student.How do we support teachers learning from teachers— how do we support the spread of innovation.?
Dr. Tyrone Howard — UCLA our goal is to get students back to school, but remote learning is working for some students— more autonomy, flexibility— need to see how virtual learning must be employed going forward. Great teachers in person are great online. Our kids can multi-task. We must shift away from a deficit approach -we need to start to see what is positive.
Dr. Doug Fisher— San Diego State They have lost a lot of learning experiences. But we must change the narrative. They are where they are. Our job is to teach them. We should not be talking about deficits- learning compromised- do not do labeling— Survey #s on lack of student engagement should not be used to determine whether distance learning works.What happened last term was not “distance learning” — it was “pandemic teaching”— it was not planned, supported with professional development and systems.Move kids from low level of engagement from participating to driving? To high levels of engagement. Better achievement at higher levels.
Teachers need to demonstrate and lead students to collaborate and guide students to practice.
Teachers, and all of us, have to do what we want students to do: engage in productive struggle.Learn new ways to teach and communicate (use technology in new ways)Make student co-host, etc. Mess up, don’t give up. Take risks. Build confidence, then competence.
In the old days children worked the farm, now we need children to work the technology.How can parents get involved— Online relations now develop— dating— Empathy, compassion, care, trustHow can we support parents to help their kids— a major lift
Ask parents: What is hard for you to teach at home?— El parents do not know how to teach writing, Parents do not need to be the teachers, We need to provide prompts— please get student to watch— give the parent guides.
Studies of other school closures— there is no proof that learning is lost from fires, etc. effect size is near zero.Teachers need to focus on what the kids need to learn.
What should teachers be talking about/advocate?
— Being in a school setting that supports what you do. Schools need redesign.
Home visit or early call— 20-30 minutes per parent.
Make the time, pay for it, fit it into the schedule so the parent teacher relationship is established
High School students need a home base. We need to redesign an advisory system— teachers be responsible to 15- 20 kidsTeachers reach out to those parents. HS teachers who have 180 kids cannot deliver the closeness needed to each student.
Shared planning time– time is needed to connect with each parent/family. Time to connect with each student. Don’t worry about meeting every standard.
Think of the most important points: traits of character, resilience, growth mindset, academic traits, year to year, ability to read and write— carry forward across the grades– Habits of mind and habits of heart.