While this distance learning seems to be a little more long term than we thought (or would like), we should probably begin to think through what reopening looks like for your classroom. These thoughts can come in handy when you reopen your (physical) classroom:
1. Determine student skills sets
Before we do anything else, we need to identify what skill sets each student progressed, maintained, or regressed in. This will make grouping for review easier and more effective. By grouping students by skill set levels, you can maximize the instructional time needed to review before you are able to move on to new skills and standards.
2. Look back to standards not addressed before closing
You might want to ask yourself, what standards were not addressed before the closing? For many, most standards were done as we were moving into the state testing windows, but double check that students had learned standards that they might need before moving on to the new ones.
3. Have a plan to bridge the gap created from the closing
Plan ahead. School might look different at the end of this year/beginning of next school year. While we often have to provide a short window fo review at the beginning of the year, your students will have some gaps that need to closed before you move on to this year’s standards. So make a plan that
incorporates what you know about your students and their gaps.
4. Plan to review longer than you think
Since this next school year might be different, so will the pacing guide. It’s out the window this year. You might need more than a month to bring your class to a place to learn the standards. So give yourself (and your students) some grace by planning for longer than you think you might need. If you end up not needing it, great! Then you can incorporate some plans you may have had to cut before.
5. Prioritize standards to maximize instructional pacing for the year
This might be something that your state or district will do, but considering the time missed this school year, you may not be able to teach all the standards for the new year. With that in mind, prioritizing the standards will be essential. It will give you a laser focus on the most important components to ensure student success and learning.
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