In various live Q&A sessions I do with groups of teachers in my programs, whether that’s the weekly Q&A in Flipped Classroom Formula or either of the monthly Q&A sessions I do for Sustainable Psych Teacher or my Insider’s Group, one of the most asked questions and top concerns teachers have had in preparing for and implementing their blended or virtual classrooms this year has been…

Testing.

Welcome to week two of the 5-part Virtual Teacher Series where we at Teach On A Mission™ hope to shine a light of positivity on all the hard work being done by teachers to prepare the virtual aspects of their classrooms, as well as offer some encouragement and strategies for those teachers.

This week we are focusing on, you guessed it, testing in the virtual classroom.  (If you haven't yet, now would be a good time to go check out week one's post here).

Testing in the traditional classroom is a pain in and of itself.  It’s one that teachers...

Whether your building will be in a completely virtual setting or a mixed bag with the blended model, grading is going to shift in some way in your classroom this coming school year.

And, just like in our Flipped Teacher Facebook group last week, I have a challenge for you...

Let it.

Let the pandemic and the reality of remote learning thrust upon us make a shift in your grading structures.  I don't necessarily know what it should look like, or what the paradigm of grading will ultimately be, but I'd like to contribute some thought-provoking points on this whole grading thing, especially in the context of distance learning.

The Change we've been asking for

Could this pandemic and the necessity of remote learning be the catalyst we've needed to make some large, and necessary paradigm shifts in education?  Particularly with grades?

I don't necessarily have the answer to that question, but it seems to me that if we teachers have been begging for less testing, more authentic,...

As we get closer to the 2020-2021 school year, we're feeling more and more uncertain.  Let me give you a friendly reminder... we still have time.  And I hope you can think on that, take a deep breath, and slow your mind down in order to enjoy a bit of your summer, but at the same time know that those deep breaths only last so long.

At least they don't last very long for me either.

I hope that this blog can serve as a platform for thoughtful consideration of your classroom should it need to remain online, become blended, or even want to flip in a normally scheduled setting.

Either way, all teachers, more than ever, want that safe, welcoming classroom atmosphere, and I hope to help you build that no matter the setting for next year.

The Big Shift to Online or Blended Classrooms

I am a firm believer in the power of mindset.  When I use that term I feel super trendy, but don't want the trendiness to be the focus.  Instead the focus should be on the simplicity of the...