Five Things First-Year Teachers Should Know About Distance Learning
By: Aj Krow
Tags: Teaching, Life, Education, Learning, Life Lessons

Five Things First-Year Teachers Should Know About Distance Learning

As a fifth-year teacher, I offer this advice to all of the first-year teachers who will be teaching virtually.

Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

During the spring of 2020, many teachers experienced what it would be like to teach virtually for the first time. Based on our experiences, here are five tips you should know before you begin your first year of teaching virtually.

Many students won’t know how to login or submit the assignment

One of the hassles most teachers dealt with post-spring break was student logins. Most students had never used their login information to access school resources since it was never required. Teachers called parents the week after spring break to help students log in to Google Classroom before they could assign their students any work.

Before you plan what you want to teach the first week, make sure you know where to access students’ login information and parent contact information. Prepare yourself mentally to make more phone calls than a telemarketer.

Finally, make sure you familiarize yourself with using Google Classroom (or whatever program your school decides to use). If students don’t know how to submit the assignment, call their parents to help guide them through it.

Remember there are veteran teachers who are less tech-savvy than you are who will be calling and emailing the IT department non-stop with the same questions. If you have a question about how to upload an assignment, either Google it or be prepared to wait a while.

Don’t scold them for not completing the assignment

It’s challenging to build a positive classroom environment online. There is little interaction from the students, who only log in to complete the assignment five minutes before it’s due.

During these trying times, passing your class is the last thing on their minds. Some kids looked for a part-time or full-time job when schools closed in the spring and have no plans to quit when they’re earning a steady income. Other kids babysit their siblings and help them with their homework before they do their own.

Some kids don’t have access to the internet at home and can’t go online until their parents come home from work to drive them to the nearest public Wi-Fi. Some kids do their work on their cellphone because they can’t afford a laptop.

If they don’t turn in the work by your deadline, give them a day or so before you reach out. Don’t call the morning of because it was a few hours late. Completing your assignment is the last thing on their mind.

When they do complete the work, send them a positive note as feedback after you’ve graded it. It might be the only positive thing they hear that day.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

Reach out to your colleagues

One of the worst blessings are professional development meetings. Usually, teachers feel it’s a waste of their time since they’ve heard the strategies presented countless times before.

On occasion, veteran teachers will learn a thing or two and implement these new teaching skills in their classroom. Since schools will not be meeting in person, it’ll be more difficult for you to interact and make small talk with veteran teachers during these meetings and build relationships with them.

Engaging in small talk with veteran teachers during professional development meetings shows you who’s friendly enough to help you and provide guidance when needed. Even though the meetings will now be virtual, you can still ask them for help.

Send them an email after your Microsoft Teams or Zoom call. Let them know you’re a first-year teacher. Most of them will be more than willing to help you with whatever you need.

Find curriculum online for free

In the event your school district has incomplete or outdated curriculum, look for free resources online. A quick Google search will help you find a plethora of resources available for you to use.

Teacherspayteachers.com provides paid and some free curriculum for teachers. If you want the good stuff, be prepared to shell out a few hundred dollars for premium curriculum. For example, a semester’s worth of curriculum for high school world history costs between $100-$400.

If you don’t have the means to pay for the curriculum, there is still plenty of free resources available. If you are struggling to find free curriculum, try searching for individual lesson plans that meet your school district’s objectives.

For example, search for “free Ancient Greece high school lesson plans” on Google. Some teachers create blogs with their lesson plans available to the public. Just remember to tweak the lesson plan to your liking and to meet your school district’s objectives.

Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash

Save your first paycheck

When your first paycheck comes in, it might be the biggest check you’ve ever received in your lifetime. You will feel ecstatic and might want to spend it. But there is something you need to remember.

No job is guaranteed right now. According to Reuters, almost half a million school personnel were laid off nationally in April 2020. No matter what politicians say or do, your job is not guaranteed. School districts will do what they need to do if the budget is cut or rerouted to other expenses.

Once your paycheck comes in at the end of the month, pay off necessary expenses and save the rest in a high-yield savings account.

Conclusion:

One of the most common sayings among veteran teachers is “your first year will always be your worst”. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. So long as you follow these simple guidelines, you will survive, possibly thrive, during your first year of teaching.

If you’re worried about what teaching will look like when classes go back to being in-person, check out my article here of things you should have learned in your college education courses to prepare you for your first year of teaching.