CTK Teachers Adjusting to Virtual Teaching

The shift to remote learning for the start of the school year has required both students and teachers to make adjustments. Our teachers have risen to the challenge, from guided meditations and emotional temperature checks to begin classes, to the use of interactive programs like Loom, Nearpod, and EdPuzzle to create more engaging and rigorous lessons. Math teacher, Mr. Shao Guo reflects on the modifications to his teaching methods below.

How has the school year and virtual learning been going for you so far?

Virtual learning has forced me to teach in a more visual and interactive way, and I think I will use the practices I have learned during this time when we come back to school in-person. Lots more collaboration, a lot less lecturing, and more activities than before. It has helped to have synchronous classes because I get to have interaction with the whole class and I believe this has increased asynchronous participation as a result.

For the challenges of virtual learning and interacting with your students, what things have you done to help address or minimize them?

It has helped to have routines in class to bond us, like playing "Name that Tune" as an icebreaker in the beginning of every class. I have learned through trial and error to incorporate many opportunities to check in on how students are doing and give students active learning chances as much as possible, such as doing a practice question individually or having students answer questions collaboratively. This allows me to see visually how the students are processing a problem. It is like allowing each student to have a whiteboard in class and then hold up their answers. Students can also see other students' contributions which has helped build community and structure to lessons.