7 Effective Ways to Master the Art of Classroom Management
Classroom Management

One of the very few things in the world that are not subjective is efficacy. Efficacy is measurable and is often looked at in terms of results produced. As an educator, a teacher’s productivity is often assessed in the positive changes added to the classroom. Needless to say, given how diverse student behaviors are, you can sometimes face unprecedented challenges. With a diverse class where students are not engaged enough, classroom management needs a top-notch approach. As a teacher, when you blend your vast knowledge with result-oriented classroom management strategies, you catapult massive positive changes. 

The impacts of a teacher’s efficacy are linked to student accomplishments directly. To substantiate, as per a study, systematic classroom management is linked to a 20 % increase in student achievement. Besides, students, these days are competitive and immensely curious as well.

They are happy to learn something new every day and add value to their life. However, there would always be some disengaged students disrupting the balance of the classroom. On top of it, there would be some notorious elements in the classroom creating nuisance all around. That is where your management skills will be put to the test each day. 

Of course, you are a fantastic teacher who is happy to go out of your way to better your students. You need to be a great leader and manager as well to master classroom management.

In this meticulous post, you will find some unique and pragmatic classroom management strategies. You are doing a great job already, but you can always make things better and easier for you with some innovation. Let us shed light on how you can ace the art of classroom management.

Foster working student-teacher relationships 

In the corporate world, workplace communication and relationships are vital. They are among the core prerequisites of high employee engagement.

Similarly, for high engagement in the classroom, healthy student-teacher relationships are critical. These relationships should be driven by mutual trust and collaboration. It is true for sure that students should respect their teachers.

At the same time, a teacher should respect students’ uniqueness, diversity, beliefs, and perspectives. To indulge students in active learning, you should empower your students and their ideas. This engagement further has the potential to translate into more outstanding academic achievements. 

Besides, you should inspire in them the confidence that you are always happy to answer the curious questions they ask. In this way, you will be able to foster a culture of collaboration.

Your students will not be hesitant to share their emotions, feelings, and concerns with you. That is how ideal and healthy relationships should be, isn’t it? As an added advantage, amiable student-teacher relationships also fulfill the social-emotional learning requirements. But in the present trends of hybrid learning, the dynamics are different.

Student-teacher relationships will take a setback as students have not met teachers for a long time in the pandemic. You might have to evolve better strategies to build working relationships in virtual classrooms. Here are a few suggestions in this regard.

  • Among the simplest and most effective strategies is the practice of sharing peer-to-peer feedback in virtual classrooms. 
  • Conduct parent-teacher conferences to clearly discuss and outline student progress with families. By having direct conversations with students and their parents, teachers can clearly communicate student progress, evaluate strengths, address needs, and offer advice and solutions to continue student advancement.
Parent Teacher Conference Template for Classroom Management Strategies
Parent Teacher Conference Template (Click on the template to edit it online)
  • You can ask students about their well-being and also about the overall wellness of their families.
  • In addition to promoting the overall idea of wellness, you can also keep a check on the mental health of students. Empathy for mental wellness is a key determinant of effective relationships these days 
  • You can greet each student individually by calling out their names
  • You can explain to them during online classes how they can reach out to you for individual doubts 
  • You can find ways to motivate students during online classes. This can come in the form of storytelling or you can run small snippets that promote inspiration 
  • Give students a small window of time during classes to display their talents. If someone wants to recite a poem towards the end of the class or narrate a story or share their paintings, let them. In fact, you should encourage students to do so. This will inspire in them greater confidence to express themselves. 
  • Have everyday customs and traditions that are a part of the class. These ideas can include the picture of the day, you narrating the thought of the day, sharing pictures of pets, and so on. 
  • Innovate on extending additional and effectual support to students who face difficulties in online learning. Try to understand their challenges and offer tender help. 
  • Educate students about time management and the management of digital fatigue

Reward improvements 

In most cases, we only celebrate achievements and results. But as a teacher, to get the best out of your classroom, you need to make students believe in the process.

One amazing way of doing that is identifying, celebrating, and rewarding improvements. By doing so, you can capture your students’ motivation and make them believe that every iota of hard work counts. Be it the corporate world or a classroom, rewards, and recognition are worthwhile elements of effective management.

You should make sure that you are not limiting your perspectives when you think of classroom management. You need to look outside the box and do the little unique things that others often underestimate. 

When students see their fellow pupils win a teacher’s appreciation, they would want to be at the receiving end of it as well. Who does not like to be rewarded and complemented in front of his peers after all? The next time a student shows promising signs of improvement, let that be known to the class.

Effectual classroom management does require setting some good examples. These are the kind of examples that would set the benchmark for others.  Even in a virtual classroom, you can extend your appreciation for students in a convenient manner. 

Explore the possibilities of conducive collaboration 

The old-school ways of stimulating collaboration may require some tweaks in times of remote learning. Student engagement in more than one way correlates to collaboration between classmates.

Further, as mentioned above, it is also dependent on how students and teachers work together. You should look to find more opportunities for providing students the platforms to collaborate. This can be done in the form of group activities or bringing creative extracurricular activities to the classroom. 

With effective collaboration between them, students can manage their time better. Besides, it enables them to bifurcate a complicated task into smaller steps. Students learn from each other’s strengths and compensate for each other’s weaknesses.

Imagine when students start to manage each other so well, how proud a teacher you would be. Hence, by giving them the chance to collaborate, you empower them to play an active classroom management role. Your job is made simpler.

However, creating conducive collaboration in remote learning or hybrid learning will require modern solutions. You need to find productive ways of achieving high-scale virtual collaboration. One fabulous idea of doing so will be to use virtual whiteboards or state-of-the-art visual workspaces to simplify collaboration in remote setups. 

By using digital platforms like Creately Visual Workspaces, students and teachers can collaborate and share knowledge in the most engaging and effective way. Such advanced workspaces are among the most accomplished verticals of artificial intelligence and innovation.

On these workspaces, students and teachers can collaborate in real-time to work on projects, plan together, execute plans in a coordinated manner and supervise each other’s work during group projects.

To add, students can work together for brainstorming ideas and teachers can offer additional support through such trailblazing platforms. While it makes teaching more wholesome for educators, it enhances the learning efficiency in students by many notches.

Six-Thinking-Hats-Template
Six Thinking Hats Template to Facilitate Online Brainstorming (Click on the template to edit it online)

From students to working professionals, these virtual workspaces are benefitting millions of individuals in remote setups. It would not be incorrect to say that these futuristic workspaces are replicating traditional classrooms in the most proficient manner.

In fact, these are also alleviating the drawbacks of classroom teaching. Such an accomplished workspace is as good as a classroom or even better. They hold the key to the future of education and to integrate it to the earliest will be a masterstroke. 

Create leadership opportunities in the classroom 

One simple and successful way of engaging people is to give them important responsibilities. When people are given leadership roles, their attitudes change for the better.

They can relate to an enhanced sense of self-worth and see themselves as driving positive influences on others. In a classroom setting, one great way to manage students is to give them responsibilities. You further need to communicate to them what is expected of them as a leader. 

To cite a small example, you should try giving leadership roles to some disengaged students in the classroom. Further, you should give them some important responsibilities and tell them that you are always there to support them.

When a disengaged student is given the crucial task of managing others, they will engage effectively by default. Making students realize they are worthy and giving them the chance to assess themselves by delegating tasks to them can be a rewarding strategy.

It makes students realize what they are capable of. At the least, such opportunities indulge students in learning essential life skills. Even the most minor leadership roles like being the class monitor or group leader in projects can change a person’s mindset.

Convey the true purpose of learning to students 

Most students are influenced by the impression that the mere purpose of learning is to pass exams. The real purpose of education and learning is hence flawed in most parts of the world and takes the backseat. The idea of education in its entirety is centered around examinations and grades but you can take progressive measures to change these preconceived notions.

As an educator, you can play a great role in explaining to your students the real purpose of education and knowledge. You need to guide them that knowledge is something that will stay with them throughout their lives. For instance, you can tell them about yourself and other successful people you know about.

In doing so, you can emphasize the importance of education in adding to your illustrious success story. There are many stories of success to narrate to students but because you are their fondest role model, your narrative will have a great influence on them. You can tell them how the world has come so far because of education and how it continues to overhaul the world for the better. 

They need to know how a specific element of learning will benefit them in life. How will it add value to their learning, and how will it impact their career and personality development. Otherwise, in a scenario where students are convinced that learning is all about clearing exams, they will not engage in the classroom.

They will be complacent that they can cram things a few days before the exams and clear them. Besides, they will devalue classroom learning with such a mindset and will rather engage in disruptive behaviors disturbing the class.

However, when they are made to understand the actual essence of learning, they will be more focused. They will want to learn actively. Given that, most challenges you face in classroom management can be neglected by default. 

Address discipline issues with immediate effect

Be it a virtual class or a physical classroom, disruptions, and interruptions need to be addressed immediately. Not doing so can make students believe that it is fine to disrupt the class. This can ruin the classroom’s balance and affect students who want to learn for real. However, it is recommended that you be polite and well-poised even in addressing inappropriate classroom behaviors.

To manage a classroom in a worthwhile manner, you should reinforce the importance and the need to maintain discipline regularly. Students should know that even if you are a cordial teacher, you will not tolerate indiscipline. 

It is not necessary that you have to punish the students for creating a nuisance. Misbehavior can also be managed with love and tenderness. But pointing out indiscipline right at the moment as it happens is essential.

You have to model discipline in the classroom. Further, even in a virtual classroom, you need to model the kind of behavior that you expect from your students. To cite a small example, if students see you perfectly manage your distractions while taking an online class, they will act in the same way.

They will know that it is inappropriate to use their phones or tablets in the middle of an online class. On the other hand, if they see you using your phone often during class, they might do the same. They will then feel that it is perfectly alright to do so.

Being a leader, you have to set fine and worthy examples for students to follow. You have to lead with an example and do complete justice to your share of leadership responsibilities. 

Set the balance right in your hybrid classrooms 

Hybrid learning or blended learning are new realms of learning people are still getting used to. It may seem challenging to manage at times, but we should be thankful.

It is an amazing way to ensure that you and your students stay safe in the pandemic. Besides, it also makes sure that students do not lose complete touch with traditional classroom learning. So, you have to invest proper planning in managing your hybrid classes.

Setting the balance right between online learning and physical classes is the key here. Here are some ways in which you can effectively manage your hybrid classes.

Lesson Plan Template for Classroom Management Strategies
Lesson Plan Template (Click on the template to edit it online)
  • Make plans interactive by sharing links with your students 
  • Share peer to peer feedback with remote students 
  • Convey to students that online classes and in-person classes are equally important 
  • Include the requirements of the class in your planning process 
  • Put chat tools to use for real-time interactions 
  • Structure your remote classes in a way that suits the learning styles of your students 

Got More Classroom Management Strategies?

To wrap up, effective classroom management requires attention to detail and clarity of purpose. Another thing worth remembering is that the higher the levels of student engagement, the simpler is the art of classroom management.

When you engage students in different classroom activities, you can eliminate disruptions in the classroom. Further, managing virtual classes can be a little more complex than managing a physical classroom. However, remote learning offers great flexibility and scope for innovation. The more you innovate, the better the manager you turn out to be.

Finally, you need a clear understanding of students’ behaviors and shortcomings to identify the hindering factors. To reiterate, you are already doing a great job. The above classroom management strategies will add more feathers to your illustrious cap. 

Author Bio

Jessica Robinson creates content for The Speaking Polymath and her content reflects her highly intellectual vision. She is an educator herself but she loves to learn from everyone around her. She never limits herself to what she knows, she is always curious to grasp more. You can find her on LinkedIn.

The Ultimate List of Effective Online Teaching Methods
Online Teaching Methods

Traditional forms of teaching around the world are changing rapidly with the advancement of technology. Even in physical classrooms, technology has taken on a bigger role, changing how lessons are delivered and received.  

While there are numerous teaching methods, most of the traditional methods used in class can be applied equally efficiently online. However the teaching method you select will change based on your teaching philosophy, objectives, subject area, and classroom demographics. 

In this post, we’ll list down x effective online teaching methods that’ll help simplify the delivery of your virtual lessons.  

Online Teaching Methods 

Listed below are some of the most effective methods of online teaching.

Presentations

Presentations, like in the physical classroom, are one of the most common methods of online teaching. This technique helps make a more significant impact on students – most of whom are visual learners – than a teacher simply relaying information out of a textbook. 

Most importantly, presentations allow you to incorporate visuals (images, GIFs, videos, etc.) which makes it easier to deliver and comprehend complex information and data while making the lesson more engaging. Plus you can also share your presentation with the students after the lesson for revision and studying. 

Presentation Template
Presentation Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Here are a few presentation tools to get started with 

Online, presentations are more effective when delivered over video conferencing with a tool like Zoom or Google Meet

Resources 

Jazz Up Your Presentation: 6 Ways to Put an End to Ugly Charts and Graphs

Online Whiteboard

Online whiteboards have risen as a popular choice to virtually emulate the in-person classroom experience shared between teachers and students. They offer an infinite canvas, shape libraries to create different diagrams and charts, pre-made templates, sketching, typing, image import options, etc. 

Unlike the traditional whiteboards, they also let you digitize the content created, hence allowing you to re-share them and refer to them at a later time. You can also collaborate with students on the same canvas in real-time which paves the way to 

  • Carry out assignments 
  • Brainstorm around lessons
  • Mind mapping
  • Do interactive exercises such as quizzes 
  • Review homework and leave feedback 

Find out more about how to successfully use an online whiteboard for teaching

Live Online Classes

Technology has made it straightforward to deliver lectures online even if you are not in the same room as the students, replicating many of the elements of face-to-face interaction. 

Using video conferencing tools you can connect and communicate with students across the globe to deliver lessons. Incorporating an online whiteboard, you can make the classes even more engaging.

Lectures tend to put students in a passive role. Therefore to keep students engaged throughout the class online; 

  • Be prepared by outlining the content of the lesson 
  • Ask questions during and after the lesson and leave time for students to answer
  • Carry out discussions around the topic and encourage students to participate actively
  • Make use of graphic organizers, images, posters, videos, visuals, etc. 
  • Break down the main topic into sub-parts which will allow you to deliver the lecture in smaller chunks making it more effective in terms of keeping the students focused and engaged 
  • Set clear guidelines for online class etiquette for students to maintain 

Pre-Recorded Video Lectures   

The benefit of pre-recorded lectures, as opposed to the live ones, is that the former allows the students to learn at their own pace at any time without the presence of the teacher. It also gives them material to go over during revision.

The teacher or instructor, on the other hand, can use the videos to avoid repetitive teaching between different classes. 

To create effective pre-recorded lectures; 

  • Start with a script. Outline the talking points and what should go on each slide.
  • Practice as necessary. Unless you are confident enough to do it in one go, rehearse what you will be saying prior to recording.
  • Keep it short. If the video is longer than 20 minutes, consider breaking it up into smaller videos. This will not only come in handy when uploading them online but in case you need to replace the content with new information, it’ll be easier to re-do a few minutes video than an hour-long one.  
  • Have everything ready before recording. Make sure that you are in a place devoid of distracting noises and backgrounds, and that your script and props are in place.
  • If you are recording your screen, make sure to have closed unnecessary tabs and apps that may send you notifications.
  • Maintain good eye contact with the camera and a tone you would use in a normal one-on-one conversation 

Flipped Classroom 

The flipped classroom has become one of the most popular teaching methods in education during the past few years.

It entails a strategy opposite to the traditional class format; here the students are required to review class material prior to the actual lesson, hence reserving actual in-class time to put what they have learned into test with teacher-guided activities such as debates, problem-solving, in-depth discussions, quizzes, etc. 

Videos have become a core element in the flipped classroom model.  While many teachers create videos of their own, some also use videos created by other teachers. Video-sharing platforms such as YouTube can be utilized to share these among students.

Some of the other effective techniques for the flipped classroom include,

  • Online quizzes – help students self-regulate what they have learnt and further improve their comprehension of the subject 
  • Polls – help students reflect and analyze what they have learned by polling their own choices 
  • Infographics – increase student engagement and enhances memory 
  • Mind maps or word clouds – allow students to brainstorm around topic areas and develop their thinking skills 

Game-Based Teaching 

Game-based learning is a popular technique used to improve student engagement and retain attention. This approach helps reduce student anxiety and increase their involvement, especially when teaching complex concepts. It also paves the way for weaker students to develop their competences by interacting actively with their classmates. 

And in online teaching, games help close the gaps in the interaction between face-to-face learning and online learning. Depending on the game you select, here are a few tips to keep in mind when carrying it out online, 

  • Ensure that all students in the virtual classroom have access to the same set of data. You can share your screen or communicate them to your audience using a video conferencing tool 
  • Use the chat option to take down concerns and questions of students and clarify and you can answer them live  
  • Allow students time to reflect their answers and discuss them with other group members by breaking down the game into subsequent periods 
  • Allow students to carry out discussions using chat platforms such as WhatsApp, Skype, Slack, Facebook, Zoom breakout rooms, etc. 

Class Blog 

A blog can be a great place for students to share what they have learned in the form of in-depth articles. Students can work on blog posts individually or in groups. It’s a great strategy to improve students’ research skills and encourage them to explore self-learning. 

The teacher can also use the blog as a platform to share learning material for the lessons.  

Live Chatting 

Live chatting is another great way to replicate the real-time discussions that take place in the classroom. Platforms such as Slack, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, etc. allow students and teachers to communicate and brainstorm around lessons. The chat itself will provide the students with information for revising before exams or assignments. 

Make sure to set clear guidelines to ensure that all students get an equal chance to communicate their ideas and pose their questions.  

Discussion Boards and Forums

These tools provide students the space to share what they have learned or what they want to know more about with others in the classroom including the teacher. 

You can maintain different discussion boards for individual lesson topics, so it’ll be more organized. You can create one easily with an online visual workspace like Creately and share it with all students with one public edit link giving everyone quick access. 

You can also create separate Slack channels, Facebook groups, or Whatsapp groups for forum discussions.    

Any Other Online Teaching Method? 

Online teaching has paved the way for new models of teaching and learning. With the world-wide school closure caused by COVID-19, the process only has accelerated. As students and teachers explore new ways to deliver and receive lessons virtually, we hope these techniques will help you explore something new and do it more effectively. 

What other online teaching methods have you incorporated into your virtual classroom? Let us know in the comments section below. 

This post is a part of Creately’s series on remote teaching. More resources you would find useful include,

7 Effective Remote Teaching Best Practices

Essential Remote Teaching Tools for Conducting Effective Online Lessons

The Ultimate List of Visual Teaching Strategies

The Ultimate List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

The Ultimate List of Visual Creative Thinking Techniques

The Ultimate Guide to Visual Note-Taking for Students and Teachers

Essential Remote Teaching Tools for Conducting Effective Online Lessons

The sudden transition to remote teaching has left many teachers, as well as students, faced with various challenges, from not having access to the internet to finding the proper tools to overcome the boundaries of online teaching. 

We have compiled a list of tools that you can use to enhance your experience with teaching online, or remote teaching as popularly referred to these days. You can go through the list and select the ideal online teaching tools for your remote teaching goals.

Remote Teaching Tools 

Familiarizing yourself with how the tool or platform that you use works, is as important as selecting the correct tool. 

Explore each tool and learn ways to maximize its utility to create a better teaching experience.  Your students will depend on you to instruct them on how to use the platform themselves.  

There’s a range of remote teaching software available out there, and from them, we have chosen the best ones and categorized them based on their primary purpose.

Online Communication Tools

Effective communication is the key to successful teaching and learning, whether in a physical classroom or a virtual classroom. However, maintaining online communication with not one, but over twenty students is undoubtedly challenging.

Communication platforms help overcome it; they enable communication with larger groups, with video conferencing, instant messaging, audio calls, virtual rooms, and more, with any device and from anywhere. 

Some of the tools in demand are,

For a better teaching experience with these tools,  

  • Create an agenda or a plan for each online class and share it prior to the lesson  
  • Clearly explain the online etiquette students should follow during the class and what is expected of them prior to or at the beginning of the lesson 
  • Have all microphones, except for the person who is speaking, muted. This helps cancel out the distracting noises and retain the focus of the students. Anyone who needs to speak can make a gesture to catch the attention of the speaker without interrupting them.
  • When delivering a presentation or sharing an image, document or file, give some time for students to take down notes, to view or go through them.

Online Whiteboards 

Online whiteboards or digital whiteboards help emulate the classroom whiteboard/ blackboard experience with the students. Most of these tools offer an infinite canvas with shape libraries for creating different types of diagrams, charts, graphs, and other visualization purposes (i.e. creating posters, graphic organizers, etc.).  

Creately is widely used by educators for a variety of purposes: 

Creately Editor - Creately for Online Teaching Tools
  • As an online whiteboard where teachers and students can collaborate on the same canvas as they visualize ideas, concepts, etc. Moreover, students and teachers can connect via in-app video conferencing and track changes each other makes with real-time mouse tracking and change previews. 
  • Create a variety of diagrams and visuals (i.e. dichotomous key maker, graphic organizer generator, visual lesson plan templates, etc.) needed for presentations, lessons, assignments, etc.  
  • To share documents with students and colleagues for their output and feedback (with in-line comments) 

Work Planning Tools

Maintaining a work schedule is even more important when you are working from home; especially during stressful times, a solid routine can help maximize the use of your time. You can use time management and scheduling apps like Google Calendar and Calendly to streamline: 

  • Creating schedules to use in  your online classes or for personal use  
  • Creating schedules of online classes and keep everyone notified of dates and times.  
  • Scheduling appointments with parents and students; avoid double-booking a slot 
  • Inviting parents, students or colleagues for online events (i.e. webinars) 
  • Creating lesson plans and sharing them with students, administrators, and colleagues. 

Learn how to create a lesson plan using Google Calendar here.

Social Media Channels

Social media channels provide a great platform for teachers, students and parents to stay connected. 

Channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, etc. allow the creation of exclusive communities or groups teachers can leverage on to  

  • Communicate and maintain presence after online class hours  
  • Share and store important information, presentations, and resources related to lessons 
  • Conduct Q&A sessions 
  • Encourage students to maintain communication among themselves and engage with each other while studying or doing homework  
  • Conduct live events such as webinars (with Facebook or Instagram Live)

Document Management Tools 

From test papers to lesson plans, there’s an array of documents teachers have to maintain regularly. A central location to store, organize, and manage all these documents is essential to properly keep track of them, especially when you are teaching remotely.  

Tools such as GSuite, MS office, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Evernote simplify the process of maintaining the documents you own. 

  • Store all documents, files, etc. in the cloud which allows you and your students to access them with any device from anywhere 
  • Neatly organize documents in relevant folders and subfolders making it easy to retrieve them 
  • Quickly share files and documents with anyone with a single link or as a file. You can also adjust permission settings, changing them to Edit, View, and Suggesting mode on GSuite apps.
  • Collaborate with students on editing and reviewing documents, add comments and suggestions and track changes with version history

Online Video Tools

YouTube and Loom are great online video tools for creating and sharing videos with your students. You can use these tools in a number of ways; 

  • Record your online classes or lectures and share them with students 
  • Students can re-watch the videos if they were absent or during exam revisions. You can also have the video recorded prior to the lesson and have it shared with the students when you are on leave  
  • If you are teaching the same lesson to different classes, you can make use of a pre-recorded lesson to avoid repetitive teaching 
  • Encourage students to learn independently with pre-recorded video lessons. The chance of students learning a concept better is higher when they understand it on their own 
  • Share links to existing video resources online

Online Quiz Makers

Whether you are teaching online or in a physical classroom, quizzes are a great way to check a student’s performance.  Online quiz makers make it easy to, 

  •  Create, format, and share assessments online
  •  Create answer sheets which allows you to easily track and score answers of each student 

There is a plethora of online quiz makers that are both free and paid, starting from Google Forms.

Find more useful online quiz makers here.

Online Homework Platforms 

One thing that is most challenging when teaching from home is keeping track of students’ homework. 

Homework can come in different forms; essays, speeches, tests, etc.  You can use a combination of the platforms above to get students to submit their homework. 

  • Google Docs – for essays and other written assignments 
  • Zoom, Skype, and other video conferencing apps – for verbal assignments 
  • Loom, YouTube, Prezi, Google Slides – for videos and presentations 
  • Google Classroom – Distribute assignments, grade and send feedback

Did We Miss Any of Your Favorite Online Teaching Tools? 

Most of the online teaching tools listed above are free or you can try for free and see how it works for you. Invite a colleague to explore the tools and select the ones that best suit your teaching objectives. 

What other remote teaching tools do you recommend? Let us know in the comments below. 

This post is the second in our article series on remote teaching. More resources you would find useful include,

7 Effective Remote Teaching Best Practices

The Ultimate List of Visual Teaching Strategies

The Ultimate List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

The Ultimate List of Visual Creative Thinking Techniques

7 Effective Remote Teaching Best Practices for a Productive Online Classroom
Remote Teaching Best Practices

According to Unicef, approximately 91% of the world’s enrolled students were affected when schools across continents closed down to help end the spread of COVID-19. Governments and Stakeholders of the education sector have been actively engaged in discovering ways to implement remote learning methods to ensure children continue to get their education even if they are confined to their homes.

While the situation has laid bare the many gaps between education systems such as the lack of access to electricity, devices, resources, and the internet, schools, and governments have taken measures to address these disparities with innovative solutions. 

However, thanks to technology, remote learning, and teaching from home aren’t impossible. Many teachers are continuing on with their lessons and successfully engaging with their students online. This post will be focused on practices these educators can rely on to improve their remote teaching efforts. 

Best Practices for Teaching from Home 

Below are 7 best practices you can incorporate in your daily online lessons to make them more productive and engaging.   

Plan Ahead and Be Organized 

Conducting online lessons come with its own challenges and requirements in terms of preparations.

You can’t afford the time to fumble through notes and hesitate through lessons during an online class with your students, especially since you’d be conducting the lesson within a limited time period.  It could also be a challenge to answer each and every student as you would have in the traditional classroom. 

Planning ahead and having your resources organized is the key to taking control of the situation and being effective.

  • Plan ahead by preparing a lesson plan on a daily or weekly basis. Share the plan with your students via email or a communication platform if you are using one to stay in contact with the students or their parents. This will allow you as well as the students to prepare ahead of time for the lesson. Lesson Plan templates, such as the one given below can be especially helpful in this task.
Lesson Plan Template for Teaching from Home
Lesson Plan Template (Click on the template to edit it online)
  • Keep resources easily accessible to students. Any documents, files, or links can be stored in a central location (i.e. Google Drive, DropBox, etc.) where students can access from wherever they are and from any device. Make sure to clearly explain to the students where the documents are located and how to access them. 
  • Organize your own resources properly. If you are in charge of teaching several classes online, you may have various resources that you refer to. Make sure that you have a proper system in place to keep everything organized. Create folders for each class, under which you can create subfolders for each lesson. Back these up regularly with an external hard drive or utilize an online storage software to keep them backed up in the cloud. 
  • Many schools and institutes have invested in new educational platforms for delivering and sharing interactive content and learning resources to students, while some are relying on tools that are already available to them. It’s important that you are well familiarized with these platforms in order to deliver a better experience to your students.      

Establish a Remote Learning Routine 

Following a routine, like when schools were open, helps create that sense of normality everyone’s yearning for these days. 

Maintain a fixed time throughout the week to conduct the lesson, if the time is to change, inform the students at least a day before. If the online classes are held on-and-off, encourage students to maintain their personal schedule for doing the homework, and revising the learning material. This will aid in keeping them motivated and on track.

Create a Positive Learning Environment Online

Just as in a physical classroom, create an environment where students feel comfortable and safe voicing their opinion and exploring their curiosity. 

  • Allow students to take notes and ask questions in real-time, just like you would have in a physical classroom. Interact with the students more attentively, even though you are not in the same room. Create an environment where they have the freedom to conduct more discussions with you and among themselves during the class.
  • Use a communications platform to allow students to share their thoughts, questions, and resources they discover, that can be discussed during the next class. This can be a WhatsApp group, a Facebook group, or even a Google Document that all students have access to. 
  • Also encourage your students to work together with others in class such as sharing notes or resources when they miss a class, helping out with assignments, and discussing lessons among themselves. 

Be Available

Not only during the online lesson but whenever possible. Let your students and parents know how and when they can reach you. Share your personal contact details for emergencies, but make sure to specify times you’d be available; while you need to be there for your students, you need clear boundaries between work and personal life yourself. 

You can also use a communications platform or a social media group here to engage and interact with students after the lesson. 

Be Creative 

Change it up a bit now and then. Instead of the same old presentation slides and reading from the textbook, make things more interesting and engaging with, 

  • Interactive games – some of the games that you play in the classroom, such as charades, true or false, etc. can be played in a virtual classroom as well. You can also come up with new games that are online friendly.  
  • Quizzes – Short quizzes can be done with online test platforms like Google Forms. Or simply make it more interactive by asking students the questions and giving them a limited time to come up with the answer. 
  • Video and audio clips – share video or audio clips students can watch and listen to during the lesson/ or as the lesson. You can simply create a video based on the lesson and upload it on YouTube and share the link with the students. 
  • Online whiteboards – an online whiteboard can make things more interactive in a virtual classroom. Allow students to participate in adding and moving elements on the canvas as well. 

Communicate and Collaborate with Colleagues

It helps to talk to other teachers conducting online lessons to get their input on things you are uncertain of. You can also share resources, websites, tools, and material among yourselves helping each other out.  Co-hosting classes can also make them more interesting. 

To stay connected, you can rely on social media channels (Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.), online communication platforms (Slack, Google Hangout, Skype, etc.), emails, etc. 

Leverage Existing Online Resources

There is a magnitude of online resources available, and you can leverage them for some of your lessons. These can be shared with the students during the class. While it is important to rely on credible resources, it’s equally important to help students identify resources that are credible and trustworthy when they are conducting their own research.

Any Other Tips for Those Who are Teaching from Home? 

Remote learning is the new normal for many educators and students across the world. Technology has made it possible to connect teachers and students throughout the pandemic, allowing teachers to impart their knowledge as if they were in the same classroom. 

However, the situation has opened up newer challenges that teachers are struggling to find solutions for. We hope that these practices for teaching from home will help you improve your efforts and the experience you create for your students online. 

Got more tips to share on teaching from home? Let us know in the comments section below.