Soon, students will be heading back to school. This fall, however, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep many students out of physical classrooms, many teachers will need to reevaluate how they teach in order to save time. They’ll also need to help students who are behind from last year due to pandemic shutdowns. 

Education Week reporters interviewed 50 education experts to advise teachers on how to teach remote and hybrid classes. Here are the three big takeaways.

  1. Since your time will be limited, these experts recommend teachers streamline their curriculums to cover only essential learning standards. For example, in math classes, that could mean eliminating lengthy lessons that involve teaching students to add three whole numbers and instead have them use rulers to measure lengths. It could also mean getting rid of lessons where kids learn to tell and write time, and teach them instead to add and subtract within 20. 
  2. Students may have gaps in their learning from last year due to pandemic shutdowns; however, teachers should resist the urge to spend too much time on helping students who are behind. Rather, focus on how you can adjust your instructional methods to students and their needs, and offer them support to learn at their current grade level.
  3. Use the “think-pair-share” technique:
    • Provide students with content to go over and absorb alone, then offer them a problem which they must solve.
    • Group students into teams through your online learning platform, then have them work together to discuss their conclusions and solve the problem together. 
    • Instruct the students to post their solutions to an online discussion board for all to see and comment on, including the teacher.

During this time, teachers are also struggling to transition STEM curriculums to online learning. For help, check out these free resources.