Episode 41: Interview with a Virtual School Principal
35m
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Two Teachers Podcast
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This week we are joined by Brandon. He is Principal and Teaching and Learning Specialist extraordinaire. We hear from Brandon who is full of tips for managing the madness of the virtual classroom now and whenever. "Not to be lost is that this is still a human business no matter what the platform is."Brandon Buchman Background: The district Brandon serves is 1:1 Chromebooks and has implemented the common learning management of Canvas. They primarily use Zoom. He manages approximately 25 teachers who serve about 300 students in the virtual only world. Additional hurdle is the collaboration with in school principals because the district allows students to move in and out of the virtual classroom at the start of each quarter. Teacher Needs The immediacy of needs has changed. The shift in urgency has made the learning demands of the educators to function daily. Providing professional development has become a issue of timeliness. For example, teachers taking attendance or facilitating class discussions has become something to relearn. Regardless of virtual or in person the what and the why have not changed. We want our kids to come to school and love to come to school. We thus have emphasized relationships. Trying to put the work in the front end to reap results in the end. Much of the PD has been around building connection to the kids virtually. Understanding capacity is very important. Each teacher needs to come from their own point a to point b. Maybe mastering the Zoom is the only thing to earn. Eventually these skills become expectations and we can add to the skill set. This progression allows students to get what they need. Teachers Supporting Students Engagement and making learning be fun is important. So many resources(often free) has made our job easier. Attendance Pear Deck templates or waiting room templates that people can grab and use are the little things that go a long way. Teachers have used music pre-lesson to have some fun. Dance parties are optional and can be super cool. It can be another way to take attendance and build engagement. Behavior Management - Virtual Style How do we manage this engagement when you are not in the same space. Non-verbal cues, soft conversation, proximity control are not options like they are in the in person world. So what are we to do? Zoom features can be your friend. You could send the student to the waiting room where you can chat them up to redirect their behavior. This sends the needed message before the "return" to class. Chat feature can be moderated to speak to specific students. Allow them to change their name can be turned on and off. Ultimately a problem solving process needs to be established. We can engage the student and then the family to make the environment more successful. Meetings with all stakeholders are essentially. We've even gone as far as calling the student directly to engage them. GoogleVoice numbers can be very helpful for privacy purposes. Home visits can be a game changer too. DO NOT FORGET to Celebrate the Positives Try creating a Flipgrid thank you. Brandon had the students create a message of thanks for the teachers and then created the same for teachers to students. What will Stick from Virtual Learning Assessment should be the biggest change. How do was assess what students can know and do that they just can't look up on Google. Assessment has to be more authentic to assure they are showing the understanding. You could have your students create podcasts. Having students create TedTalks for example way create that accountability. Offering choice needs to be nonnegotiable. The ownership success can really be quite engaging. We have seen students thrive. This could lead to systematic changes where a virtual platform might be an options. Some kids, for whatever reason, in person is just not their fit. Not to be lost is that this is still a human business no matter what the platform is.
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