Teaching online is extremely rewarding, peaceful, productive, and possible. Is it ideal? No, not for everyone. Will making the leap from the traditional classroom to being online hurt? Yes, of course. You will miss the face to face interaction between you and your students. Will teaching and learning look different? Of course!
So, first I want to encourage you to trust your school districts and administrators. They are going to do their absolute best to support you. Remember many of them are in the same boat you are. They have never navigated these waters, either. Be patient with them and with yourself.
Next, begin working to shift your mindset about what education should look like. What we think it should look like and what it is are not the same and we want work to support our shift in the best way possible. The first way is to build a stronger healthier mind and heart. I highly recommend spending time with The Growth Mindset Coach by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley. It is a workbook for teachers to help their students shift their mindset, but work a few of the activities for yourself. They will help. Then do some reading online about the growth mindset.
Learn more about executive function, metacognitive skills, and ADD/ADHD. This will help tremendously with working with our special needs population and our general education students too. Remember education is shifting for them and working from home is new for them too. I recommend you start out with ADDitude. It’s a great resource for educators packed with articles and webinars to support our needs in many areas.
I have created an education resources page. In the upcoming days, I plan to post more about what I have learned from my experience as an online educator. I do not want to overwhelm you with information and resources and want to help you navigate your new role in education. It is a beautiful one. You will come to love it just as much as you enjoy your current role in education and you will grow stronger in the coming days as you begin to embrace all this opportunity has to offer you.
Take care ya’ll! Have a beautiful day!
All My Love,
Jen
