Edsurge

JUNE 4, 2020

This is the first of a three-part series looking at how social-emotional learning strategies can support teachers of students with learning differences during the pandemic. The necessary and rapid move to distance learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been disabling for our education system.

Disabilities 213

Disabilities Distance Learning Special Education Students 213

Edsurge

MAY 13, 2020

Take Janet Lake, who is used to standing all day to teach ninth graders at her school in the San Diego Unified School District. During the first week of distance learning, she tried sitting, but her feet swelled up. So she created a makeshift standing desk, where she now works from each day.

Education 206

Education Middle School Middle School Feedback 206

Edsurge

JANUARY 24, 2022

Justin Hall, who teaches math at Rancho Cucamonga Middle School , understands this need well. A 16-year veteran middle school teacher, Hall is a big proponent of increasing access to information for all education stakeholders. During the distance learning months, we did parent conferences over Zoom.

Communication 148

Communication Distance Learning Feedback Assignments 148

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

Education technology continually examines and redesigns pedagogy in an attempt to meet the learning needs of our students. But rarely do we apply this same level of commitment and creativity to the learning experiences of educators. Prior to OTIS, how was your district handling PD?

Distance Learning 170

Distance Learning Schools Assignments Coaching 170

Edsurge

JANUARY 4, 2023

As a school counselor, I spend my days serving 835 middle school students in a rural district in Livingston, California. For example, we added more K-2 teachers to decrease the student-to-teacher ratio for our youngest students who spent their earliest years in distance learning.

Counselling 201

Counselling Teachers Schools Middle School 201

Edsurge

MAY 21, 2020

We are approaching the two month mark since schools shut their doors in response to COVID-19, and we are now entering a new phase in the learning process. Despite an optimistic start, educators and students alike are realizing that remote learning is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Zoom fatigue is real.

Motivation 218

Motivation Grades Students Essay 218

Edsurge

MARCH 17, 2020

With serving such a large diverse community, equity is at our foundation, and we know that while some of our families have access to technology and internet at home, not all do. Our guidance to schools has been around non-digital as our primary focus. We’re working with those schools a little differently.

Teaching 208

Teaching Distance Learning Schools Internet 208

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

How do you make the weather when it’s raining on one part of your virtual school and not on the other? In distance learning, the way you dress, walk or project your voice aren’t as relevant. You don’t wing anything,” says Guye Turner, who leads a middle school in Washington, D.C.

Schools 218

Schools Communication Middle School Middle School 218

Edsurge

JUNE 24, 2022

In many instances, these experiences with technology greatly improved my students’ retention of course material and made their learning experiences more engaging. Being a middle school teacher, learning on Zoom was hard for the majority of my students. Through this process, I learned many important lessons.

Motivation 186

Motivation Distance Learning Students Middle School 186

Edsurge

JUNE 25, 2020

Schools are working out how to support educators to implement student IEPs in previously uncharted territory , drafting the rules as they go. Families are making choices about what to prioritize during distance learning while navigating unique demands of work, family and health.

Special Education 196

Special Education Disabilities Education Distance Learning 196

eSchool News

JANUARY 2, 2023

Educational technology solutions that are engaging, effective, and easy-to-use for students, teachers, and chief academic officers will continue to play a crucial role in the year ahead. We’re seeing the pendulum swinging back to reintroducing career and technical exploration (CTE) in middle schools.

Coaching 338

Coaching Special Education Disabilities Communication 338

Edsurge

JUNE 11, 2020

For those who can, it’s become abundantly clear that grades alone are insufficient to motivate learning. But some schools have taken the opportunity to invite students—usually considered the beneficiaries of resources—to pitch in and become resources themselves.

Teaching 218

Teaching Students Learning English 218

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

class of the school year, actually their last P.E. class as a middle school student, Esme had pursued Eduardo across campus with a set of classroom scissors, sharp end out. teacher to allow—quickly descended into a breach of each and every tenet of our school’s Core Values.

Schools 168

Schools Culture Middle School Middle School 168

Edsurge

MAY 5, 2020

In the last six weeks, I’ve spoken with educators and parents all over the country, conducting virtual workshops to help parents, teachers and administrators manage this new reality. Even those who are excited about distance learning have understandable concerns about the amount of screen time kids are experiencing these days.

Distance Learning 217

Distance Learning Communication Middle School Middle School 217

eSchool News

DECEMBER 25, 2023

Educational technology solutions that are engaging, effective, and easy-to-use for students, teachers, and chief academic officers will continue to play a crucial role in the year ahead. Most importantly, ongoing, meaningful school-home communication is paramount. Ultimately, what matters is what works for improving achievement.

Learning 180

Learning Coaching Reading Science 180

Edsurge

MARCH 29, 2023

In some ways, middle school is very much the same as it was a decade ago. In my own classroom, I recognize some of the hallmarks of the middle school years — changing voices, students spurting up three inches by the time May rolls around, and the awkwardness of being surrounded by so many developmental stages at once.

Middle School 142

Middle School Middle School Schools Students 142

Edsurge

AUGUST 11, 2020

Jamie Wong Baesa , a middle school math teacher who hasn’t seen her students’ faces since March. Geri Zamora , a high school history teacher who nearly lost a student to COVID-19. Right: The desk area where she taught during remote learning. Instead, her middle school assigned a different subject for each day of the week.

Teachers 217

Teachers Grades Elementary School Elementary School 217

Edsurge

JUNE 28, 2021

Once it became clear that we were in a full-fledged pandemic last Spring, most schools shifted to a “distance learning/distance teaching” model. By and large, the ways of teaching and the expectations of student learning were the same as they were before the shutdown.

Teaching 201

Teaching Coaching Distance Learning Grades 201

Edsurge

APRIL 23, 2024

Around this time four years ago, a seismic event was rippling across education. In April 2020, teachers were beginning to realize that their schools’ closures would not be all that temporary. They’d need to make do with haphazard plans for distance learning through the end of the school year — perhaps longer.

Teaching 198

Teaching Art Math Grades 198