Follow these steps for a successful online teaching experience!

(1) Have your unit plan prepared for the entire term

You must have clearly in your mind what concepts need to be learnt for the term.  In that way you will be better able to know what online resources you will need.

(2) Have a stock of effective teaching videos that teach the concepts to be learnt. 

These videos must be very short. I recommend that these videos should last no longer than two minutes. Indeed, they can be as short as 30 seconds long! A warning however… some videos seem fun and appealing to students but don’t really teach the concept you are seeking to achieve. So select your videos wisely!

(3) Have a stock of worksheets

Provide these worksheets to your students as they move along in the term. These sheets can be printed, or viewed on the screen and the answers written by the child in his book. Or (as one of our parents did) recreated by the parent and the work filled in by the child. Another warning…these must not infringe copyright laws.

(4) Determine how work will be shown to you 

When the student has completed the written portion of his work, images of the work should be sent to the teacher for feedback. WhatsApp has proven to be a very simple and effective means of monitoring the child’s work and giving feedback.

(5) Make use of quizzes 

Another means of keeping students engaged online is by including online quizzes in the concepts. This may not be easily sourced but we have the means of helping you there!

(6) Maintain a student progress checklist for each student to keep track of the concepts each child has learnt 

This checklist will help the teacher to know which videos and worksheets each student needs to view or move on to. Again, having online quizzes for the student is a great way to automatically keep track of the child’s learning. But don’t worry if you don’t have online quizzes…Hopalong can help you there!

Online learning is nothing to fear. Just prepare well following these steps and it becomes a quite interesting experience for all. Or better yet, why not make use of the tools we already have prepared? That way, you definitely don’t need to fear!