Structured Independent Work at Home During Distance Learning

I've always loved teaching students to work independently in the classroom! I've shared about how a student's ability to work (and play) independently will also benefit families at home.  If you want to know more about why I think independent work is so important, check out this post!

Many of my students are only working on technology during remote / distance learning, so I was determined to create a system for students to work independently using technology. If you want to support students with working independently on technology at home, then I have some tips & ideas for you!

Batch Working to Save Teachers Hours Planning & Prepping

If you want to spend less time working and be more productive & efficient with the time you have, then batch working is for you!

Batch working has been used by entrepreneurs and business professionals for years! I first learned about batching from this Jenna Kutcher podcast episode. I was instantly intrigued and started listening to other podcasts and reading books about batch working and productivity. My intention was to use batching for TpT/ business related tasks... but then I realized how amazing it was in the classroom! I started implementing simple batching strategies and shaved hours off the time I spent planning & prepping before and after school each week!

Online / Distance Learning in my Special Education Classroom

I get a lot of questions about what online / distance learning looks like for my classroom. It can be tough to answer because everything is SO differentiated based on each students' needs.

Our families and school teams worked together to create contingency learning plans for each student (these were basically really long Prior Written Notices). These plans outline how work will be provided (printed or online), how much work the student will be provided each day, how often the student will have contact with teachers, what supports for the student will look like, etc.

Since I obviously can't speak about specific students / plans, I'm going to show 2 basic  examples of how I'm doing online / distance learning and answer some of my FAQs.

How To: Add Audio to Google Slides™ for Online / Remote Learning

Adding audio to Google Slides™ during online learning has been a GAME CHANGER for me! I can use it to "read" the directions to students, add prompts to activities or "read" them passages. It took me quite a bit of time and Google™ researching to figure out how to do it, so I wanted to create a simple tutorial so you can try it!

Please remember I'm not a technology guru. If you try this tutorial and run into any issues, please spend some time looking for answers on Google™ & YouTube because I likely won't be able to answer them since I'm so new to this too :-P

FREEBIES To Use During Online Learning

Online learning is TOUGH! There are so many different websites, materials and ideas out there that it can be really overwhelming. I'm hoping to make things a little easier for you by doing a quick round up with five freebies that you can use during online learning!