Teaching & Learning in the Hybrid Model

I am so fortunate to work with such incredible professionals at Columbia High School who are dedicated and committed to our students' academic success. Just yesterday we brainstormed best practices that colleagues have used to keep our students engaged during the first marking period.

We will continue this discussion at our next faculty meeting and I look forward to hearing more about how well our staff has adapted. I also want to post some great ideas on grading and attendance from Edutopia below. Enjoy the reads! Frank

4 Assessment Strategies for Distance and Hybrid Learning  A few ways to set up formative and summative assessments that provide an accurate picture of what students know.   9-12 High School

Better Ways to Measure Student Progress  Distance learning has forced many educators to take a closer look at traditional grading and contemplate better methods of assessment.   9-12 High School

How to Better Support Middle and High School Students With Dyslexia   These students need to know their teachers understand their struggles and believe that they can be successful in the classroom.   9-12 High School

How Mentor Texts Provide Valuable Lessons Beyond Writing Instruction  The knowledge middle and high school students gain through working with mentor texts can strengthen their critical thinking skills.   9-12 High School

How to Strengthen Relationships With Older Students Online  During remote instruction, finding authentic moments of connection can be challenging, especially with middle and high school students. Here are five ways to strengthen relationships in virtual settings.   9-12 High School

Formative and Summative Assessment in a Hybrid Classroom  Getting a true sense of students’ learning and discouraging cheating is tough when some students are in the room and some are at home, but it can be done.   9-12 High School

The Mistake Imperative—Why We Must Get Over Our Fear of Student Error  The fear of making mistakes is often paralyzing, but cognitive science suggests that errors are part of the fundamental machinery of learning.

Building Community Virtually With Friendly Fridays  Ideas on how to bring a teacher-tested activity for promoting empathy and other social skills to hybrid and remote classrooms.

Building Better Relationships With Parents at the Classroom, School, and District Level  The need to partner with caregivers is even more important now with so many students learning at home.

Bringing a Collaborative Math Strategy Online  In a four-step activity called “Try It, Talk It, Color It, Check It,” students work through problems together and explain their mathematical thinking—all on Zoom.   9-12 High School

How to Make Sure Grades Are Meaningful and Useful to Students  Giving grades that truly reflect student learning is one of the perennial problems in teaching, and these shifts in thinking about how to gather and report grades can help. 5 Ways to Help Students Transfer Their Learning to New Situations  As students gain content knowledge, their next step should be applying it to new problems and across academic disciplines. Why the Pandemic Forces Administrators to Rethink Attendance — and Interoperability: The rules of attendance are being rewritten—and regularly revised—during the pandemic. What does it mean for a student to be present during hybrid or remote instruction?