Teaching environment can change but a good teaching practice remains the same, you just have to be a bit more creative!! Furthermore, an instructional coach can help teachers be equipped to thrive in any learning environment.

Best Practice #1: Teacher Clarity

Clarity of instruction was important in face-to-face teaching and is equally important, if not more, in remote digital classrooms. You can post the instructions on the assignment itself. A video of yourself giving clear instructions can also be made available to the students who can watch as many times they need to accomplish the task. One can also make a screencast and show themselves following each and every step. The practice of sharing a video of instructions to be followed by the students even after the schools are fully functional after the pandemic is over. 

An instructional coach can show the teachers step by step process of the various tools, like screencasts that they can use. You can also help them become more clear in how to give instructions. You can also guide them to set up a folder in their LMS (Learning Management System) where they can upload their instructional videos for students to access whenever they need to and where they can also store ones for future use. 

Best Practice #2: Classroom Discussion

Facilitating classroom discussions is another good practice and there are many tools and video based platforms like Zoom, Google Meet etc available that can help teachers provide such opportunities to their students. Asynchronous learners can use discussion boards. Various types of such discussion board tools are available online to choose from which allow users to post content and also reply to others. Collaborative documents like Google Docs or Slides can also be used to facilitate discussion. Teachers can post a question on top of the document and students can reply on the same page. One disadvantage of using collaborative documents is that at times students edit or delete content. The teacher will then have an added task to address this behavioral issue. Teachers can also do the live recording of the discussion and upload the video for the students. For those who miss out on class discussions for whatever reason can always, either go through the document or watch the video at their convenience. 

Best Practice #3: Feedback

Teachers need to keep providing feedback to the students even while working remotely. Apart from verbal feedback, there are tools which can be used to record voice notes and can be directly linked to the student’s assignment. Again screencast can be used while reviewing the student’s work and the video can be shared with them. Smartphones can also be used to record a voice note and email the link to students. These voice recordings can be played by the students multiple times. 

Best Practice #4: Formative Assessment

Apart from feedback, teachers will also need to collect data to assess how students are grasping the material. Formative assessments tools have been designed specifically for online learning. There are tools that provide instant feedback to the students thereby providing an accurate picture to students and teachers. Whatsmore, such formative assessments tools can be easily integrated into the school’s LMS. As an instructor, you would need to coach the teachers as to how to use them in the classroom. 

Best Practice #5: Metacognitive Strategies

Uncertainty and anxiety is ruling almost everyone in the present circumstances. Regardless of the learning environment, one must incorporate opportunities for reflection. It will help students understand their own progress and also provide teachers with a clearer perspective on their student’s learning. As a coach, it is advisable to keep encouraging teachers to reflect on their teaching and suggest them to provide reflection opportunities to students also.

Source : edtechteam