Whatever the reason, it can be a struggle to get students to participate. Bring in the recent pandemic and switch to remote learning and as a teacher you may be having an even harder time figuring out how to get every student involved in their learning process. Continue reading to understand why some students don’t participate, as well as some tips for boosting student participation during remote learning.

Challenges of Getting Students to Participate

Educators understand that all students are different; they learn differently, think differently, and are even raised in different environments with different customs and beliefs. But as educators, we often don’t put much thought into student preference for how they participate. There are many students who want to share, just in a way other than raising their hand. Maybe we as adults can relate to some of these reasons, too.

Some students might be introverts and feel more comfortable speaking in front of just a few close friends instead of an entire class of their peers. Some students lack confidence in their answers and are scared of the embarrassment they might feel if they don’t answer correctly. There may be others who have had a bad experience raising their hand and responding incorrectly.

As students get older, there can even be a negative connotation to answering questions and appearing interested in the material at hand. For whatever the reason is that students don’t speak up, teachers should start thinking about other ways they can get them to respond in the way they feel most comfortable.

Tips for Boosting Student Participation During Remote Learning

Built-In Features

There are several things a teacher can do to help boost student participation during remote learning. If you are using Zoom as your primary platform for class, utilize the built-in features. Ask a question and use chat to get every student responding. You can change the privacy of chat to have students just answering to you or answering publicly so everyone can see. Using chat is a great way to have every student respond during class discussions.

Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms are another way to get students talking. Some students feel intimidated by a large group, and breakout rooms can make them feel much more at ease. Decide how many students you want each breakout room to have; or pre-assign the breakout rooms so students know who to expect when they arrive.

In order to hold students accountable for breakout room discussions, have them respond to your question with a drawing or writing using their shared whiteboard. They can call you into the room when they are ready to show their work. If you want to take it a step further, quickly screenshot your students’ work, drag it to a Google slide, and share everyone’s responses when students return to the main room.

Videos

Another quick way to get students participating is by using their videos. Have them turn their video off if your statement is false and leave their video on if your statement is true. Students enjoy having the permission to turn their videos on and off, and you get the benefit of every student participating.

Popsicle Sticks

If you plan ahead to your next material pickup, you can create popsicle sticks with yes/no answers on them. Younger students and older students alike enjoy holding up their popsicle sticks to answer questions. Didn’t think ahead? Use the reaction (emoji) feature to have students respond to questions by selecting “yes”, “no”, “smiley face”, or “surprised face.” This is a simple way to hold students attention and make sure every student is contributing to the lesson at hand.

Preparing and Posting Questions

For upper elementary, middle, and high school students, preparing questions and posting them ahead of time can greatly increase participation. Students have the chance to put thought into their answers, build their confidence to respond, and come to class ready to be successful.

This can even work for students in lower elementary. Post a picture for your Kindergarten students and tell them to come to the morning meeting describing what they noticed; or have students make predictions on what their next unit will be about based on a few words or phrases you post. Just as adults like to know what their next meeting will entail, so do students. Take some time to set students up for success, and you will be surprised just how much more eager they are to join in on the discussion.

Getting students to participate in class can be a challenge even for the most experienced of teachers. Some students are timid, some lack confidence, and some simply don’t want to raise their hand. When students are learning remotely, it can be even harder to figure out ways to get them involved in virtual lessons. By using breakout rooms, chat, reactions, and/or planning ahead by letting students know the questions that will be asked that day, teachers can see more students participating on a daily basis. If every student participates, every student will know they have a voice. And that in itself will be the basis of their continued success.

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Challenges IEP Students are Facing with Remote Learning

Some overarching challenges IEP students face in the confines of remote schooling include issues with executive functioning, attention and motivation, apprehension and social isolation, and technology.

First, executive functions require cognitive skills used to organize, deconstruct, analyze, sort, and plan. Symptoms of a child’s struggle with executive functioning include struggling to focus, losing items, trouble initiating tasks such as homework or assignments, forgetting things, keeping a messy space, difficulty with transitions, and the inability to complete tasks before moving on to something else. If it seems a child is “all over the place” and his/her belongings are “all over the place,” consider the child’s executive functioning abilities or lack thereof.

Along with difficulties in executive functioning, attention and motivation issues can hinder students with IEPs during remote learning. The physical absence of a student’s teacher magnifies the fact that many children need prompting and support to stay attentive, on-task, and motivated to learn. Parents are then met with the reality that they may need training and support to best help their children with paying attention and staying motivated to learn.

Yet another set of challenges include apprehension and social isolation. Being away from friends, teachers, and external support people limits a child’s contacts throughout a given day. Days with few or no contacts collectively create a feeling of being socially isolated, which may in turn result in additional social-emotional concerns. The apprehension children feel is due in large part to unknowns surrounding a new mode of schooling and a change in socialization. The apprehension impacts students’ learning.

Finally, other obstacles students face during remote learning involve technology. Do students have adequate access to technology and if so, do they know how to use the technology to join online learning platforms, submit assignments, participate in online discussions, read texts online and other requirements in remote learning? If students do not know how to use available technology to engage in distance learning, the question becomes “do the parents know how,” or “can the parents support students’ achievement in learning how to use the technology?”

Strategies for Improving Remote Learning for IEP Students

To mitigate concerns and decrease the degree of difficulty students experience with remote learning, there are many strategies parents, teachers, and students can use. Such strategies include: scheduling, creating the right environment, using check-ins and learning bursts, and conducting/participating in training sessions.

Scheduling

Children need routine, especially those who struggle with executive functioning. They need consistency, and they need to know what comes next in their day. It is important for schools to develop and consistently follow learning schedules and for parents to support students in following the schedules from home.

Visual schedules, schedules students can see and manipulate, are especially beneficial because they allow students to visualize events that have already occurred and those that are upcoming. Understanding what has been completed and what is coming next decreases anxiety and increases attentiveness and organization.

Creating the Right Environment

When creating the optimal learning environment, special attention should be given to aesthetics, comforts, noise level, number of distractions, and words and actions of others. A comfortable chair, appropriate lighting, and adequate supplies are great starts to optimizing the learning space.

Games, toys, noisemakers, televisions, etc. can be distracting, so, the removal of these objects will benefit students’ ability to pay attention to their learning tasks. In a home with more than one child or with many activities occurring at the same time, it’s not always possible to do away with extraneous noise; but noise is distracting for children who are trying to focus. In such cases students can use headphones or earplugs that drown out noise or have a set-up that’s distanced from other household activities and that is located in a room with a door that can be closed.

Last, words and actions of others can cause frustration or confidence and comfort, and each has an impact on students’ motivation toward learning. Family members or others in a student’s learning space should be encouraging, supportive, and helpful to reduce the likelihood of frustration and to increase the degree of motivation.

Check-Ins

Social isolation and a lack of motivation lead to social-emotional issues such as withdrawal, apathy, agitation, anger, outbursts, and the like. To prevent such, a staff member can conduct daily check-ins or daily communication with students. During check-ins, staff might ask students questions about their day, assignments, concerns, etc. Students can also have assigned partners for check-ins with each other. Often times, peer check-ins are most beneficial when teachers are present and are facilitators of appropriate conversations. Check-ins can occur using Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, or other video conferencing tools.

Learning Bursts

Learning bursts or learning using brief cycles of academic activities and breaks is another way to increase motivation and decrease ill effects of social-emotional issues. Using learning bursts, students engage in academics for a short period, take a brief break, then engage again for another short period of academics. During the breaks I suggest having students do something fun or appealing to them, like play for five minutes, use markers or play-dough for five minutes, listen to a favorite song, etc. Students will soon realize “if I complete…then I will get to….” They might say, for example, “If I complete my assignment, I will get to listen to my favorite song,” which in turn will increase motivation and promote attentiveness.

Training Sessions

Training sessions are particularly helpful to parents and students with limited experience using technology or limited experience using the school’s chosen learning management system. Many times parents also need help learning to establish an appropriate learning environment, implement accommodations at home, and communicate effectively with teachers.

Sessions can occur in a variety of formats including phone calls, Zoom meetings, FaceTime, pre-recorded videos, or face-to-face settings in which social distancing is observed. Pre-recorded videos are especially helpful because viewers can pause, replay, restart, or re-watch as needed; however, if questions arise during pre-recorded videos, parent must reach out to someone which may require wait time before they receive answers.

Trainings that benefit families most are those that meet their specific needs; therefore, it is helpful to poll parents and students or have conversations with them to determine areas for their individualized support.

More remote learning amongst more teachers and students involving more parents and community members using more technology…these are the times in which we now live…this is the new normal around the globe. When our “normal” changes, challenges come. The only way to succeed is to recognize the challenges, admit they’re challenges, and take action to mediate, alleviate, and mitigate the challenges for all populations of students, especially some of our most vulnerable students and students with special needs and IEPs.

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Benefits of Organizing Students

There are many benefits to organizing students. When students are organized, stress levels are reduced. The feeling of being overwhelmed can cause a student, as well as teachers, to shut down. The more organized one is, the more that can be accomplished in a shorter period of time.

Being organized can help you gain a sense of control in your life and can also help you to keep students organized. When you feel cluttered yourself, it is impossible to keep others organized around you. When you are organized, you put yourself into a place of calm which can give you energy and motivation to keep pushing forward.

Strategies for Organizing Students Remotely

Google Classroom

Google Classroom — everyone is using it! Keep your Google Classroom organized, and organize it often. There is no one correct way to organize your Google Classroom, and there’s certainly hundreds of suggestions out there, but whatever you do, take the time to walk students through it. Show students how the classroom looks from your point-of-view, how you create and assign the work, and how to navigate the classroom. Explain what they need to look at each day in order to know what needs to be completed. Transparency is key.

Topic Headings

Make sure to include topic headings for your classroom. I have seen many teachers organize their headings in different ways. I create topics and continually add to them. One of my topics is a “Weekly Schedule” and each week, I post a schedule of Google Meet times and assignments that need to be completed. I have observed many teachers create a heading for each day and all assignments for that day are posted under that heading. There are many ways to utilize topic headings, but one thing is certain: you need them to make your classroom easier to navigate for students, parents, and even for yourself.

Due Dates

Due dates on assignments are so important! This will help students to prioritize assignments and know exactly when their work needs to be completed. Creating an agenda each day is also helpful in keeping students organized and knowing when assignments are due. Encourage students to use a homework planner to keep track of assignments and even a monthly calendar to monitor long-term assignments.

Multiple Google Classrooms

One brilliant idea I was taught was to create a new Google Classroom for each marking period. After one marking period, I had as many as fifteen topics in some of my Google Classrooms. This way you and the students can start fresh and not have an overwhelming amount of topics to search. When I presented this idea to my students to see their thoughts, it was an overwhelming response to create a new classroom each marking period in order to stay more organized and feel less overwhlemed.

Checking and Grading Assigments

Keep up to date on checking and grading assignments! This is definitely easier said than done. It is a large task in itself to get the assignments created and assigned, but an even more intense task to check and grade these assignments. There are many times it seems there are not enough hours in the day, but somehow, some way, you need to find time to check work. Students need feedback on assignments in real time, when the feedback is authentic and understood.

In my own classroom, I am sure to at least check over assignments on their due date. I don’t necessarily grade them right away, but I make sure to mark who turned it in on time and who did not complete the assignment. I will comment on those that did not turn in the assignment with a specific remark about when they can complete the assignment by and still receive credit. I just copy and paste that comment for all the students that still owe that particular assignment. Sometimes the students just need a gentle reminder for completing work.

Organizing Emails

Organizing your emails is so important! Creating various labels can help to keep you organized and in turn, keep the students more organized. For example, when you send an email to a student, place it under a label indicating that it is a student email and the class the student is in.

Organizing parent emails in a similar matter can also help with organization. Keeping the line of communication open between school and home is more important now than ever! When you are communicating with students and families on a regular basis, it helps them to stay more organized, but you also must have a system to keep it organized on your end, so you do not get stressed or overwhelmed.

Understanding Tabs

One final thought on organization for students is to help them understand what tabs should always be open. For example, my students always need to have their weekly agenda as a tab open on their Chromebooks. This is an easy reference as to the work that needs to be completed. Having too many tabs open can be overwhelming and create a sort of chaos, so as the teacher, you must model to students how to keep it organized.

We are all living and working through a crisis right now, and staying organized is one way to keep stress levels down. As Henry B. Adams said, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” Keep on caring, educating, and organizing your students to help them reach success. Be THAT teacher!

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The unprecedented and ongoing circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have created a host of challenges across the globe. Specifically, the pandemic has impacted the manner in which citizens interact, work, and go about their daily lives in general. Educators are perhaps one of the subgroups of the general population that have experienced monumental changes that have necessitated continuous adaptations and, on certain levels, systemic redesigning of the instructional process.

Many teachers entered into March of 2020 under the assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic may result in a brief school closure, followed by a rapid return to normalcy in the classroom. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and the hurdles created by the Novel Coronavirus seemingly grow taller on a near-daily basis. While attempting to accomplish the task of educating their students effectively, teachers have been faced with extended school closures, enforcing face covering policies, leaving their classrooms for larger instructional settings capable of accommodating social distancing, transforming their in-person classrooms into virtual learning platforms, and in many instances, attempting to educate two groups of students (in-person and online) simultaneously.

Prior to the onset of the pandemic, a majority of teachers had established repertoires of classroom routines and pedagogical strategies that are germane to direct, in-person instruction. Thus, a substantial learning curve between tried and true instructional methods and teaching within a remote learning environment became apparent, and educators were forced to quickly rethink their methodologies in addition to learning the technical aspects of online learning platforms.

Further complicating matters is the fact that many school districts have decided to present parents and guardians with the options of either sending their children to school in person or choosing to have them learn from their homes within an online platform. This scenario has necessitated a significant number of educators to attempt to instruct students in-person and online simultaneously. Providing quality instruction can be challenging within both the face-to-face and online instructional models. Therefore, combining the two models into single class periods throughout the day has created a situation in which teachers often feel that their work for the day is never complete and has the potential to lead to increased potential for burnout.

Although educating students within both the physical and virtual world is a challenging task, certain steps can be taken to help make the process not only more palatable but also more beneficial both for the instructor and students. Additionally, approaching this challenge from a formulaic and methodical perspective hopefully will serve to reduce possible frustration on the part of teachers and students alike.

Strategies for Teaching In-Person and Remote Learners Concurrently

Manage your time effectively.

Time management is far from a new strategy for educators, but the concept bears repeating in light of the fact that most – if not all – educators working within the present environment are faced with completing more work within the amount of time they are given.

Effective time management certainly applies to the planning process for lessons and activities; however, perhaps more critically, it should be applied to the content being taught within any given lesson. Essentially, teachers should review their unit and lesson plans and identify topics and activities that are not entirely critical in accomplishing the overall goals of their courses. Ancillary items should be eliminated thereby reducing the scope of lessons and units down to those concepts and understandings that are most critical to students’ long-term success.

By paring course content down to the critical concepts, teachers can more easily accomplish the task of instructing students within a dual format. When instructing within in-person and online settings simultaneously, many teachers tend to focus more time and energy upon the students that are physically present within the classroom. This more targeted approach to lesson content expectations will reduce the number of “in the moment” tasks the teacher must complete in order to accomplish the goals of the lesson and allow him or her to be able to divide time between students in the classroom and those working remotely.

Attempt to “go live” with online students as frequently as possible.

The process of online instruction in isolation can result in limited interaction with other students and the instructor for students learning remotely. As a result, if technology is available to enable online students to participate in real-time instruction via online video conferencing applications such as Zoom or Google Meet, instructors should incorporate these methods as frequently as possible.

By using this approach, teachers can communicate with all students – regardless of format­ – simultaneously, reducing the need to provide instruction and lecture-style presentations at different times. This approach carries with it the added benefit of remote students being able to interact with their peers in the physical classroom through the use of audio and visual technology, which assists in reducing the feelings of isolation that many remote learners have the potential to experience.

Establish in-person and virtual “office hours.”

An effective method for ensuring that students are provided with an opportunity to seek teacher input and guidance is the establishment of “office hours.” Naturally, students that are physically present within a school can stop by a teacher’s classroom or meet with them after class or the school day. Setting aside a time at which they will be available in an online conferencing platform for remote learning students allows teachers to be accessible to students who require additional tutoring or simply to maintain contact with a trusted adult.

When establishing virtual office hours, teachers should attempt to schedule these times within their contracted workday hours. The optimal times in which this can be accomplished are immediately before or after the school day.

Intentionally build “non-school” time into your daily schedule.

As mentioned previously, instructing students within two settings has the potential to lead to rapid educator burnout. Therefore, teachers must identify at least a small window of time in which they can focus on themselves, their families, and other items that are important to them. When simultaneously teaching both in-person and online, educators can easily become entangled in the trap of believing that they must focus on work during every waking moment. While it is critical that educators work to the absolute best of their abilities, this must not come at the expense of their personal mental health and physical wellbeing.

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Why Some Students May be Reluctant to Engage

Identifying reasons for a lack of student engagement in a traditional classroom setting can be simpler than identifying why students are not engaged in an online classroom. Yet, many of the same principles apply to both instructional settings.

For a student to be engaged, instruction must be relevant, purposeful, and authentic. The curriculum must be presented in such a way that makes the standards come alive. Assignments need to have connections to prior learning and real life. Further, the instructional methodology needs to be exciting, upbeat, and believable. That is, students need to feel your excitement and the belief that learning these skills carries great benefits.

In addition, online classrooms need to be streamlined and organized. Approved district-level templates go a long way in helping alleviate this cause of a lack of engagement. Students, and parents alike, become frustrated and are likely to be less engaged when each class has a different format and lacks organization.

Also, it is crucial that each assignment has purpose in an online environment. Limit activities to those that are necessary to ensure student mastery. There is no room for busy work in any classroom, but this is especially true in an online classroom. Students are likely to give up when they see 15 assignments posted on a Monday with many assignments covering the same skills. A solid question for a teacher to ask himself or herself is “Would I want to be a student in my own online class?” Most teachers who enter graduate programs only see two or three assignments a week. This narrowed approach allows for more engagement with key assignments.

A concluding reason for why students are reluctant to engage in online instruction is due to a lack of teacher engagement in their own online classroom. When teachers simply post assignments and do not connect with students or give substantive feedback, students are not going to engage either.

Educators must invest and have high expectations. Students will normally rise to meet those expectations. To foster engagement, teachers must post instructional videos, offer live meetings, continue making student/parent contact calls, and offer substantive feedback on student assignments. These actions are investments.

Strategies to Connect with Reluctant Students

Build Meaningful, Authentic Relationships

To increase student engagement, teachers must invest in building meaningful relationships among stakeholder groups. Students need to know the teacher cares. Likewise, parents and guardians need to know the teachers care as well. When a meaningful connection is established, it becomes harder to retreat from classroom engagement.

Once students know the teacher wants what is best and cares about them as individuals, students are more likely to become engaged in the classroom. Teachers can build meaningful relationships through a variety of activities such as giving detailed and personalized feedback on assignments, attending extra-curricular events, and making phone calls to discuss student progress.

Creating Authentic and Relevant Assignments

When designing online instruction, teachers need to be aware of the amount of time required to complete assignments. Too often, teachers build a daily lesson with 5-10 bullet items to complete. Considering the amount of classes students take and the days in a week, this method can easily lead to students becoming overwhelmed and shutting down. The result is that reluctant learners are unlikely to engage in the class.

On the contrary, when teachers take a streamlined approach, more students are likely to engage in the classroom. Teachers should limit assignments to two to three meaningful daily assignments. These assignments are best when they are relevant and authentic. By connecting to prior learning and bridging the curriculum to the students’ lives, the assignments are more meaningful.

Further, project-based learning is an excellent addition to an online classroom. Assignments can build or scaffold as the weeks progress. With this approach, the assignment can become more authentic and lead to higher levels of thinking.

Utilize Student Interest and Choice

Using student interest and choice can certainly increase engagement of reluctant learners in online classes. Student choice allows the student ownership over his or her learning, and student interest helps the student want to complete the assignment. Most humans are more likely to read about a topic or complete a project that is of interest. In addition, incorporating student interest shows the students that the teacher cares about them. Student choice allows the student to pick a presentation method that aligns with his or her learning style.

Bring Excitement to Your Online Classroom

Excitement is important to any classroom whether in-person or online. When learning is exciting, students are more likely to become engaged. Further, students will want to learn material if it looks like the teacher believes the skill is exciting and important. Crucial pieces of teaching include performance and presentation. Educators must embrace this fact. Teachers must be having fun for students to become significantly engaged in the content.

Many traditional classes have morning routines that include content songs, brain breaks, and transitional activities. Being present in the online environment is essential. Educators can record the morning routine so that students can still feel connected to the classroom. In addition, teachers can post instructional videos that are exciting.

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Things to Consider When Planning for the Arts at Home

There are a lot of things to consider when planning for the arts during remote learning. Do students have access to art supplies, musical instruments, or the internet? Will they be working alone or with a parent or sibling? Is it possible to recreate what you wanted students to learn in the classroom at home?

Instead of focusing on the skills you planned on teaching while in the classroom, change your focus to encourage creative engagement through whatever supplies students have at home. For example, students can repurpose toilet paper rolls and egg cartons and turn empty containers into works of art. For music class, students can also use household items like pots and pans to make music and, of course, their voices. With limited materials at home, teachers can still find ways to teach students through virtual meetings, singalongs, YouTube videos, and basic household items.

Ways to Bring the Arts into At-Home Learning

While schools may be closed, many teachers have found creative ways to continue teaching their students from the comfort of their homes. Here are a few ideas.

Utilize Digital Resources

If you asked yourself at the beginning of this pandemic if the arts can go digital, the answer is yes, it can! There are a lot of digital resources for the arts. For example, you can lead students through easy art activities such as drawing by creating a YouTube channel or over a video-conferencing app like Google classroom or Zoom. Teachers can hold one-on-one sessions with students via a Facetime app or assign students to watch online videos on how to perfect their art techniques or to learn about a famous artist. Students can also tour virtual museums like Met Kids.

Music and drama teachers can also go digital by leading their students through a virtual singalong. My daughter’s chorus teacher has weekly Google Meets, where the entire chorus class virtually sings together. Band teachers can also go digital by assigning students to watch YouTube videos to learn new notes or songs for their instruments. They can also have a virtual band class where students practice their instruments together online.

Utilize Unconventional Materials

If you’re under the assumption that some of your students do not have access to the internet all the time, you can rely on unconventional household materials to be the foundation of your lessons. Students can create their own art activities and turn food packaging into suncatchers and use empty egg cartons as paint dishes to create a work of art. Students can also learn to create art, such as a color wheel, from food or other household items.

Music and band teachers can encourage students to utilize their household items to make music too. Students can create songs using pots, pans, and a spoon, just like when they were toddlers. Or, you can challenge students to get creative and see how many different household items they can use to create a song. You’d be surprised by the music you can make with a carrot on a plate.

Create an Activity Themed Around the Pandemic

Students need a creative outlet, and what’s a better way to be creative than to incorporate what students are going through right now into their art classes and music classes?

Many performances from drama class that were scheduled have unfortunately been canceled. Challenge students to create new lyrics to the songs they were set to perform, but these lyrics have to do with what they’re experiencing right now during the pandemic. For example, they can change some of the words to include “six feet apart,” “social distancing,” and “life in quarantine.”

Create an Online Performance

While performance-based rehearsals may seem challenging to re-create online, it can be done. Students can gather on Google Meet or Zoom and rehearse just as they would in class. The only downfall is that it may be hard to hear when students speak over one another, so rules would have to be into place beforehand. However, an online performance is better than no performance at all.

The arts have been known to help people destress and heal from anxious times. By encouraging students to continue to be creative, you are creating a safe space for students who can no longer hang out with their friends in person. Art therapy is a great way for students to have a creative outlet in such trying times.

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