Maximizing The Efficiency Of Your Remote Classroom Teaching Plan
A teaching plan is the roadmap a teacher needs to identify what students need to learn and how they're going to learn it. It involves teaching material, resources, activities, time plans, and more. Although the planning process itself remains pretty much the same for on-site and remote teaching, you're still going to have to adjust a few things to make sure that you're achieving adequate engagement through the computer screen. To help you accomplish that, we'll walk you through the essential steps of creating an effective remote classroom teaching plan.
5 Steps To Plan Effective Remote Lessons
1. Establish Learning Objectives
For a lesson to add value to your students' development, it must have a purpose. This is why the first step when building a teaching plan is determining your learning objectives. What is the basic concept of the lesson? Which skill do you want learners to have acquired by the end of it? What's something you can omit if you're pressed for time? These and other questions will help you not only outline all aspects of your lesson but also rank them by importance so that you can make changes depending on interest level and time availability.
2. Ensure Engagement With Your Introduction
The beginning of the lesson is what's going to set the tone for the rest of the learning experience. Therefore, prepare a thought-invoking introduction that will engage remote learners in the learning process early on. For example, instead of presenting the day's subject and diving into lecturing, take some time to ask students about their previous knowledge on the matter. Give them a related topic to discuss or use an engaging anecdote or short clip to draw them in. If you can grab everyone's attention in the first few minutes, you will have much better results by the end of the lesson.
3. Plan Out Your Activities
However, to achieve these great results, your remote classroom teaching plan will have to include the activities you're going to use. You can't expect to hold your students' attention if you log in and start improvising. Thankfully, there are plenty of ideas and resources available on the web, some of which will be perfect for your online classroom. Therefore, don't hesitate to get creative and swap slides and textbook reading for more interactive activities. Remote learners are known to respond particularly well to interactive games, videos, quizzes, and virtual whiteboards that allow them to actively participate in the lesson.
4. Make Time For Reflection And Discussion
One thing that's crucial to add to your remote classroom teaching plan is adequate space and time for student discussion. Although this comes more naturally when students are in the same room, discussion and reflection time will have to be planned ahead for remote learning. Specifically, you will have to designate some time for it and offer learners the necessary tools, such as chat options, forums, or breakout rooms. Even though the discussion should be organic, make sure to have some prompts at the ready, which will help students think outside the box and hone their critical thinking and collaboration skills.
5. Make A Realistic Timeline
Time is essential in the classroom, especially when we're talking about remote learning. Considering that connectivity issues, unstable internet connections, and slower communication are going to rob you of some precious time, the rest of the session must be well thought out and timed. A technique that can help you here, as mentioned earlier, is choosing the main points of the lesson and prioritizing them. You can also estimate how long each activity is going to take and note it down in your plan. Nevertheless, remember to be flexible depending on your students' engagement and productivity levels.
Communicating Your Teaching Plan To Remote Learners
Once you have completed your plan, it's going to be very helpful sharing it with your remote classroom. Knowing what to expect during the course of the lesson helps students be more engaged. You can present your plan in the form of a brief agenda or a checklist that you tick off as you complete activities and assignments. This technique allows learners to understand the purpose of the lesson, the rationale behind the activities you have chosen, and the goals they are supposed to achieve.
Conclusion
Creating a teaching plan is the first step to ensuring that your class has adequate academic development. The steps that we described in this article will help you through the process of creating an effective remote classroom teaching plan and make the most of the time you have in the virtual classroom.
