The ManicaPost
Terry Heick
Correspondent
Learning should not stop when your child is staying at home as a result of the Covid-19.
Parents are children’s first and most important teacher, and this is a good opportunity for you to get involved in children’s learning. There are many things that parents can do to support their children in making it up to what they acquire at schools.
What is remote learning?
Remote learning occurs when teachers and students move a normally in-person class to a temporary online space.
Remote learning is a kind of eLearning (or “online learning”) but isn’t “online learning” because it is not learning that is designed for purely digital spaces (whereas eLearning is).
So what kind of remote learning tips for parents can help?
There are ways for families to model and support literacy in their homes.
Embrace the idea
The first step is for parents and their children to wrap their heads around this shift to online learning in public education.
Set (and keep) a schedule
The closer this is to a “school schedule,” the easier it will likely be on everyone. You obviously can (and probably should) revise whatever you come up with at first to fit your circumstance at home (your work schedule, sleeping schedules, etc). But once you’ve got something that works, stick to it. And this almost certainly means to use some sort of timer to at least clarify how much time is being spent on what.
Ensure you have necessary material
Whether its pencil and paper, a stable WiFi connection, log-in information for all accounts, a PDF reader, or note-taking apps or reading strategies — whatever they need to get the work done.
Provide a conducive environment
This isn’t always easy. If they’re too isolated, it’s difficult to check in with them. If they’re at the kitchen table, depending on the child or their environment, they may be too distracted. This is even more challenging when everyone is home and the house is full.
Help them understand
Helping students understand is one of the more obvious remote learning tips for parents. This could be the topic for an entire book because how this happens is complicated and varies greatly from student to student, grade level and content area.
Imagine the parent of a Second Grade student helping them complete an essay on their favourite cookie versus the parent of a high school senior helping them with a Calculus problem or an analysis of Shakespearean versus Petrarchan meter. The former is a matter of sitting with your child, while the latter is going to likely require that you learn alongside your child — or even learn it first yourself and then review with them after. The bottom line is that helping your child understand the content is definitely part of the “bare minimum” range of tips.
Make sure all work is completed
Any work that remains incomplete is incomplete for a good reason and has a time-bound, actionable next-step (eg, email the teacher asking for clarification on step 3 of the activity so that you can turn it in tomorrow by noon).
Keep in mind that it’s about the child, not the work
This can be difficult for some parents to keep in mind when there is so much pressure (on everyone) to complete the work. And further, this is obviously a parenting philosophy for some families. It very well may be a matter of discipline to do what you’re told and “do well in school.” If that’s true, this tip may not be useful.
But if you believe that assignments should serve the child rather than the child serve the assignments or that this is at least partly true, then don’t over-emphasise “getting everything done” over the well-being (not to mention creative genius and curiosity and intrinsic motivation) of your child.
Learn to identify the barriers
This is something teachers have to learn early on in their careers — how to pinpoint exactly what’s happening or going wrong. Diagnostic teaching is one approach that can help here but the big idea is to identify precisely why your child might be struggling: Is it focus? Motivation? Too much or too little structure? Do they need a hug or finger-wagging or for you to sit with them?
And if it’s a knowledge deficit, exactly what do they not understand? When students say, “I don’t get it,” the first step is to identify exactly what “it” is and this isn’t always easy. Most students don’t know what they don’t know. That’s why you (and an internet full of resources) are there to help them.
