It’s Mid-October and hopefully by now you’ve found a rhythm to your day. Realistically though, you may not have it together yet. That is a-okay! When I finally got my schedule for the year, I nearly melted. I operate on organization but my schedule was all over the place. Forget the fact that I was still trying to wrap my head around the three groups of learners this year: Fully Remote, Blended Remote, and In Person. I was struggling with just understanding my schedule! I have two blended remote sections where each of them include students mixed from two different subjects. Someone explain to me how to teach two subjects in one period by one teacher? I’ll wait. My first objective was to make some sense out of my new normal, blended learning. That started with my schedule. …I went from this:
To this:
My first thought was to make what does not make sense, to make sense! So I color-coded my schedule based on subject and class sections. Now, I can visually see how many sections I have of each subject and when they occur, in just a few seconds. However, upon glance of my schedule, I and like many of you, have each of my courses only a few times a week. There is very little consistency. Mondays alternate, and since there are so many holidays that fall on Monday, the inconsistency worsens.
There is no way that I am going to remember what I taught in Algebra 9A1 by the time I get to Friday. Unlike a traditional schedule, you see your students every single day. It was easy! Also, how can I keep each class a bit aligned with each other? I want to be in the same unit across classes as much as possible. All of these concerns fueled my creativity to organize my courses even beyond my class schedule. I began to set up my Weekly + Monthly Pacing spreadsheet.
As in the past, this spreadsheet has been my LIFESAVER, literally. Even though this year is so unusual and everything lacks any sense, my organization tools, have been superb in just getting me started. Now, I actually feel like I’m doing something. Now, I’m getting somewhere…finally.
I decided to color the fully remote groups in blue and leave the In-Person and Blended groups in Green. Color-coding is always my go-to magic potion! Using DOE guidance on essential standards for Algebra and Algebra 2 this year, I begin to fill out what I’m teaching in each class. I greyed out boxes for days I don’t meet with students live or in-person. My Mondays alternate, so those are purple! Besides the fact that I keep this tab open on my computer 24-7, I finally have a rhythm to my day. If you are struggling with finding some normalcy, download this!
Now that I know what I am teaching, who I am teaching it too, and when I am teaching it, I need to keep track of EVERYTHING academic and nonacademic in my courses. Blended learning has presented a number of systemic inequity issues during this pandemic. As a result, tracking everything from submitted work, student engagement + participation to student behaviors both online and in person, and communication with students and families is critically important. Families can and WILL use any excuse or situation possible to claim that their child deserves and should pass your class. This may be true, unless you have EVIDENCE that they don’t. Let’s not even start with Special Education students and students who have Special Needs. We’ll talk about that too. However, I’ve made this data tracking norm very simple.
In my Digital Student Attendance + Engagement Remote Learning Tracker, you can document student attendance by simply checking a checkbox that automatically counts for you; student tech issues using a drop down menu, participation both online and in person, bathroom use, COVID Safety, etc.
The best thing about this tool is that you have a record!!! You can also use it during parent-teacher conferences if you have any concerns. In April, I created another Remote Learning Tracker, which today is the most downloaded resource I’ve created, and it allows you to document student work submission, communication with families, and links to resources.
Keeping track of work submission is not the same thing as grading FYI! I track work submission so that when I make phone calls or do outreach, I can include these issues in my conversations. Notice on the tracker that it only allows you to check off an assignment that was done On Time, Late or if it’s Incomplete. If you want resources to track student learning, I have a number of trackers for that, the most popular being, my Digital Tracker with Drop Down Menus.
Another tab on the Remote Learning Tracker is the Communication Log. I try to do at least one parent or student outreach per day and I log my communication here with EXACT TIMES and anecdotes. You have to keep a paper trail!
There is also a tab for student contact information that you can refer to when you begin outreach and also a tab for resources and links you want to save for your students/courses.
It may seem like “a lot” of trackers or tabs, but you can easily consolidate the trackers all into one spreadsheet. If you are interested in downloading them, instructions for how to do that are included. My trackers are consolidated and super accessible. Again–I feel like I’m doing something! Blended Learning is easier now, I have a system in place. It’s all about having a system in place!
Now… about Special Education. If you teach students with special needs, YOU NEED TO DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Students with special needs are granted accommodations. YOU MUST grant them their accommodations. Each student has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and this is a federal document. Reading through IEPs can seem daunting especially because you will find many grammatical errors in them. Many teachers do not put a lot of effort into writing them. Regardless, you need to know what your students are entitled too. Along with their accommodations, it is extremely important that you are setting goals with each of them, as this information is requested on the IEP. As the year goes on, you must keep track of their progress towards completing these goals.
Now that we are all teaching through blended or fully remote models, special education students more than EVER need all of the attention and support you can possibly give. Issues of equity are at the forefront with this population. You do not want to be incompliant with submitting an IEP or providing the support and accommodations your students need. You can begin to unravel and understand each of your students needs by first accessing each of their IEPs and listing out your caseload. On my Digital IEP Caseload Tracker, all you need to do is set up your caseload and everything else is literally — click the box and use the drop down menus — to keep track of your caseload.
*Please note that Micah, Williams is a made up student! The snapshots below are tabs from the tracker and model how to use the file.
In the IEP At a Glance, you can begin filling in information about each student in your caseload by going through their actual IEP. It’s a simple process. Literally use the drop down menus and check the checkboxes as necessary!
On the Annual Goals tab, simply write out the annual goal for the student and document their progress. You can also track this progress with assessments and type in their mastery percentage which is automatically color-coded! Bingo!
This is my favorite part of the tracker! The IEP Monthly tracking. When your IEP Advisor gives you your list of student IEP Meetings, write them all down, well in this case, type them all in! You can never forget.
Similarly, you can keep track of each students IEP Due Date. Please note, the IEP due date is not always the same as the meeting date! Some students in your case will also have reevaluations. Document those as well so you know when it is coming up. You may want to consider additionally documenting each student’s progress report date. I write the date I gave a family a progress report for each student in my case in these spaces.
During the IEP Meeting, it is always a good idea to have your OWN meeting notes. I never rely on the IEP Advisor or any other people for documentation on the IEP Meetings I attended. I keeps my own record! And yes, I even write down all the people who were in attendance with me. I keep track of everything, it doesn’t hurt. In fact, you’ll be glad you did.
Lastly, I log all the communication I have with families of students who have special needs. Keep your paper trail!
Keeping up with blended learning CAN be easier with the steps I discussed in this post and by also either creating your own organization tools or downloading some that I’ve created. My store is always available to you. I hope that if you were initially stuck, frustrated, lost, or unsure, …as this year has begun, that I have provided some support to get you started. Good luck!
Check me out on Instagram to see how I put my resources to use and let’s stay connected!
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