Online Teaching Tips for Secondary Reading Teachers+

Online Teaching in 2020: Tips for Finding Balance and Success as a Secondary Reading Teacher

As the 2020 school year approached spring break, educators faced countless unknowns. Would teachers and students return to school after the time off? Would the COVID-19 pandemic continue to worsen? Would learning become 100% online? How would districts combat these unknowns? Many of the secondary reading teachers I worked with in my previous role as an instructional learning coach came to me with questions such as these. At the time, I did not have a clear answer for them. As the days continued, it became clear that educators would not return to school in their brick-and-mortar buildings; rather, teaching and learning were undergoing massive conversions in mere days to fit within online spaces. As districts scrambled to adjust and modify curriculum to fit within these new online learning spaces, many teachers began to panic. Regularly, teachers mentioned the same concern – online teaching was hard. It was taking up much more time than their already busy teaching load, and they were finding it difficult to find a balance. How could they continue to teach and support students as they did before, while also leaving room for themselves and their own families? While COVID-19 forced changes to occur more rapidly than educators would have encountered during a pandemic-free timeframe, online teaching is continuing to gain popularity (Allen & Seaman, 2010; Allen et al., 2016; Yuan & Kim, 2014). While not everyone who is currently teaching and learning online will continue to do so once the pandemic is over, online learning has a definite place in education. As I continued to virtually coach secondary reading teachers throughout the end of the 2020 school year, I engaged in conversations with them about how to find balance. As these conversations unfolded, it became clear that the concepts and insights from those conversations may prove helpful to others also thrust into online teaching. Before securing my current position as an assistant professor of reading, I worked part-time as an adjunct instructor for two universities for many years. During that time, my courses were mainly online, which proved to be beneficial as I assisted teachers in navigating their new roles within online learning spaces. As the teachers and I discussed the extensive fluidity of online teaching avenues, various tips and tricks were shared that had proved to be beneficial for me as an online instructor. The secondary reading teachers indicated at the time how helpful these tips were, and this seemed to merit sharing them with fellow educators. While at the time, the focus was on assisting secondary teachers of reading, these tips are applicable to teachers of all content areas and many age groups. The main tips shared with reading teachers regarding online teaching fall into four categories: planning, building, connecting, and grading.

Planning

Teachers may experience struggles with how to plan for an entire unit or quarter. Within online spaces, teachers might worry about whether they are requiring too much or too little, providing students with enough time to complete their assignments, and creating a space where collaboration could occur. Some of those characteristics differ based on the current students in one’s classroom, but the following tips may be helpful as educators begin to teach online.

One helpful planning tool is the backward planning design (Daughtery, 2006; Davidovitch, 2013; Ziegenfuss, 2019). By constructing courses and units using a backward planning design, teachers must focus on what students are expected to have learned at the end of the course or unit. “Backward course design forces instructors to move the focus of course design from course contents to outcomes” (Davidovitch, 2013, p. 332). Using this design provides answers to students regarding the following questions: "Why are we doing this assignment? What is its purpose, and will I ever use it in real life?" (Daugherty, 2006). This process helps ensure that teachers are truly teaching and assessing the learning outcomes that have been established. (Ziegenfuss, 2019, p. 108). When using the backward planning design, each teacher begins planning his or her unit, quarter, or course with the end goal in mind. Once teachers know where they want students to end up, they can more readily design assignments, choose and chunk texts, create projects, generate discussion boards, etc. to help students meet that end goal. Figure 1 is an example of a backward planning template for a unit. When implementing the backward planning technique, teachers determine what the final summative project will be, then typically build out each week, starting with the last and ending with the first, introductory week. The backward planning template can be copied front and back, since the two support one another. The first page of the template provides a space to plan out the overall unit, whereas the second page provides space for details outlining each individual lesson. The second page can be reproduced as many times as needed since some units may require more than six lessons to complete the summative assignment or activity. An additional helpful planning tip is to know in advance the various technological tools a teacher would like to use within his or her unit. It is beneficial to know how to access the tool, how it works, how one wants to incorporate it, and how the tool will support the curriculum, the text being used, one’s own teaching, and students’ learning. As teachers become cognizant about those areas, choosing tools to implement can seem less daunting, and teachers are better able to find tools that will ensure the focus remains on the learning of curriculum.

Building

In building courses, units, or lessons, one of the most valuable tips for constructing each is to be as detailed as possible. Being explicit and providing rich description is necessary in the classroom, but these concepts serve a fundamental purpose in an online learning space. There is no such thing as over explaining in an online classroom. Typically, I draft directions for a portion of the week, then add to it at least two additional times. Teachers should practice writing all directions for any item within a unit or course thorough enough that someone not in the class could complete that assignment, project, or presentation. Another helpful tip for building a successful unit or course incorporates the incredible technological tools that are available. There is an abundance of tools that support literacy development which can be effortlessly intertwined into our online learning spaces. When choosing tools to use within an online learning space, it is important for each teacher to be familiar with how the tool works and have a plan for how it might be used within his or her classroom. A few online tools that support literacy development consist of blogs, Wikis, Voicethread, discussion boards, and e-Books. Each of these tools can be implemented in a variety of ways across content areas as well. Blogs, Wikis, and discussion boards can all be used fairly interchangeably, but by relying on a variety of tools, educators can better engage students by providing an assortment of tools to use. Blogs, Wikis, and discussion boards offer students

Figure 1

Backward Planning Template

*Note. Please contact the author for an electronic copy of this template if desired.

spaces to communicate and learn from one another. These three tools allow students to post an original thread and comment on peers’ work. Students are able to read comments on their own work, which can be helpful in building knowledge, writing to a specific audience, and in getting answers to questions. Teachers are able to see all of the activity that occurs within these spaces, which allows them to assess learning and better plan for next steps. Voicethread is a website that contains an interactive tool which can be used to present information and engage in discussions. With Voicethread, students are able to record both video and audio, and upload images to share with classmates. In addition to recording original work, students can also record comments to peers. There is also the option to type responses within Voicethread, too. Voicethread offers a lot of choice for students, which assists in engagement. Lastly, e-Books can serve as an alternative to paper books, especially right now when paper books may be nearly impossible to obtain. Many e-Books allow students to take notes in the margins and highlight sections, which is helpful as they make meaning. While these concepts are geared more toward secondary-aged students, they can easily be used equally well in elementary grades, high school, and higher education.

Connecting

Once a course or unit is planned and built in its entirety, the focus shifts to implementation and connecting with students. One aspect of teaching, whether seated, blended, or online that plays an important role is community formation. Community is essential in any learning space (Jeong & Hmeol-Silver, 2016; Kozlov & Große, 2016; O’Donnell & O’Kelly, 1994; Springer, Stanne, & Donovan, 1999), but explicit community formation is even more important in online learning. Building relationships and connecting to teachers and classmates assists in the formation of community. One way to connect to others and build community in an online course is through the use of synchronous chats. Whether teachers use Zoom, Skype, Blackboard Collaborate, Canvas Conferences, or any other tool that affords video-conferencing, the ability to see classmates’ faces and speak with them in real time is central to feelings of successful community in an online course. Synchronous chats, even implemented as little as once a week, can assist students in feeling connected and finding success in their online learning spaces. In addition to synchronous chats, educators can share pictures and personal insights about their daily lives with students. Simply by sharing various pictures of family happenings, funny things a pet did, a delicious meal, or anything else interesting going on in the educator’s life can help students feel more connected to him or her as a person. In sharing pictures and stories, educators can encourage students to do the same, which supports feelings of connectedness and engagement. These pictures and stories can be shared alongside announcements or embedded within various parts of a lesson or unit. This type of community building and connecting is beneficial at any grade-level.

Grading

No matter the grade-level or learning platform, feedback and grades are incredibly important. The longer I teach in an online setting, the more I realize how essential immediate, authentic feedback is for my students. Since assignments are so detailed, students know the scrupulous requirements they must fulfill as they complete various projects. Secondary reading teachers often have in-depth, lengthy assignments which require a significant amount of time to grade. Rubrics assist this process and allow teachers to focus on main concepts within a lengthy assignment. Figure 2 is an example of a generic rubric I use for a variety of assignments. The

more consistent teachers can be, the more prepared they are to provide beneficial feedback to students, and the better prepared students are to turn in high-quality work. The rubric in Figure 2 is used to grade an assignment as a whole; then teachers can provide two to three specific points of feedback for each student. This rubric can be modified to fit a wide variety of activities, assignments, and grade-levels.

Figure 2

Assessment Rubric

Exemplary

Depth of Reflection

70%

Demonstrates a conscious and thorough understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter. This reflection can be used as a model for other students.

Language Use

20%

Uses stylistically sophisticated language that is precise and engaging, with notable sense of voice, awareness of audience and purpose, and varied sentence structure.

Conventions

10%

Demonstrates control of the conventions with essentially no errors, even with sophisticated language.

Strong

Demonstrates a thoughtful understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter.

Uses language that is fluent and original, with an evident sense of voice, awareness of audience and purpose, and the ability to vary sentence structure.

Demonstrates control of the conventions, exhibiting occasional errors only when using sophisticated language.

Basic

Demonstrates a basic understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter.

Developing

Demonstrates a limited understanding of the writing prompt and the subject matter. This reflection requires revision.

Uses basic but appropriate language with a basic sense of voice, some awareness of audience and purpose, and some attempts to vary sentence structure. Uses language that is vague or imprecise for the audience or purpose, with little sense of voice, and a limited awareness of how to vary sentence structure.

Demonstrates partial control of the conventions, exhibiting occasional errors that do not hinder comprehension. Demonstrates limited control of the conventions, exhibiting frequent errors that make comprehension difficult.

Emerging

Demonstrates little or no understanding of the writing prompt and subject matter. This reflection requires revision.

Uses language that is unsuitable for the audience and purpose with little or no awareness of sentence structure.

Demonstrates little or no control of the conventions, making comprehension almost impossible.

Conclusion

There are a lot of unknowns surrounding education right now. Many educators are unsure about how teaching will occur in the 2020-2021 school year. As districts turn to online learning, administrators and teachers must be prepared to support students in building learning communities as well as acquiring the knowledge needed to participate in literacies of the future. Whether teaching online, seated, or blended, the tips and tricks offered in this article are applicable and can assist in course and unit development. In implementing the above tips and tricks from this article, educators can better find a balance as they navigate teaching in online spaces. While many teachers long for the normalcy they were used to, online teaching has continued well into the fall semester, with no current indication of slowing down. The tips and tricks addressed in this article can not only help educators find balance between the demands of online teaching and everyday life but can also assist educators in feeling prepared to be successful in online teaching.

Dr. Chelsea K. Bradley is Assistant Professor of Reading at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She completed her doctorate in Reading Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and previously served as a middle-school classroom teacher, reading specialist, and instructional coach for Springfield schools. She can be reached at ckbradley@ualr.edu.

References

Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2010). Learning on demand: Online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529931.pdf Allen, I. E., Seaman, J, Poulin, R., & Straught, T. T. (2016). Online Report Card–Tracking Online Education in the United States, 2015. Online Learning Consortium. https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-report-card-tracking-online-educationunited-states-2015/ Daugherty, K. K. (2006). Backward course design: Making the end the beginning. American

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Review of Educational Research, 69(1), 21–51. http://journals.sagepub.com.proxy.mul.missouri.edu/doi/pdf/10.3102/ 00346543069001021 Walker, April. (n.d.). Teachers Pay Teachers. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ Unit-Plan-Template-for-Understanding-by-Design-freebie-1904918?st=dd1fd64973117 d8b90da38e5179b9a92 Yuan, J., & Kim, C. (2014). Guidelines for facilitating the development of learning communities in online courses. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(3), 220-232. doi:10.1111/jcal.12042 Ziegenfuss, D. H. (2019). Information literacy and instruction: Backward design: A must-have library instructional design strategy for your pedagogical and teaching toolbox. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 59(2), 107-112. doi: http://0-dx.doi.org.library.ualr.edu/ 10.5860/rusq.59.2.7275">10.5860/rusq.59.2.7275

As I continued to virtually coach secondary reading teachers throughout the end of the 2020 school year, I engaged in conversations with them about how to find balance. As these conversations unfolded, it became clear that the concepts and insights from those conversations may prove helpful to others also thrust into online teaching.