The closure of schools due to the emergency of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the way in which teachers will teach to students has been changed. Many schools are taking various measures: using an online educational platform, creating guides, sending emails, or using their social networks to assign activities or projects so that students continue to learn from their homes.
Abruptly changing a work methodology is not easy and the effort teachers are making to help their students with different activities is very important. In this blog we suggest some “tips” to consider when assigning activities for students to do at home:
- Keep in mind that all teachers will leave assignments or activities in their subjects. It will be necessary to organize so as not to burden the students especially with the delivery dates.
2. Take into consideration that many of the students may not have access to the internet or a computer at home; it will be necessary to identify these cases and find alternatives for them.
3. Remember that students, although they may not seem so, are concerned, especially those who suffer because they have a more developed emotional intensity and are more susceptible to these events. Try to include virtual work dynamics so that the students express how they feel and that they give themselves ideas of how they are coping with the situation.
4. It is suggested to design playful activities that the students can enjoy at the same time that they learn: letter soups, crossword puzzles, riddles, question lottery, among others.
5. Consider that copying from the book or from a presentation is not synonymous with learning; you have to be creative when designing the activities that students will do at home.
6. Forget the flat ones! If you want to improve the handwriting of your students, there are many techniques for this, such as the technique of burnishing, twisting, mandalas, modeling clay, drawing in sand, rice and others that will be to the liking of the youngest students.
7. Propose research topics that are related to your home, family, favorite TV shows or radio. Some examples are: planting and caring for a plant, preparing a recipe, doing research on the jar labels that are commonly used in the kitchen, observing the moon, the pet, the weather and others that are within reach of resources in your houses.
8. If reading is the goal, it is suggested that they choose a book or story that motivates them so that they can share it with their classmates in a virtual meeting or when they return to class.
9. If you use online educational platforms, we recommend that you select only one to maintain a primary channel of interaction. TBox Planet, for example, allows you to communicate, assign homework, upload educational resources easily, in addition that most students are already familiar with its use.
10. Suggest physical activities such as dancing or exercising at home. They could be related to science like keeping track of exercises or eating.
We hope that the emergency will pass in a few days and that the students return with more motivation to learn. We are sure that for all teachers this emergency is becoming a valuable opportunity to develop professionally, adding new resources and forms of work to enrich teaching and learning.
