As student education continues through distance learning, it is important to consider the enormous responsibilities that fall to your teachers. They are doing the heavy lifting of delivering your school’s mission while education takes place in the home. It is their actions that will lead to the success of your school’s distance learning plan. Your teachers' daily interactions with their students will be closely judged by your parents.
Teachers are spending substantial time changing their lesson plans and preparing materials. We’ve seen that many teachers are still offering advisory time and one-on-one sessions in addition to lessons, ensuring that their students stay active and engaged.
The bottom line: Your teachers work hard and are the most visible, tangible demonstration of your program’s value to parents during this time. Here’s what you should do to take care of them.
Allow for Increased Flexibility
Teachers require flexibility and adequate planning time. Many have their own children at home with them, and of course, their household to maintain. To that end, your distance learning schedule should not mirror your on-campus one. Do not fill your teachers’ and students’ days with synchronous classes and meetings. Instead, allow time for synchronous and asynchronous activities.
Make sure you provide adequate tech support for faculty. Clearly define what IT can do to help with technical issues and how teachers can get in touch with your IT team. Teachers shouldn’t have to be solely responsible for ensuring your chosen distance learning platform works, and they should know what to do when there’s an issue.
Provide workarounds in place if a system goes down. You should also check in often to ensure the chosen technology works well, offering solutions to fill gaps if necessary.
It may be time to review your school’s communications policies and systems. Notifications, emergencies, and updates must be easily communicated during this time, and teachers should feel that they know what’s happening as the Leadership Team moves forward.
Focus on the Important Things
Give teachers a new set of priorities so they can do their best while their students learn from home. In a socially distant world, connection is a priority for everyone. Teachers should be teaching, but also providing a sense of stability in their students’ lives.
Give your teachers the freedom to focus on emotional connections with their students. They should work to assess emotions, not just homework. That is the barometer for how well a student is managing through this crisis. Establishing the emotional environment for learning is more important than the work. Listening is needed more than accountability measures right now.
Teachers have always been problem solvers and negotiators, and it’s even more true today. Whether it is a parent or colleague in need of help, give teachers the tools to say, “Let me look into that,” “I don’t know, I will be happy to check,” and “Let’s see how we can make that work.” Then, be the sounding board and resource to help make requests happen. Be prepared to become part of that problem-solving process.
Convey that complaining will not change this situation, and can also breed negativity. Complaining naturally occurs in school environments, but it does not solve problems and, under the present circumstances, only increases stress. Everyone is doing their best, and your school employees should present a united front to your parents and students.
Ensure teachers have a collaborative space to talk to each other and share, such as Slack or similar tools. They need each other’s support and advice.
Tune in to live webinars every week during the school year to get specific, research-backed insight you can immediately apply at your school.
Help Teachers Communicate With Parents
Parent communication is vital during this time. Ensure your teachers are sending personal communications and having one-on-one video sessions, whenever possible, to keep parents in the loop.
Not only must teachers continue these individual efforts, but nonteaching faculty and counselors should have this same availability. Everyone in the community is needed to maintain the school experience parents expect.
Even Academic Deans have a larger role to play. They should adopt becoming a contact point when, for example, there is no homeroom teacher. Have staff ready to cover multiple functions that may be needed in support of teachers and families.
It is the administration's job to provide predictability and support to the entire community. Teachers are on your front lines, delivering your unique mission in an uncertain time under difficult circumstances. Make sure they have the tools they need, the support to guide them, and the flexibility to take care of themselves as they take care of their students.
