Three Things you Need to Make Working & Learning from Home Work
As a mom and a teacher I’ve discovered a few things that work. Every year teachers spend the beginning of the year teaching students routines, expectations, and where things belong. If I want to avoid a lot of wasted time and behavior problems to get to my goal of learning, these three things need to be mastered as quickly as possible.
When COVID hit, I floundered at home to figure out new routines, expectations, and where school and work things should belong. I shifted around our main level working in different spots, and I spent a lot of time looking for things and making a million decisions about who I should help next through distance learning or at home. I worked hard and felt guilty the whole time about not spending enough time helping everyone. When we started this year all working from home I decided I needed to implement what I know from years of teaching. I want all of us to make progress academically this year. And I don’t want to kill myself doing it.
To be successful at home you need three things
1. A place to work and keep your things
2. A routine
3. Realistic Expectations
A Place to work and a specific place for your things.
I realized I needed a home base. Like at school, I move around the room all day, but I have a table that I work at with my cup of important things (pencil, pen, scissors, highlighter and sticky notes). I went and got a $46 desk at Wal-mart and have a decorative tote next to it with my current work projects (AKA kids books for writing lessons and my school binder for teaching online).
Don’t waste time looking for papers or supplies. Have a special spot for each person's things. While I use a decorative tote, my kids at home chose plastic containers that belong at the end of the couch. I gave my students a binder with their name on the front and a zippered pocket (one of my team teacher’s ideas).
Routines - There is enough change to bury any of us alive. Free up mental space by going on autopilot where you can, by following a schedule. You and or your children can set alarms on your phone or the timer on the oven to keep everyone on track.
This especially helps with things you or your children do not like doing. If a dreaded task always happens at a set time then it doesn’t have to hang over your head the rest of the time because you know it will get done at the designated time and then you can mentally prepare to do it when that time comes. Challenging tasks are best when you are alert and not hungry. Writing seems to be a subject that some students struggle with, so I always have it after an outside recess (trampoline time at home). This way they have a lot of oxygen flowing to their brain and they are more alert. I like to record lessons online first thing in the morning before my kids are up.
Following a routine makes for less complaining when they get used to writing right after being outside. It becomes automatic after a week or two or reminders. Initially my first graders need to write for ten minutes every day. If they are working they are done when the timer goes off. When school is done. Let it be done. If my kids aren’t done right at the time school is out (1:10 pm for elementary, 3 pm for my big kids) I let them take a 10 minute recess then come back and work for another half hour and then they are done.
I work best in my room with the door open to the living room, where my kids are working. I set alarms on my phone when I need to check in with my children during the day. I spend about 3-10 minutes checking in with each child every day and ask them to make corrections or have them explain their work to me. This is similar to what I do in the classroom when I check in with students. On occasion they will come to me and ask how to get into an activity or to tell me a quiz won’t work for example. I do not check all their work or check in with all of them at the same time. I can see the work my younger children submitted to their teacher on the Seesaw app later in the day with teacher comments and I have my older children show me their grades once a week online. This is how I monitor if there is anyone I need to spend more time helping.
Realistic Expectations
We are working during working hours. This is not a problem for me because I often have a problem with stopping when I need to. We are all dressed and have breakfast before we start school.
The biggest elephant in the room is technology. I am honestly trying to figure out that beast. We are in an angry wrestling match at the moment. Ultimately, I have to go back to what I know.
I need routines and to set expectations. It is not realistic or healthy to spend my evenings and my whole weekend figuring out technology, but I do need to make sure lessons get out to my students. For now, I figure out the technology for the next day of online lessons and when another teacher’s voice is on a template for directions and I can’t delete the voice recording that says, “Turn it into Mrs. Allen (obviously NOT my name), it isn’t the end of the world. It will still work with a note to parents on the screen. I am learning to call it done and let it go (even though this is really hard). I have delegated checking in with my younger kids to my older kids on days when I have to go into school. I know I am the parent, but there are days I cannot do it all and I need their help. If there is one thing that COVID is teaching us, albeit against our will, it is to be flexible.