We read and hear a lot about concerns that due to students learning from home, being away from school, teachers, friends, and extra-curricular activities, and not having what used to be the normal and familiar routine of going to school, there may be gaps in their learning and development.
In some schools, there is a reported increase in summer school enrollment for summer 2021 which may be due to virtual learning not being the prime environment for some of our students to be learning. However, the connection summer school students have with teachers may be just what they need since student-teacher ratios are traditionally lower in summer school classes. Last summer, I supported summer schoolteachers in our district across five high schools, and let me tell you, those teachers had hearts of GOLD given what they had been through since schools closed during term 3. It is probably safe to say, teachers across the globe and the roughest fourth quarter in their teaching careers. But the summer schoolteachers gave so much support to their students. It was heartwarming to watch.
If we want to give the same kind of support to all our students, how can we help them close their gaps over the summer break?
Links mentioned in the Episode 5 podcast:
STRATEGY 1 – Interactive Lessons
Computer Science interactive lessons:
Codecademy or Runestone Interactive
Interactive lessons in different topics and grade levels:
· Nearpod, Peardeck, or Playposit
· Newsela for ELA, Social Studies, Science, Computer Science, World Language, Health, Physical Education, ESL, and more
· Khan Academy for math and science
· PhET for Science simulations
· NOVA for Science
· Commonlit for ELA
· Smithsonian Open Access for many different topics and exhibits
· EdPuzzle - where you can tap into videos already created on educational channels like:
o National Geographic, TED Talk
o science and engineering Veritasium
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