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When Learning Shifts Online
Social Distancing and Teaching during a Pandemic
View Student Version
For Preservice Educators
When Learning Shifts Online
This is not our typical New American History Learning Resource. It is not tied to any particular Standards, and not geared towards a particular grade level or topic. It was not piloted and revised, but is a response to the urgent requests from K-12 teachers and colleagues supporting preservice teachers in various postsecondary Schools of Education to help with providing online learning options as schools prepare for extended closures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and wide scale school closings. In light of these events, we offer ways our already free resources might be used and adapted for distance teaching and learning in hopes we might support teachers and students during these challenging circumstances.
Graphic Organizers
Two of our most popular graphic organizers have been the KWL Chart and our 321 Podcast Listening Guide. These are embedded into a few of our learning resources, but can also be adapted for use with other learning experiences.
The 5 E's Model
Our learning resources are constructed using the 5 E's model. While there are many versions of the 5 Es, we like to develop our learning resources to Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and often times Extend. We leave the Evaluate step up to teachers, suggesting informal exit tickets or other formative ways to assess student thinking and learning.
Bunk Collections and Assignments
One of the newest tools in the New American History "Teacher Toolkit" is the Bunk Collections and Assignments tool. Teachers may create an assigned collection of Bunk excerpts to share with students, including the ability to label and annotate each excerpt, ask inquiry based questions, or pose discussion topics. A unique assignment code is then emailed to teachers to share out with students. Students can create their own collection in response to an assignment and submit it to their teacher and / or share with others. Teachers may also choose to create and share a collection of Bunk excerpts to insert into a learning resource of their own.
Your feedback is important!
Our lessons are designed by teachers for teachers, and your feedback is very important! All of our learning resources have a feedback link near the bottom and we read every single one of them! Please consider providing us your thoughts and suggestions on how we can continue to support teachers and students. You may email us at editor@newamericanhistory.org
