eptember passed! With trepidation, we donned our masks and gallons of sanitizer
and began a unique school year. Whether teaching via distance learning or spread
out in school buildings, at 6-foot distances, we began with the intent that our
delivery methods must promote student learning. We were united in the belief
that we could not allow students to experience any further learning or emotional
gaps. We reminisced about the times when we were all forced into crisis teaching
and scurrying to take instruction online. Many returned to classroom calendars
stuck on March 2020, as if time had frozen. With time to prepare, we were now
more ready; although many still felt like novices to virtual learning platforms.
Now several months into multilocation instruction, we begin the third article
in our three-part series by tipping our hats to teachers, especially new teachers
who were circumstantially forced to try out content for the first time within a
virtual classroom. We also give a big nod to teachers about to retire, who learned
so much about technology that a year earlier they had never considered and
maybe never heard of. With all of your knowledge, you decided to stay and you
gained technological skills that have allowed you to continue teaching effectively.
Eventually, out of necessity, we all created an instructional balance between
delivery and content because we are united in affirming that our teaching and our
students’ learning must grow stronger each day. Most of us would now agree that
we’ve become more comfortable and confident with our new instructional tools.
To support us completing this school year on an even more positive side of
learning, we surveyed colleagues, some new to the profession and some with many
years of experience, to gather their insights regarding what worked well for them
these past few months and also what didn’t. In the following sections, we provide
their insights with the intention of continuing to share ideas that support online
learning success for teachers, students, and families.
Creating positive relationships with families
Connecting with families and caregivers is of utmost importance in any school format
because they are our partners, and students have the right to integrated systems of
support regardless of what mode is used to deliver instruction. Entwined family and
teacher supports have the power to get students to show up in Zoom meetings or
at the school door. During these months of distance learning, many parents joined
the synchronous instruction, supporting their children’s completion of lessons and
Supports and strategies to continue teaching
and learning growth
REFLECTING ON
VIRTUAL
LEARNING
By Diane Lapp & Kenneth Kunz
LITERACY
LEADERSHIP
Diane Lapp (lapp@sdsu
.edu), a longtime ILA member
and the current chair of ILA’s
Literacy Research Panel, is
a distinguished professor of
education at San Diego State
University and a teacher and
an instructional coach at
Health Sciences High and
Middle College, San Diego,
CA.
Kenneth Kunz (kunz
.kenneth@gmail.com), an ILA
member since 2008 and a
current ILA Board member-
at-large, is an assistant
professor of literacy and
language arts at Monmouth
University in West Long
Branch, NJ, and a literacy
consultant.
The following article is Part 3 of a series dedicated to early literacy instruction
through remote learning. Part 1 is available in the July/August 2020 issue of Literacy
Today and Part 2 in the September/October issue.
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literacyworldwide.org | November/December 2020 | LITERACY TODAY