Whether we are teaching remotely or in the classroom, it is important to invite students to use writing-to-learn strategies with visible thinking tools. Here are some ideas that will help students to visually showcase their thinking and keep learning interesting, new, and different especially during remote learning:

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In this follow up post, we are going to share some more engaging ways to check in with your students each day, and we will share some awesome resources and strategies to help you build your class community.

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There are many things that you can do starting the very first week of school to build a classroom environment that is responsive in nature and supports all students within your virtual classroom.

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Whether we are teaching remotely or in the classroom, it is important to invite our students to annotate digital readings and transform print readings into digital products.

Here are some website ideas that help students connect to their reading and writing instruction:

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One challenge that has kept us up at night is how to build a strong classroom community while teaching remotely. We start building our student relationships and classroom communities on day one. This year will be no different, even if we are connecting through a computer screen.

We have resigned ourselves to the fact that our lessons that we would like to teach may take a bit longer when taught remotely, and we have also decided that our main focus will be to spend more time getting to know more about our students each and every day.

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Whether we are teaching remotely or in the classroom, it is important to create a supportive and nurturing classroom for all students to learn and thrive as human beings. Here are some websites that will help students feel more connected to a remote learning classroom:

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So, you decided to become a teacher… Congratulations! Welcome to the most rewarding profession of all time (as well as most time consuming). Every teacher knows how much work and effort goes into creating an insanely awesome lesson as well as the importance of a well managed classroom environment. With over two decades in the profession, we have compiled our must read, go-to, favorite education and curriculum books for new (and veteran ) teachers.

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In an article that Schmoker wrote for ASCD, he says that one of the impactful things teachers can do for students is to have them read for a minimum of 60 minutes and write for a minimum of 40 minutes every day in all subject areas. Unfortunately, many students spend class time in aimless group activities such as completing worksheets, cutting, coloring, and gluing. Additionally, reading assignments have been lowered several grade levels. If there ever was a time to switch things up and do them differently, now is the time. Here is Schmoker’s minimalist standards framework:

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There are so many options and choices for remote learning these days. It can be overwhelming and daunting to find them, learn how to use them, and then have our students utilize them in class or through remote learning. Here are a few of our favorite websites to use for distance learning.

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Will your school district be teaching remotely, hybrid teaching, or full return to school? My school district has decided after much deliberating to start school remotely. So, I started to buy some helpful items to make remote teaching easier this time around.

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