Bonjour!
Long time, no post!
I can’t lie, navigating distance teaching on top of everything else that comes with a pandemic hasn’t been easy.
I’ve needed to create lots of new resources, film lots of lessons, and attend many virtual meetings over the past few weeks. Whenever my plate is full, I take something off of it, and this time, that was my blog!
But, I’m back and ready to share what I know about distance learning with you.
In fact, when I brainstormed my list of topics to cover, I came up with 12 to share over the next six weeks. So, I’m going to try to post two distance teaching tips per week – on Sundays and Wednesdays.
If you need help, be sure to check back here!
Today, I wanted to talk about something that’s dear to my heart – options for students who maybe don’t have access to reliable internet or devices.
In high school, this was me.
Now, I don’t want to age myself too badly, but when I was in high school, times were changing. All schools had internet access, and most families were signing up excitedly.
But, not mine!
My mom was pretty anti-screen-time on the whole, and she was NOT willing to sign our family up for another monthly bill. She just didn’t see internet as a necessity at the time.
But, my teachers didn’t seem to get it, and would often assign homework that was a heck of a lot easier for those with internet access. Research projects, PowerPoint presentations (complete with relevant images), and assignments that were just made easier with access to Google.
Luckily, we had great neighbours, and I spent many evenings on their basement computer, doing homework with a side of MSN.
(not being able to access MSN whenever I wanted in high school felt TORTUROUS – if I couldn’t update my username with not-so-cryptic song lyrics, was I truly even living?!)
So, I have a bit of extra sympathy for students who don’t have reliable (or any) internet, and/or access to devices.
In Nova Scotia, our government is actually being super helpful with that – they are sending out academic activities for each grade level every two weeks with the flyers, and the activities are honestly excellent!
But, in your area, if you are responsible for prepping and sending out take-home packets, or if you prefer printable options for your families to send via email, I wanted to give you a hand.
So, I made a freebie for you!
I’ve been spending the past few weeks creating digital resources (which you can find HERE (Boom Cards) and HERE (Google Classroom)). But, I wanted to also help out your students who might not have much internet access, or devices at home.
I created this freebie At-Home Work Pack for you by putting together some worksheets from a variety of already-existing products in my TPT store.
There are 5 literacy and 5 math sheets included in this pack, that touch on a variety of skills.
Hopefully, you’ll be able to use them with your students who don’t have devices – whether via snail mail, email, or posting in your (password-protected) digital “classroom” platform for families to print. I know that not all families will be able to print and use these, but hopefully, they can be a practice option for those who can!
HOW TO ASSIGN ONE PAGE AT A TIME
If you only want to send your families one worksheet at a time, rather than overwhelming them with a pack of 10, plus the cover page, credits page, etc. etc., here is how to do it.
Note: I have a Mac, so these instructions are for Mac. I am so sorry if you have a PC and it looks different from what I see, but there should be lots of Youtube videos that you can use as a jumping off point to figure it out!🙂
Also, these instructions are also written inside of the freebie pack, along with photos, so if anything is unclear be sure to check there!
- Open your resource using the SYSTEM VIEWER (usually, Adobe is the way to go, but not for this!) **If you did this correctly, the resource will be opened in a new tab of your internet browser!
- Figure out the page numbers of the page(s) you want to send. Remember them or write them down!
- Pretend you are going to print the resource. But, in the Print menu, you are going to click “More Settings”. In the dropdown menu, choose “Print using system dialogue”.
- Find a menu that says “PDF” near the bottom, with a drop-down menu.
- Before you click that PDF button, you will want to select the page(s) you want to send to parents. You can choose a single page, or a range.
- Now, go back to that PDF drop-down menu, and click it. You are looking for “Save as PDF”. When you find it, click it!
- Title your new document something that you’ll remember, for example the date that you’ll be assigning it. Save it somewhere you can find it!
- Find the document where you saved it, and open it. Inside should just be the page/range of pages that you specified. You can then email it, upload it to Google Classroom, etc.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Normally, this kind of extracting/posting online is NOT PERMITTED as per most TPT sellers’ Terms of Use.
You will need to check with other TPT sellers individually before using this method/posting their products online.
You do NOT need to email me for specific permission – my new (temporary) TOU are included on page 2 of the freebie. In a nutshell, you can email any pages of this documents directly to parents, and/or post it on a password-protected site or platform requiring and username & password.
Thanks so much!
IF YOU NEED MORE PAGES LIKE THESE…
All of the pages in this freebie were taken from other products in my TpT store.
If you need more, there is a page inside of the freebie that looks like this:
with links to the full products.
My new TOU apply to anything in my store, until schools open back up again🙂
IN CONCLUSION…
Not being in charge of our students’ learning environments is a huge challenge FOR SURE!
Some families prefer digital, some parents have no/poor internet access (like high school Andrea!), some families have no printers, and some families are barely treading water while they try to juggle wrangling toddlers, working from home, running a household, and maybe even fighting the virus.
As hard as it is on us, I know that we all want to help our students as best we can.
Just like when we are in the classroom, helping as best we can looks different from student to student. We are used to differentiating, adapting, and providing options to help our students learn.
For those of you who are lacking in resources to provide for your students and/or have no idea how to get started, I really do want to help any way I can. Hence the Free At-Home Work Pack!
I hope you and your students enjoy it!
Need more freebies? Make sure you’re signed up for my free French resource library below!