With so much uncertainty this school year, districts and educators are struggling to create distance learning plans for their schools that best meet the needs of all their students and staff.

Though this can be challenging, we at Albert are here to help! Using this resource, find best practices for distance learning, as well as some examples of sample distance learning plans. We consider what works well in each distance learning plan, and what aspects could be improved upon. Also, we include sample distance learning lesson plans, and considerations for how these could work in your classroom.

Let’s get started!

Technology Access and Tech Support Considerations During Distance Learning: 5 Steps to Take

Many students won’t have reliable internet or adequate devices to complete daily lessons. And, of the students who do, most will have to share with other siblings. Different districts have gotten creative with ways to reach students during these unprecedented times. Here we’ll provide best practices for distance learning to support students with limited technology access.

1. Send out a needs survey

In the beginning of the school year, survey all families to assess their technology situation. Re-send the survey throughout the year, to account for any changes a family may encounter. The survey should ask:

• What device do you have to complete your school work on?
• Do you share a device with other family members during the school day?
• Who will be home with the student during the day?
• Are you able to meet our online curriculum expectations?
• How can administration and teachers support you?

2. Provide paper alternatives

For students who can’t complete online work, provide a paper packet of lesson activities. Print out materials that can be printed, and add supplementary work to replace online-only lessons. If students have a device but no internet, files can be downloaded and given on a flashdrive. Remember to include a calendar of due dates, necessary instructions, and teacher phone numbers for contact.

This may be too much work to ask of one teacher. If that’s the case, groups of teachers can share the load and alternate the responsibility. 

3. Consider supplying families with hotspots

If budget allows, hotspots are a great way to provide families with a reliable source of internet. For families with multiple students in the district, only one hotspot would need to be provided.

Or instead of giving each family a hotspot, Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona, equipped their school busses with hotspots. The school busses drove out, and students were able to go to the bus, and complete school work there.

4. Share internet and data options

Many internet providers are offering free or reduced plan options for families in need during COVID-19. Depending on your area and needs, you’ll find different plans and offers. Check with your local providers, and use The Journal’s updated list of free wifi options. 

5. Check out devices from the school’s supply

Many districts and schools have a reserve of student laptops or tablets that are normally available for teachers with their class to use during the school year. Instead of letting them collect dust in the library closet, let families in need borrow them while students are working remotely from home.

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School Lunch and Food Support Considerations During Distance Learning

Countless students rely on their school’s free and reduced lunch program to get the nutrition they need each day. COVID-19 has put an additional strain on many family finances, and they’re relying on these meals more than ever. Districts are adapting to provide solutions for these families.

Across the country, school districts are providing meals to families in need. Public school districts in MInnesota have distributed over 7 million dollars in meals for families. They provide the meals in boxes with enough food for 7 breakfasts and 7 lunches, and include items like fresh fruit and milk. They are even offering contactless pickup. The family member simply drives up, tells the staff how many children they need boxes for, and the staff loads the boxes into their trunk. 

They’ve made it easy for families to sign up for this program- they just have to fill out a quick form online. Some charter schools are communicating with families every school morning, sending out text messages to ask if they have everything they need for the school day.

States are also eligible to issue P-EBT (Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards to families. States participating are listed here. These cards are provided to families who qualified for free or reduced lunch this past school year. They are loaded with an estimated $5.70), for each day schools were closed during the pandemic- around March through May or June. Children who attend non-public school are still eligible to receive the reimbursement.

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High School Distance Learning Plans: 3 Best Practices for Setting Student Expectations

This fall is going to be a big adjustment for students, and not all of them are going to adapt to it easily. Consistent expectations need to be set in advance, and communicated clearly.

We explore best practices for setting expectations, and ensuring high participation and engagement in distance learning for high school students.

1. Track student attendance

All states have laws regarding truancy that require the tracking of student attendance. But beyond that, it’s important student’s know their attendance is being monitored in order to increase it in live lessons. Say hi to each student as they enter your lesson room, and greet them by name.

Check your roster after the lesson to see who was missing, and contact the family. Remember to consider your tone, and first ask why the student was absent and what you can do to help them arrive on time. Remote learning is new to a lot of families, and they may have struggled finding the right lesson room at the right time.

Ohio school districts are emphasizing the importance of tracking and reporting attendance in hourly increments, and considering ways to do this efficiently.

2. Have students create learning resources

One strategy suggests allowing students to take the lead in the classroom. Students who are interested and motivated can be selected to act as the teacher on certain topics. The teacher can allow the student to lead part or all of the lesson during a live session.

Students can also create presentations, then record themselves with a voice over. This recorded lesson can be shared out asynchronously to the class. Or, instead of taking assessments, consider tasking students with the responsibility of creating a quiz or test.

3. Establish clear and consistent structure

Students need routines to allow for easy transitions, effective completion of tasks, and facilitate both teaching and learning (by the way, check out our free teaching strategy discovery tool). If students understand what is expected of them, when, and how, it’s much easier to succeed in school. Share your live, synchronous lesson schedule in advance, and try to have your sessions occur on the same days of the week and the same time of day.

During distance learning, you should also hold open office hours at the same times each week. Students can drop into your lesson room when they need additional help or have questions, and they’ll know you’re there waiting.

A fully virtual K-12 school, Connections Academy, recommends scheduling in mealtimes, as well as reviewing your daily schedule the night before. This helps proactively establish time management, and prioritizing important tasks. Check out our list of ultimate tips for teaching remotely here for more pointers.

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High School Distance Learning Plans: 5 Best Practices for Setting Parent/Guardian Expectations

The first weeks of school set the tone for the whole school year. It’s important to reach parents early and often and ensure they understand expectations. Albert’s back to school teacher checklist provides important steps to take to start the school year off right in this regard. Below, we provide a list below of all the best practices for communicating with families to set your expectations for the year.

1. Update all contact information immediately and often

As a distance educator, there is nothing more frustrating than calling the only number you have for a family and hearing the automated voice, “The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”

It’s vital districts collect the most updated parent contact information as soon as possible. This information should be readily accessible by all teachers and staff. Families should provide their names, numbers, relationship to students, and also include whether numbers can receive text messages or not.

There should be a system in place for teachers to be able to edit and update parent contact information, as most often they are the first to know about changes.

If students are in middle or high school, families should also provide student phone numbers, as oftentimes teachers will want to be able to call or text students directly.

2. Call and personally welcome the family to the school year

The first phone call a parent receives from their student’s teacher should be a welcome call. In this call, teachers should not be delivering any instruction. The purpose is to meet the family, begin to build relationships, and set all expectations for the school year.

If a child is in middle or high school, they don’t need to receive a welcome call from every core and elective teacher; districts can divide student rosters fairly.

In the welcome call, teachers should verify contact information and discuss the student’s strengths and interests.

It’s also important teachers discuss and set expectations for the year regarding grading, communication, and attendance.

3. Utilize various methods of communication

Unfortunately, not all parents read their emails like they should. But, chances are, these parents will respond to texts or phone calls. Don’t rely on just one method of communication- use a variety to reach all families.

Remind101 is great for sending mass text messages. We suggest using this for quick updates and reminders. You can also share out other resource links or videos this way.

Weekly email newsletters are a great way to disseminate detailed information about upcoming assignments, events, due dates- or anything! Include images and .gifs to make your newsletters more engaging. LucidPress offers a variety of free teacher templates.

Set up a free GoogleVoice account to make phone calls and text messages. This way, families won’t have your personal number, but notifications still come directly to your phone if you’d like.

4. Create and share a virtual syllabus

As in the traditional classroom, your course syllabus is the best, initial way to share all relevant information to your course. Include behavior and attendance expectations, and a calendar of when your synchronous lessons will be held. Remember contact information, and the link to get to that lesson room.

We suggest creating your syllabus in GoogleDocs, so it can be updated in real-time (even after you’ve shared it out to families).

Add a content and curriculum overview, and remember to include resources for supplementary support and content extension. Albert has a vast lesson library of readings and practice materials for all ages and content areas.

For important information you want to confirm parents read (like your syllabus), add a remote sign-off link to the bottom of your email or document. Create it in GoogleForms, and provide a place for the person to type their name, date, and indicate they read the necessary information.

5. Consider your tone

It can be easy to misread the tone of written messages. We can’t actually hear the person’s voice or see any facial expressions. To prevent possible miscommunications, read your messages out loud to hear how they might sound to others. Include emojis and images where possible, to indicate if something was meant to be said with a smile, or in a joking way.

On the flip side of this, when you receive a message that seems negative, try to imagine in a different tone of voice. The parent may not have intended to come across in a bad way.

As always, respond in a polite and professional manner. If you have a feeling something you say might be misconstrued, pick up the phone and call. 

For more tips on building relationships when teaching remotely, check out our free resource here.

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High School Distance Learning Plans: 5 Best Practices for Daily Schedules

In a traditional school, students and teachers follow a strict schedule with the bell system signally when it’s time to transition to our next class. In distance learning, most students are working from home and our daily schedules look a lot different. Though it can be easy to fall out of a routine, it’s important for families and educators to continue to follow a clear schedule. Albert has an Ultimate Guide to Distance Learning Schedules, and we provide here best practices for creating them.

1. Create a teacher work schedule

Teachers should create clear schedules for themselves, as well as their students, to mitigate stress and work effectively. Depending on class size, schedule time for individual bi-weekly or monthly phone calls with students and families. Incorporate 20-30 minutes at the beginning and end of each day to respond to emails, and about an hour a day to grade and give student feedback.

2. Share your schedules with students and families

Effectively sharing your schedule with families is as important as creating it. We recommend keeping an updated teacher website to post schedules and calendars. You can use tools like Remind101 for sending out quick reminders of due dates and events directly to families.

3. Integrate homework into the schedule

Since students are already working from all day, distance learning changes the usual “rules” of homework. To avoid overworking your students, aim for around 45-60 minutes of instructional time (depending on if you’re a block or traditional schedule), with 20 minutes for homework.

4. Incorporate regular live lesson sessions

Live learning sessions should occur for the same classes at the same time each week. Schools on a block schedule are holding live lessons 4-5 per week, while traditional schedules might be 2-3 times. Live sessions shouldn’t exceed an hour of online time, though the asynchronous work may take additional time to complete.

5. Send regular pulse-check surveys

Without seeing your students’ faces every day, it can be challenging to ensure everyone is doing well. Send out regular surveys to get a sense of how they’re doing, and what you can do to help.

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High School Distance Learning Plans: 5 Best Practices for Outlining Teacher Responsibilities

Teacher tasks, roles, and responsibilities look different in the online environment. All teachers want to excel at their job, but it can be confusing to know what’s expected of them in a new, remote environment. For the school to function efficiently, all staff must be clear on what teacher’s responsibilities are.

Administration should be responsible for following up with teachers to hold them accountable. Below are five important, virtual teacher responsibilities.

1. Prepare a virtual teacher absence folder

For teachers to prepare for their absences, administration needs to decide in advance how they want to handle it. Will a substitute be hired? Or will another department member take responsibility for this teacher’s students?

After this is decided, teachers should prepare a document folder, and share it with their department head. This folder should contain:

• At least three days of asynchronous lesson work
• Class rosters and relevant student notes
• Student accommodations and modifications
• Behavioral management plans and strategies
• Synchronous lesson plans (if administration requires)

2. Host parent-teacher conferences

Teachers will be responsible throughout the year for hosting parent-teacher conferences. Some may be informal, and just with one teacher. Others may need to include the school counselor, administration, and all of the student’s teachers. Albert provides a list of strategies for hosting a successful virtual parent-teacher conference.

Teachers should create an online schedule using a site like SignUpGenius or YouCanBookMe (both free!). This way parents can sign up for a time slot, and it also syncs with your personal work calendar to stay up-to-date. Prepare a conference agenda of points to cover, and send a follow-up email to all members afterward.

3. Complete grading in a timely manner

In the virtual environment, teachers should strive to grade student work within 3-5 days. Thoughtful feedback should be given, as needed. Multiple choice assessments can be created in a free software like Google Forms, where it will be graded automatically.

Administration should determine and share in advance expectations for how many graded assignments will be included in the students final grade. A standard rule of thumb for each quarter is 3 major assessments (tests, essays, projects), 7 minor assessments (quizzes, assignments taking longer than 3 days to complete), and 15 or more formative assessments.

4. Log all student and parent contact

This can take some getting used to for teachers new to remote learning, but it’s essential. Write down every phone or video call conversation you have with parents and students. Note who you spoke with, the date, and what you discussed. Use this example template, if needed.

This is important for a few reasons. It helps you remember who you spoke to and what about, it lets administration see a record of your work, and covers your back if a situation arises where you need evidence from a past conversation.

Written communication, like email and texts, will be automatically stored, so it’s less important to log those.

Keep an updated record of all student attendance to every live learning session. Also make notes of who participated actively, and who did not (had their camera off, didn’t respond to questions, etc.)

5. Attending department and staff meetings

Administration should determine expectations for meetings- how often they should be, how long, and who should attend. Teachers should attend these recurring meetings, actively participate, and keep track of them on their calendar.

Both whole staff and department meetings should be held once a week. This may seem like a lot, but it’s essential in the online environment.

Communication among staff needs to be clear, open, and consistent. Weekly meetings help keep everyone on the same page, especially when there are so many changes happening.

The meetings don’t need to be long (30-60 minutes), and should follow an agenda that’s been prepared and shared to attendees beforehand.

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High School Distance Learning Plans: Sample Distance Learning Lesson Plans

We hear a lot about how to create distance learning lessons, but it’s beneficial to actually see the lessons in action. Below, we provide three sample distance learning lesson plans, and consider what went well and what could use a little improvement.

1. Zoom Math Class

In this class, the teacher is using a stylus to write example math problems on her Zoom whiteboard. The whole class can see her screen, as she talks through how to solve these equations. All of the students are on mute, but they know to raise their hands to indicate when they would like to speak or have an answer. Then, they are called on by the teacher to unmute themselves.

By having the students keep their cameras on, she can see when a student’s attention begins to wander, and redirect them back to the lesson. We can see the students aren’t just blankly staring at the screen, but they have notebooks out, and are actively writing along with the lesson.

2. Kindergarten’s First Zoom

Even though this is a lesson with kindergarten and not high-school, there are valuable takeaways from this video. This teacher does a great job focusing on her student’s socio-emotional health.

She asks for an emotional check-in at the beginning of lesson asking for students to give her a thumbs up or thumbs or down. Check-ins like these help build community, help you better understand your students, and help students develop the skills to better understand themselves. She also asks the students to speak to their family and their other classmates, growing their social skills.

3. English Class Breakout Rooms

This teacher breaks the class into small group breakout rooms to answer analytical questions about a poem. She prepares them for this individual work by first introducing the objective (using context clues), and practicing the activity twice together as a whole class. She then returns the students to a whole class again after the breakout rooms, to discuss and review what they’ve done. This both holds students accountable, while also letting them learn from each other.

However, this teacher does not explicitly state the behavior expectations for breakout rooms, and students would benefit from reviewing these every lesson.

Hopefully from these sample distance learning lesson plans you can begin to understand common strengths and weaknesses of how teachers approach the prep process.

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Real Sample High School Distance Learning Plans

After researching sample distance learning plans implemented by school districts, we’ve gathered three for your reference below. Each plan excels in some aspects, but could use additional expansion in others.

1. ‘Iolani School District in Hawaii outlines their fully remote Distance Learning Plan encompassing live student-teacher contact time, online content delivery, and online monitoring of student progress/assessment. This plan does a great job describing parent contact methods, and both parent and teacher responsibilities.

It details student technology requirements and the school’s strategy for supplying the technology. The plan also has a descriptive page making it very clear what student expectations, roles, and responsibilities are.

The plan could be expanded on by including how to assist students who lack internet or data at home, as well as students who rely on the free and reduced school lunch program.

2. Coronado Unified School District in San Diego, CA, does a great job as a distance learning plan template by providing an easy-to-use chart of expectations for every single class. It lists the subject, the required technology, daily assignment expectations, which resources to use, and where to go for more detailed information (like the teacher’s course page). It has a recommended amount of work time per day and per week, as well as additional enrichment activities and resources.

The school even provides information on how students can schedule counselling sessions for both registration, and socio-emotional help in these trying times.

While it provides a few guidelines for parents, it doesn’t stress the importance of their role or give detailed information on how to complete these guidelines. The plan could also benefit from providing students with guidelines for success in their online courses.

3. Florida Department of Education’s Distance Learning Plan excels in its emphasis on equity and meeting a variety of student needs. It details considerations for English Language Learners of all grade levels, and provides an extensive list of resources. It highlights the need to focus on at-risk families, and gives a large number of options for free internet providers.

Additionally, the plan emphasizes the importance of cyber-security, guiding parents and students on how to stay safe online.

However, this plan does not go into detail on course content, or what daily responsibilities of families and teachers will look like.

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Wrapping Things Up: High School Distance Learning Plans

We’ve covered a lot in this post, but are some key takeaways to consider as you plan for distance learning this school year:

• Communicate clear expectations of students and families early and often
• Outline teacher responsibilities and provide support 
• Consider how to include equitable technology access and student lunch programs
• Remember to set daily and weekly schedules- and stick to them!
• Use Albert’s Distance Learning Hub to be prepared for anything this year
• Use Albert’s Back to School Resources Hub to help you get through the Fall

What priorities is your school district focusing on for its distance learning plan? Comment and share below!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:

• How to Do Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences
• Teacher Self-Care When Working from Home
• 75 Educational Websites for Teachers: The Ultimate List
• 131 Tools for Distance Learning & Strategies for Student Engagement
• 21 Strategies for Teaching Online: The Ultimate Guide for Educators
• 10 Co-Teaching Strategies for Remote Learning
• How to Teach from Home with Google Classroom and Albert
• Our free 150+ teaching strategies discovery tool