Instructional Model for Distance & Hybrid Learning
Purpose
This provides guidance to support teachers and school administrators in planning and facilitating “distance” and “hybrid” learning experiences that are consistent, high-quality and accessible to all students.
Instructional Model
- 1. Guiding Principles
- 2. General Expectations
- 3. Specific Instructional Expectations - Distance Learning
- 3. Specific Instructional Expectations - Hybrid Learning
1. Guiding Principles
ACADEMIC
- Live Interaction. Use limited synchronous time (and in-school time in hybrid mode) for learning experiences that require live interactions to be effective.
- Innovation. Learn to use technology and innovative practices to shift traditionally live learning experiences to asynchronous time, whenever possible.
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL
- Social-Emotional Support. Anticipate and support students’ social-emotional needs related to the pandemic and disruptions in schooling.
- Relationship Building. Leverage “real-time” interactions to foster students’ relationships with teachers and peers.
- Student Agency. Build students’ capacity and motivation to drive their own learning by providing choice and opportunities for decision-making through UDL.
EQUITY & ANTI-RACISM
- Equitable Access. Ensure that all students have equitable access to learning experiences and materials.
- Student Engagement. Address disproportionate student engagement and outcomes resulting from institutional and historic racist practices.
- Our Promise. Build on the strengths and meet the needs of all students, prioritizing students with IEPs, ELLs and historically under-served populations.
PARTNERING WITH FAMILIES
- Equal Partners. Work with families as equal partners in their students’ education.
- Funds of Knowledge. Actively discover and use the abilities, knowledge, perspectives and experience of families to support their students’ learning.
- School Responsibility. Own the responsibility for cultivating and sustaining the partnership among school, home and community.
2. General Expectations
- Prioritize & Chunk Learning. Leverage available opportunities to engage students by (1) focusing on priority standards and (2) breaking learning into smaller chunks.
- Monitor Well-Being. Identify and monitor students’ potential social-emotional challenges due to pandemic-related stressors at home
- Build Community. Facilitate community building through shared values and norms, meetings, discussions, projects, etc.
- Collaborate. Work with your teacher team to share responsibilities (e.g., screencasting mini-lessons, synchronous teaching, progress monitoring, family outreach). Collaborate across the full range of teacher, paraprofessional and other roles to coordinate all elements of the school’s program (e.g., library services, intervention, etc.)
- Partner with Families. (1) Collaborate with families to evolve the academic program and their support roles; (2) Communicate with parents at least weekly on upcoming academic work and opportunities to support; (3) Provide clear protocol for 2-way communications; (4) Work with families to build their capacity to support learning.
- Continuous Improvement. Regularly assess effectiveness and develop improvements by soliciting student and family feedback, and analyzing academic and other data.
3. Specific Instructional Expectations - Distance Learning
Synchronous Learning (Live Engagement)
Description:
Learning through real-time interactions with teachers and/or peers using video-conferencing software (e.g., Zoom) or via telephone. Includes whole-group, small-group and 1:1 sessions.
Core objective:
Maximize the academic & social emotional impact of limited synchronous time.
Time & Frequency:
- Provide daily synchronous learning for each student totaling:
- PreK-1: 1-2 hour
- 2nd-3rd: 2-4 hours
- 4th-5th: 2-4 hours
- 6th-8th: 3-4 hours
- 9th-12th: 3-4 hours
- Includes any form of live engagement for learning (e.g., workshop, partner work)
- Limit direct instruction to 10-minute increments; Limit sessions to 30-40 minutes.
- At least 50% of synchronous time is targeted instruction in small groups.
Teacher Practices:
Prioritize the following practices for synchronous sessions:
- Intro new material - use real-time instruction if live interaction is important
- Discussion - facilitate whole-group, small-group, peer-to-peer discussions
- Guided practice - support application of new learning (i.e., “we do”)
- Collaborative work - facilitate group work on tasks and problem-solving
- Feedback - provide real-time feedback on student work done in real-time
- Small-group instruction - facilitate 1:1 and small-group support
- Intervention - provide intensive support for students w/ IEPs, ELLs, academically at-risk, and disengaged students through individual and small-group sessions
- Social-emotional support - implement trauma-informed practices
Structures & Protocols:
- Consistent schedule & agenda - maximize predictability and stability of students’ learning experiences, while providing options to accommodate family schedules
- Meeting norms - establish & reinforce clear norms for synchronous sessions
- Common curriculum - implement shared curriculum and lessons across classrooms
- Video conferencing - use Zoom to allow for small-group breakout rooms
- Record live sessions - allow students who miss a session to watch a recording
- Take Attendance - take attendance in all live sessions
Recommendations:
- Prioritize students with the most need- focus time on students experiencing academic and/or social-emotional challenges and students who were not engaged in the Spring
- Prioritize relationship building - plan activities specifically to build individual and group relationships (e.g., advisory, community discussions, daily check-ins, etc.)
- Support asynchronous learning - provide clear instructions, check progress and communicate sense of urgency relating to students’ independent work assignments
- Develop student agency - teach independent and collaborative learning skills
Asynchronous Learning (Independent Work)
Description:
Independent learning supported by online or physical materials but without real-time interactions with teachers or other students.
Core Objective:
Maximize student engagement in independent learning.
Time & Frequency:
- Provide for daily asynchronous learning totaling:
- PreK: 0.5
- K-1: 2-3 hours
- 2nd-3rd: 1-2 hours
- 4th-5th: 1-2 hours
- 6th-8th: 3-4 hours
- 9th-12th: 3-4 hours
Teacher Practices:
Prioritize the following practices to facilitate asynchronous work:
- Intro new material - whenever possible, use screencasts, videos, or online lessons (“flipped learning”)
- Independent practice - independent application of new learning (i.e., “you do”)
- Virtual interactions - use discussion threads, discussion boards, commenting on shared documents, etc. to facilitate interactions w/ teachers and peers
- Self-assessment - provide rubrics and answer keys to allow students to check work
- Feedback - provide timely feedback on work through learning management system
- Family roles - collaborate with families to develop consistent roles to support learning
Structures & Protocols:
- Continuity - use familiar materials, routines and tools
- Clarity of instructions - clearly communicate objectives, purpose, step-by-step instructions and expected outcomes
- Online vs Offline - provide work that is both online and offline (e.g., printed materials, physical texts).
- Seesaw (K-5) & Google Classroom (6-12) - use district’s learning management systems (LMS) to organize and provide consistent, intuitive access to digital materials
-
2-Way Family Communications - provide clear protocol for families to provide feedback, ask questions, discuss assignments, ask for support, and share info
Recommendations:
- Student Choice - provide multiple ways to learn and apply new skills and knowledge (e.g., online curriculum, printed practice sets, teacher screencasts, YouTube videos),
- Flexible Pacing - allow students to advance to next step, objective, standard or unit when they demonstrate readiness
- Projects and tasks - engage students in longer-term projects and tasks that leverage the resources and environments students have at home and allow flexibility of time
- Support synchronous learning - assign work that prepares students for upcoming synchronous learning activities (e.g. vocabulary preview, pre-reading)
- Digital Content - assign lessons, practice or assessments listed from resources listed as “Approved” or “Conditional” in the LearnPlatform.
- Provide Extensions - encourage students to extend their learning through engaging with online, family and community resources that complement core instruction
3. Specific Instructional Expectations - Hybrid Learning
In-School
Core Objectives:
- Maximize the academic impact of limited “in-school” time
- Increase the efficacy of “at-home” learning.
Time & Frequency:
- Full-length school days, twice weekly
- High school: three 80-minute periods, plus 30-minute advisory period
Teacher Practices:
Implement “Synchronous Learning” practices from “Distance Learning” above, PLUS:
- Language development - integrate focus on language development into academics
- Support at-home learning - teach and reinforce “at-home” routines and protocols
- Gradual release - gradually increase the range of learning activities students do independently at-home, using explicit teaching and in-school practice
Structure & Protocols:
- Seesaw & Google Classroom - support continuity with “at-home” learning by using the district's learning management systems during “in-school” days.
- Inclusion - provide equitable access to grade-level instruction to all by maintaining heterogeneous classrooms and pushing-in IEP, ELL and intervention supports.
- Additional capacity - Allocate extra in-school capacity to (1) students w/o access to technology, (2) students with IEPs, (3) EL students, (4) academically at-risk students,
- Learning Resource Center.
Recommendations:
- Support at-home learning - provide clear instructions, check progress and communicate sense of urgency relating to students’ at-home work assignments
- Limit lecturing - limit duration and frequency of whole-group, direct instruction to the extent that independent learning “at home” will be equally as effective
At-Home
Core Objectives:
- Maximize student engagement by:
- Providing meaningful, relevant learning experiences
-
Developing students’ sense of connection to teachers, peers and family
Time & Frequency:
Provide total daily learning (synchronous + asynchronous) of:
- PreK-1: 2-4 hours, including at least 30 minutes of synchronous interaction
- 2nd-3rd: 4-6 hours, including at least 75 minutes of synchronous interaction
- 4th-5th: 4-6 hours, including at least 75 minutes of synchronous interaction
- 6th-8th: 5-7 hours, including at least 90 minutes of synchronous interaction
- 9th-12th: 6-8 hour, including at least 90 minutes of synchronous interaction
Teacher Practices:
Synchronous
- Daily coaching - prioritize daily contact with students to monitor progress and well-being, and provide encouragement and immediate support as needed.
- Office hours - provide scheduled times for on-demand support from teachers
- Special populations - prioritize support for special populations (IEP, ELL, etc.).
- Other practices - where possible, implement “Synchronous Learning” practices from “Distance Learning” above (discussions, interventions, office hours, etc.)
Asynchronous
- Implement “Asynchronous Learning” practices from “Distance Learning” above (flipped learning, independent practice, virtual interactivity, etc.)
- Double-entry note-taking - assign note-taking on readings, videos, etc.
Structure & Protocols:
Follow guidance for “Distance Learning” above, PLUS:
- Certificated & classified staff - where possible, leverage paraprofessionals, interventionists, specialists, ELL and SPED teachers to provide coaching and support
- Learning Resource Center - provide support focused on allowing students to access grade-level instruction during “in-school” days.
Recommendations:
Follow guidance for ”Distance Learning” above, PLUS:
- Supporting “in-school” learning - facilitate learning activities that preview, support or reinforce skills and knowledge students work on “in-school”
- Non-digital resources - Whenever possible, provide non-digital resources to limit screen time and increase access for low-tech households (e.g., printed materials, manipulatives, community facilities and resources)
- Digital tools - experiment with district-approved digital tools to facilitate at-home learning