As our community continues to navigate school closures and moves to online learning platforms, CATDC is working daily to provide resources to California independent schools and continue to build connections between them. Thankfully, there is an abundance of online learning resources available and also new ones emerging specific to the crisis created by COVID-19: we have compiled some of our favorites here.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to the CATDC team if you need extra support. We are actively thinking of creative ways to continue learning together and would appreciate your input.
ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES
Take advantage of organizations that understand the unique situation faced by independent schools. NAIS has compiled a list of resources which it is updating as needs change. Here are other organizations that you should have on your radar along with recent relevant publications:
- Global Online Learning (GOA) - 10 Strategies for Leading Online When School is Closed
- Getting Smart - 6 Collaboration Tools That Take Learning Beyond the Classroom
- EdSurge - A Letter to Educators Teaching Online for the First Time
- Edutopia - A 5-Step Guide to Making Your Own Instructional Videos
- Folio Collaborative - Maintaining Relationships While Working Apart
Perfecting online facilitation skills takes time, check out these resources for some manageable first steps to make your next virtual meeting more successful:
- EAB - Virtual meeting tools, tips, and alternatives
- EAB - The anatomy of a great meeting
- GOA - Five Tips for Designing Excellent Video Calls
Working from home presents its own challenges: consider reflecting on your "why" each day and these other useful tips:
HOW TO TALK TO STUDENTS ABOUT COVID-19
In these unprecedented times, students and parents are looking to educators for guidance. Here are a handful of resources to help younger students understand COVID-19 and the media's response:
- BrainPop - Tim and Moby explain the Coronavirus
- NPR - Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus
- The Week - How to Have a Panic-Free Conversation with Your Kids about the Coronavirus
Older students have different challenges:
HOW SCHOOLS ARE RESPONDING
We encourage you to peruse peer school's websites to learn how some local schools are responding to closures. Here are a few examples:
- Sacred Heart School, Atherton - Flexible Plan for Instructional Continuity
- Tamisha Williams (Lick-Wilmerding High School) - The Illustrated Distance Learning Plan and Distance Learning Expectations
- John Umekubo (Westside Neighborhood School) - COVID-19 and a Maker Movement Response
- Head-Royce - Coronavirus Awareness and Information
- Westridge School - Resources for Parents and Families
- Marin Primary & Middle School - Distance Learning Resources
Here is a look at what the larger community is experiencing; this resource offers a global perspective that can help us anticipate what these upcoming weeks might look like:
WELL-BEING AND RESILIENCE
We are all in this together. Please take care of yourself and ask for help if you need it. Check out these self-care tips written with educators in mind:
- Sea Change Mentoring - Ten Strategies for Educators' Wellbeing: A Handbook for Schools During the COVID-19 Outbreak
- RULER - Managing Anxiety Around COVID-19
- CASEL - SEL Resources
- IFSEL - Tips for Distance Learning
- Responsive Classroom - Finding Time for Self-Care During the School Day
- Onward - Cultivating Emotional Resilience
Below are great resources for anyone in isolation looking for ways to be and ways to help:
- The Guardian - The family lockdown guide: how to emotionally prepare for coronavirus quarantine
- Greater Good Magazine - How to Keep the Greater Good in Mind During the Coronavirus Outbreak
- On Being - A Listening Care Package for Uncertain Times
- Viral Kindness - Reach out to others in need postcard
- Applied Attention - Meditations