Unboxing Education

A smooth start to the school year sets the tone for everything that follows,  especially in the online classroom . Whether you're new to virtual teaching or a seasoned pro, building trust , clarity , and connection early on pays off all year long. Here are three essential steps to help you start strong: ✉️ 1. Send a Welcome Letter That Connects Before students ever click into your LMS, send a warm, clear, and visually friendly welcome letter. Include: 👋 A brief personal introduction (with a photo, if you're comfortable) 📚 A simple overview of what to expect in your class 📬 Preferred communication channels & your response times 🔑 Login instructions and how to get started 🎥 Bonus: Add a short video greeting to help students feel connected, especially in asynchronous or self-paced programs. 📊 Fun fact: A 2014 study found that instructor-generated video content boosted student engagement and satisfaction in online higher ed courses. 🔥 Pro Tip: Use a m...

  Wait—before you clutch your annotated copy of To Kill a Mockingbird , let me explain. I’m not burned out. I’m not bitter. I still believe in the power of story and the necessity of critical thinking. I still light up when a student finally cracks open a book they claimed to hate—or when their writing hits that sweet spot of clarity and voice. But after years in the ELA classroom, I’ve come to a difficult but exciting realization: English class, as we’ve traditionally framed it, is too narrow for the kind of reading and writing students actually need. 📚 Reading and Writing Don’t Belong in a Silo We live in a world where language is everywhere—slippery, powerful, and inextricably connected to every subject. So why do we keep reading and writing corralled into “English class,” dissecting fictional texts and over-analyzing symbolism as if that alone builds literacy? I’ve seen what happens when we teach reading as a skill for English class , not a survival skill for life. S...

There’s No Magic Bullet in Virtual Instruction—and That’s a Good Thing When you started teaching virtually, you probably found yourself asking: "What’s the one tool, activity, or strategy that will finally reach all my students?" I hear it all the time as an instructional coach: “Just tell me the best way to...” But here’s the truth I always circle back to— There is no magic bullet in virtual instruction. And honestly? That’s not a problem. That’s the point. The virtual learning model is designed to give students personalized pathways,  not standardized experiences. That means it’s perfectly normal (and expected ) for students to take different routes to the same goal. As teachers, it’s our job to provide multiple access points, not one perfect solution. The Myth of “One-Size-Fits-All” In a traditional classroom, we’re already used to differentiation, but online, it can quickly feel overwhelming. It's not just about a conversation; it may be lesson design, 1 on 1 m...

🎯 Why Instructional Coaching Matters Even More in Virtual Asynchronous Schools 💡 Isolation is Real—But Coaching Can Break It All teaching can feel isolating. Even with teachers just down the hall, some may feel left out or unsure. In virtual asynchronous schools, teachers often work alone behind a screen, compounding the isolation.  🟡 No hallway conversations 🟡 No informal classroom visits 🟡 No quick team huddles after school 🎯 Instructional coaching is the bridge between isolation and innovation. While good coaching is the same in any school environment, in a virtual, asynchronous school, intentionality is key to meaningful conversations.  “Coaching in Brick-and-Mortar vs. Virtual Schools” Coaching Role Brick & Mortar School 🏫 Virtual Asynchronous School 💻 Peer Collaboration Daily, informal Rare, must be intentional Feedback Opportunities Frequent and real-time Needs to be scheduled and structured Access to Classroom Practice Ea...

Conferences can be hard. You have: determined which students need support. communicated, usually multiple times, in order to find a time to meet. held a conference with parents/students/other staff. Now what? First, setting the conference up for success is important.  See my previous post on managing virtual parent/teacher conferences.  During the conference, keep the goal in mind. SMART goals, that is. With as much student input as possible, set a short-term goal that is measurable.  Next, consider these tips to ensure you get the most return on your efforts to meet with students. 1. Manage Your Communication.  Where possible, you want to build relationships with students. You do this by tracking previous conversations so that each meeting feels like a continuation of the relationship. I use several Google tools to manage my communication with students and families. Google Sheets: I use a Google Sheet to keep a list of my students. I use this list to email students ...

 Am I the only one overwhelmed by the possibilities of adding AI to my classrooms? Why do the articles that state  3 Simple Ideas for Introducing AI Into Your Teaching  seem neither simple nor helpful?  I find myself searching for the bridge, the path from the way I've been using curriculum to the future where AI is a natural aid in my students' learning experiences.  I find myself researching how to build a bridge.  What have I been doing to retrofit the curriculum to survive this transition?  I'll share my successes and failures below. AI Detectors From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository I'll start with the rocky relationship I've had with investigating the use of AI. I teach British Literature and have grappled with AI-generated essays since early in 2023. While the rise of AI brings up important, philosophical discussions about the ongoing value of essay writing (which I discussed in a previous blog post ), the fact is I'm still using cur...

  End-of-course surveys can give you valuable info so you can continue to perfect your course and your teaching. They support a growth mindset and allow for important reflection. 

 Incorporating student choice into assignments can increase engagement and show mastery of 21st-century skills.  A popular method for choice is a choice board. Choice boards give students parameters for demonstrating mastery of concepts but allow them choice in the final format of the assignment.  Check out a great Literacy Choice Board Here: This assignment demonstrates mastery in the following CCSS ELA Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11—CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11—CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently. This link will take you to a Canva project that includes the slide above, a rubric, and step-by-step instructions for each project listed. Tools use...

  Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of any work-from-home job is how to not be working. It becomes too easy to have one foot in the office at all times. I learned the lesson of unplugging in the most unlikely of circumstances, teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the fall of 2020, I saw my virtual student enrollment soar from a pre-pandemic level of 90 students to 300+ enrollments. I was also trying to support my coworkers and just generally navigate living, and parenting, during unprecedented times.  Prior to the pandemic, I prided myself on my quick response times and my inbox-zero mentality. I worked on and off most of the day and usually late into the night. While busy seasons sometimes got my schedule off kilter, the catch as catch can method worked most of the time.  However, by the end of September 2020, it became clear that inbox zero would be a distant memory. I also rarely got all submitted assignments graded. I remember days when I would s...

  Partnering with community resources can be a great way to expand learning opportunities for students. Schools throughout Michigan partner with businesses and community leaders to offer opportunities such as job shadowing, learning applications, and more.  Businesses often embrace opportunities to work with schools to give back to the community and to ensure a qualified workforce. Inviting business leaders into the school to design career academies is just one way to create a bridge beyond graduation. Another way to create community connections is through applications of learning. Schools can partner with local businesses to expand PE offerings, for example, by using swim lessons at a local facility if the school does not have a pool on campus. Other opportunities include partnering a PE teacher with a fencing instructor to bring a new course offering to the high school. This community involvement can involve other content areas as well, from music to performing arts to outdo...

       While many studies point to the superior power of intrinsic motivation, every classroom teacher still reaches for rewards as a form of extrinsic motivation and rapport building. Classroom rewards don’t only offer motivation, but they offer a way to connect with students, especially if the rewards can highlight the personal interest of the students. Rewards can also offer a way to connect to a specific student's " love language ." By giving a tangible reward that reflects a student’s personal preferences, a teacher acknowledges that he or she has learned something specific about that student.       In the online classroom, it is tricky to connect with students in this way.  One of the first methods I developed was to send personalized birthday wishes. During the first week of school, I send the students a survey that asks them, among other things, about their birthday. Then, as responses come in, I schedule a Gmail message with a birthd...